It's feared with congested roads people will avoid the county at all costs.
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00:00 Port delays are known to block Kent's roads, businesses lose out and tourist numbers drop.
00:05 And it could be getting worse with a new EU entry/exit system coming in soon.
00:10 It will see tourists having to have their fingerprints scanned and photographs taken
00:15 to register themselves onto the system. And this could take up to 10 minutes per passenger,
00:22 according to Visit Kent. And that issue has been taken to Parliament.
00:27 That some of the figures I think you've heard quoted around 14 hour delays are being cited.
00:33 That does not seem to us unrealistic. In fact, in some ways that could,
00:38 under some circumstances, if you had extra aggravating pressures,
00:41 weather or whatever, could be worse.
00:44 The head of economic development at Ashford Borough Council told the Common Scrutiny
00:48 Committee meeting that businesses are being impacted every time Operation Brock comes into
00:54 force. So I think the businesses are waiting for the plan and I'm waiting to hear about how the
01:01 potential issues that there may be are going to be resolved. So I think there's
01:04 part of the discussion today and part of your work is around, you know,
01:10 what is going to be coming in and the speed of that and the plan that there is.
01:14 Will the EES cause the same problems as tourism in Kent as the recent delays you've spoken of?
01:23 I think it'll exacerbate it. That's my fear.
01:26 And Kent is home to many tourist destinations. But on traffic chaos days, often their busiest
01:33 period of school holidays, their visitor numbers can drop by 50%.
01:38 We are fortunate to have a number of MPs locally who are quite exercised about this.
01:45 And one of the purposes of yesterday was to bring up the agenda for those who may not be
01:50 aware of the implementation. The fact that the scheme has got kicked down the road a little bit
01:59 may, I think, have given the false impression that this is not happening. But our understanding is
02:04 that it is happening and it's happening in October. When a government spokesperson said
02:08 the entry exit system is an EU programme overseen by the European Commission, with EU member states
02:15 responsible for implementing it at border crossing points. We're working closely with
02:19 the Kent Resilience Forum, as well as other authorities to minimise disruption and delays.
02:25 We don't know the exact date nor the full ins and outs of this border check,
02:30 but it's feared without action, it'll cause chaos on our roads. Gabriel Morris for KMTV.