IMPACT OF THE CHANNEL TUNNEL

The Channel Tunnel Bill.gained Royal Consent on 29- July 1987, and construction works began the following day - indeed the contractors sought to start a month earlierI The physical works for the tunnel are now nearing completion. For such an immense engineering project, with the workforce travelling in shifts up to 17km out under the sea to the halfway point, the direct landward works impact in East Kent have been quite limited.

The terminal at Folkestone has transformed some 140ha at the foot of the North Downs, but this is a confined site, one fifth the size of the French terminal. A platform some 1.5km long and 0.3km wide has been formed at the foot of the White Cliffs at Dover, created from the tunnel spoil behind a new sea wall. This was needed as a construction site, and will retain huge ventilation, and cooling buildings and emergency access. The larger part of the platform will be landscaped, grassed and available for public access, and despite its size the platform is dwarfed by the cliffs and fits into the scale of the scenery. The other construction sites are temporary, although the construction camp site will go to a built use, and the main access road may be retained.