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Consolidation centre plan for Southampton
Page 14
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The council has earmarked a site for the scheme outside the city and is now seeking business partners and EU funding. Louise Cole reports.
SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL (SCC) is seeking business partners for a consolidation .3entre outside the city which it hopes to have running by 2009.
Councillor and cabinet member For transport and the environment Gavin Dick says the scheme las already attracted one major ommercial partner. Now SCC s seeking others, although Dick ;ays the centre .:ould run with a ;ingle partner. He idds that it could Afer efficiencies .0 the whole city "not just retail, )ut the university, lotels and the :ouncil. There are LOU commercial )uildings in the :entre which take leliveries."
A site has been :armarked and here have been suggestions that it viii be on the M27:1'his would be ogical but Dick stresses that such uggestions are simply rumours.
The council is trying to assess the ;ost of the consolidation centre but topes that none of it will be paid or by domestic taxes. "The next ound of EU funding becomes
• SOG's Gavin Dick
available in 2008 and we hope to benefit from that." says Dick. Southampton is looking for other cities to become partners within the UK and on the Continent to secure a higher level of funding.
Any shortfall in costs \\ ill theoretically be covered by its participants. Our current partner believes that the efficiencies it will gain from the consolidation centre will save it money," says Dick, not least because the centre will allow for 24/7 deliveries.
However the received wisdom about consolidation centres is that while they bring long-term environmental and social benefits, they add to transport costs. Dick explains that Southampton's medieval streets are not suited to LGV traffic and "a single truck in Bedford Place can tie up traffic for three hours", forcing up costs to suppliers and operators alike.