UK Reveals Plans for Up to 10 Inland Border Sites to Cope with Brexit Chaos | Brexit

The government has announced plans for up to 10 inland sites to deal with congestion from Brexit and border controls, including in Birmingham, Warrington and at a former airfield near Epping Forest in Essex.

The inland border sites are being acquired to relieve ports, including Dover and Liverpool, and could be in place for up to two years, according to one of the councils where the infrastructure planning process has already begun.

Among the proposed sites is a second facility for Ashford in Kent, adjacent to the recently acquired “Mojo” truck park that will allow “about 2,000 trucks” to queue on the road bound for the coast while the rest of the traffic continues to flow. in both directions.

The details were revealed in a long-awaited update on the government’s border operating model and are part of the plan to avoid congestion and queues for up to 7,000 trucks in Kent.

On Wednesday, Michael Gove, who is charged with implementing Brexit, said of the potential for chaos in Kent: “If things go wrong, to paraphrase Rag’n’Bone Man, blame me.”

The document establishes new rules for border controls to travel with national ID cards from EU member states, which will no longer be acceptable from 2021, when passports will be required to enter the UK.

It also confirms that carriers will need a “Kent access permit” to enter the county if they are heading to a ferry in Dover or a Eurotunnel train in Folkestone as part of congestion management.

The government says it will put in place new infrastructure at Ebbsfleet International Station in Kent, North Weald Airfield in Essex and Warrington in the northwest.

Along with the second Ashford site, which would be used for transit-related processes, including “goods passport” controls, two more sites are being considered primarily for the same processes at Thames Gateway and Birmingham. Additional potential sites could be established in July next year in Holyhead, Fishguard / Pembroke, and Dover.

Industry leaders, including the Road Transport Association, which Gove has accused of not being “constructive”, welcomed the report.

The government had identified 29 areas last month for potential border infrastructure use, but has already blocked some of these counties. Medway’s council in Kent said the government had notified it that no land would be needed in its area.

The Anglesey council has already rejected an approach for a possible customs facility at an agricultural exhibition grounds near Holyhead, the second-busiest ro-ro ferry port in the country. A council executive, Carwyn Jones, said: “They cannot sit in London and just look at Google Maps, and we cannot have the weapons to accept a site that is not appropriate.”

The Essex County Council said: “HMRC proposes to use and operate North Weald Airfield as a Common Traffic Convention (CTC) site. This is not a truck park, but rather a customs facility that allows exporters to defer paying duties when importing goods into Europe. We expect HMRC to involve stakeholders, including local residents, shortly as part of its planning application under special development order legislation. The site will operate in conjunction with other inland border sites in Kent for up to two years. “

The 138-page document will be a must-read for all carriers and companies, and in particular the estimated 145,000 companies that have never traded outside the EU. They will have to familiarize themselves with complicated processes that include both import and export customs declarations and sanitary and phytosanitary controls on both sides of the border.

Endangered flora and fauna controls will also be implemented, which may take place outside ports such as Dover and Liverpool, where there is no capacity near the docks.

The government confirms that “it is the UK’s intention that the EU, the European Economic Area and Swiss citizens are not required to obtain a visa” and will continue to be able to use electronic passport gates at airports.

The document reminds members of the public who want to travel to and from the EU with pets that documentation requirements will change. If the EU accepts the UK as a “third country included in the Part 1 list”, the checks will be similar to now, but the UK urges pet owners to carry out the necessary veterinary checks four months in advance of the trip as a contingency.