The developer behind a planned £750m rail freight hub in the west Leicestershire countryside says the scheme will provide many benefits to the area.
Management at Tritax Symmetry said they believe the 440 acre development, on green fields just east of Hinckley, will take HGVs off the roads and create thousands of jobs.
They also said the scheme would represent £750 million of private investment into Leicestershire including £70 million in local infrastructure. A previous figure of £550 million was put on the scheme.
They said rail freight produces a quarter of the CO2 emissions of HGVs, and the scheme would remove up to 300,000 lorry trips per year from the roads.
A planning inspector will decide next month if the Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange should go through to the next round of consultations. If that happens there will be a six-month examination phase including hearings, later this year, with a decision expected by the middle of next year.
The development – on the Birmingham-to-Leicester freight line – would have new access to the M69 and be big enough to accommodate up to 16 half-a-mile-long trains every day. Buildings would cover more than 9.1 million sq ft and be up to 91ft high.
The scale of the project has attracted criticism from people including South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa who said 1,600 people, out of 2,000 that replied to a survey he put out, were against it.
Blaby District Council is a consultee on the plans. Its leader Coun Terry Richardson has publicly criticised the adequacy of a previous consultation adding that the plans were “the source of great concern for many residents in our district”.
Nick Payne, development director at Tritax Symmetry said the scheme was about “investing in Leicestershire, the environment and the future”.
He said: “Our plan will deliver thousands of jobs, new apprenticeships and skills development as well as huge carbon savings by HGVs off local roads.
“Over the past few years, we’ve undertaken three rounds of consultation, issued thousands of letters to local communities, held a number of face-to-face meetings and spoken with businesses, politicians and community groups and we will continue to engage as our plans progress.
“We also recently polled over a thousand local residents across South Leicestershire and Hinckley and Bosworth, who are keen to see new investment in the area that our scheme could deliver.
“The submission of our DCO application is the first step in delivering on our plans to invest in Leicestershire and create opportunities for local people.”
