PLANNING chiefs look set to withdraw an objection to the huge Parkside Colliery development proposals.

An outline application to regenerate the land at Newton-le-Willows will come before Warrington Borough Council’s (WBC) development management committee during its virtual meeting on Wednesday.

WBC has been consulted as an adjoining authority but it is down to St Helens Council (SHC) to determine the application.

The proposals include the construction of up to 92,900 square metres of employment floorspace, car parking, vehicle and pedestrian circulation space, alteration of existing access road including works to the existing A49 junction and noise mitigation.

This scheme for the land – which falls in the green belt to the east of the A49 Winwick Road – is known as Parkside phase one.

The applicant says 457 full-time equivalent jobs would be created during construction and an additional 1,330 jobs during operation.

The development is tipped to create a net additional £80 million to the value of goods and services produced in the area, while opening up the potential for the wider employment redevelopment of the Parkside site.

Parkside Regeneration, the applicant, is a joint venture between developer Langtree and SHC.

The proposal is the first phase of a comprehensive development of the former Parkside Colliery site to help meet the employment need in St Helens.

In June 2018, WBC’s development management committee objected to the proposals.

This followed concerns from residents on issues including traffic, impact on the green belt, noise, air quality and ecology.

However, since that objection was made, the applicant submitted further information and, in addition, both authorities considered planning applications for the Parkside link road, which involves land within both boroughs.

Warrington and St Helens both passed plans for the highways scheme in December 2019, subject to conditions and the secretary of state not wishing to intervene.

The single carriageway road would link the A49 Winwick Road to the A579 Winwick Lane, enabling access to junction 22 of the M6.

A statement in the report to WBC’s development management committee says the objection to phase one is inconsistent with the resolution to approve the link road.

It states this is because the matters to which the objection relate to have since been ‘comprehensively considered in the light of further information’ received in relation to phase one and as part of the determination of the link road application.

On Wednesday, WBC’s development management committee is recommended to withdraw the objection and request that SHC takes all practical steps to ensure the link road is open to traffic prior to any part of the development on the phase one site being occupied.