CWAC invests £5m in Winsford Industrial Estate
Cheshire West & Chester Council and its partners have agreed to invest £5m in Winsford Industrial Estate, with the first phase of funding to help Tiger Trailers build a 125,000 sq ft manufacturing facility.
The council will invest £1.2m of its own money to start development of council-owned land next to the existing industrial park just off the A54.
It has also secured a further £3.8m of investment through the Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership and its partner PSP, a private sector company which has formed a limited liability partnership with the council to attract funding.
The first phase will develop 17 acres of land which has already been sold to Tiger Trailers. The company will start work on its 125,000 sq ft facility, which secured planning consent last November, in May and will complete in December. The manufacturing space has been designed by architect AJA.
Tiger Trailers first moved to the estate in May 2014, signing a 10-year lease on Maximus, a 105,000 sq ft space. Other occupiers at the estate include distribution company OSL, which has 137,000 sq ft.
CWAC said there had been “significant interest from a number of parties” into the second phase, which includes enabling works to support the delivery of 625,000 sq ft of industrial and manufacturing space.
According to the council, this additional space could have an investment value of £180m.
Lisa Harris, the council’s director of place strategy, said: “The council and PSP have been instrumental in facilitating this deal, which will attract considerable new investment from businesses and developers in Winsford and provide more skilled jobs for local people.
“Developers and businesses are showing that they have confidence in Winsford and the council and its partners are doing everything possible to support and unlock the significant economic benefits this site has for the town and its residents and the borough as a whole.”
The investment is the latest by the council in local assets, having bought Winsford Cross shopping centre this February for £19.8m, and has also progressed plans at Weaver Square, Northwich, which it bought in 2014.
