West Midlands Interchange: Angry residents vow to fight £8.5m freight depot
Angry residents have launched a campaign to stop an £8.5 million rail freight depot being built on green belt land near their homes.
The development would see a rail terminal with 17 warehouses and service buildings covering around 800,000 square metres near Wolverhampton.
Residents living in Croft Lane, Featherstone, are fighting against the West Midlands Interchange, which would sit between junction 12 of the M6 and the main A449 Stafford Road on the southern side of the A5.
A new roundabout would also be built between the motorway junction and the Gailey island on the A5 under the plans, with another roundabout between the island and Four Ashes crossroads.
MORE: Anger at 'devastating' 600 acre Staffordshire freight depot plan
Debbie Gibson, aged 50 of Croft Lane, spokeswoman for Stop the Gailey Freight Hub action group, said: "My family has lived here for four generations.
"We need to galvanise support for our campaign and make sure people understand how they will be affected. It will be massive. There will be thousands of lorries passing through here everyday, with 8,000 people coming in and out for their jobs as well as constant noise and traffic."
The group met yesterday after receiving letters from developers Four Ashes Limited with an artist's impression of the proposed site.
Chole Burns, 26, of Croft Lane, who is pregnant with the sixth generation of her family to live in the area, said: "I have lived here since I was a girl and grew up walking through these fields. These proposals mean traffic, noise and pollution."
Two options have been presented in the submitted plans, both of which cover more than 600 acres between Four Ashes, Gailey and junction 12.
Andrea Hopkins and Geoff Hopkins, who are both in their 50s and live in Croft Lane, said: "We moved here from London about six months ago to get away from the traffic, the noise, the pollution.
"The proposals weren't part of our survey before we moved in, now we don't know what to do."
The group is also launching an official petition to get the Government to discuss the plans.
