Sevington_customs_clearance_facility_and_lorry_park

Sevington

Sevington

Suburb of Ashford, Kent, England

This article is about the village in Kent. For the hamlet in Wiltshire, see Sevington, Wiltshire.

Sevington is a village in the civil parish of Sevington with Finberry, in the Ashford district, in Kent, England.

Quick Facts Area, Population ...

History

The geographically small village of Sevington is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Seivetone. It appears as Seyueton in the Feet of Fines for 1314. The name means "the town or settlement of Sægifu", Sægifu being a woman's name.[2]

In 1872, the village had a population of about 113.[3]

St Mary's Church is the village's Norman parish church. It is a Grade I listed building dating from the 12th century, and has been altered at several times, first around 1200 and a second time in the 14th century, and underwent restoration in 1877 and 1936. The church is cut off from the village by the building of the Southern Orbital road.[4][5]

Geography and economy

Sevington on the Southeastern Main Line.

Much of Sevington's small tract of land is covered by Ashford business park areas which are connected with Ashford by post town status and by its road network, linking them closely with Ashford.

At the start of the 21st century many changes took place in Sevington due to the building of the Orbital Business Park including the Ashford livestock market.

The village/suburb of Willesborough bounds Sevington (along its long north-west border), while the new Finberry neighbourhood is to the south in Mersham but with its own amenities. High Speed 1, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link which adjoins the ordinary railway, passes through the parish.

Customs clearance facility

In 2019, a 11-hectare (27-acre) tract of former farmland at Sevington was put up for sale for property development. Located close to Junction 10A of the M20 motorway, it was marketed as MOJO, an acronym for M20, Junction 10a),[6] In July 2020, the UK Government announced that it had acquired the MOJO site to develop it as a customs clearance facility for inbound freight and a holding area for outbound freight, in preparation for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The site was selected due to its proximity to the Port of Dover.[7][8] The facility has been nicknamed in the media as "the Farage Garage", in reference to the politician Nigel Farage, who has been one of the leading campaigners for Brexit.[9] Commentators in the media have noted that the 13th-century Church of St Mary will be surrounded by the planned lorry park.[10]

As at mid-December 2020, it is forecast to be finished by late February 2021. Although originally intended to be finished by 1 January 2021, heavy rain delayed construction; as a result, the site will temporarily only be used as a holding area, with customs checks being performed in Waterbrook Park nearby.[11]

As of January 2023, the facility is complete but not in any significant use. The Government has repeatedly postponed introduction of import controls, with (at the time) no firm plans to begin such.[12] In July 2023, the Government announced that application of controls on all goods arriving from the EU that are subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls, would begin in autumn 2023.[13]

References

  1. [1]
    Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 10 May 2014
  2. [2]
    Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.413.
  3. [3]
    Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, John Marius Wilson (1872).
  4. [4]
    Historic England. "CHURCH OF ST MARY, Sevington (1233902)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  5. [5]
    KentParishes.gov.uk
  6. [6]
    "Up to 1.2m SQ FT Development opportunity | Mojo Kent". Mojo. Aviva Investors. July 2019. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  7. [7]
    Lisa O'Carroll (10 July 2020). "Vast Brexit customs clearance centre to be built in Kent". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  8. [8]
    Lisa O'Carroll (16 July 2020). "Kent customs facility will also be used as lorry park, minister confirms". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  9. [9]
    "Near U.K.'s Busiest Port, Brexit Hopes Are Layered in Asphalt". New York Times. 8 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  10. [10]
    "The 13th-century church set to be surrounded by a 27-acre Brexit lorry park". Metro. 8 December 2020. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  11. [11]
    "Brexit lorry park won't be complete until February". 14 December 2020.
  12. [12]
    Helm, Toby (21 January 2023). "'It's a farce': the giant Brexit border control site now used to inspect Ukrainian pets". The Observer.
  13. [13]
    Partridge, Joanna (14 July 2023). "Brexit import controls: is the UK ready and will they push up prices?". The Guardian. the government's proposals for its new post-Brexit border strategy beginning this autumn will require all goods arriving from the EU that are subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls – including fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy and plant – to pass through ports or government-operated facilities such as its new inland border control post at Sevington in Kent.

Media related to Sevington at Wikimedia Commons
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