Regeneration specialists Peel L&P have agreed to swap land with Salford City Council in order to facilitate the building of a rail spur to the company’s Port Salford development.

Under the terms of the deal, which is due to be approved on Monday (March 8), Peel is handing over 16 acres of Green Belt land in exchange for a narrow nine-acre strip which will ultimately link Port Salford to the Liverpool-Manchester line and unlock the next phase of the development – a £56m freight terminal and the construction of new warehouses totalling 1.3m sqft.

Port Salford is the country’s first tri-modal inland port facility and, when complete, will be accessible by road, rail and water thanks to its location next to the Manchester Ship Canal.

James Whittaker, Peel L&P’s Executive Director of Development said: “We’re pleased to be working in partnership with the council to bring the rail terminal forward, which will create at least 2,500 jobs and secure a reduction in CO2 emissions of 14,900 tonnes per annum by taking freight movements off the road.”

The new stretch of railway will cross over the newly-improved A57 dual carriageway, which has been included in a wider plan to regenerate the Manchester Ship Canal Corridor, which itself has been incorporated into the Liverpool Region freeport bid.