| |
|
Liverpool Daily Post , 28 February 2007
RESIDENTS were urged yesterday not to stand in the way of £400m plans for a rail freight terminal in Merseyside which will create 10,000 jobs.
The project - called Parkside 2010 - is earmarked for an abandoned former colliery site in St Helens and was officially launched at a House of Commons reception.
Labour MP David Watts said the scheme was a "unique" opportunity to ease congestion and pollution by shifting 500,000 lorry miles from road to rail every year.
But no fewer than 1,4000 people have objected to the proposal, including 400 in Mr Watts' constituency of St Helens North.
The row will inevitably be settled at a public inquiry, but objections could drag out the process, pushing back the planned opening date beyond 2010.
Mr Watts said: "Building this sort of infrastructure is bound to cause some problems with local residents, but I believe this is a unique site.
"If we don't develop this facility, we will continue to have problems with pollution and congestion which we see now on a daily basis."
That message was echoed by Lord Evans of Parkside, Mr Watts' predecessor as MP, who said: "I always wanted to see this site redeveloped and this will achieve it."
Around 800 jobs were lost in the early 1990s when the Parkside Colliery shut, despite its miners working through the 1984-5 strike because no ballot was held. |
