Ion and Bellway start at Earlsfield Park

Groundworks are under way at the 50-acre scheme in Knowsley, set to provide more than 30 acres of employment land alongside 154 homes.

The site, south of the Knowsley Estate in North Huyton and off Junction 2 of the M57, already has leisure group Marston’s on board to deliver a pub, along with forecourt operator Euro Garages, which will build a service station featuring a Greggs, Subway, and a Starbucks.

Bellway is delivering the houses on a 13-acre part of the plot; known as Earlsfield Park, this will provide a mix of three and four-bedroom semi-detached and detached homes.

As part of its application for the site, Bellway’s Section 106 agreement includes £1.6m towards infrastructure works, and £750,000 towards Earlsfield’s public open space and playing pitches.

A masterplan for the public space was approved in February this year.

The employment park won consent in June 2018, and is pitched as a hybrid model, with Ion seeking deals with advanced manufacturing R&D facilities, sub-regional logistics business space and office and workshop spaces in a semi-rural parkland setting.

The scheme is expected to complete in three years’ time.

Rob Mason, development director at Ion, said: “Earlsfield Park offers a brilliant location to live, with excellent accessibility to Liverpool and the M57 in a parkland setting. The residential element of the development will also benefit from on-site retail and leisure facilities such as a family-orientated pub and hotel, a modern service station facility with retail and food outlets and a repurposed recreation facility.”

Elsewhere in Knowsley, Bellway is currently delivering 62 homes at Willow Grange on Whiston Lane, along with another 87 homes on Rupert Road in Roby.