March of the mega-depots?

9 December 2005

A series of gigantic, land-hungry distribution depots with vast warehouses — the biggest buildings in Britain — are proposed in a study commissioned by the West Midland planners. [1]

Dozens of such 'mega-depots' for food and goods have sprung up on greenfield sites across England over the past two decades. CPRE [2] sees them as a major threat to the countryside and the wider environment.

Out-of-town development of superstores and shopping malls is now tightly controlled by planners. But because the mega-depots are so big, so anti-social and demand to be closely connected to the motorway network, they tend to sited on greenfield out-of-town sites.

Developers also want to site them close to large towns and cities. So they are highly likely to threaten designated Green Belt land which should be kept free of development.

The study, commissioned by the West Midlands Regional Assembly, claims up to five 'Regional Logistics Sites' are needed in the region by 2021 and planners should identify suitable sites. Each would cover at least 50 hectares but 'the bigger the better'.[3] It says they should be connected to the highways and railway networks and would need some 330 hectares of land in total — about one square mile and equivalent to a small town.

Although the mega-depots should be railway connected most freight will continue to arrive and leave by road.[4] Just one 50 hectare mega-depot would generate 1,500 lorry journeys a day — equivalent to one every minute if spread evenly through 24 hours.

But to avoid road congestion these journeys are mostly at night. So the depots operate '24 hours a day, seven days a week' [5] and need powerful floodlighting, adding to light pollution. They produce lots of noise, so need to be sited well away from housing.[6]

Each depot would have a few gigantic, six storey high warehouses, each with up to 100,000 square metres — or one million square feet — of indoor floor space; equivalent to 14 football pitches. Developers require an even larger outdoor area for containers, internal roads and railway sidings and for lorry parking.

The consultants who wrote the study say the move towards ever-larger warehouses reflects the decline in UK manufacturing, growing volumes of imported products and the unending search for economies of scale in distributing goods. 'Essentially, greater volumes are being handled by fewer organisations at fewer locations'[7].

Supermarket chains —- a driving force behind the growth of mega-depots — are selling more and more non-food items and are tending to source these from overseas, particularly the Far East, to keep prices down. But this increases the environmental impact of transporting them.

The study does not address the impacts on road congestion, nor the environment — including 'greenhouse gas' emissions, nor the impacts on countryside and urban regeneration.

The West and East Midlands already have several such distribution depots, such as Hams Hall on the eastern side of Birmingham, close to the M42 and the new M6 toll motorway. Almost any motorway journey across England now offers a view of several. Most are much smaller than the mega-depots proposed in the study.

The West Midlands, sited at the centre of England, has become a national leader in providing depots. But, say the consultants, the region must plan for a new generation of mega-depots if it is to maintain its competitive edge. Since the market demands them, they must be built.[8] 'Very large warehouses of up to 100,000 square metres can be expected to be demanded by the market in the near future', says the study.[9]

The consultants identify eight broad 'areas of search' within the region for the five Regional Logistics Sites they propose. Together, these areas cover most of the West Midlands with Staffordshire and parts of Warwickshire particularly vulnerable.

Much of the undeveloped land with the potential for warehousing has been designated as Green Belt and much is along the M6 toll motorway, now acting as a catalyst for greenfield development despite reassurances that it would not.

The study will feed into a revision of West Midlands planning policies —- the Regional Spatial Strategy —- which is now underway. The Regional Assembly has not commissioned any consultancy work to examine the environmental impacts of these mega-depots.

Gerald Kells, CPRE's West Midlands Regional Policy Officer, said:

'With so few brownfield sites which are big enough and close enough to motorways and railways we must challenge the policy of ever larger warehouses and depots and concentrate on more environmentally friendly solutions to freight issues.

'Large scale warehousing has a huge impact on the countryside, damaging its tranquillity, adding to congestion problems and increasing emissions of climate-changing carbon dioxide.

'What's worrying is that this study can suggest such large impacts on the environment without any work to assess that impact. The study also demonstrates what we have always warned; that new roads in the countryside such as the M6 toll spawn new intrusions which undermine the claimed goals to reduce congestion.'

CPRE wants to see supermarkets promoting and building up sales of local food. This would strengthen local rural economies, help conserve traditional farmed landscapes and reduce the growth in long distance lorry transport.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. West Midlands Regional Logistics Study Stage 2, A Technical Report Prepared for West Midlands Employment Land Advisory Group. Final Report. By MDS Transmodal Limited, Savills, Regeneris Consulting. West Midlands Regional Logistics Study, on the West Midlands Regional Assembly website.

2. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Sir Max Hastings. Patron: Her Majesty the Queen.

3. 'In our view, a competitive site is one which is at least 50 hectares in size.. in many ways 'the bigger the better', and 50 hectares should be seen as the absolute minimum.' Page 29 of the study.

4. Page 5.

5. 'Distribution activity needs to operate 24 hours a day, seven days per week.' Page 30.

6. 'All these activities...cause noise and visual pollution. Competitive logistics sites are therefore located away from residential areas....' Page 31.

7. Page 22.

8. 'Improving the West Midland's competitive position as a logistics location can only be achieved through the provision of sites and facilities which address future market need.' Page 3.

9. Page 4.

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