Industrial estate revamp is given the green light
Council hopes work will spur on further redevelopment in area
PLANS to “kick-start” the regeneration of a run-down industrial estate in Widnes have been approved by the local council. The proposals will see Halton Council build 86 houses on sites formerly occupied by Tarmac and Stobart off Foundry Lane on the edge of the Golden Triangle industrial estate in Ditton.
The council’s planning committee voted unanimously to approve the plans on Monday evening (February 1).
In a report prepared ahead of the meeting, planning officers said the proposals would act as a spur to the long-stalled regeneration of the Golden Triangle
that has been an aim of the council since at least 2004.
The only councillor to speak on the plans at the meeting was Bill Woolfall, who said he was “totally in support of the planning application” but raised concerns about the impact on traffic in the area.
He said a previous proposal had included a relief road, but this was missing from the current plans.
Planning officer Glen Henry replied that he did not know what was happening with the relief road but his “gut reaction” was that it was not going to happen.
Although the plans focus on two sites on Foundry Lane, they included a masterplan for a wider development of the Golden Triangle that would see the industrial estate replaced by houses.
In recent years, the Golden Triangle has been blighted by a fire in 2019 and a large fly-tip over the course of 2020.
Writing in support of the plans, Hough Green councillor Phil Harris said: “This will help kick-start the redevelopment of the wider industrial area for residential use and is to be welcomed.
“It contrasts with other applications which seek to build on green space sites, instead of using brownfield sites like this.”
The proposals are only an outline plan of the development, and details including the precise layout of the houses will be subject to another planning application at some point in the future.
However, the decision means the principle of building houses on the site has been approved and the council can now begin to make progress on its negotiations regarding the wider industrial estate.