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18.1 INTRODUCTION
18.1.1
The Government published the Integrated Transport White Paper daughter document “Sustainable
distribution : a strategy” in April 1999. It set out guidance for developing a distribution system which
supports a growing economy while reducing accidents, environmental damage, disturbance and
congestion. The Council’s proposals to support this national strategy are set out in the following sections.
18.2 ROAD FREIGHT
18.2.1
The ease of movement of goods into, out of and within the county is vital to Lincolnshire’s economy. The
County Council recognises that for the time being, road freight will continue to be the predominant
mode within the county. However, the consultation carried out during the preparation of the Provisional
LTP proved that there is local concern about the adverse effects of HGVs both on the environment and
on communities. Hence, the Council will continue to look for ways to attract some freight movement to
alternative modes of transport, such as rail or waterway. In addition the Rural Priorities Initiative will
incorporate measures to route HGVs onto the most appropriate roads. This is explained further in
Section 14 of the Plan.
18.2.2
The County Council believes that Freight Quality Partnerships (FQPs) will provide opportunities to work
with the industry and those affected by HGVs and to draw up agreed strategies that enable businesses
to operate effectively whilst minimising the negative effects of their operations. It is proposed to set up
a pilot FQP in conjunction with a Community Travel Zone before extending the approach to other urban
areas. Consideration will also be given to setting up FQPs in the rural areas that are most affected by
HGVs.
18.2.3
The movement of freight is considered most important in the south of the county, where the food industry
is pivotal to the economy of that part of Lincolnshire. A crucial factor in the continued growth and
sustained competitiveness of the food industry is the food supply chain. For the most part, this is heavily
dependant upon the road haulage industry, which offers the flexibility to meet the time-scales set by
major retailers, and has already invested heavily in refrigeration vehicles and warehouse and coldstore
facilities. The proposals for Boston and A1073 detailed elsewhere would provide infrastructure to deal
with this traffic and in the case of Boston to integrate rail, road and sea transport to assist in the transfer
of freight from road.
18.2.4
The Council is a founder member of a sub-regional freight forum which comprises; Peterborough City
Council, Norfolk County Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Rutland County Council,
Leicestershire County Council, Northamptonshire County Council, GOEM, GOEAST, and Highways
Agency. There are a number of cross authority issues relating to freight. As the forum progresses,
membership is being expanded. The Road Haulage Association and Freight Transport Association now
attend, and membership will be extended to the rail freight operators in the near future. The Council
would like to see the forum develop into a regional freight quality partnership in the longer term.
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18.2.5
The forum’s terms of reference are to:
-
disseminate best practice in the freight management field
-
allow early discussion of cross boundary issues
-
provide input into regional strategies
-
be an overarching group for local freight quality partnerships
18.3 RAIL FREIGHT
18.3.1
Currently, rail freight provides only a small proportion of freight movements within the County. However,
there is great potential for expanding the use of rail freight in both the national and local contexts.
Existing rail freight facilities in Lincolnshire are as follows:
• Boston Docks steel handling terminal, where imported steel is transferred to trains for transport to a
terminal in the West Midlands;
• Reepham onshore oilfield
18.3.2
Two other facilities which are currently out of use are the “Pentex” oil handling terminal at
Gainsborough, and the sidings at Grantham station where a mobile “reach-stacker” has been used in
the recent past to load and unload wagons. Although now taken out of use, this demonstrated how easy
it can be to set up a very simple rail freight handling facility with minimal infrastructure.
18.3.3
The main national freight train operating company, English Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS), has
ambitious targets for tonne-miles to double in ten years. To achieve this, they will have to expand the
rail freight market into commodities which have not historically been regarded as suitable for
commercially competitive carriage by rail, in addition to increasing the amount of existing traffic. One
new market with much potential is the carriage of goods from the food
production/agricultural/perishables sector. A significant proportion of road freight movement in
Lincolnshire is from this sector, particularly in the south of the County.
