While others talk, one town is making progress on its ambitious development plans. Alex Turner reports

AT A time when many local authorities are bunkering down, seemingly to hibernate for a few years until the last of the recession aftershocks have passed and the economic landscape has fully stabilised, a very different plan has been hatched in north Cheshire.

Just 40 years since Warrington was designated as a new town – a period which has seen it quietly develop into an increasingly-important economic hub – it is now ready to use its foundations as a launchpad for its next phase of growth.

And this time, the growth won’t be quite so quiet.

“We will be far more aggressive in the future,” said Andy Farrall, Warrington Borough Council’s executive director for environment and regeneration.

“We had been too concerned about our neighbours in the past. We are really well-placed and determined to grab that.

“We are going to push ourselves forward. We want to contribute to the regional agenda.”

This repositioning is a consequence of its rising importance to the North West – the sub-region of Halton and Warrington has the highest gross-value added (GVA, a measure of economic output) level per head of any sub-region in the North West.

The most recent data, for 2007, measured its per capita GVA at £22,324, much higher than the UK average of £19,951 and the North West level of £17,555.

Mr Farrall said: “The two Cheshires [Cheshire West and Chester, and Cheshire East] and ourselves see us as a significant player in the region. We are responsible for 10% of the regional economy.

“Cheshire and Warrington is the only place in the North West that is ahead of the national average for GVA. Cheshire and Warrington are delivering high-value knowledge jobs while others are talking about it.

“We were previously a sub-regional driver of economic growth. We are now a regional driver of economic growth.”

That growth could be huge in the next two decades. The borough has the stated aim of “by 2030, Warrington will be recognised as one of the best places to live and work in the UK, where everyone enjoys an outstanding quality of life.”

In economic terms, Mr Farrall believes that Warrington has “the capacity to deliver 120,000 new jobs for the region in the next 15 years. Whether the market can create them is another question, but we have the capacity.”

On Monday, LDP Business revealed that Warrington Borough Council is to go to the market in the coming months for development partners for the first phases of two major schemes worth £165m.

The first phase of a £125m, 20-year plan to develop the waterfront is concentrated around the Bridge Street Quarter, which links the town centre and the waterfront.

A separate project to develop Garven Place, as part of the £40m Golden Gardens scheme to improve the town centre parks, will also be taken to market this summer.

Mr Farrall said: “Since August, we have bought the majority of the Bridge Street Quarter. We have been doing all the background stuff. We have now commissioned advisers. We are going to the market this month to suss out interest – there was no point until then – to formally obtain a development partner in June or July.

“Bridge Street Quarter is being completely redeveloped – a mix of leisure, offices, shops, a food store – a mixed-use site around open streets which link us with the Mersey.”

The scheme would create 1,000 jobs within a 6,800sqm foodstore, 4,400sqm market, 7,700sqm retail floorspace, more than 200 apartments and a 550-space car park.

Warrington Council will follow this move by also going to the market for a second mixed-use development, at Garven Place, next to the town hall.

Mr Farrall said: “We have got considerable interest in that. We are going formally to the market in the summer. We are going to the market first for Bridge Street and then Garven Place.”

There is a keen sense within the borough to push the message that Warrington’s development plans are “far more than just Omega”. He added: “What we have been doing over the quiet period is getting to grips with what we can offer the region and the UK – therefore we have been rejigging our plans and policies to really start to reposition Warrington where we want to be.

“With the market starting to return, we are in a really strong place.”

The long-awaited Omega development – first announced in 2001 – also appears ready to move forward.

The £1bn scheme is for a 575-acre business park, to be built on the site of the former Burtonwood World War II United States Air Force base, and could house up to 24,000 jobs over 25 years.

Having eventually gained planning consent for the first two phases, the project was halted by the credit crunch.

A new masterplan for the mixed-use site is expected to be made public by July.

Last month, Omega’s developers, Miller, said that talks were under way for the first pre-lettings of the Phase One developments at the site.

Miller chief executive Keith Miller confirmed work has re-started on Omega and potential tenants are in talks over signing to move in to the 1.6m sq ft logistics centre and 1.5m sq ft of offices and a hotel. The firm said they have received “a lot of interest” from logistics operators, food store retailers and for residential space.

Mr Miller said: “It is a great site. There are very few, if any, other sites of that scale in the area with great motorway connections and strategic location, and judging by the level of interest we’re receiving, it will be a great success.”

One site where work has begun is at Orford Park, to the north of the town centre, where a £30m development will create sports and communities facilities, linked to the Building Schools for the Future programme and NHS initiatives.

Mr Farrall said: “It’s an important development in Warrington and an important component of closing the gap.”

Closing the gap is a key plank of the borough’s plans as it seeks to improve its struggling areas, especially in the north of the town. Near to Orford Park is the Sankey Valley area, which is the subject of a £25m plan to expand Gulliver’s World Theme Park and create a water park, 175 camping and caravan spaces, and the restoration of a dry section of Sankey Canal.

One of the first elements of the project will see Gulliver’s World apply for planning permission later this year to build a caravan and camping site.

Gulliver’s managing director Julie Dalton said: “This is the start of a very exciting project and we’re delighted to be working with the council to develop this area and offer even more to visitors from Warrington and the rest of the UK.”

To the south of the town centre, there are proposals to create a five-star hotel and golf course estate at Walton Hall. It will see the existing golf course turned into a golf academy.

An operator has been selected, but not yet named, for the £25m development and the renovations are expected to take five years.

The multi-layered regeneration plans for the borough – that incorporate retail, commercial, leisure, accommodation and tourism assets – are phased over the next 20 years.

It hopes that its plans, which are far more ambitious than any of its neighbours, will give it plenty to shout about as each phase is completed.