A MAJOR new development at the Omega site in Burtonwood has been approved by Warrington Borough Council.

The successful planning application will see new units built for manufacturing and logistics, along with car parking.

They will be located in Omega South - known as zone seven - close to junction eight of the M62 at Burtonwood.

A new link road with the motorway will also be constructed for HGVs and private cars.

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s planning committee last week, Andy Farrell, executive director for environment of Warrington Borough Council, praised the proposals.

He said: “This will be a modern, state of the art logisitics facility.

“It’s not an old warehouse with lots of lorries.”

Omega bosses say the development will create around 4,000 jobs.

Mr Farrell warned some jobs would not be suitable to be prioritised only for Warrington residents, due to the expertise and qualifications required.

He said roles would be available for ‘different skill sets’, from ‘warehouse jobs’, to ‘senior level jobs’.

Neighbours had objected to the application as a large number of mature trees will be cut down as a result.

The council says it is paying £300,000 towards supporting the ‘Green Heart’ feature in Omega South.

It is aimed at providing a habitat for wildlife featuring wetland and woodland.

Objectors questioned how quickly the man-made habitat would be suitable for wildlife.

Planners said the boundary of the zone seven site had been revised so as not to intefere with a pond known to contain a Great Crested Newt population.

However, it is ‘anticipated’ the area of the land with the pond ‘will be the subject of future proposals to form the remainder of the Green Heart feature’, once ‘adequate proposals’ have been made to ‘safeguard’ the newts.

Mr Farrell added the Green Heart ‘provides a significant amount of on-site mitigation for ecological issues’.

Other ward councillors on the committee supported the application.

Clr Sheila Woodyatt (CON - Lymm) said it was ‘fantastic it will come to fruition’.

It was approved in a unanimous vote by the planning committee.

Other councillors who voted in favour were Clr Geoff Settle (Poulton North - LAB), Clr Celia Jordan (Stockton Heath - LD), Clr Laurence Murphy (Stockton Heath - LAB), Clr Maureen McLaughlin (Latchford West - LAB), Clr Faisal Rashid (Whittle Hall - LAB), and Clr Jeff Richards (Bewsey and Whitecross - LAB).