Roads and travel

Cross-channel traffic disruption

Areas of the district, particularly Hawkinge, the villages of Newington and Peene and around the A259 in Folkestone, can be significantly impacted when there are high volumes of cross-channel traffic and freight, or during delays caused by weather, strikes or unexpected disruption.

We know that the knock-on effects of this disruption can make it difficult for residents to go about their normal lives, get to work or school or attend medical appointments. It also presents problems for local industry when delays on the transport network affect deliveries both to and from businesses.

Community impact

The council is not responsible for maintaining or running the road network or traffic enforcement. This falls under National Highways, Kent Highways and Kent Police respectively.

When problems caused by cross-channel traffic disruption occur in our district they are fed back to the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF). This is a partnership of organisations, including local councils and emergency services, who work to improve resilience and ensure a co-ordinated response to emergencies that affect communities in the county.

Due to the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel forecasting a busy period prior to Christmas 2024, the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum is putting on Operation Brock on the M20 overnight on Sunday 15 December until Sunday 22 December. This enables lorries to be held on the coastbound carriageway between junctions 8 and 9 if the traffic control approaching the Port of Dover (Dover TAP) fills up. When TAP becomes busy there are occasions when it is necessary to close temporarily  the Roundhill Tunnel at Folkestone as stationary traffic is not allowed to queue in the tunnel. This can sometimes cause disruption on roads in Folkestone.
 
A letter from the KMRF (PDF, 364KB)  to reassure residents in the Folkestone district has been published.

Entry Exit System (EES)

The European Union (EU) is planning to introduce the EU Entry/Exit System, which is an automated system for registering travellers from the UK and other non-EU countries.

A date for this to start has not been finalised.

The checks will require travellers passing through the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel on their way to Europe to register facial and fingerprint scans. Processing people through the system will naturally take longer than it does now.

This could lead to significant delays and in April the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee invited representatives from Port of Dover, Eurotunnel, Kent County Council, Dover District Council and town and parish councils to talk about preparedness and share concerns about how the system may affect local communities.

The KMRF is now working with central government to reduce the potential disruption.
There is more information about EES preparations on the government website and on the Kent County Council website.

Useful links and local contacts

In the event of disruption, please find links to local services should you need to check if there are any changes to services.

Traffic:

For the latest updates follow @highwaysSEAST @NationalHways @KentHighways

Public transport:

To keep up to date with any service disruption see:

 https://www.stagecoachbus.com or @StagecoachSE

 https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk or @SERailway

Health services:

For further detail please see this link to Folkestone’s Royal Victoria Hospital urgent treatment centre.

Cross channel travel

Eurotunnel or @LeShuttle

Port of Dover  or @PortofDover

Page updated: 16 October 2024