New
industrial warehouses are becoming bigger and more centralised.
The East and West Midlands are favoured because lorries, serving
supermarkets and large retailers, can service the whole country.
The
newest clusters of sheds can be as big as small new towns, and as
high as six storey buildings. They are stuck in the middle of the
countryside near motorways and railway lines and are lit for twenty
four hours a day.
More
have been in the East Midlands but the logistics industry would
like new sites in the West Midlands as well as extensions to existing
terminals, such as Hams Hall and Birch Coppice.
As
part of the Phase 2 Review of the Regional Spatial Strategy the
Regional Assembly is considering the need for sites of over 50 hectares
(known as Regional Logistics Sites) to house new warehouses.
A study
of warehousing for Advantage West Midlands, which considered only
what the industry wanted, is calling for up to six new sites in
the region. The same consultants concluded that a similar number
of sites would be needed in the Eat Midlands.
The
consultants favoured locations for warehousing are along the M6
Toll, as well as the M6 in Warwickshire and Staffordshire. Many
of these would be in green belt.
The
consultants did not consider the social or environmental impacts
of such developments, including not measuring the growth in overall
CO2 emissions that might result from longer journeys (even if a
few are by train).
WM
CPRE believes we should reconsider the need for such huge centralised
depots as part of reducing the impact of freight on the environment.
We want much more stress on sourcing local foods and reducing the
amount goods have to travel.
And in some parts of the region providing smaller warehousing may
be an alternative, particularly in urban areas where large industrial
sites are rare.
Click
Here for our Report on "West Midlands RSS Logistics
Sites"
You
can view our press release
on 14.04.08 here.
13.04.08
|
