Roads and travel

Cross-channel traffic disruption

Areas of the district, particularly Hawkinge, the villages of Newington and Peene and around the A259 in Folkestone, can be significantly impacted when there are high volumes of cross-channel traffic and freight, or during delays caused by weather, strikes or unexpected disruption.

We know that the knock-on effects of this disruption can make it difficult for residents to go about their normal lives, get to work or school or attend medical appointments. It also presents problems for local industry when delays on the transport network affect deliveries both to and from businesses.

Community impact

The council is not responsible for maintaining or running the road network or traffic enforcement. This falls under National Highways, Kent Highways and Kent Police respectively.

When problems caused by cross-channel traffic disruption occur they are fed back to the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF). This is a partnership of organisations, including local councils and emergency services, which work to improve resilience and ensure a co-ordinated response to emergencies that affect communities in the county.

When the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle forecast busy periods on the cross Channel routes, the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum considers putting on Operation Brock on the M20. This enables lorries to be held on the coastbound carriageway between junctions 8 and 9 if the traffic control approaching the Port of Dover (Dover TAP) fills up. When TAP becomes busy there are occasions when it is necessary to close temporarily  the Roundhill Tunnel at Folkestone as stationary traffic is not allowed to queue in the tunnel. This can sometimes cause disruption on roads in Folkestone.

A letter from the KMRF (PDF, 46KB) to reassure residents in the Folkestone district has been published.

Entry Exit System (EES)

EES was launched on 12 October 2025 after several delays. The new system was phased in over six months, with the aim of being fully operational from 10 April 2026.

EES is an automated IT system for registering travellers from non-EU countries, including the UK, each time they cross a border into or out of the EU. This replaces the previous manual stamping of passports for visitors to the Schengen area who are not nationals of EU or Schengen countries. Manual stamping was viewed by the European Commission as time consuming and unreliable in providing data on border crossings.

This could lead to significant delays and the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee invited representatives from Port of Dover, Eurotunnel, Kent County Council, Dover District Council and town and parish councils to talk about preparedness and share concerns about how the system may affect local communities.

The KMRF is working with central government to reduce the potential disruption. There is more information about EES preparations on the government website and on the Kent County Council website.

Useful links and local contacts

In the event of disruption, please find links to local services should you need to check if there are any changes to services.

Traffic

For the latest updates follow on X: @highwaysSEAST @NationalHways @KentHighways

Public transport

To keep up to date with any service disruption:

Stagecoach Bus

South Eastern Railway

Health services

For further detail please see this link to Folkestone’s Royal Victoria Hospital urgent treatment centre.

Cross channel travel

Eurotunnel

Port of Dover