Portsmouth and Dover have done what they can to prepare for no deal, but say latest funding will make no difference

On a sunny day in Portsmouth, the clouds looming on the horizon provided a fitting metaphor for the feared impact of a no-deal Brexit on the city’s port, the country’s second largest in terms of cross-Channel freight.

Mike Sellers, the director of Portsmouth International Port, believes it is as ready as can be, but the government’s belated offer of £150,000 to assist will make no difference.

“We are confident that we have good contingencies in place, but it’s thanks to the council and local resilience forum,” says Sellers. “If we didn’t have the triage and the holding areas away from the port, we would very quickly block the whole of the traffic coming into the city.”

The triage area on the M275, which runs all the way into Portsmouth, will prevent lorries from advancing to the port without the necessary documentation, redirecting them to a lorry park if necessary, thereby hopefully preventing lengthy queues.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mike Sellers: ‘We are confident we have good contingencies in place.’ Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/Solent News & Photo Agency/Solent News Jordan Pettitt/Solent News

The port lies just 13 lorry lengths from the motorway. This is usually an advantage, but any delays to the speedy roll-on roll-off (“ro-ro”) service could quickly create a backlog. “What is potentially a selling point for us could be the main issue,” says Sellers.

The council has already spent £4m, including £30,000 a day on the triage operation alone, but says that in total the government has agreed to pay it £500,000.

Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, said of the latest tranche of cash: “It’s not much. It really doesn’t touch the sides.”

While the 500 lorries a day the port currently handles is a far cry from the 10,000 at Dover, it remains an important hub. Its ro-ro service makes it popular for fresh “just in time” produce, with 50% of the UK’s banana imports coming through it, while the Channel Islands rely on Portsmouth for 95% of their goods. After Brexit, lorries stuck in queues in Dover could also potentially divert to Portsmouth.

Vernon-Jackson said the preparatory work had been done on the advice of the local resilience forum, describing the Department for Transport’s planning as “optimistic and completely unrealistic”.

Referring to the infamous Seaborne Freight deal, he said: “They were happy to give £10m of taxes to a company with no ferries to run ferries, but not money the council have spent.”

On the streets of nearby Portsea, home to HMS Victory and the Spinnaker Tower, members of the public, whatever their politics, echoed his dissatisfaction.

Irek Ostrowski, who is originally from Poland but has lived in Portsmouth for 14 years, is hoping Brexit will not happen. However, the 48-year-old factory worker added: “If Brexit is coming, everyone must be prepared for it, but Portsmouth council doesn’t have a lot of money. For people who live in Portsmouth, it [the unfunded £3.5m] is money that could be spent on building new schools.”

Brenda Tregarthern, 69, a retired youth worker, by contrast said she was “all for Brexit” but nevertheless agreed with his sentiments. “It’s a decision we’ve made, the government, the British people,” she said. “It should be government money, not Portsmouth city council money.”

Dover

Elias Eliades, 36, from Dover, voted to leave the EU because he wanted a change. But he didn’t vote for this, he says. By this, he means the queues of traffic and congestion that the port is expected to bring to the Kent town, where he has lived all his life.

Eliades owns a restaurant by the port called the Happy Chef, and worries about the impact on future business.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Elias Eliades: ‘There is already a massive volume of traffic. Brexit will only make it worse.’ Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

“There is already a massive volume of traffic going to Dover port,” he says. “Brexit will only make it worse. It’s obviously not helping local business because people can’t move anywhere. People are irate.

“It could affect my deliveries,” he says. “That would mean limiting my menu, my business, ultimately my income.”

Eliades says that he voted to leave because he sees the EU as overly bureaucratic. But he believes that a no-deal Brexit would mean chaos in Dover.

“Who knows what will happen? Under a no-deal Brexit, the ball will no longer be in our court. We have no power,” he says. “It’s not that I don’t agree with it, but if the government isn’t able to anticipate what sort of delays are coming and to put the relevant plans in place, things will get even worse.”

His thoughts are echoed by others in the town, where more than 10,000 lorries pass through every day.

Dover is the gateway between Britain and continental Europe, and Kent county council has been preparing for queues that could stretch up to 25 miles along the M20 when existing border arrangements change as a result of Britain’s exit from the EU.

On Wednesday the government announced £9m in funding for local councils to alleviate stresses caused at the ports by Brexit.

Kent will receive £2.6m of that, as it is home to a number of significant ports, such as Dover plus the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone and the international stations at Ashford and Ebbsfleet.

Charlotte Cornell, who is Labour’s parliamentary candidate in the Conservative-held seat of Dover, says the money will amount to little once it is divided up.

“This is some very expensive icing on a very rotten cake. Dover and Folkestone will get £300,000 each while the remaining Kent districts will get a paltry £70,000 each. That won’t scratch the surface when it comes to building the major infrastructure that we need to deal with this.”

John Sharp, 39, finds the sums involved laughable. “£2.6m? We literally need more roads. A separate road around the whole of Dover just for the cars and lorries wouldn’t go amiss,” he says.

Tom, who did not wish to give his last name, says that the congestion will harshly affect the daily life of locals: “When the border checks are increased, there will be more delays. You won’t be able to get around any of these roads within holiday season.

“People will avoid the town centre, people won’t be able to get to work. A five-minute drive ends up taking an hour and a half. You end up parking your car on the other side of Dover and walking,” he says.

Sharp voted to leave the European Union, but is embarrassed about the government’s inability to properly prepare. “It makes me feel like they’re incompetent,” he says. “It doesn’t give me any hope for the future.”