UP TO 5,000 fewer lorry journeys a year will be made on Gwent's roads - thanks to a new rail freight facility at Newport docks.

An Assembly grant of £1.72 million will mean scrap metal, currently transported by road, will now travel by rail.

The money awarded to metal company Simms Group UK and Associated British Ports will be used to lay track and install other equipment.

Fully operational from September 2004, the facility will handle 600,000 tonnes of scrap metal from Wimborne and Beeston. It will remove around 52,174 lorry trips from the road, covering almost seven million road miles, over ten years.

Announcing the grant, Assembly economic development minister Andrew Davies said: "By removing over 5,000 lorry trips each year from our roads, this new freight facility is good news for people living and working along the lorry routes and for the environment as a whole."

The deputy manager of the Port of Newport, Simon Brett, said: "We will be removing track that has been redundant for 20 years and relaying it on the north side of the south dock. Machinery will then be put in place to shift scrap metal.

"Jobs will be created during the construction phase and possibly longer term. This is a colossal boost for the Port of Newport and it will enable us to expand and attract new business. Work will start in the Autumn and it should be ready by March 2004 and be fully operational by September."

Pill councillor Laura Buchanan Smith said: "We think it's brilliant that not only will a lot of traffic be taken off our streets but jobs will be created as well."

Fellow ward councillor Ron Jones also welcomed the news saying: "It's hell at the moment with the work going on for the southern distributor bridge and the traffic problems on the Cardiff Road so we're glad to hear some good news.

"The docks have been transformed and with this development and the other positive things happening this will be Pill's decade."