News

The property developer that owns the land where the former Alconbury truckstop was based has decided against getting planning permission to redevelop it in favour of selling the site. The extraordinary saga of the 10-acre land in Cambridgeshire took another twist last week after Wrenbridge Land told CM it would sell the former truck park to whoever was interested in it for the right price - so it could be  re-opened as a truckstop.

An application by the Professional Drivers Association (PDA) to have a building on the land listed by English Heritage was fruitless however the PDA is optimistic it could now be bought by someone wanting to run a truck park. Karl Rout, owner of the popular Orwell Crossing Lorry Park in Suffolk, says he has already been contacted by Wrenbridge to gauge his interest in it: "I said 'not for £5m'! As an estimate the best part of £1m would be needed just to get it back up and running. I asked them whether they realised what the bank interest alone would be on a site like that."

Chris White for Wrenbridge denies that the company's U-turn is connected with any difficulties it may have had over planning permission. He says: "We are looking at selling it because we have just  completed, last week, a 17-acre purchase in Cambridgeshire. At the same time we are joint-venture parties on a business park in the north of Cambridgeshire. It's a re-jig of our focus we are readdressing our resources."

However, Huntingdonshire District Council says any application would probably have been refused. A spokeswoman says: "We feel it isn't the right place for redevelopment. We support the truckstop it was a good facility." The PDA's Pat Nicholson says: "We had a meeting with Wrenbridge they asked what drivers needed from a truckstop. They said they are looking at all possibilities - not just at selling it, but at the viability of running it themselves, with managers or franchisees."