Work is due to begin soon on the final phase of construction of the new railfreight terminal at Donnington, north Telford.

A multi million pound contract has been signed with Wrekin Construction, who will be starting work on 2 June 2008.

Construction work is anticipated to finish in December 2008 with the terminal opening early in 2009.

As soon as it opens, the terminal will have open access for traffic from all businesses who wish to take advantage of rail.

At the same time the Council will start to market around 26 acres of land directly adjacent to the terminal. It is the development of this land that will bring the bulk of the jobs which the terminal is expected to create.

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It will also help to reduce the numbers of HGVs on the region's roads by making rail transport to the Telford hub a more viable and greener alternative.

Cllr Stephen Bentley, Cabinet Member for Environment said: "This is great news for the borough and the terminal will bring real economic and environmental benefits, attracting new businesses to the area. It will help make the borough an important hub for local businesses while also helping to reduce the traffic on the region's roads.

"I'm sure this will mean more jobs and less heavy goods traffic on the road network which I know many of us will welcome. It will also support the goals outlined in the Climate Change strategy the Council is working on which looks at a number of different ways of reducing carbon emissions in the borough."

(CD/JM)