Huge rail freight depot would create 8,400 jobs
Likely to have massive impact on environment and traffic
Plan would create:
14 warehouses including largest building in county New slip roads for M69 Station for ½-mile long trains
DEVELOPERS have revealed more than 8,000 jobs could be created by a huge industrial complex and rail freight terminal off the M69 in Leicestershire.
The proposed employment park would cover some 440 acres of what is predominantly farmland in a wedge between the motorway and the Leicester to Hinckley railway line to the south of Elmesthorpe village.
The site has been earmarked for the potential development for some time but now the firm behind the venture – DB Symmetry - has revealed more details of about it in a document submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.
Though the site sits within the borders of Blaby District Council it will be the Planning Inspectorate, ie the Government, that determines whether it is allowed to proceed rather than local councillors.
This is because the project is deemed to be a potentially vital part of the nation’s infrastructure.
It would include a 1,500,000 square foot warehouse which it is understood would be the largest building in Leicestershire.
The rail interchange would be capable of accommodating trains half a mile in length.
Borough councillor David Bill (Lib Dem) is worried the development will be built without residents getting a proper say.
He said: “It’s such a massive development on our doorstep and there’s been no local consultation about it at all.
“The whole system is ridiculous - when you build a house the first thing that happens is your neighbours are notified and get a say.
“We are alarmed that if the freight depot proceeds it will totally dwarf the Burbage Com- mon area.
“Members of the planning committee have been sent letters about it today (March 20), and that’s fine, but the people who are going to be most affected by it are the people who live here.”
DB Symmetry was looking at an alternative site in Warwickshire between Nuneaton and the M69 but the submission of the new scoping document to the Planning Inspectorate indicates the site south east of Hinckley is now the preferred location.
Access from the complex to the M69 would be via a new dual carriageway road and new southern slip roads would be built at Junction 2 of the motorway.
The company has said it is not yet in a position to comment but its plans say 850,000 square metres of warehouses are proposed with a potential workforce of 8,400 on site.
The massive scale of the scheme means it will have a considerable impact on the environment, landscape, and roads in the area.
Blaby District Council leader Terry Richardson said: “There are so many imponderables on this and it will be quite a long drawn out planning process.
“We are still waiting for more information on what it will look like, how many vehicles will be coming in and out, when they will be coming in and out.
“With something like this the gut instinct is to say we don’t like it but we haven’t seen all the details.
“We don’t know what infrastructure improvements it will bring and as a council we need to make sure people have access to jobs.
“It will be strange because we are just a statutory consultee on this rather than the planning authority.
“We hope our voice will be heard but we still need the information so we can decide what our voice would be saying.”
A formal planning application will be submitted in May or June 2019 with a decision being made in the spring or summer of 2020.
Currently DB Symmetry is in the pre-application stage and must set out proposals for consulting residents and councils on the project next month.
The company will then start consultation in June this year.