An upgrade to border checks at the port of Dover has been promised after Kent County Council won a £45 million bid to improve traffic flow to the EU from the government’s Levelling Up fund.
Port chief executive Doug Bannister welcomed the “significant funding” to help deliver its outbound controls project.
He said: “This will be a transformational project, delivering the next evolution of Britain’s busiest ferry terminal with a reconfigured layout and enhanced border control points to help secure traffic flow and capacity for the long term.”
Council leader Roger Gough said enhancements, which will include additional border control points and a new exit route, will not only have a positive impact on the Dover and the surrounding area but Kent and its economy as a whole.
Speaking on a day when industrial action in France affected cross channel services, he said that the success of the was bid was “a real attempt to deal with the disruption and difficulties that we all know well when problems arise at the border”.
Gough added: “It is very much concerned with issues in and around the Port of Dover to try to improve the fluidity of traffic with security checks more logically arranged, a buffer zone so you can get a lot more queuing traffic off the roads, a doubling of the border control posts and a new exit route.
“Given the new border arrangements for the European Union, the so-called Entry Exit System or EES, which may well be coming in later this year, it is doubly important that we focus on this issue.”
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said: “Severe delays at the port have a huge impact on residents and businesses in our community. This important investment will help keep Dover clear and port traffic running more smoothly. It will make a huge difference to us locally.”