Peel says nine in ten approve ports plan

PEEL Ports has said that it has had an overwhelmingly positive response to its recent consultation exercise on its 20-year masterplan for its Mersey Ports.

The draft plan forecasts a 70% growth in tonnage handled through its Mersey ports over the next 20 years, which it has indicated could create up to 8,000 jobs. It includes proposals for a new deepwater container terminal at Seaforth and the development of a series of linked ports along the Manchester ship canal including Port Wirral, Port Bridgewater, Port Ince, Port Warrington and Port Salford.

In total, its masterplan indicates that the 44 mile stretch of water combining the Port of Liverpool and The Manchester Ship Canal would incorporate over ten rail-lined ports and would have ten motorways within ten miles of the ports.

The firm received 2902 responses to the document by the time the 13-week consultation period closed in September. It said that 89% of respondents welcomed the plan, with only 6% opposing and 5% offering no opinion.

A series of consultation events were also held at Liverpool, Widnes, Crosby, Warrington, Wallasey, Ellesmere Port, Eastham, Salford Quays and Bootle. More than 500 people attended the events.

Areas of concern addressed during the consultation included the planned development of Seaforth Nature Reserve, the impact of extra port traffic upon the local highway network, and plans for a port expansion near Eastham Village.

Peel Ports said that it would look at all points raised before creating a revised masterplan in 2012.

Managing director Gary Hodgson said: “We are encouraged by the level of interest in the Master Plan and by the overall support to our strategy from both our partners and from the general public, but we are taking nothing for granted.

“Following the consultation we have identified areas of concern, and we will now consider these in more detail.

“We are fully committed to continuing to work in partnership with both public agencies and organisations and the people who live in the communities where we operate to ensure maximum gain for the North West region from our growth and development strategy – which we believe will be substantial.”