THE first stage of plans have been formally submitted for the creation of a huge rail freight interchange.

Intermodal Logistics Park North has submitted a scoping opinion for an environmental impact assessment to Warrington Borough Council.

This is for land to the west of Parkside Road and Winwick Lane, and to the east of the M6 and Newton-le-Willows.

The land included falls under land within the boundaries of Warrington, St Helens and Wigan local authorities.

Parkside, the site including the former colliery site which continues to undergo significant industrial development, has freeport status and was reserved for rail development in the Local Plan adopted in 2022.

It was previously reported that the rail freight terminal situated close to Manchester United's Old Trafford ground could be relocated to Parkside to enable a project to see the club develop a new stadium.

A strategic rail freight interchange is a large, multipurpose freight interchange and distribution centre linked to both the rail and road systems.

Documents in the application state that such interchanges propose to reduce the cost of moving freight by rail and encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail.

The rail freight interchange proposal qualifies as a ‘nationally significant infrastructure project’.

Accordingly, an application for a ‘development consent order’ is to be made to the Planning Inspectorate.

Before making this application, an environmental impact assessment will be undertaken to provide sufficient information about the likely environmental effects.

These first set of plans are for the applicant to establish the scope and level of detail of the environmental impact assessment.

The majority of the main site is said to comprise of agricultural fields used for arable crops, with some small patches of woodland in the east.

There are also a number of residential properties, farmsteads and a commercial yard within the main site.

The proposed rail terminal would serve up to 16 trains per day, plans state, including ancillary development such as container storage, cranes for the loading and unloading of shipping containers, HGV parking and a rail control building with staff facilities.

Moreover, the site would accommodate up to 687,500 square metres of warehouses and ancillary buildings.