Thousands of residents are being asked to comment on plans for a 440-acre industrial park on green fields near their homes.
A Leicestershire MP is posting surveys to 11,000 residents living within a few miles of the development near Hinckley.
Developer DB Symmetry wants to build the Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange (NRFI) on close to a regional railway line and M69.
If it got planning permission it would include a new motorway slip road.
The site would come with its own rail freight terminal and include 14 warehouses including one that could be 1.5 million square foot.
It would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The site is not far from a new £225 million warehousing and industrial site at Hinckley, further along the M69, close to its junction with the A5.
Parcel company DPD is creating a £150 million new super-hub on that 82 acre site which is set to eventually create around 2,000 jobs.
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There will also be a 532,000 sq ft speculative warehouse as well as room for up to 450,000 sq ft of industrial space. Construction on that site is well underway.
South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa is writing to more than 11,000 villagers about the DB Symmetry plans.
Last year DB Symmetry won planning permission for 3 million sq ft of warehousing a few miles along the A5 at Magna Park, Lutterworth, following a big public outcry.
DB Symmetry said the Hinckley scheme would have:
- Railway sidings and freight transfer area alongside the two-track railway between Hinckley and Leicester. The line forms a part of Network Rail’s freight route between Felixstowe and Nuneaton, lengths of which have been the subject of upgrades, and is also well-placed in the national rail network to provide direct links to and from major cargo terminals at Southampton, Liverpool and the Humber estuary.
- A dedicated road access directly from Junction 2 of the M69 motorway, which connects the M6 near Coventry to the M1 near Leicester and links to the A5 in between. As a part of the proposals, a northbound off-slip and a southbound on-slip would be added to the junction, which currently caters only for motorway traffic heading to and from the north.
- A rail port covering up to 34 acres for the loading and unloading of freight trains, and 9 million sq ft of floor space within the storage and logistics buildings
What the local MP said:
Mr Costa said if they got approval the plans would have a "hugely significant impact" on neighbouring villages.
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He said: "While the development has long been a matter of concern to some residents, I have further concerns that these proposals have not been as well publicised as they perhaps could have been, so the survey will also be asking constituents if they’re aware of the plans in question and what their views on this are.
"It’s absolutely imperative that residents have all the information they need regarding a development of this size and scale.
“I am very grateful to the local district councillors of the Fosse Villages in helping to prepare this survey and to the parish councils for their cooperation.
"Clearly this is an issue of concern to residents, and understandably so, the burden on local infrastructure could be huge unless proper considerations are made, and so this is an opportunity for constituents to have their voices heard and to try to shape these plans for the better if they are indeed given the go ahead by the relevant Secretary of State.”
Blaby District chairman and Stanton and Flamville district councillor Iain Hewson said it was important to hear the views of local residents on this matter.
He said: "At the moment, people are very worried about the level of transport that could come into the site, and the capacity of local roads to deal with vehicles if the plans were to be approved.
"As councillors we always work very closely with Alberto and his team, and it’s important that constituents take the time to complete this survey and let our MP know about the issues that really matter to them in the villages near the development.”
The Hinckley scheme is still at the pre-application stage with an application potentially going in next year spring.