Speedy Dover border processing zone which plans to axe waiting times ‘needs French approval’

Plans for a new border processing zone at the Port of Dover will require French approval before getting the go-ahead, a Minister has claimed.

Immigration Minister Semma Malhotra claimed she was “very hopeful” Paris would reach a solution over the Kent port.

She added: “The reason we need to be confident is that we all share the same goals, that we want EES to be implemented as smoothly as possible.

“We want the risk of delays for travellers to the EU to be as little as possible.”

The new entry and exit system, which will come into force on November 10, will require all passengers without EU passports to have their fingerprints and pictures taken.

Work is already underway to construct a processing area that will enable car passengers to complete new EU border formalities.

However, “juxtaposed” border controls in Dover and significantly constrained space spark further fears of queues.

Granville Dock is being filled in to create a processing area with EES ­kiosks for passengers.

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The old cargo dock in the port’s western area is around the size of five football pitches.

It is expected that the facility could be ready as early as late April next year.

However, the French Interior Ministry must grant permission to carry out the checks at the new site.

Despite taking place on British soil, checks require the presence of Police Aux Frontieres.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Government yesterday announced an extra funding pot of £10.5million for the Port of Dover, the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone and the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras to help avoid queues when the new system is introduced.

The £3.5million allocated to Dover will be spent on the Granville project.

But the Government is coming under pressure to solve the problem, with leaders of Ashford Borough Council writing to MPs about the prospect of 15-hour queues in January.

Dover’s chief operations officer Emma Ward, who described the Granville project as a “game-changer”, claimed: “Time is ticking on and we need the permission now really to be able to deliver what we want, which is kiosks that people can park at and complete the EES.”

However, Folkestone’s Getlink is celebrating its achievement of already completing its work on an EES processing area after installing 106 kiosks in a purpose-built hangar.