WHITEMOOR RAIL RECYCLING CENTRE PROMISES ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BOOST FOR MARCH: Whitemoor Yard - aerial view

Wednesday 9 Sep 2009

WHITEMOOR RAIL RECYCLING CENTRE PROMISES ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BOOST FOR MARCH

Region & Route:
Eastern: Anglia
| Eastern

Network Rail will provide an economic and environmental boost to March in Cambridgeshire if given the go-ahead to build a state-of-the-art railway recycling centre at its Whitemoor Yard depot.

The company is promising to build on the new jobs and environmental initiatives put in place when Whitemoor Yard was reopened to great fanfare in 2004. This saw a multimillion pound signalling project successfully commissioned, improving reliability for both freight and passenger trains throughout the March area. As well as creating 40 new jobs in the town, Network Rail also invested more than £2m on enhancements to the local area such as a cycle path, a direct link road to the A141 and a conservation area for animal and plant species, including acid grassland and great crested newts.

The second phase of development at Whitemoor would put the yard at the very heart of Network Rail’s efforts to make the railway even greener. The national railway recycling centre would save over 50,000 tonnes of materials going to landfill every year, removing thousands of unnecessary lorry journeys for the roads and providing a new local source of aggregate for Cambridgeshire’s construction industry. And for March in particular, it would bring another 25 permanent jobs to the town.

David Millar, Development Manager, Network Rail said: “When Network Rail reopened Whitemoor Yard in 2004 we brought more than 40 new jobs to March and provided a huge boost to the local economy. It was always our intention to build on this success with further jobs for the community and I am delighted to confirm that we are looking to create a further 25 jobs in March.

“More than 3,500 people joined Network Rail five years ago to celebrate the opening of the Whitemoor Distribution centre. There is clearly huge support for the railways among the local community and we look forward to the day when we can welcome everyone back to our clean, green, national recycling centre.”

Network Rail have pledged to continue the work begun in 2004 to protect and promote environmental diversity in and around the site, creating an additional new drainage pond which will not only become a home for any great crested newts relocated from the recycling centre site but will also help protect the local area from flooding. A detailed plan setting out Network Rail’s commitment to monitor wildlife and manage the landscape around the site is also being discussed with Natural England and the Wildlife Trust. In addition, the company is making a contribution towards the provision of the proposed March Country Park.

Network Rail have tried to give the local community as much information as possible about the project and held a three-day public exhibition in July 2008, allowing local residents to speak to the project team and comment on the proposals. Of the comments Network Rail received, an overwhelming 78% were positive, with the majority focusing on how the project will encourage March’s prosperity, create jobs and benefit the environment.

A decision will be made by the council’s planning committee on 17 September.


Notes to editors

Award-winning Whitemoor
Following the reopening of Whitemoor Yard in 2004, Network Rail, Cambridgeshire County Council and Fenland District Council were commended at the 2005 Royal Town Planning Institute achievement awards for ‘Bringing the railway back to March’. Whitemoor Yard has also won awards at the National Transport Awards and from the Institute of Civil Engineers.

Public consultation
In July 2008, more than 160 local people attended a series of public consultation events at March Town Hall. The events were organized by Network Rail as it was keen to explain its proposals to the widest possible audience and to encourage as many people as possible to give their comments on the plans. Four out of five (78%) people who responded were positive about the plans, while fewer than one in six (15%) said they had concerns.

Of the positive comments received, most highlighted to benefits to the local area that the proposals would bring. These comments fell broadly into four main categories:
Ÿ         Environmental benefits
Ÿ         Local employment and economy
Ÿ         ‘Bringing the railway back to March’
Ÿ         The quality of the consultation

The most common concerns raised were regarding noise levels, dust levels and the environmental impact. In the last year Network Rail has met with those who submitted the most pressing concerns and discussed the proposals with them in depth. Sound fences have already been built close to homes and two new dust-suppression systems, which use recycled rainwater, are included in the proposals.

History of Whitemoor Yard
Opened in 1929, Whitemoor served as a marshalling yard for the old London North Eastern Railway. It grew over time and at the end of the 1930s it was among the biggest and busiest in Europe.

Whitemoor was so important during the Second World War that a decoy yard was established four miles away. Lights were set up in a field in the same pattern as those at the yard and left on during the blackouts to confuse bombers, whilst those at the real yard were switched off. However, from the 1960s the original yard started to decline as the railway changed. In the early 1990s it was forced to close and became derelict. Half the original site is now where Whitemoor Prison sits.

Whitemoor’s decline was reversed in 2004, when the new yard opened. It is already vital in maintaining and improving the railway throughout Cambridgeshire, East Anglia and as far south as London, where it is important in supporting the 2012 Olympic Games investment.

The new yard has created over 40 new jobs. The development has also brought £2m of other benefits, including a new cycle path and a link road to reduce lorry trips through residential areas, as well as a multi-million pound signalling project which has improved the reliability of passenger and freight trains in the area.

Notes to editors

  

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