Halton ramps up plans for intergenerational Widnes neighbourhood

The council has worked up a brief to advise developers on how it wants to see five acres in the town centre transformed, a scheme described by the authority as a short-term priority project.

The site of the former Kingsway Leisure Centre and Widnes Police Station and Magistrates Court is earmarked for around 120 units for families and older people in the Widnes Town Centre Regeneration Framework, adopted by Halton Council last year.

Halton has now prepared a planning brief to shape the scheme, which it hopes can become an exemplar for intergenerational development.

The project’s design should seek to “recognise the growing importance of promoting intergenerational connections… [and]relieve isolation, bring people together in community activities to exchange life skills and experiences and to improve general health and wellbeing”, according to the brief.

The majority of the scheme would be low rise with a five-storey “landmark” building envisioned on the corner of Kingsway and Milton Road.

The housing mix proposed features up to 70 homes for older people, up to 12 for young people leaving care, and up to six family homes, the brief states.

The council sees the redevelopment proposals as a chance to enhance the pedestrian routes through the site. The plot is used as a cut-through by students travelling to Riverside College on the opposite side of Kingsway from the east.