WARRINGTON has been given an £800,000 cash injection from Government to help minimise the impact of lorries driving to a new Brexit lorry park in the south of the town.

The money has been awarded to Warrington Borough Council ahead of the opening of the facility at Appleton Thorn, on the site of the former Shearings facility.

It is part of £1.3million announced by Government for councils in the north west and was confirmed by Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick on Monday.

He said the cash should be used to 'ensure operations can continue to run smoothly at the end of the transition period'.

The UK formally leaves the EU at the end of the year.

Mr Jenrick MP said: “The north west is home to some of our most crucial ports, which is why I am pleased key port areas in the region are receiving a £1.3 million share of funding to help them prepare for the end of the transition period.

“We will continue to work with our major port areas to ensure a smooth transition on January 1 and beyond.

"We continue to engage with local areas on what support they may need to ensure an orderly end to the transition period."

The Government has acquired the former Shearings interchange site for use as an 24/7 inland border control point for heavy goods vehicles from January 1.

Large numbers of lorries will be using junction 20 off the M6 to access ports at Liverpool and Heysham 24/7, with planning permission to be in place for a minimum of two years and possibly four.

Steven Broomhead, Warrington Borough Council chief executive, said the council was told of the money on Monday but no details were given of what it was to be used for.

He said money was needed for highway mitigation with as many as 700 lorries a day set to be using the 'inland port'.

He added: "We welcome the commitment from Government in terms of money.

"We will now work out how best to use that going forward."

Warrington South MP Andy Carter said: "“This is welcome funding, my conversations over the past few months with ministers have been focused around financial support to deal with the potential HGVs travelling through Appleton Thorn and Stretton rather than using the prescribed routes, it will now allow the council to introduce measures to ensure the current restrictions are enforced.

"I’ve had a number of conversations with HMRC who are project managing the scheme, highways and the council CEO to look at what traffic schemes are needed to minimise the impact on local residents and I look forward to them now taking these forward now that necessary funding has been secured.”