Drawing up a ‘Station Quarter’ masterplan
COUNCIL chiefs are honing in on developing a so-called Runcorn Station Quarter masterplan as part of longer ‘Runcorn Vision’ regeneration plans.
Three options are due to be presented to Halton Borough Council’s executive board today over whether to oversee the scheme in-house or externally.
A report published ahead of the meeting said the local authority has received a proposal for some regeneration plans for the station quarter from Langtree.
As well as the construction firm’s offer, senior councillors will consider whether to hand management of developing the scheme to Halton Council or to look around for another organisation to handle it.
The various advantages and disadvantages have been laid out in the report with the recommended option being to keep the work in-house to save cash and time and to provide accountability to elected members.
It said it would also make use of in-house expertise, adding that it was felt the local authority had the necessary knowledge.
However, the report’s author has said a good working relationship would be maintained with Langtree to keep the door open for consulting on its expertise once a Station Quarter masterplan is drawn up.
Working with an external developer had been proposed in a document outlining a 10-15 year vision for Runcorn town centre, which is said was one of eight key impact areas in the Mersey Gateway Regeneration Plus plan.
Halton Council has previously collaborated with Langtree on developing Sci-Tech ● Daresbury.
Runcorn railway station lies on the West Coast Main Line between Liverpool and London with journeys of less than two hours to the capital from Runcorn.
The area has been earmarked for the focus of initial regeneration attempts as it is deemed to offer the most cost-effective and least time-consuming opportunity to kickstart development.
Runcorn town centre was listed under two agenda items at the last executive board meeting in September, which dealt with plans for Egerton Street and the broader Runcorn Vision with both barred to the press and public.
At time of writing, no further detail has been published on either.