Port Salford railway, airport tweaks approved

City council planning officers said the extension of a rail container terminal would necessitate alterations to two runways at City Airport, but would ultimately lead to a modern, efficient container terminal hub.

Salford City Council okayed the two applications at its planning and transportation regulatory panel meeting on 15 June.

Both applications were seen as key for the delivery of the wider Port Salford, a multi-modal distribution zone that has the potential for 1.6m sq ft of distribution warehousing and would be accessible by road, rail, and river. Port Salford will be situated on land between the midpoint of Manchester Ship Canal and Liverpool Road in Eccles.

Planning permission was granted in 2009 for the Port Salford concept, as well as facilitating highways, rail link, and wharfs for cargo shipping.

Peel’s approved applications call for the extension of the rail terminal further west – a move that would allow operator Peel Ports and Network Rail  to meet business, operational, and safety requirements, according to a council report. The terminal has also been repositioned so that it will not impact United Utilities’ proposed outfall into the Manchester Ship Canal nearby.

The extension of the rail terminal does not increase the operational capacity of Port Salford, according to the council’s planning officer’s report, nor will it mean there is an increase in number for the eight cranes expected on the site. The extension would also not require the existing public footpath on the site to be diverted.

However, the extension does require changes to two runways at City Airport, which was the subject of Peel’s second approved application. This is because the railway line will now run closer to the airfield, necessitating changes for safety reasons. The changes approved include the relocation of one of the runways and the regrading of another.

The application reference number for the airport changes is 22/79795/FUL. The reference number for the railway extension and repositioning is 22/79794/FUL.

Regarding the approvals, Leigh Thomas, associate director of development at Peel L&P, said: “We are pleased these revised plans for Port Salford have been approved.”

The project team for the two schemes includes Fletcher Rae, BWB, and TEP.

The Port Salford story so far

The first of four proposed warehouses has been built and is occupied by Great Bear Distribution.

The remaining are dependent on either the completion of the rail link or the highway improvements to Junction 10 and Junction 11 of the M60. The highway work is still five years away, according to a council report.

In the meantime, the site of two of the proposed units is in the middle of becoming a recycled aggregate facility to provide construction material for future Peel projects.