A rise in protests against warehousing schemes across England is threatening to derail development.
Savills said it had seen an uptick in enquiries for e-commerce space, but campaigns against new developments are raging in Milton Keynes, St Helens in Merseyside and Towcester in Northamptonshire, where DHL hopes to build a facility.
“We are not being Nimby-ish about this,” said Wayne Evans, a retired business consultant turned “pitchfork-wielding villager” who helped form the group Stop3000Trucks in Milton Keynes. His group is opposing Frontier Estate’s plans for nine storage units and more than 90 HGV loading bays to be built between the villages of Cosgrove and Old Stratford.
SEGRO chief executive David Sleath said: “Local people [will say] we don’t need much [warehouse space]. But you’re not building it for the local population. You’re building it for the benefit of the national infrastructure.”
