Five years after the Sevington Inland Border Facility opened, lorries are still getting lost down narrow country roads and damaging homes trying to find it
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00:00Well, the issue first started five years ago in 2020 when this site was taken over by the
00:06DFT as the inland border facility. The problem that we have is that lorries don't use the
00:14main entrance on the A2070. Instead, they try and use the back entrance, the staff entrance,
00:23presumably because they feel they're going to get a head start or to the front of the
00:28queue. This lane is simply unsuitable for large HGVs. They're not allowed into the site through
00:36this route and it causes chaos on the roads. The roads get blocked by the HGVs. They're barely
00:44wide enough for a single car, let alone a HGV. They're destroying the verge and destroying
00:50people's properties. My own fence has been destroyed by HGVs going into it and I know
00:58I'm not the only person on this street that has the same problem. It's really down to the DFT now
01:05to be good corporate citizens and ensure that there's a correct signage which stops lorries
01:12accessing these country lanes. We do have an opportunity because the DFT have decided,
01:20or the government have decided, that this site is going to be used permanently for checking goods
01:25coming in and out of the EU and there'll be a planning application before Ashford Borough
01:31Council in the next few months looking for permanent use. So I'll be encouraging my
01:37colleagues to put various restrictions on the operation of the site to ensure
01:42that lorries are not using unauthorised routes into the site.