Rayner rejects 3.1m sq ft Warrington industrial after drawn-out appeal
Langtree and Panattoni have had planning permission for a £300m employment scheme off Junction 20 of the M6 refused by the Planning Inspectorate.
Warrington Council voted to approve the outline application for scheme, known as Six56, in March 2022.
The 3.1m sq ft project was subsequently called in by then-secretary of state Michael Gove, despite the minister having originally decided not to.
Now, two years on, the application has been rejected by secretary of state Angela Rayner due to the harm it would inflict on the Green Belt.
The Planning Inspectorate recognised the need for logistics accommodation in the area but added that demand is “overstated” and based on “subjective opinion rather than robust quantitative data”.
A decision on the development might have been made much earlier had it not been for a challenge against Warrington’s recently adopted local plan from an unnamed party, which went “to the heart of the remaining issues” of the Six56 inquiry, according to the Planning Inspectorate.
The scheme was proposed for land that had been earmarked for release from the Green Belt under Warrington’s draft local plan.
However, the allocation was stripped from the final edition of the plan and will remain as Green Belt.
Langtree said the decision “flies in the face of the government’s stated growth ambitions”.
“We are disappointed but this was always a possibility,” said John Downes, Langtree group chief executive.
“We’ll take a good look at the ruling and assess our options.”
Harm to the greenbelt, coming from the Minister who wants to eradicate large swathes of it, oh the irony…
By Anonymous
As each day passes and more economic indicators and measures of sentiment point to the disaster of a budget, this decision further belies the government’s claim to be pro-growth. Baffling.
By Anonymous
So growth is not the priory this new government stated it was.
By Stuart wood
Rayner hasn’t got a clue
By alan loughlin
How can we rebuild our economy when plans like these are banned.
By Stephen
Langtree are right. Unlike other logistics sites in the region hoovering up huge chunks of Grant this is a speculative scheme led by a credible developer.
By Anonymous
Great news, so please this didn’t get through.
By Alan J
How does this align with Labour’s Growth mission. We need to change the ways we do things if we are to get this country back to winning ways.
By Allergic to Squirrels
I have to say that most of the comments below are pretty poor quality. They are either ‘Labour wants to eradicate the Green Belt’ or ‘Labour doesn’t really want to encourage growth’. The reality is actually much more nuanced. The Government have restated support for the GB, but they have recognised the obvious that at least some of the development is going to come on GB land, so they are directing to the least important land. But the decision also shows that shed developers are going to have to justify their forecasts with something a little more robust than ‘we have lots of people that want a big shed near the motorway’. This is probably the most interesting part of the decision. Not that shed development on GB is over, but that there must be a real need.
By Peter Black
Re: Peter black’s comment. It’s clear the market thinks there is need or the developer wouldn’t be risking millions on the development- clearly this is just the type of green belt land thy should be used – next to existing infrastructure- it’s clear that the new government are not serious about growth or planning reform or schemes like this would be allowed- it seems that the Raynor wants to pick the low hanging fruit but not really willing to upset anyone
By Stuart wood
@ November 25, 2024 at 1:36 pm
By Peter Black
Hear hear. Many postings don’t seem to do nuance.
By Rye
Perhaps if it had been promoted as a campus, studio, innovation district or sector focussed rather than a big shed development ? Nuance.
By Anonymous
It would be good to see growth in warrington but there are much better sites on the m6 corridor next to existing Birchwood trainstation with great public transport links adjoining existing devlopment which are far better placed to meet additional employment land need. The South station place proposal had local resident and rail support and made significant contributions ( worth over 37 million ) to public transport infrastructure through a park and ride. The proposal also delivered additional community facilities at the trainstation. .
By Bates