18.3.4
The ‘Joint Line’, which runs from Doncaster to Peterborough via Lincoln, Sleaford and Spalding, passing
through the midst of the agricultural production and processing area, is extremely well-placed to carry
this trade. The line currently has much unused capacity, but there are issues working against a switch
from road to rail freight:
•
•
•
•
•
•
18.3.5
the condition of the track and signalling infrastructure;
a ‘single-shift’ eight hour operating day between Sleaford and Spalding;
lack of loading/unloading facilities;
high start-up cost of freight operations;
competitiveness of road freight;
confidence of the local industry to meet its operational needs, such as just-in-time delivery
Railtrack is currently progressing plans for a massive capacity upgrade of the East Coast Main Line rail
route, for the following reasons:
• the East Coast Main Line is approaching maximum capacity for train paths — much of it has only one
track in each direction through the region;
• more and more timetabling conflicts are arising between high speed 125mph passenger trains and
freight trains travelling at 75mph, yet there is growing demand for more of both;
• freight trains are often having to be looped into sidelines to wait for passenger trains to overtake,
thus increasing freight transit times and decreasing their efficiency and cost-competitiveness.
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To alleviate this problem, Railtrack plan to upgrade and use parallel routes for freight trains. This will
give more freight train paths, and more passenger train paths on the main line. One of these parallel
routes for accommodating freight traffic is the Lincolnshire Joint Line. Planned upgrading work to allow
this includes:
18.3.6
• improving the quality of track, allowing heavier freight trains;
• increasing the line speed, allowing faster transit times;
• ‘double-shift’ working of manual signal boxes and level crossings between Sleaford and Spalding,
allowing a longer operating day.
18.3.7
These improvements should allow this route to move freight trains between Peterborough and Doncaster
as quickly as the East Coast Main Line does currently. More importantly for Lincolnshire, they should
improve the potential for viable rail freight terminal facilities to be introduced on the line, even if on a
modest scale. Search zones for potential locations for such sites are shown in Figure 9.1. The County
Council is aware of the positive regenerative and economic development effects that such facilities can
bring to local economies, and wishes to bring the best possible advantage from this to the areas
concerned.
18.3.8
Although there are obvious benefits for rail freight in the county brought about by Railtrack’s plans for
the Joint Line, there are still concerns regarding the impact that increased numbers of freight trains will
have on vehicles and pedestrians in certain locations due to longer closure times at level crossings. This
is particularly so in Lincoln and Spalding, and also on the A16 at Deeping St Nicholas. There are further
concerns regarding the environmental impact in terms of increased noise and longer operating hours.
The County Council will continue to discuss with Railtrack and other interested parties, ways in which
these impacts may be ameliorated.
18.3.9
The County Council has taken up a lobbying and advocating role with respect to developing rail freight.
Potential opportunities for the development of new facilities are being actively sought in partnership with
District Councils, EWS, Railtrack and the Training and Enterprise Council. One of the problems in
attracting new traffic to rail freight is lack of knowledge in industry about what rail can now offer in terms
of flexibility and competitiveness. To counter this, the County Council and North Kesteven District
Council are to run a seminar for local businesses to meet with EWS and hear what rail freight can now
do for them, as well as hearing the views of these industries as to what they are needing to transport to
where, and what facilities could best be provided to serve them.
18.3.10
The County Structure Plan (Deposit Draft), in its policy on freight, states that:
“Provision will be made to limit the environmental impact of freight movement by encouraging a shift
from road borne freight movement to movement by rail...; and by allocating, and/or favourably
considering proposals for freight handling and transfer facilities, particularly those that would make use
of movement by rail.”
18.3.11
Therefore, the County Council will work with its partners to:
• bring together interested businesses into partnerships of suitable composition to work together to
initiate shared railfreight facilities (this is one of the aims of the above-mentioned seminar);
• identify suitable sites within the County for such facilities;
• maximise the grants available to encourage rail freight developments.
18.3.12
A case in point is the lack of any suitable rail freight facility for industry in the Lincoln area. The
approach being developed in the Eastern Growth Corridor, as part of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass Phase
I, would open up land for development adjacent to the Lincoln-Grimsby rail line which could be wellsuited to a rail freight facility well-served by both rail and road. European and Freight Facilities Grants
may be available to help offset the start-up costs. The County Council will actively explore possible
options.
18.3.13
At Boston Docks, a freight facilities grant has already been received, allowing the installation of the
necessary infrastructure to carry steel from ship to train. There is also considerable potential for
expansion, in terms of the total cargo handled and the amount and type of freight which could be carried
by rail. The County Council is assessing these opportunities as part of an overall investigation of how
transport needs in Boston can best be addressed (see Regeneration Zones).
