West Midlands Interchange is a planned Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) with warehousing and other associated development that willbe built on land west of Junction 12 of the M6 in South Staffordshire.
West Midlands Interchange will be linked directly to the West Coast Main Line, one of the country’s principal rail freight routes, and will be well placed to serve the West Midlands, the Black Country, Staffordshire, Birmingham, the northern M6 corridor and parts of Warwickshire.
When built, it will provide up to 743,200 square metres (sq m) of new rail-served and rail-linked warehousing allowing the region’s important logistics industry to grow. The scheme will create 8,550 direct jobs boosting opportunities for people in South Staffordshire, the Black Country, the West Midlands and other surrounding areas.
A SRFI is something this part of the West Midlands has needed for a long time. Markets are increasingly global and the region’s strong manufacturing and exporting businesses need faster, more reliable transport links now and in future to stay competitive at home and abroad.
Rail freight offers a more sustainable, efficient and reliable approach to logistics and is strongly supported by Government policy.
Tonne for tonne, transporting goods by rail produces 70% less carbon dioxide, up to 15 times lower nitrogen oxide emissions and nearly 90% lower particulate emissions than by road. West Midlands Interchange will not only help ease congestion in the region and nationally by reducing HGV journeys, but will offer a more efficient means of transporting goods across the country to and from this part of the West Midlands.
Since the project was announced in April 2016, we engaged and consulted with local residents, businesses, other stakeholders and the wider community.
We undertook three stages of consultation, the first of which ran from 13 June to 24 July 2016 (Stage 1), and focused on our master plan options. This was followed by statutory consultation between 5 July to 30 August 2017 (Stage 2) on our detailed plans, and a focused consultation on specific plan amendments between 23 November 2017 and 2 January 2018 (Stage 2a). We read and considered every written response and comment you gave us as part of these consultations and, together with the results of surveys and assessments, used this information to review and improve our scheme.
A Development Consent Order application for West Midlands Interchange was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 3 August 2018. The Planning Inspectorate accepted the application for examination on 24 August 2018. The examination of the scheme began following the Preliminary Meeting on 27 February 2019 and concluded on 27 August 2019.
The Secretary of State for Transport approved the Development Consent Order for West Midlands Interchange on 4 May 2020. There is now a six week period in which the decision may be challenged in the High Court, a legal process known as a Judicial Review.
We have issued notices as it is required to do under section 134 of the Planning Act 2008. These notices can be found in our document library. They are to notify those with an interest in the development boundary that the approved Development Consent Order contains compulsory acquisition powers.
More information can be found on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.
