APF The British-funded ‘Great Wall of Calais’ was completed on Friday

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Work on the much-criticised, UK-funded anti-intrusion wall, dubbed the ‘Great Wall of Calais,’ finished on Monday, a spokesperson for the Calais prefecture said. The four-metre high, 1km-long ‘anti-migrant’ wall cost British taxpayers around £2million. It was erected along the approach road to the French port of Calais in a bid to stop immigrants from sneaking into UK-bound lorries in a desperate attempt to reach Britain. “The wall has been built, construction work is over,” the prefecture spokesperson said.

APF The 13ft-high concrete wall goes along the main motorway in northern France

The local official said that the concrete wall would now be lined with plants and vegetation to “minimise the visual impact”. Work on the controversial barrier started on September 20, just weeks before the French government demolished the squalid ‘Jungle’ shanty town, which was home to thousands of UK-bound immigrants and was located in close proximity to the Franco-British border in Calais. Pro-immigrant activists said that the anti-migrant wall would no longer be needed once the refugee camp had been dismantled. Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said that the 4million barrier was a “poor use of taxpayers’ money”.

APF It is around six weeks since the refugee and migrant camp known as The Jungle was closed down

We've done the fence, now we are doing a wall Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill

Calais’s hardline mayor, Natacha Bouchart, added that locals felt “trapped” by the wall and threatened to issue an 'anti-wall' decree to stop all ongoing construction work. Her threat, however, was widely ignored. But both French and British officials argued that, as a border town, Calais remained the main gateway into the UK, and that the wall would prevent refugees from entering Britain illegally and deter people smugglers. Jean-Marc Puissesseau, chief executive of the port of Calais, added that the anti-intrusion wall was an “important tool” that would help “boost border security”. In November, a Lille court ruled that there was “no legal basis” for the UK to stop all ongoing construction work. Judges added that Calais would always be a hotspot for migrants wanting to enter the UK, and that the wall would help “prevent road accidents and stem the tide of illegal immigration”.