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18.3.14
One of the problems affecting the development of rail freight from/to Boston Docks is the capacity of
the rail line leading to it. Between Sleaford and Boston, there are two stretches of single track railway.
Bearing in mind the need to keep the necessary train paths for the existing passenger service, it is very
difficult for freight train operators to obtain paths at the times of day they need to meet their customers’
requirements. The County Council also aspires to see improved passenger services on this line and will
therefore take every possible opportunity to press the Strategic Rail Authority vigorously to invest in the
necessary improvements to the line to increase its flexibility, capacity and reliability.
18.3.15
More generally, the County Council will continue to act as a point of information for industries interested
in the possibilities for obtaining freight facilities grants, and help with the application process where
appropriate.
18.4 PORTS
18.4.1
Table 18.1
Lincolnshire’s east coast ports at Boston, Sutton
Bridge and Fosdyke are well placed to profit
from their location facing continental Europe.
The tonnage handled at each port during 1999
is shown in Table 18.1
Tonnages Handled By Wash Ports in 1999
Port
18.4.2
At the Port of Boston, a total of 1,179,000
tonnes were handled (766,000 tonnes
imported; 413,000 exported) during 1999,
including almost 16,000 containers. The rail
operation, re-opened in 1997 is currently
handling 2 train loads of steel a week destined
for the West Midlands. A new timber treatment
facility opened in April 2000 and a new 50
tonne crane has recently been installed.
Tonnes
Port of Boston
1,179,000
Port Sutton Bridge
845,000
Fosdyke
40,000
18.4.3
Almost 500 ships were handled at Port Sutton Bridge during 1999, primarily bringing in steel and animal
feeds and taking out wheat and barley, with smaller consignments of fertiliser, timber and sugar. In an
effort to increase the capacity of the port, an upgraded crane has recently been commissioned and
planning permission is been sought for the construction of additional warehousing.
18.4.4
At Fosdyke, where some 30 vessels were handled during 1999, the main import through the port
continues to be fertiliser from Tunisia and the Baltic. Other cargoes through the port included fish meal
from Iceland and potash from Teesside, the latter being brought by sea in favour of road.
18.4.5
The County Council recognises the importance of the Wash ports to the economy of that part of
Lincolnshire and will continue to work with the port authorities and owners to secure their future. The
proposed Boston Southern link will provide improved access to the Port of Boston for HGVs, whilst
removing them from more sensitive areas of the town. The County Council is also keen to encourage
further use of the rail facility at the Port of Boston, particularly where this would mean fewer HGVs on
the roads.
18.5 WATER-BORNE FREIGHT
18.5.1
The network of navigable inland waterways in Lincolnshire comprises the Rivers Witham, Welland, Glen,
Nene and Trent (which forms the Notts/Lincs boundary) and the Fossdyke navigation. Non-navigable
waters in the county include the Grantham canal.
18.5.2
In terms of who does what on the County’s waterways, the navigation authority providing facilities on
the Rivers Witham and Trent from Nottingham to Gainsborough is British Waterways. The Environment
Agency has similar responsibilities for the Rivers Glen and Welland.
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18.5.3
It is only the River Trent which is used in any major way to transport freight by water, although none of
this is currently loaded or off-loaded in Lincolnshire. The Trent is an arterial waterway which provides
access to the Humber Ports, flowing along the Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire border to Gainsborough
and beyond. It has been used in the past to move heavy abnormal loads by barge to the Trent Valley
Power Stations, thereby avoiding the congestion associated with transporting such loads by road.
Minerals such as aggregates are also currently moved on the Trent and it is hoped that this will be part
of a growing trend. At present, no freight is regularly moved along the Rivers Witham, Welland, Glen
and Nene.
18.5.4
Although largely used for recreational purposes (e.g. boating and angling), the navigable rivers and
canals in the County offer a network on the smaller waterways that may be capable of accommodating
speciality niche movements. One possible opportunity put forward by British Waterways is the movement
of household waste and the County Council will investigate this possibility with them. Similarly the
County Council is keen to encourage the use of the River Trent for the movement of goods, where this
would result in the transfer of freight from roads in the County.
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