Lane End’s 247-home Helsby scheme tipped to go ahead

Cheshire West and Chester Council is recommended to approve the project, which would redevelop a Honeywell warehouse site.

Honeywell is vacating the 16.7-acre brownfield space off Cable Drive in favour of moving to a location in Ellesmere Port.

That move spelt opportunity for Lane End Development Construction. The company aims to demolish the two Honeywell warehouse buildings on the site and construct 42 apartments and 205 houses.

Despite the 16.7 acreage, the site only has 11.3 acres of developable land once one eliminates public space and a proposed road. That public space includes a 4,306 sq ft playground.

The site is also split into two sections by Hornsmill Brook, which also takes a chunk of the land, as it has been granted an 8-metre buffer zone in the scheme.

The application includes more than 29,000 sq ft of public open space. Credit: via planning officer documents

The main train line between Manchester and Chester runs along the western boundary of the site, which is also lined with trees.

Of the 42 proposed apartments, 26 would be located within one apartment block fronting Chester Road. There would be 24 one-bedroom flats at 603 sq ft and two two-bedroom flats at 727 sq ft. The remaining 16 would be in houses with their own access.

The 205 houses break down to 88 two-bedroom homes at 743 sq ft, 109 three-bedroom houses ranging from 861 sq ft to 947 sq ft, and eight four-bedroom homes at 1,195 sq ft. There would be car parking for each home.

The planning officer recommended that approval be granted to the project if a financial contribution towards education, healthcare and a sports pitch was made. CWAC will vote on the application at its 5 October meeting. The application’s reference number is 20/00324/FUL.