Parkside first phase to open in June 2024
The 1m sq ft Newton-le-Willows industrial scheme could create around 1,300 jobs and contribute £80m a year to the St Helens economy once complete.
Project manager 4wrd Management and planner Spawforths are working with developer Parkside Regeneration to discharge pre-commencement conditions ahead of a start on site in early 2023.
The first phase of employment space is due to complete before the end of June 2024, and Parkside Regeneration, a joint venture between St Helens Council and developer Langtree, is already in talks with potential occupiers.
“We will be building speculatively because we know that there are occupier requirements in the market,” said John Downes, chief executive of Langtree and chairman of Parkside Regeneration.
“We want to be able to generate employment back on this site as soon as possible now that we have been given the green light. For me, Parkside has always been about jobs and regeneration and will be a game-changer for the local economy.”
Work to create a link road connecting the 230-acre site to J22 of the M6 motorway is already underway after Balfour Beatty was appointed to deliver the infrastructure project.
The road is seen as a key element to unlocking the full potential of the site. St Helens Council has secured £24m from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Strategic Investment Fund for the project.
“Not only is this project bringing a derelict piece of land back into use, but its economic benefits will also put our borough back on the map and create new jobs and employment opportunities for local residents,” said Cllr Richard McCauley, St Helens Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and planning.
“With so much happening now in the way of regeneration projects, these are exciting times for the borough. We promised sustainable inclusive growth with new jobs and that’s exactly what we’re delivering.”
Parkside was one of several North West schemes called in for government review in 2020, but the project was eventually approved.
Parkside Regeneration had pleaded with Whitehall to allow the 1m sq ft Green Belt scheme to go ahead and the Planning Inspectorate ruled in favour of the joint venture, citing regeneration benefits and the lack of an alternative site as key benefits of the scheme.
Great news. Get it built. Jobs, jobs, job.
By Sceptical
Once again developers stating it’s bringing the old colliery site back into use, why not say less than 15% of the site is the old works, the remainder is greenbelt. In the middles of a climate emergency and an area with the highest rates of respiratory disease in the UK, you have to question the ethics of developing this site.
By K knowles
K.Knowles…but it is partly an old colliery site. It also literally says ‘1m sq ft Green Belt scheme’ in the article. Why do they need to talk percentages?
Perhaps you could explain to me how, as a nation, we are meant to support the ever expanding population without the release of greenbelt land for residential and employment uses?
Why don’t we implement a one child policy or perhaps no children at all. Would you be in support of that if it saved the greenbelt?
Happy to hear any other ideas you might have…or do you just want to moan?
By A James
The fact is greenbelt is being destroyed forever. That’s a fact and there are tens of thousands of people living in the east of the borough not happy at all with it.
The scheme at Parkside has always been badged as the redevelopment of a former colliery site…whereas in fact it is the development of some brownfield and a lot of greenbelt.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, St. Helens Council couldn’t attract real industry to to borough if their lives depended on it, so they go for the easy win (logistics) and trample over the quality of life of people in the borough.
By Denis Smith
“Denis Smith”….but there aren’t tens of thousands not happy with it though. That’s a lie. How many of these alleged “tens of thousands” objected to the application? It’s just very small minority of keyboard warriors who would be happy for it to built anywhere else as long as it wasn’t in their backyard or could potentially inconvenience them in some small way.
It’s a fact that this same minority would have been happy for the Haydock Point development to go ahead instead of Parkside, which is 100% greenfield, purely because it wasn’t located in Newton-Le-Willows.
Unfortunately for this small minority the benefits of the development far outweigh any negatives and it is going ahead. They can continue to cry about it as much as they like…it won’t change a thing.
By A James