Haydock Point in St Helens will be a manufacturing and logistics hub employing up to 2,500 people and Peel L&P is looking to accelerate its delivery. Tony McDonough reports

Property giant Peel L&P is looking accelerate its plan to build a £155m manufacturing and logistics hub in St Helens by seeking to have it included in an existing public inquiry.

In May the Secretary of State ‘called in’ three other industrial schemes, including the proposed £100m regeneration of the former Parkside Colliery in St Helens, as well as projects in Wigan and Bolton.

Peel, working with logistics developer PLP, submitted a planning application for the new manufacturing and logistics development, called Haydock Point, in 2017. The scheme could see the creation of up to 2,500 jobs and generating an estimated £159m for the city region economy every year.

Following feedback from highways authorities, an additional £10m plan for significant improvement works to Junction 23 of the M6 has been proposed as part of the development. A planning application has been submitted to St Helens Council for the new addition.

However, in order to speed up the delivery of Haydock Point, and avoid the area missing out on a huge investment, Peel is pushing for the plans to be shoehorned into the current public inquiry process. It is also submitting a second fresh planning application to the council.

Peel L&P will  appeal its Haydock Point plans on the grounds of ‘non-determination’ and seek to have the appeal heard at the same conjoined inquiry with the neighbouring logistics schemes so that all can be considered together by the same inspector.

Richard Knight, director of land and communities at Peel L&P, said: “Our proposals for new manufacturing and logistics at Haydock Point and associated highway improvement works on the network around Junction 23 will facilitate a major economic development that will support a wide range of jobs for local people and help secure supply chains for essential goods. 

“However, at a time of economic uncertainty, we need to be accelerating the delivery of these jobs and multi-million-pound investment. The decision to call-in several logistic schemes has meant we have had to reconsider our options and, following legal advice, we have concluded that there is no alternative but to appeal for non-determination and resubmit a fresh application. 

“Our absolute preference would be for our proposals to be determined locally by St Helens Council, as we strongly believe that this is the best way to ensure that the scheme for Haydock Point meets the employment aspirations of local people and delivers maximum benefits to St Helens. As such, we’ll continue to engage with officers and hope the plans can be considered locally in due course.”