Took calls on Continental neighbours to fund stack project

6.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 15th Mar 2008

The nightmare that is Operation Stack

Chris Took, Ashford Liberal Democrats parliamentary candidate, has called on Kent County Council to lobby both the British and the French governments over proposals to build a £40m lorry park to combat operation stack.

A Kent Highways spokesman commented this week that Kent County Council were hoping of securing support to the tune of £40m from central government for a lorry park project.

However, Ashford parliamentary candidate Chris Took believes that the County Council should also be looking to the French government and unions for funding.

"Not withstanding the serious impact that a lorry park build will have on the surrounding community it is even more galling that British taxpayers, through central government, will pay the reported £40m cost of this project."

"Strikes by French unions are not the fault of the residents of Ashford, Folkestone and Kent as a whole. It seems to me perfectly reasonable to request funding from the French unions and/or government in order to pay for any lorry park proposal - the majority of Lorries that will be looked after will, after all, be continental."

Took, who works for a young software company based in Aldington, is also worried that up to 2500 Lorries could cut off the villages around the A20, causing mayhem for local residents and workers.

"It may be necessary to establish new roads or widen existing ones to cope with up to 2500 lorries, £40m may not be nearly enough, making funding from the continent even more essential."