WARRINGTON town centre is set for some major developments in the next few years.

Several schemes are already taking shape, from giant apartment blocks under construction on Winwick Street and Academy Street and the new Warrington Youth Club.

Also in the works are plans to move the University of Chester’s Padgate campus to Time Square and Mersey Bank House, a new bus depot off Dallam Lane and hundreds of homes on Centre Park as New Town House braces itself for the bulldozer.

Meanwhile, Warrington Bank Quay could become a major rail interchange – with a wider ‘gateway’ around the station tipped to see the former Mr Smith’s site brought back into use as housing.

But there are just as many smaller-scale proposals which you may have missed, but will have just as big an impact on transforming the town centre.

Here are 14 planned developments which you may not have known about:

Hotels

There are currently several new hotels mooted in and around Warrington town centre.

Work is now underway on a £3.2million scheme to turn the former post office on Springfield Street into an aparthotel.

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This will feature 21 ‘high specification apartments for short term rent’, and is due for completion in the second quarter of 2022 above existing business such as Grill on the Square and the Post House.

Over on Centre Park, planning permission has been granted for a seven-storey, 126-bed hotel.

Located on Centre Park Square, this will be the office park’s third hotel – joining the Village Hotel and the Premier Inn.

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Meanwhile, former Salford Red Devils owner Marwan Koukash had been set to turn listed buildings at Garven Place into a luxury hotel and space.

However, things on this front appear to have gone quiet amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Time Square

While the University of Chester is the most high-profile upcoming occupant of the £142.5million Time Square development, leases have been agreed with two other businesses.

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One of these operators currently runs a bar in Stockton Heath, while the other has been described as a ‘quality, family-orientated restaurant’.

Their identities have not yet been revealed, but they could be set to open in the area in the near future.

Four other units forming part of the flagship regeneration project remain unfilled.

Apartments

You won’t be surprised to hear that there are a lot more apartment developments proposed in the town centre.

First up, 80 flats are planned on Mersey Street in a 10-storey block featuring a rooftop garden and two commercial units at the ground floor.

Warrington Guardian: How the development could look

Over on Sankey Street, 18 one-bedroom units are planned on the site of the former Warrington Baptist Church – which was demolished in 2019.

Wilson Patten Street is set for not one, but two new apartment blocks.

One will be housed only a stone’s throw from the new university site on Barbauld Street, and has been tipped to become a potential ‘student village’.

The eight-storey building has been granted planning permission, and will see 39 flats constructed next to the former BT telephone exchange.

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Further up the main road, Arpley House could be demolished in order to make way for a four-storey development of 74 apartments.

A consultation on the scheme is underway.

Warrington Guardian: An impression of how the apartments would look along Wilson Patten Street if plans are approved

While the £56million Cheshire Junction development off John Street is now looming large over northern parts of the town centre, another apartment block is being planned next door.

The seven-storey building will be situated between Greenwood’s of Cheshire and Mike and Martha’s chip shop on currently vacant land on Winwick Street, featuring a commercial unit at the ground floor and 26 flats.

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Elsewhere, the former Warrington Art School on Museum Street is set to become, you guessed it, apartments.

Plans to convert and extent the building have been approved, with 18 units planned inside the revamped historic building.

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A poplar nightspot in the late noughties, WA1 bar on Legh Street is set to be converted into 12 flats.

And finally, 12 apartments are also planned inside the former Warrington Club building on Bold Street.

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Second job centre

The coronavirus pandemic has seen the Department for Work and Pensions reveal plans for a second job centre in Warrington town centre.

A Jobcentre Plus will open at Tannery Court, on Tanners Lane, under the proposals.

This will be a temporary branch, plotted due to an ‘unprecedented demand on the benefits systems’ according to the DWP.