Rail freight is being placed at the heart of the UK government’s latest housing drive. An initiative, christened the “Platform4 Property Company”, is promising to regenerate surplus railway land. Up to 40,000 new homes will be built over the next decade on brownfield railway sites, often located adjacent to active rail infrastructure.
The scheme, part of the government’s “Plan for Change”, is being hailed as a housing boost for first-time buyers and renters. However, rail freight and passenger advocates are urging ministers to ensure that future transport needs are not forgotten in the rush to develop.
A billion-pound build backed by rail
The UK Department for Transport has announced a £1 billion (€1.18bn) scheme to transform disused railway land into new communities. Sites in Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Cambridge are already earmarked for development. The government-owned Platform4 company, launched this week, will consolidate the roles of London and Continental Railways (operators of the Eurostar route) and infrastructure agency Network Rail’s property arm to accelerate delivery.
“Platform4 will breathe new life into these spaces,” said Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander. “We’ll deliver tens of thousands of new homes as part of our Plan for Change promise to build 1.5 million homes, while reviving communities around rail stations.”
Rail freight’s critical role
Rail freight is being positioned as a key enabler of the initiative. The Rail Freight Group welcomed the move but warned of potential unintended consequences if logistics needs are overlooked. “Rail freight must have efficient terminals across the country to operate,” said Maggie Simpson OBE, Director General of the RFG. “It is essential that government plans do not inadvertently restrict the availability of sites for rail freight, or hamper the operation of existing locations through inappropriate adjacent development.”
With every freight train carrying enough materials to build 30 homes, the capacity to serve brownfield regeneration is significant. Sites like Manchester’s Mayfield regeneration zone already benefit from proximity to rail infrastructure. That city centre site had been a passenger terminal, adjacent to contemporary Piccadilly Station, and has also served as a light logistics hub. Notable, though, is the absence of any mention of expansion of the congested Castlefield Corridor in the proposals.
Not a new idea, but a timely one
The reuse of railway land is not a novel idea. Britain’s network is dotted with former goods yards, depots and marshalling yards that once thrummed with activity but now lie dormant. Modern rail freight often requires less physical footprint than its heavy-industry predecessors, making many of these sites ideal for either redevelopment or renewed logistics use, or both, if planned intelligently.
The need to remediate brownfield land has also been highlighted as a major opportunity for rail freight operators. With construction aggregates in short supply and demand for sustainable transport growing, delivering materials by rail to these sites makes environmental and economic sense.
Passenger benefits—if provision is made
There’s also scope for improvement in the passenger network. Building homes adjacent to active railways offers communities convenient access to public transport and reduces car dependency. However, experts caution against the loss of future rail capacity.
Development on railway land almost always precludes future use for railway purposes—unless at least passive provision is made. Successive UK governments have failed to appreciate this, and short-term thinking can permanently restrict long-term transport growth.
Private partners on board
Platform4’s ambition to attract more than £350 million in private investment is already drawing interest. Housing developers like Keepmoat and Grainger plc have welcomed the focus on well-connected brownfield locations. Helen Gordon, CEO of Grainger, said the scheme was “most welcome”, adding: “These well-connected locations are ideal for delivering the high-quality, sustainable homes we need.”
Bek Seeley, chairing the newly launched company, brings experience from regeneration projects including London Euston and London’s Elephant Park, centred on the Elephant and Castle station redevelopment, as reported by RailTech.com.. “We will create sustainable places that bring communities and customers together and leave a positive legacy for future generations,” she said.
Homes, jobs and a rail-connected legacy
The first phase of development is targeting over 2,700 new homes across four key sites:
- Newcastle Forth Goods Yard – up to 600 new homes
- Manchester Mayfield – up to 1,500 new homes
- Cambridge – a 425-home mixed-use site
- Nottingham – 200 new homes added to an existing development
These sites exemplify the government’s “brownfield-first” approach, but also underscore the importance of safeguarding what remains of Britain’s strategic rail estate. The challenge now is to strike the right balance: building the homes Britain needs, without closing the door on the rail capacity it may still yet require.
It’s not the first time there has been a high-speed plan to build on railway land, but, for some reason, there was high-level resistance to naming the project Housing Scheme Two, or abbreviating it to the more manageable … “HS2”.