THE NEED for a railfreight depot in the north-west sector of the M25 is clearly backed by official planning policy, Helioslough's barrister Martin Kingston has told the inquiry.

Justifying the company's decision to restrict its search for alternative sites to a limited area, Mr Kingston quoted from the East of England Plan, which calls for “at least one strategic rail freight interchange at locations with good access to stategic rail routes and the strategic highway network.”

Mr Kingston told inspector Andy Mead “This is strongly supportive of an SRFI being provided in the north-west quadrant.

“The main rail routes are the East Coast Main Line, the Midland Main Line and the West Coast Main Line – all in the north-west sector.

“This text is precisely referring to the north-west sector.”