Omega South consultation opens
Omega Warrington Ltd is hosting a series of public consultation events on the next stage of development at Omega South, which is expected to include residential, retail, leisure and community uses.
Omega South’s zone 6, near to existing residential areas off Whittle Avenue and Lingley Green Avenue, has been earmarked for a large housing development for some time.
Proposals to be presented within the consultation will include 1,100 homes along with local shops, restaurants and cafes, public house and bar, a care home, and a hotel, supported by landscaping and wildlife habitat preservation. Transport studies are also being undertaken to inform local and wider improvements.
Following public consultation, plans will be developed into an outline planning application to be submitted in late summer 2015.
Andrew Sutherland, joint managing director of Miller Developments, partner of OWL: “As with all parts of the UK, Warrington needs new homes for its growing population; as a borough, Warrington has a target to deliver 5,425 new homes between 2012 and 2027. Omega South is an ideal location to create a sustainable development with business premises and jobs alongside new homes, large open spaces, play areas, a new school and vital community facilities and services.”
If the planning application is approved by Warrington Council in autumn 2015, OWL will then market residential plots to housebuilders. The selected partners will then develop detailed designs for each plot which will, following further rounds of public consultation, be submitted as detailed planning applications.
It is anticipated that the residential and mixed-use part of Omega will be delivered in phases over ten years, depending on market demand.
The Omega South site was at the centre of a High Court challenge in February, in which a judge ruled that Warrington’s local plan housing target was invalid. The challenge was brought by Satnam Investments, which criticised the council’s decision to designate Omega a strategic housing development site in the local plan instead of Satnam’s Peel Hall Farm plot in Houghton Green.
Mr Justice Stewart said that the council and the planning inspector who approved the plan had not carried out a full and objective assessment of housing figures, alongside “substantial non-compliance” with strategic environment assessment requirements.
The plan’s current housing target is 10,500 new homes, equivalent to 500 each year, between 2006 and 2027.
The online consultation will be available at www.omegaopportunity.com/community/consultation/ from 29 May until the end of June. Community events will also be held on the following days:
- Thursday 28 May – Great Sankey High School, Great Sankey from 4pm-8pm
- Friday 29 May – Kingswood Community Hall, Westbrook from 12-4pm
- Monday 1 June – St. Michael’s Parish Hall, Burtonwood from 2.30-6.30pm
The deadline for consultation feedback will be 30 June 2015.
Omega Warrington Ltd is a joint venture between Miller Developments and KUC Properties, in partnership with landowner the Homes & Communities Agency and supported by Warrington Council and the Cheshire and Warrington LEP.
