FULL planning permission is being sought to regenerate the redundant Parkside Colliery site which includes Hermitage Green in Warrington.
Warrington planners are being consulted over the application for enabling works on the land off Winwick Road in nearby Newton-le-Willows.
The application is by Parkside Regeneration LLP (PRLLP), a Joint Venture between St Helens MBC and Langtree Property, formed with the sole purpose of regeneration and delivery of the former colliery as a strategic employment site for the economic, social and environmental benefit of Newton-le-Willows, St Helens and the wider Liverpool City Region.
The full planning application is for enabling works to excavate the site won material from the former colliery site (Pghhase 2 area) and movement of material onto the Parkside Phase 1 land, to allow development to be constructed to agreed platform levels and landforms.
The Application Site is approximately 39.68 hectares (98.05 acres) in extent and is currently vacant. The land subject to the Enabling Works and the proposed excavation works (i.e. donor site) forms part of the old spoil heap on land referred to as Phase 2, north of the proposed Parkside Link Road (PLR).
The PLR is currently being constructed through the former colliery site. The Application site also includes the land referred to as Phase 1, south of the proposed PLR, given material excavated will be deposited on the Phase 1 land to be used to create development platforms and landscaped bunds to the finished levels approved with the outline planning permission and details specified in the reserved matters (application ref: P20230342RES) currently under consideration by St Helens Council.
The character of the areas to the west and northwest is urban and to the south and east, more rural and open. Properties on Winwick Road are beyond the western boundary of the Application Site. To the north is the wider Former Parkside Colliery Site. Beyond the southern and eastern boundaries of the Application Site are agricultural fields and a number of scattered properties, including the small settlement of Hermitage Green.
Newton Park Farm and its associated buildings are set within the context of the wider Former Parkside Colliery area, but outside of the Applicant’s landownership. This farm abuts the northern boundary of the Application Site. There are two Grade II Listed Buildings within Newton Park Farm (Newton Park Farm House and the Barn to the east of Newton Park Farm House) and its associated curtilage.
Newton Park Farm is served by Newton Park Drive, which crosses over the West Coast Mainline Railway from the A49 Winwick Road.
The current access to the Site is from the A49 Winwick Road to the west of the Site, via an existing access road that previously served the colliery when it was in use. However, the Parkside Link Road (PLR), now granted planning permission (ref: P/2018/0249/FUL) and under construction creates a new access into the Parkside Phase 1 Site from the A49. The PLR will link the A49 Winwick Road to the A579 Winwick Lane enabling access to Junction 22 of the M6. The PLR will create junction stubs to serve each of the respective development plots that form part of the Parkside 1 proposals granted Outline Planning Permission.
The PLR is programmed for completion before these enabling works begin, therefore vehicles will cross this road to travel between the two site areas. These vehicles will be road legal and will travel between
the two closest junction stubs to minimise distance travelled on the PLR. There are no sensitive environmental designations within the site that will be directly affected by the proposals.
Parkside Colliery in its heyday – with its famous twin towers
A series of pre-application meetings have been held with Warrington Council and relevant consultees, including Planning, Highway and Trees and Woodland Officers on 25 May 2023 and 28 May 2023 to discuss the proposals.
Feedback on the proposals was generally positive and supportive of the approach to be taken, given the need for these works as enabling for the Phase 1 Parkside development.
Whilst a small area of the woodland is identified as Priority Habitat, and will be lost as a result of the development, it is of low value and considered to be of local level importance. The grassland supports a low diversity of common widespread species, and the ruderal/ephemeral and scrub, a limited range of common species so do not constitute important ecological features. The loss of these habitats is therefore considered to be of minor ecological significance.
The Ecological Appraisal concludes that with the implementation of appropriate avoidance, mitigation and compensation measures, there is unlikely to be harm to biodiversity as a result of the proposed
works.
The effects on neighbouring residential amenities in terms of noise, dust and visual impact will not be significant given the distance from the proposed works and neighbouring properties, together with the measures that will be in place through the CEMP to manage and mitigate the effects of the works. A Framework CEMP is submitted with this planning application.
A noise and vibration statement is submitted with this planning application to assess the effects of the Enabling Works. This concludes that the predicted noise levels associated with the works are expected to fall below the BS 5228-1 noise threshold limit and, as such, existing noise sensitive receptors (neighbouring properties) are likely to experience adverse noise impacts, which are likely to be further reduced with the implementation of noise mitigation measures that will be set out within a CEMP (a Framework for which is submitted with this planning application). Vibrations are also not considered to be an issue due to the distance to receptors and no piling or boring is proposed.
To view the full application CLICK HERE
“Bad week for the roads of Winwick” with green light for Parkside Colliery redevelopment
