Consultation starts on Chiltern Line freight terminals

Oxfordshire could become a major rail freight centre if three separate container storage and distribution schemes receive Government planning approval.

All lie within just over a mile of each other, close to the BicesterBanbury-Birmingham Chiltern Main Line, Junction 10 of the M40 motorway, and the disused Upper Heyford airfield.

Oxfordshire Railfreight Ltd began public consultation on May 9 for its six million sq ft warehousing facility at Heyford Park. The other two (3.5 million sq ft and 3 million sq ft respectively) are located at Cherwell Services, two and a half miles north of Bicester. One of these will concentrate on manufacturing, and the other on storage.

The final decision on whether they go ahead rests with the Transport Secretary, as they are labelled nationally significant infrastructure projects.

The rules for major Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges such as this are that the adjacent railway must be capable of handling at least four trains a day, with the warehouses served by the national rail network if at all possible.

However, while there has been talk of extensive motorway and local road improvements for the Bicester area, there is no mention of how (and if) rail capacity will be enhanced.

The Countryside Charity (CC) is already concerned about the impact caused by taking over what are currently greenfield sites.

CC Director Helen Marshall said: “We support the move of freight from road to rail, but we don’t see that this is the right location in terms of good connections into the rail network. We think it could be an excuse to get a roadbased distribution centre pushed through.”

The Countryside Charity also states that there are already three freight terminals within a 30-mile radius of the proposed site.