Council launches MOD Logistics plan for Donnington

The council believes that a decision to move a proposed logistics operation is supported by plans already in place by the MOD to relocate land forces to the north of the country.

Telford & Wrekin Council's proposal for a Logistics Centre of Excellence was discussed at a meeting between Council leader Kuldip Sahota, council officers, local MP David Wright and representatives of unions at LCS Donnington in Telford.

The Ministry of Defence is looking at establishing a Defence Gateway and Telford & Wrekin Council and MOD Donnington believe that key components of this are already in place.

"We believe that the Donnington site has a strong foundation for delivery of a logistics operation including good land availability, and an adopted Local Planning Policy that would support this development," said Telford & Wrekin Council leader Kuldip Sahota.

"A solution which capitalises on the use of good quality existing assets in Telford would appear to present a more viable, deliverable and attractive investment proposal for the MOD.

"The MOD Donnington site has been shown to deliver on all of the strategic objectives set by the MOD."

The meeting builds on previous work in 2011 on this issue between the MOD and Telford & Wrekin Council.

The original MOD plans were for a Logistics Centre to be located at Bicester in Oxfordshire. However, Councillor Sahota believes that the reasoning for it to be sited there is now less relevant - and that strengthens the case for it to be either solely sited at Donnington or at least shared with operations in Bicester.

"Donnington's central location, immediately adjacent to a high quality road and railfreight network, the availability of a skilled labour force, key suppliers already located in Telford and the site's existing infrastructure in terms of warehousing all fully support its status as a Defence Gateway" added Councillor Sahota.

"It is in keeping with our status as a Co-operative Council that we are dedicated to working in partnership with the MOD and the local community to safeguard and sustain Donnington as a viable and valuable asset.

"The Telford and Wrekin area has the skills, the workforce, the land, the infrastructure and the drive and desire to be a modern centre of excellence for logistics.

"While there can be no guarantees that we will be successful in securing this for Donnington, I can guarantee that we will do all we can to work with the MOD and partners to try to make this happen."