Wakefield: the clearing house of Britain?
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WAKEFIELD could soon be famous for something other than its Rugby League team— for if the planners have their way it will become the freight distribution centre of Britain.
A scheme is well under way to build a £15m freight interchange in the area. It will be the first of its kind in the country and will act as a glorified clearing house for goods being moved within Britain and to and from Europe and the USA.
When fully developed the interchange will provide 1 im square feet of warehousing, distribution and assembly accommodation together with bonded warehouses and customs facilities, shops, banks, a hotel and restaurant and medical facilities.
All this will be on a 60-acre site at Whitwood and a spokesman for Wakefield Metropolitan District Council told CM that the purchase of the land should be completed in the next few days.
It will be closely based on the design of the similar project which has been successfully established on the outskirts of Paris by the French firm Garonor.
In fact Garonor will have a big say in the way the Whitwood project evolves. They were commissioned by the council to produce a viability scheme for the project, which showed that there was substantial potential, and also came up with a basic development scheme.
Now the council and Garonor are engaged in negotiations which could lead to the French firm directing the whole operation.
Mr Peter Spawforth, chief planning officer for Wakefield Council, said that the area's destiny as a distribution centre is self evident.
"Already flanked by the M1 motorway to the west and by the Al trunk road to the east, Wakefield has had its communication network further enhanced by the M62 motorway linking the Humber ports and the Common Market countries beyond.
"At its other extreme it links to the Mersey and the Atlantic routes. One Wakefield slogan is the ' The cross-roads of Britain,' as the roads stretching out from the city ensure easy and speedy access to all parts of the country."
Garonor had recognised that Wakefield was an ideal springboard to reach any part of the country or the Continent of Europe. In addition to the motorways it also has mainline and rail freight facilities, and a canal provides another outlet to the Humber ports.
Mr Spawforth said that the interchange would be a fully integrated transport centre. Within its boundaries would be brought together the services of transport groups, manufacturers and customs, as well as the facilities essential to their activities.
It was proposed to provide both standard buildings and purpose-built units to meet the needs of individual operators, in sizes ranging from 3,000soft up to 100,000scift.