By Ian McConnell
Business Editor
A MAJOR transportation and logistics company has submitted a planning application for a £40 million hub including a large-scale warehouse at Newarthill in Motherwell, which it says will create up to 473 direct jobs.
XPO Logistics said the development, at a site bounded by Edinburgh Road and Legbrannock Road, would “serve to address a market-proven requirement for large-scale warehousing facilities in the region”, citing increased e-commerce demands.
The global logistics provider added that the project would also deliver “biodiversity enhancement measures over the more than 40-acre site”, which adjoins the company's existing transport hub.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Brexit: UK Stagnation Nation reality at odds with Tory tale of post-Brexit utopia
XPO Logistics aims to create a 300,000 sq ft warehouse for storage and distribution, with associated offices.
It flagged "significant economic benefits for the local area, including creating up to 473 direct new jobs as well as those created through the construction process and in the wider economy as a result of the investment".
The company added: “[The] development will serve to address a significant requirement for a large-scale bespoke warehouse building on the M8 corridor, addressing increasing e-commerce demands. Having carried out extensive market research, there is an acute shortage of warehouse space over 100,000 square feet in this locality.”
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Preposterous to claim protocol changes do not warrant robust reaction from EU
XPO Logistics said only around one-third of the development site would be occupied by the “warehousing facilities and associated built infrastructure”, with the remaining portion “reserved for biodiversity enhancement measures and improved public access”.
It declared its planning application submission followed “extensive consultation”.
XPO Logistics added: “The exciting development will provide significant benefits to the local community, with this investment of [circa] £40m creating almost 500 net new jobs, delivering a 100 per cent carbon-neutral facility.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here