Land may be reclaimed from the sea to provide more space to process passengers when new Brexit checks come in.

The plans by the Port of Dover are to prepare for the EU’s planned biometric border controls, which is expected to come in from autumn 2024.

Port chief executive Doug Bannister had warned the checks would add to delays for ferry passengers trying to leave for the Continent, which already happens regularly.

The new controls, known as the Entry Exit Scheme (EES), means people going into the EU will have to register their fingerprints and a photograph alongside their passport.

An app may be developed for part of the registration process before people arrive at the port, Mr Bannister told the BBC.

But he stressed more physical space is needed to stop roads being clogged up by delayed traffic heading for Dover Eastern Docks.

There are already plans to fill in Granville Dock on the Western Docks for a goods distribution hub and that could be speeded up in time for the start of EES.

The design could be completed by the end of this year with construction work starting next spring.

Eurotunnel’s owner Getlink is also preparing, spending £100 million to create new space, where people heading for the Continent can register their data.

The company, with its Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone, has developed technology to process customs controls digitally. The aim is to get goods crossing the Channel as rapidly as before Brexit.

Road delays at Dover from a build up of traffic are common, for example when there is a surge of traffic and the start of the Easter and summer school holidays as happened again at the end of the last academic year.

Just last month ferry operators were reported delays of up to an hour-and-a half ahead of French border checks at the port.

Britain left the European Union in January 2020 but this has led to an increasing bureaucracy for people and goods now travelling across the Channel.

Enhanced post-Brexit passport checks by French border officials Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) have significantly increased processing times.

But delays have happened long before Brexit due to heavy storms throwing ferry sailing schedules into the air or delays at the border controls.

A lack of French staff caused a traffic build-up that seized up the entire town for as long as 12 hours on July 23, 2016, which became nicknamed Black Saturday.

On the worst occasions, despite traffic controls such as Dover TAP, cars and lorries have spilled into arterial routes inside Dover town, causing it to come to a standstill.

Traders have been frustrated because it has stopped customers visiting them.

One shopkeeper, Robin Burkhardt raised an online protest petition over the problem last month.