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A proposal to replace the congestion-easing police initiative Operation Stack in Kent with a vast lorry park is to be announced next month.

Kent County Council says it has drawn up a shortlist of sites along the M20 that could be converted into a park for four thousand vehicles. It adds VOSA has also expressed interest in using the site for carrying out roadworthiness checks of vehicles coming out of Dover port.

However, the enforcement agency's need for the site to be located  close to the port but also far enough away for it to direct HGVs off the M20 could clash with the council's own ideas about where the park should be located.

Keith Ferrin, cabinet member of highways for the council says: "We are certainly aware of the VOSA proposal. They need a certain distance between the tunnel and the inspection site to be able to identify the vehicles and then take them off the M20. That creates a slight problem, because you need a certain amount of motorway to do that."

Ferrin says the council has narrowed down a shortlist of sites between Maidstone and Dover along the M20 and goes as far as saying a potential site situated near a service station in this area has been identified. He adds: "It would make good sense if VOSA's [plan] could be combined with a Stack site and overnight parking.

"[The park] will help us with Operation Stack for a few years, but traffic's growing it won't help us forever."