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than a year ago at £390m, has risen steadily. Project leaders have said that, while increasing costs had been factored into the budget, every month’s delay on delivering the project adds a million pounds to the costs. In September, it was announced the project will face a public inquiry, which is expected to take place in early 2009. Cllr Tony McDermott, leader of Halton Council, was unfazed by the move. “We have said all along that a public inquiry is important and would be needed for the Mersey Gateway as this is such an important and complex issue,” he said. He believes that, despite early opposition, people are increasingly being won round to the need for a radical solution to the problems on the roads. “There is a growing consensus that we must take action to tackle the growing problem of our outdated road network,” he said. “Local people and businesses in and around Halton need a more reliable and more effective transport system, and the Mersey Gateway is central to this.” A key beneficiary of the Mersey Gateway will be 3MG. The logistics park, previously known as Ditton Strategic Rail Freight Park, is being expanded to have 3.5m sq ft of developments. The site currently has 750,000 sq ft of warehouse space and has outline consent for a further 1.8m sq ft, with plans to increase again in the future. It is scheduled to be completed in 2012. As well as being well-located for transporting goods by road – Liverpool, Manchester and their airports, as well as Preston and Chester are all within an hour’s HGV drive – the site also has excellent rail and sea links. It has direct access to the West Coast
“The Mersey Gateway is a project of regional significance and it is important that it remains a priority for the North West” A map of the UK showing HGV drive times from the 3MG site
M A G A Z I N E
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