In July, the UK and France reached a new deal where it was agreed that Britain will return a small number of people who arrive via small boats and, in return, it will accept an equal number of asylum seekers currently in France whose claims are likely to be accepted. Bates has concerns over the lack of clarity in how the deal will be implemented.

“What does one-out-one-in mean?” he asks “Last night they declared that they’d detained all the latest number of immigrants, but how long are they going to be detained for? There’s no real clarity in what the government’s current proposals mean, so until we can see what impact they actually have and how they operate, it’s hard to say. They’re hiding behind the excuse that they don’t want to give too much information out to the traffickers.

“Back in the early 2000s, bilateral discussions with the French led to the Le Touquet Treaty, which helped reduce clandestine entries via freight and anyone found automatically got handed to the French before they had the opportunity to arrive here. That was immensely successful but since then traffickers shifted to using boats, which has created new challenges. The option of coming by sea has proved to be not as dangerous as they had considered, and it’s worth taking the risk.”

The councillor supports detaining migrants upon arrival until their asylum claims are processed, and believes those whose claims are denied should remain in detention until they are removed from the country.

He says:”There has to be a process; otherwise it’s not going to work. What the solution is going to be, I don’t know, but if you want a proper deterrent, when migrants arrive, they have to be detained until a decision is made about their asylum claim, and those refused should be detained until removal.

“It’s not a nice thing to do, but immigration is a very difficult area, and I think that’s the only way in which you can provide the deterrent, and if the Government moves along those lines, you may see things here change quite rapidly.

“I think the issues that they have got in France at the moment are legal ones, which are not providing them with the opportunities to actually go and turn the boats back. I think that’s the thing that they’re trying to resolve.”

Immigration isn’t the only issue creating unwanted headlines on the Kent coast.

Traffic in Dover has worsened significantly in recent years due to a perfect storm of overlapping pressures from post-Brexit customs checks, surging freight demand and delayed infrastructure upgrades. The EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), set to come into force in the coming months, is expected to make things even worse in the first few weeks of its implementation.

Operation Brock, a traffic management system that closes part of the M20 motorway to hold freight vehicles heading for the Port of Dover, has been in place for much of this month. Long lines of lorries have been backed up along the route. Though intended as a contingency plan, it has become a regular fixture of life in this part of Kent and a visible symbol of how Dover bears the brunt of policy shifts.

Bates says: “Traffic issues are always a big concern, especially at the start of the summer season. We had a particularly challenging weekend a couple of weeks ago but overall Kent County Council has coordinated things relatively well. While problems arise at certain times of the year, they’re not consistent.”

He expresses concerns about the new EU Entry/Exit System potentially worsening delays and what that would entail for people travelling by ferry with their cars.

Sitting by the sea and enjoying the fresh sea air, Klara Nelson, 84, and her former colleague Peter Kershaw, 86, recall that just weeks ago, shops didn’t open due to massive traffic jams. Klara taught physics, and Peter taught maths at Dover College.

Peter says: “I was at home the other week and I walked up to a supermarket, Morrisons, and the traffic was totally motionless.”

Klara, who lives in Dover and left Czechoslovakia during the Soviet invasion, tells the Express: “We have very bad press. Whenever they talk about Dover, they talk about the boats. They don’t talk about how beautiful it is with the good sea air and the beautiful beach. It is my favourite seaside town in the UK.

“The castle, watching the ferries coming in, you can’t beat it. We have bad press, but in a way that’s good, as it means we’re not too overcrowded. There are no local businesses anymore, but that’s not Dover, that’s global. I don’t think we are any exception.”

She suggests that introducing national ID cards in the UK could reduce illegal crossings, arguing that without such documentation, it’s difficult to track individuals once they arrive and says she has raised the issue with her local MP.

One longtime resident who asked not to be named says that Dover used to be a “thriving” town with the key attractions being its castle and the white cliffs, but she claims that the crossings and traffic issues have put a strain on local services and have impacted tourism.

She says: “It did used to be a thriving town at one time but you can see for yourself that there’s no shops in the town. When it’s all bunged up, the town just stops. That has only really come to a head the last two or three years.

“There is a standstill also because they’re so busy down by the dock sorting all the immigrants out, and we can’t see doctors because of that, and it’s just daily things like that.”

The Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) supports young refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived in the UK alone, often after surviving unimaginable trauma. Based in Canterbury and Folkestone, KRAN works closely with young people, helping them navigate the daunting realities of life in a new country.

CEO Razia Shariff tells the Express: “The biggest issues for us would be the need to change the landscape and the legislative framework and the political narrative and discourse in the UK. It makes it much more challenging and difficult because we know that we’ve got a support mechanism that actually is against refugees and asylum seekers.

“In the past, we’ve worked very closely with Kent County Council and collaborated with their officers in order to support our young people and ensure that the duty of care is adhered to. I think it’s going to be much more difficult to be able to do that but we’re still waiting to see what changes they make.”

In recent years, she says the political climate around immigration has hardened, especially in Kent, where tensions have sometimes erupted into outright hostility. During last year’s riots in parts of the UK, KRAN had to cancel youth activities to protect staff and students, and Shariff, who has lived in the UK her entire life, was scared to even walk her dog.

She says: “We’ve had threatening voicemails, hate mail and handwritten letters through the door. People are saying they deserve to die. There were so many random acts of violence. People were using the riots as an excuse to just attack anyone.”

She adds that what’s often missing from the conversation is a recognition of the basic humanity of those affected, many of whom have endured unimaginable trauma, adding that the only real difference between them and others is simply where they were born.

Shariff says: “I totally disagree with the commodification of people as humans. Under the UN Convention, they have a right to seek asylum wherever they want to.”

She adds that the idea that refugees must present official documents, like passports, before seeking asylum is unrealistic and unfair. Many young people fleeing war or persecution simply don’t have access to such paperwork, as some never had it to begin with, while others lost it during their journey or had it stolen.

She stresses that expecting a complete paper trail discriminates against those whose circumstances make it impossible to meet such requirements. Shariff explains that young refugees often don’t feel trauma until they start to settle, and feeling unsafe and unwelcome makes it even harder. KRAN supports them with services and activities to help them thrive and access education. T

She adds: “They’re so resilient. I don’t know how they do it but they still show up. They still try and they still hope.”

He highlights the stark contrast between the privilege of those who swim the Channel and the perilous journeys others make crossing the same waters in the opposite direction.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that at least 82 migrants died in 2024, marking it as the deadliest year on record. By August 11, 2025 at least 20 more deaths had occurred on this route, bringing the total number of migrant fatalities since 2018 to 249.

Gewert adds: “This piece of water here is the world’s number one bucket list for long-distance swimming. People come from all over the world to swim the Channel — it’s become the number one ultra-marathon swim. We pay thousands of pounds to do it, train for it, and have the privilege to be able to do it. I think there’s an irony here as, meanwhile, people on the other side are risking their lives going the opposite way.”

Gewert has also been affected by Dover’s traffic and congestion problems. Whenever he travels down from Cambridge, he has completely stopped using his car and now relies solely on the train.

He adds: “Last weekend, the traffic was absolute pandemonium on the streets. Everyone was late for swimming.”

Pandemonium seems the new normal for Dover. For so many here, being known for its castle and cliffs must seem such a distant memory.