East Lancashire Freight Rail Terminal Pledge Letter

To whom it may concern,

PLEDGE NOW AND PLAY YOUR PART IN THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION FOR EAST LANCASHIRE

I write as chair of #AmazingAccrington – a collaboration of businesses, public sector and 3 rd sector organisations from within Accrington and the surrounding towns within the borough of Hyndburn, committed to bringing positive change to the borough. Hyndburn is currently ranked by the Government as the 16 th most deprived area in England. #AmazingAccrington has a very real opportunity to support the development of a new East Lancashire Freight Rail Terminal on the site of the former Huncoat Power Station. Some infrastructure is already in place, and the area is ready for further development. Bringing a freight rail terminal to East Lancashire will tie into levelling up plans, give an economic boost to the region, and create cost, resource and carbon savings for businesses. It could unlock a one billion pound chain of investments across East Lancashire. The World Economic Forum estimates e-commerce could rise from 19.2 per cent to 53 per cent of all goods purchased by 2028. The UK government plan for a zero-emissions economy emphasised the importance of dedicated distribution hubs, served by rail. The increase in goods being delivered, plus the urgent need to reduce road traffic, mean that freight rail volume is projected to treble by 2050. In 2019 only 8% of domestic freight was moved by rail. The East Lancashire Freight Terminal will be a game changing opportunity for Hyndburn. The historic power station site has disused freight rail sidings, and the surrounding land is already designated for future freight rail development. It is ideally located in the centre of East Lancashire’s industry, engineering and aerospace, in between the existing rail and road network. The site covers 22 acres, with an estimated cost of £200 million to develop, which would involve private sector investment. A meeting was held on Friday, 26 th November, to discuss how to progress to the next stage, which would be an economic feasibility study. The purpose of this is to establish the facts of the great benefit to the region, and the private sector development opportunity. The cost for this is estimated at £150k.

#AmazingAccrington business leaders met to discuss the plans, including representatives from Studio, the area’s largest employer, the Department for International Trade, the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Northern Automotive Alliance, Chamber of Commerce East Lancs, Sara Britcliffe, MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, Miles Parkinson OBE, Leader of Hyndburn Borough Council, and many businesses who would welcome a freight rail terminal.

Importantly, it’s not just core businesses who use freight who would be affected – all businesses benefit from the future economic success of our region.

The meeting proved real interest and commitment for the proposal. It was deemed important for the competitiveness of the businesses needing to import and export their freight to Europe and to the world, and to reduce carbon intense road shipping to the last mile. If containers are moved from road to rail, that represents a 76% carbon emissions saving – helping all businesses strengthen their green credentials.

One company just 200 yards from the designated land brings in 1000 containers a year, and just the nearest industrial estate takes over 10 thousand containers a year. One company in Hyndburn is targeting a turnover of more than £750m in the next few years. We need to have an infrastructure to support growth.

There are 2,865 businesses in Hyndburn alone and over 21,000 in Blackburn, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Darwen, the Ribble Valley and Rossendale.

The urgent requirement for this freight rail terminal is clear. Businesses have already since the meeting pledged support in helping to match fund the cost of the economic feasibility study, and we have £10k secured in funds already to put towards Government funding.

Could you pledge £1k in financial support to help us unlock this opportunity for Hyndburn? 50 businesses supporting by £1k each would give us the match funding to leverage the £150k that we require.

Email murray@scottdawson.co.uk today to help us get this opportunity secured for East Lancashire and make this billion pound development happen.

Please watch this short video to fully understand the opportunity.

https://youtu.be/J262yIK7ugA

Freight rail is estimated to treble by 2050 – we need to gear up. It is important we also give a USP to East Lancashire.

Yours faithfully

Murray Dawson Chair – Amazing Accrington