Consultation launches for Tritax’s Intermodal Logistics Park North
Predicted to add £230m a year to the economy, ILP North will comprise a rail freight terminal and up to 8.2m sq ft of warehousing if it can secure approval from transport secretary Heidi Alexander.
The latest consultation for Intermodal Logistics Park North will run until 23 December. You can access the consultation by going to tritaxbigbox.co.uk/our-spaces/intermodal-logistics-park-north.
ILP North is being brought forward by its namesake company, which is wholly owned by Tritax Big Box REIT.
The strategic rail freight interchange is earmarked for 500 acres across St Helens and Wigan, sitting within the Liverpool City Region Freeport. Situated just east of Newton-le-Willows and the M6’s Junction 22, the site is close to the M6/M62 interchange and the West Coast Mainline and Liverpool to Manchester TransPennine rail lines.
Building from a non-statutory consultation from earlier in the year, the revised proposals include new public right of way routes, a footway/cycleway bridge, and a noise barrier by the scheme’s Western Rail Chord.
The plans also include dedicated access from Junction 22 of the M6 via the Parkside Link Road and a variety of landscaping and ecological mitigation initiatives geared towards providing a 10% biodiversity net gain.
Tritax’s development arm, Tritax Big Box Developments, estimated that ILP North will provide up to 6,000 jobs once open. During its 10-year construction period, it would create 400 on-site jobs and 200 off-site ones.
“These proposals include an allocated site and will be instrumental in connecting the North West to global markets,” said Tritax Big Box Developments chairman Andrew Dickman.
“As part of Liverpool City Region’s Freeport, this development can unlock significant investment and create thousands of jobs, while delivering both economic and environmental freight solutions for the region,” he continued.
“We are committed to working with our partners and the local community to ensure these benefits are fully realised.”
ILP North is considered a nationally significant infrastructure project, therefore its development consent order application will be evaluated by the Planning Inspectorate with the secretary of state for transport making the final decision.
Prior to going to the Planning Inspectorate, ILP North will undergo a third consultation focussed on highways, noise, and air quality in the first quarter of next year. The DCO application will be submitted the following quarter, with the examination by the Planning Inspectorate due to commence by the end of 2026. A final decision from the secretary of state is targeted for the third quarter of 2027.
The project team for ILP North includes AJA, Avison Young, AXIS, Baker Rose, BWB, Eversheds, FPCR, Framptons, Iceni, Redmore Environmental, Savills, Stantec, and Vanguardia.
Very large sheds are being raised everywhere.. it’s not as confidence inspiring I would have hoped.. we need some manufacturing as well
By Anonymous
Bit confused by the title i thought for a moment this was a proposal for Logistics North nr Westhoughton
By ML
Snappy name… well done to the marketing team. It’s north, it’s intermodal, it’s a logistics park …
By David Ogilvy
As someone who lives in between
Newton station and the A49, I’m concerned about an increase in traffic along the A49 when this project gets the go ahead. Whilst I have no objection to the development plan and the prospect of jobs, I do have concerns about access to the site. We’ve been told that traffic access will be from the motorway but what about traffic, mainly heavy goods, who are not using the motorway, eg, coming from Liverpool down the East Lancs road or traffic coming via Warrington along the A49 which is very narrow in places and is often at a standstill as traffic tries to negotiate the bend under the railway bridge adjacent to the station due to cars parking on the road, especially during peak times. Cars parking in the narrow streets around the station is becoming unbearable for residents who struggle to get their own cars off their own drives. There is insufficient parking at the station and while we appreciate that people have to park somewhere, it is becoming unacceptable, especially when we realise the bins haven’t been emptied for 3 weeks in a row because the bin lorry can’t get down the avenue.
By Newton resident
newton resident – as this development is all on the east of the motorway I can see HGVs weaving through newton-le-willows to get to the site. And those from Warrington would use the Winwick link road to j22 and straight over. Traffic heading to the development promoted by St Helens themselves on the west of the motorway is more likely to attract traffic / HGVs through newton-le-willows but that already has planning so horse has bolted.
By J
The whole proposal is a national disgrace. It removes 100s of a red of good greenbelt farmland, will ruin the lives of the people who live in the villages nearby (forever). It will be built next to a SSSI, and it’s only to move a rail freight company from Trafford Park (brownfield site), so Andy Burnham can regenerate with a load of new flats. It beggars belief. Totally in the face of the Environmental Act of 2021. Rest assured the house prices will fall, the infrastructure will be completely broken and local roads will become unsafe. Oh and the jobs will move from Trafford Park and clog up the roads in and out. Wake up everyone, it’s only happening to the North, this is preposterous and immoral.
By StSimon