IN Brief:
- Sevington is a core SPS inspection site for Dover and Eurotunnel freight.
- Intelligent Document Processing now automates the first stage of import paperwork checks.
- Ashford Borough Council says official control charges will be held for 2026/27.
Ashford Borough Council has rolled out a new Artificial Intelligence system at the Ashford Port Health Authority’s operation at Sevington Border Control Post, aiming to automate the first stage of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) import checks. The council says the deployment makes Sevington the first UK facility to fully automate the initial stage of import document screening.
The system uses Intelligent Document Processing to capture and structure import documentation, allowing initial compliance checks to be completed without manual intervention. Ashford Borough Council says the tool was developed by observing officers carrying out the existing process, so the automated workflow mirrors established checks, while keeping expert oversight in place for decision-making and escalation.
The change lands at a site that sits at the centre of the UK’s short straits food logistics. Sevington carries out SPS checks on consignments entering Great Britain through the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel, including animal products and high-risk food and feed of non-animal origin, alongside other regulated imports. Government guidance describes Sevington as a Defra inspection post and states that consignments called for SPS checks must attend the site, with importers typically required to submit a Common Health Entry Document (CHED) in advance for SPS-controlled goods.
Ashford Borough Council has previously described the Sevington Border Control Post as among the busiest in the UK, stating that the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel together transport 40% of the UK’s imports of meat and dairy products, and that the port health operation undertakes hundreds of checks on imported food daily on a 24/7 basis. The council has also published capital programme documentation that includes a “Port Health – Installation of AI” line, budgeted at £0.4m, split across financial years.
Ashford Borough Council says productivity gains from the automated document-checking stage will allow it to freeze charges for official controls at current levels, with no inflationary increases for the 2026/27 financial year. Anthony Baldock, corporate director of health and wellbeing at Ashford Borough Council, said: “We are delighted to be at the forefront of the introduction of carefully managed AI to help transform the way we support Border Control services in the UK.”
Baldock added: “The investment in this pioneering technology is already delivering improved productivity across the service allowing the teams to focus on the front-line delivery of services as well as enhanced compliance and an improvement in the speed and quality of official controls.”
