Exclusive by political editor Paul Francis

Kent County Council spent £417,000 preparing a report on the potential impact of its plans for a huge lorry park to cope with Operation Stack.

The council has disclosed it paid Jacobs UK £416,945 for work they carried out assessing the potential environmental consequences of building the lorry park on a 70-acre site off the M20 at Aldington, near Ashford.

The work - over a three-year period - led to a massive 1,700 page study examining virtually every aspect of the possible impact on the environment.

But earlier this summer, KCC said it had moved away from its original proposal and was instead considering a 'no frills’ option.

The six-figure bill covered work carried out by Jacobs analysing the effects on the local ecology through to risks to the area’s cultural heritage and the fire risks and design.

According to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act to the KMG, about a quarter of the sum - £101,000 - was for assessing the environmental impact.

A further £83,000 was spent on feasibility studies and £61,000 on what KCC described as project management, while £19,000 was for geotechnical surveys and £26,000 for topographical surveys.

A total of £16,000 went on assessing fire risks.

In a statement KCC said: “All the work delivered is transferrable to the 'no-frills’ option, therefore this is not a waste of money. The work will not have to be repeated.”

Campaigners opposed to the park plan expressed astonishment at the costs.

Matt Baldwin, of the Lorry Park Alliance, said: “It is an eye-watering sum. I am astonished the costs were so much. It seems to typify KCC’s approach to this issue - when you react in a kneejerk way to a problem, the costs tend to go through the roof.

"If they had sat down and properly considered all the options, they could have saved this money."

The lorry park proposal was first unveiled in 2008 but has while there has been much debate since, a planning application has not yet been submitted.

KCC believes the costs - estimated at about £30m - should be met by central government rather than the Kent taxpayer.