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Approval granted for World Logistics Hub at Manchester Airport City

Manchester City Council has approved the outline planning application for the $160 million World Logistics Hub due to be built at Manchester Airport

Manchester Airport Group (MAG) submitted the application for the development of the World Logistics Hub in the southern part of Greater Manchester’s Airport City Enterprise Zone, to the council in August.

It was approved at the Planning and Highways Committee meeting of the local authority.

John Atkins, Airport City Director at MAG, said:

“World Logistics Hub will attract new international businesses and help existing airport businesses to expand, generating much-needed economic growth and over 1,800 new jobs.”

The application site totals 91.2 acres, of which around a third – 36.6 acres – is dedicated to new landscaping and natural habitats.

With 1.2 to 1.4 million square feet of new logistics space, the development will generate more than 1,800 new jobs for local people over the next ten years – in addition to the jobs created during the construction process.

The World Logistics Hub will combine with the airport’s existing cargo facilities at the adjacent World Freight Terminal to create a new logistics district, providing a full range of air-to-road transfer, assembly and processing activities for freight forwarders and other logistics business; with easy access to the airport’s apron, train station and the UK motorway network.

Adkins added:

“The development will create a sustainable commercial product of international significance, providing high quality logistics facilities linked to the existing airport freight area, with access to the global marketplace – along with 60% of all UK businesses and a consumer market of over 24 million within a two-hour drive time.

“We already have significant international interest in the scheme and today’s planning approval is a big step forward towards starting to deliver new employment opportunities for local people.”

The gateway’s existing World Freight Terminal is home to five cargo handling companies and around 50 freight forwarding and logistics providers, as well as airline offices, sales agents and EU approved Border Inspection Post facilities – with more than 1,000 people employed on site.

Adkins said that the World Logistics Hub will improve international trade, cut transit times and drive more efficient, sustainable supply chains.

It is also hoped that the facility will boost new future export opportunities for Greater Manchester, including those arising from the commercialisation of wonder-material Graphene and the initiative to revive Britain’s textile trade in Manchester with a re-born Cottonopolis.

Manchester’s $1 billion Airport City scheme, including the World Logistics Hub, is the focal point of Greater Manchester’s Enterprise Zone, designated by the UK government in 2011 in recognition of its potential to attract investment, create jobs and boost the economy locally, regionally and nationally.

Airport City Manchester will deliver up to five million square feet of new business space over the next ten to 15 years and aims to create a highly-connected commercial location that is unique to the UK and attractive to international businesses, to compete with similar airport city projects in places like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dusseldorf and Copenhagen.

Greater Manchester’s wider 116-hectare Enterprise Zone – which also includes MediPark at University Hospital South Manchester, Wythenshawe town centre and a series of smaller, surrounding, opportunity sites – will create up to 20,000 new jobs over the next 15 years.

A new Metrolink extension through South Manchester to Airport City via Wythenshawe is currently under construction; and alongside the airport’s existing public transport links will ensure that jobs created at the World Logistics Hub and across the wider Enterprise Zone are highly accessible