Arthur wrote:As I recall Gary mentioned some time ago (if my recollections are correct and I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong) that the issue of moving TAP further back to the Capel junction is connected to policing duties and who is then responsible for the traffic movements. Under the present arrangements TAP is the responsibility of Dover Harbour police but if moved it then comes under Kent Police/ Kent Highways and presumably it then comes down to resourcing and crucially money.
Please feel free to shoot me down if I’ve got this wrong or if I’ve over simplified the situation but I’d like to bet that money is at the root of the problem and the solution.
That's broadly correct. The Port of Dover Police is usually responsible for, ah, policing the A20 TAP - once it has been activated. There is some discussion whether the Marine Navigation Act 2013 empowers PoDP (with the approval of the Kent Chief Officer) to police a TAP further away from PoDP's usual jurisdiction of 'port estate + 1 mile '; personally I think it does but Neil Wiggins was going to check. All that said, PoDP is a small force with a limited number of Officers.
The attraction of the Capel junction is that it has a (grade-separated) roundabout that enables queue jumpers to be turned back when TAP is running in conjunction with Stack (or whatever we're calling it this week), although it reduces TAP's own capacity of course. There is an underpass between the junction and Aycliffe but it's used for farm traffic I believe.