New look for station ‘zone’
EXCLUSIVE sneak preview details of plans for Runcorn’s long-awaited Station Quarter project have been revealed.
Halton Council released the masterplan document following a request from the Weekly News ahead of tonight’s executive board meeting where the proposals are to be presented to town hall chiefs.
The previously unseen plans reveal what urban designers have envisaged for major redevelopment works aimed at giving the town centre near Runcorn station the ‘wow factor’.
Artist’s impressions in the masterplan have revealed provisional designs for a public square with seating and greenery outside the station as well as views to and from the station, and towards The Brindley theatre. Layout designs showed plans for a station bus interchange, hotel, cycle track, taxi rank, commercial offices, general retail and cafe use and offices for public and third sector use. Also included is a side-on aerial view showing an overview of the six-hectare development area with a slew of fresh buildings – many large and several storeys high – to be used for shops, homes and businesses.
Details of how existing businesses in the area could be affected are also included.
Under provisional plans, Inflata Nation inflatable theme park could be redeveloped as homes when its ● Cllr Rob Polhill ● leasehold ends, and the Hotel Campanile could be relocated within the development zone.
Halton Council’s masterplan included an option for the relocation of Early Learners Nursery to move further from the transport interchange but a spokeswoman for the local authority said that no longer forms part of the proposals as the masterplan document has been superseded by a formal planning application that means the nursery is to remain in place.
The plans said the project aims to focus civic and leisure uses around the transport hub, intensify commercial and employment uses, build flats and houses, and ensure there is enough parking.
The Station Quarter is one of the sites earmarked for redevelopment in the wider Runcorn Vision town centre masterplan, which was released last year following a Weekly News Freedom Of Information request and which set out how the project is intended to replace a ‘grey and dull’ environment around the station with something ‘memorable for the right reasons’ and give Runcorn the chance to ‘stand out from the crowd’.
The plans also include creating a ‘fit for purpose’ HS2 hub. A window of opportunity to kickstart the Station Quarter has been opened by the £9.61m demolition of the ‘Trumpet Loop’ bridge link road, which is to be bulldozed, creating space to improve the view greeting rail passengers to make the town centre more welcoming.
The link road is to be replaced by a junction connecting the station, town centre, Silver Jubilee Bridge, expressway and Greenway Road.
A Halton Council spokeswoman said the project is part of the Mersey Gateway regeneration programme, aiming to ‘maximise the long-term economic benefits from the new crossing for Halton’ via a ‘package of development and investment that will transform Halton over the next decade’. She said the plan aims to create a mix of land uses complementing the rest of the town. A search is now under way to find a developer to work with the council.
Calls for Runcorn town centre’s revitalisation date back more than a decade with various schemes and proposals surfacing and falling into limbo including the Canal Quarter.
Weekly News readers may also recall the paper’s Regenerate Runcorn campaign.
Some progress appears to have been made including the redevelopment of the former Crosville depot, and council bosses hope the momentum created by the Mersey Gateway and temporary closure of the Silver Jubilee Bridge have created the conditions for proposals to emerge off the page and into reality.
Following the masterplan’s release, Cllr Rob Polhill, Halton Council leader, said: “The opening of the Mersey Gateway has given us this huge opportunity to transform the area in front of Runcorn Station.
“We want people getting off the train at Runcorn station to get a brilliant first impression of our town and for there to be new places for local people to live, work or enjoy.
“Doing this work now means we are in the best position possible to achieve these things moving forward.”