Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what the estimated costs are to date for the preparations of (1) Operation Stack, and (2) Operation Brock, to minimise any traffic disruption at the Port of Dover following the end of the Brexit transition period, including the costs of any exercises held.

Operation Stack is a long-standing approach to managing disruption caused by delays at the Channel ports. It involves partial or complete closure of parts of the M20. The Government has incurred no additional costs in relation to Operation Stack in preparing for the end of the EU transition period.

In view of the traffic management issues experienced in Kent when Operation Stack is invoked, the Kent Resilience Forum – with the Government’s assistance – has developed Operation Brock which includes a contraflow on the M20 to be available at the end of the transition period onwards. Highways England is spending £60.1 million in developing a Quick Moveable Barrier which can be installed within a few hours. In addition, the Government is putting in place additional temporary lorry holding capacity to enable the Kent Resilience Forum to manage disruption. These costs are subject to ongoing commercial discussions, so we are unable to disclose them at this time.