Peel L&P fights for £165m Haydock Point

The developer will ask that its undetermined plans for a 1.8m sq ft industrial scheme in St Helens be considered alongside four North West logistics projects called in by the Government in May, while also resubmitting plans to the council in the hope of securing local approval. 

Haydock Point Employment Park, plans for which were first lodged in 2017, is being delivered by Peel L&P alongside logistics developer PLP. The scheme is set to benefit from a £10m infrastructure investment for improvement works to Junction 23 of the M6, where the development site is located.

However, as St Helens Council has yet to decide the plans, Peel L&P intends to submit an appeal on the grounds of non-determination, and to lodge a duplicate application in the hope of speeding up the process. 

At the same time, the developer has asked that the plans be considered alongside logistics developments in Bolton, Wigan, Warrington and St Helens, which were called in by the Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick in May. 

The called-in schemes were: 

  • Tritax Symmetry’s 1.44m sq ft warehouse scheme Symmetry Park in Wigan 
  • Langtree’s 1m sq ft redevelopment of Parkside Colliery in St Helens 
  • Harworth Group’s 1 million sq ft Wingates scheme in Bolton 
  • Liberty Properties Developments and Eddie Stobart’s plans for a £75m national distribution centre on land north of  Barleycastle Lane in Warrington 

Peel L&P decided to proactively seek to accelerate the planning process after taking legal advice. 

Richard Knight, director of land and communities at Peel L&P said that while the developer would prefer to be granted approval at a local level, it “needs to ensure that the decision on Haydock Point should be taken alongside the called-in schemes”. 

He added: “At a time of economic uncertainty, we need to be accelerating the delivery of these jobs and multi-million-pound investment.”  

“The decision to call in several logistic schemes means we have had to reconsider our options,” he added. “We have concluded that there is no alternative but to appeal for non-determination and resubmit a fresh application.”  

Once complete, Haydock Point could provide up to 2,500 jobs and generate up to £159m for the economy annually, according to Peel L&P. 

Turley is the planning consultant advising on the project. 

The region’s industrial and logistics property sector saw near-record levels of take-up in the first half of 2020, driven by consumer demand for e-commerce amid the coronavirus lockdown, according to a report by consultancy Savills earlier this month. 

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