Parkside is a different kettle of fish
I WOULD like to respond to recent comments made by Brendan Page and Cory's regarding the Lyme Wood Pit recycling plant and the proposed Rail Freight Terminal at Parkside .
I would firmly reject Mr Page's suggestion that I should treat both the Parkside and Cory's applications in exactly the same way regardless of the individual merits of both schemes. I would also like to reject the recent comments made by a member of the Cory management who describes local residents of being Nimbys' after they opposed his company's planning application.
It is surely right that local people should judge each planning application on its own individual merits and that they should consider both the benefits and problems that will be created if a planning application is granted.
The Cory development goes against the town's planning policies and there are no overall benefits or reasons which would justify its location on this site.
The Parkside Rail interchange however is uniquely placed to provide the best road rail interchange facility in the region and it will take thousands of HGV vehicles off our roads each year. The development will also create up to 10,000 new jobs and a new country public park offering leisure facilities such as fishing, bike riding and other leisure activities.
Mr Page continues to make claims questioning the number of new jobs and the likely effect that the development will have on the area. If such claims were correct, the scheme would fail to meet any of the many national, European and international standards for transport and health or planning criteria.
While Mr Page has every right to oppose the Parkside development he would be wise not to build his case on exaggerated claims that will not stand up to any independent examination.
Finally, the recent closure of St Helens Glass with the loss of over 300 jobs is a timely reminder that our future economic future will depend on our ability to generate new jobs and opportunities for our community.
DAVE Watts MP St Helens North
http://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/yoursay/yourletters/display.var.1356541.0.0.php
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2 comments:
The proposed Parkside development will at best displace jobs from existing surrounding warehouse sites in the area. It will cause excessive noise and light pollution that will seriously affect the quality of life for those in the immediate vicinity. Newton-le-Willows may well be central between Liverpool and Manchester in geographical terms, but it is not ideally located to reduce the overall road mileage from a freight terminal. Greater Manchester has a far higher proportion of demand for freight as it is significantly larger than Liverpool and as such, it should have a hub located closer to the centre of its catchment area. In fact, why have a distribution park at Parkside at all? - If you are looking to reduce road freight, then surely construct a terminal within each major conurbation's commercial centre to serve it with the minimum of road travel. Don't sell out the residents of Newton to support a handful of jobs for St Helens - Stand by Newton or Stand down!
It's patently obvious that the amount of freight handled by the Parkside developmemt would would require a very large workforce, not only in warehousing,processing but also in site maintenance, office and distribution.Not to mention the number of businesses that will want to relocate to an area with better transport links for the distribution of goods.
The objectors are very good at putting out dubious figures about the amount of unemployed people in Newton but the best they can come up with is the 'displaced jobs' theory without a shred of evidence to back up their claims.
The independent verdict on the best site for such a rail freight terminal is in: Parkside is ideal.
As for Mr Watts.Mr Watts has a duty to all of of his 70'000+ constituents to secure employment for this generation and generations into the future.He was re-elected with a whopping majority in 2005 . And the objectors don't speak for the 'residents of Newton'.At least one residents group supports the plans as does the Newton Anglers.Newton has over 17000 adults,how many objections have been received from Newton?
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