The Dover District Council (DDC) and the area’s Port Health Authority (PHA) are considering taking legal action against the government over the movement of checks on food imports to a new inland border facility based in Sevington, 22 miles from Dover.
Food supply risks
The PHA argues that the move away from health checks at the port of entry puts its ability to perform its legal duty of ensuring a safe UK food supply at risk. The council and PHA are both publicly calling for the government to reconsider the move to Sevington, the BBC reports.
The head of the PHA, Lucy Manzano, told the BBC that “for the first time ever, food from the rest of the world will be able to arrive at Dover, and leave Dover, without any checks at all to travel into Great Britain”.
"That is not allowed at any other port in the UK. And that is an entirely new gap that is being created. Without controlling it at the border, that [food] is free to disappear into Great Britain.
"You could say the field gate has been left completely open. There are no controls between here, the point of entry, and Sevington.”
Funding cut
The move comes as the government also intends to cut the port’s funding by 70%, which Manzano says redoubles the risks introduced by the movement of checks.
A cut of £3m in funding for checks at the port will “severely deplete” council funding reserves, the DDC has said. This shortfall will have to be made up from council taxes.
The council’s deputy leader, Jamie Pout, argued that it was not acceptable to ask Dover taxpayers to foot the bill for checks of national importance. He suggested the PHA would now "have to make serious decisions about port health services in this district".
The PHA has said that it is likely to be using almost half (47%) of Dover’s council tax income on port checks by 2025/26.
Checks for African Swine Fever, which has been affecting agriculture in parts of western Europe, remain the responsibility of those at Dover. While the disease does not affect humans, it could have serious implications for agriculture, and Manzano said last month that "if it lands here, it will result in UK culling programmes, export bans and will absolutely have devastating consequences for our pig farmers, our wild pig community and our reputation”.
DEFRA responds
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) responded by saying:
"Part of this package enabled port health authorities to support Border Force with enforcing the temporary measures on pork products from the EU designed to address the risks from African Swine Fever."
"We recognise the strategic importance of the Port of Dover and are continuing to work with the port authority on future support options.”
Sir Robert Goodwill, chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said last week that the unsupervised journey across Kent that will now be required of vehicles carrying imported goods presents “potentially serious biosecurity risks, [while] also compromising compliance”.
The Dover PHA has yet to respond to a Daily Update request for comment.