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The UK government is reportedly considering selling a post-Brexit border check facility in Kent that could fall out of use as a result of this week’s trade pact with the EU.
The site, based in Sevington, Ashford, was erected in 2021 with capacity for 1,300 lorries that were expected to face extra checks on plants and animal goods, including dairy and meat, entering and leaving Britain after Brexit.
However, the deal between the UK and EU struck earlier this week is expected to remove the need for routine health and veterinary certification on the import and export of farm products ranging from fresh meat and dairy products to vegetables, timber, wool and leather.
The government is now looking for a company willing to buy or repurpose the Sevington border control point.
Ministers are said to have approached Eurotunnel directly, according to the Financial Times. The Port of Dover could also be in the running, having been in discussions with the government for years about the site.
The Port of Dover chief executive, Doug Bannister, welcomed the UK government’s deal with the EU. “Clearly there is a lot of detail to work through on how that’s to be implemented and we’re keen to continue our discussions with government for what this means for the BCP [border control post] at Sevington,” he said.
The new UK-EU deal could end up making 41 border control posts, built by British port operators after Brexit, redundant.
The Guardian revealed on Wednesday that a separate £25m post-Brexit border control post in Portsmouth may have to be demolished as a result of the government’s deal with the EU.
The hi-tech facility at the UK’s second busiest cross-Channel terminal was one of more than 100 BCPs around the country built to government specifications to handle post-Brexit checks on imports subject to sanitary and phytosanitary checks.
Boasting 14 lorry bays, Portsmouth’s 8,000 sq metre (86,000 sq ft) border site was designed to allow inspection of low- and high-risk goods in air-lock quarantine zones to prevent cross-contamination.
However, it has been severely underused since it began operating in April last year, after the previous Conservative government’s changes to the post-Brexit import regime, which significantly reduced the number of tests required.
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An average of three checks have been carried out each day at Portsmouth’s control post in the 12 months since it began operating, compared with the 80 a day for which it was built.
It is understood that a decision on whether to close border control posts will depend on the final details of the UK-EU deal. Some checks, including on live animals, are expected to continue.
A government spokesperson said: “This government committed in its manifesto to negotiate an agreement to prevent unnecessary border checks, remove red tape for businesses and help tackle the cost of food, which is what we have delivered on.”
Eurotunnel declined to comment.
