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A2 dualling: Charlie Elphicke and other Kent MPs in bid to get A2 dualled

MP Charlie Elphicke has met with Chancellor Philip Hammond to make the case for dualling the A2.

The Dover and Deal Conservative is leading a team of Kent MPs in a campaign to make the A2 a dual carriageway all the way to the Port of Dover.

Plans to dual the road were axed in the late 1990s by the government of the day.

Now Mr Hammond has met 10 MPs pressing for the dualling to be put back on the agenda.

Kent MPs meet minister Philip Hammond over A2 dualling bid
Kent MPs meet minister Philip Hammond over A2 dualling bid

Mr Elphicke said: “I’ve been working tirelessly to make this happen for the good of Dover, Deal and the nation.

“The upgrading of the A2 at Dover is long overdue.

“The Chancellor listened carefully to our case and said he would take it into account.

“To have real growth in the local economy without gridlock on our roads it’s vital we look at dualling the A2.”

Mr Elphicke is calling for the A2 to be dualled in order to end the bottlenecks caused by the road narrowing to a single carriageway at Lydden and Whitfield.

"The upgrading of the A2 at Dover is long overdue. The Chancellor listened carefully to our case and said he would take it into account."

His campaign comes as the government predicts the amount of roll on - roll off traffic will increase by 101% by 2030.

The number of vehicles travelling through the Port of Dover has already rocketed – from 1.6 million cars and 730,000 lorries in 1985 to 2.3 million cars and 2.5 million HGVs in 2015.

The Kent MPs also asked for other improvement such as the upgrading of the M2’s Junction 7 at Brenley Corner.

In response to questions from Mr Elphicke, Prime Minister Theresa May has also said that Dover will be considered as part of the planning for the next road investment strategy.

Most of the other nine Kent MPs who met Mr Hammond have constituencies on or close to the A2/M2.

They were Damian Collins, for Folkestone and Hythe; Roger Gale, North Thanet,; Julian Brazier, Canterbury; Craig Mackinlay, South Thanet; Helen Whately, Faversham and Mid Kent; Adam Holloway, Gravesham, and the three Medway MPs Rehman Chishti, Tracey Crouch and Kelly Tolhurst.

The dualling of the A2 is touched on in a wider Kent County Council consultation on road improvements, which ends on Sunday.

It is seen as one of the ways of helping split port traffic into Dover between the A2 and A20 to ease congestion.

The documents, Local Transport Plan 4: Delivering Growth Without Gridlock 2016-2031, can be commented on via kent.gov.uk/localtransportplan.

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