Fly-through video shows what £31.5m Parkside link road will look like

This week the council’s planning committee granted planning permission to build a single carriageway road that would link the A49 Winwick Road to the A579 Winwick Lane, enabling access to Junction 22 of the M6.

This was after outline planning permission was granted for the first phase of the regeneration of the derelict Parkside Colliery.

The Parkside link road scheme, which will lie in both St Helens and Warrington, would be around 3.5km long and would pass through the former Parkside Colliery via agricultural land.

St Helens Council, who is the applicant, estimates the scheme will cost £31.5 million, including land costs, and take approximately 21 months to build.

Following planning consent, the council has released an animated fly-through video showing the scope of the project.

Cllr Richard McCauley, cabinet member for economic regeneration and housing, said: “With approval secured at planning committee for the first stage of development and the supporting link road at Parkside, our excitement for the site is definitely growing.

“There’s been significant interest in the regeneration of Parkside for employment use since the colliery closed because of its unique and desirable strategic location on both the motorway and rail networks.

“Parkside represents a major employment opportunity that St Helens borough needs, with the potential to unlock a broad range of quality jobs in the burgeoning logistics and construction industries and related supply chains for the benefit of our residents.

“The new link road is where the future prospects of Parkside really show, opening up the possibility of a strategic rail freight interchange, which would be a game changer for the borough in terms of well paid jobs, bringing hundreds of millions of pounds into the local economy for years to come.”

Newton councillor Seve Gomez-Aspron, who is also chairman of the planning committee, said the new link road will alleviate traffic away from the A49 to the M6 at J22.

Cllr Gomez-Aspron said: “2,000 people lost their jobs when Parkside Colliery closed. Even more when the Vulcan Works and numerous other businesses closed.

“The new link road allows the colliery site to be developed whilst taking traffic away from the A49 to the M6 at J22.

“The council will now model the weight restrictions requested meaning that HGVs could not access and exit via the A49, but commuters could still use the new road.

“We will be pushing for this in partnership with the Winwick Councillors.”

Newton councillor Seve Gomez-Aspron

The potential impacts of the link road and the proposals to regenerate the Parkside site, both of which are in the green belt and contain a registered battlefield, have been a major cause for concern for residents.

Eight objectors spoke against both planning applications on Tuesday, including Dave Tyas, co-chairman of the Parkside Action Group.

Following the meeting, the campaign group said the traffic and air quality impacts of the developments are “potentially huge” to Newton-le-Willows.

As the developments are in the green belt, both applications have been referred to the Secretary of State by St Helens Council.

A decision will be made whether or not to call in the applications in due course.

“We now have to hope that the secretary of state will call in the applications and take the applications to public inquiry,” Parkside Action Group said in a statement.

“If that happens we will have a better chance to present our case and expose what we believe are flaws in the traffic and air quality assessments, as well as loss of green belt, and damage to heritage like the registered battlefield.”