Warrington signs off Garven Place sale

The prominent site in the town centre is to be redeveloped into a boutique hotel, spa, restaurant, housing, and a public car park after Warrington’s cabinet agreed to dispose of the plot.

The 1.4-acre site off Sankey Street and near the town hall includes a former clinic and car park along with two listed buildings, the 5,000 sq ft Bank House and 86 Sankey Street, which covers 4,500 sq ft.

The council has been assembling the land around Garven Place for some time, having bought the former NHS clinic on the site in 2009 as part of a land swap deal.

Bank House has been vacant since 2014 when the Golden Gates Housing Trust moved out, while 86 Sankey Street is part leased; the council has started discussions about moving the tenants elsewhere as part of the sale of the site.

While the council had invited expressions of interest by March this year, it has now decided to progress with the sale, and appoint a preferred developer for the site.

A provision of the sale includes retaining an element of public parking within any proposed scheme.

After agreeing the sale at a cabinet meeting last night, a preferred developer will be asked to draw up a planning application, before the final disposal of the site is confirmed next year.

Leader of Warrington Council Cllr Russ Bowden, said: “We have strong aspirations for Warrington town centre, and these plans aim to support our ongoing economic regeneration and growth.

“Bringing forward the development of the Garven Place site has been a long held ambition, and the current market and wider town centre developments mean we now have a fantastic opportunity to do this.

“This is a strategically important, high profile site, and if these proposals are given the go-ahead, it would enable us to regenerate an area of unused vacant land and deliver an aspirational and quality scheme for the town centre.”