HALTON Council is the latest occupier on Widnes’s Turnstone Business Park, having leased almost 5,000 sq ft of offices for two separate departments.

The council’s Gateway team, which is responsible for progressing the Mersey Gateway bridge project, has relocated from Runcorn into a 1,495 sq ft office unit, while the Community Safety Team has moved into 3,325 sq ft of offices.

The latest lettings now mean that more than half of the hybrid and office units on the 60,000 sq ft Priority Sites development are either sold, let or under offer.

Of the 13 offices, five are now occupied or under offer, while just one of the six hybrid units remains for sale.

Halton Council’s chief executive, David Parr, said: “This shows our commitment to the business park. The new offices are modern and we have the added bonus of being within sight of the bridge’s location.”

Development manager for Priority Sites, Phil Haslam, added: “Having worked closely with Halton Council to bring the business park to fruition, it is particularly welcoming to see two of the departments now becoming occupiers.” The council teams are set to join a host of occupiers on the business park, including the scheme’s developer, Priority Sites, which relocated its North West operation from premises in Speke Garston, in January.

Bill Skilki, chief executive of Priority Sites, said: “We have been delighted with the success of the scheme to date and moving our North West base to Widnes seemed like the natural choice.

“Having firmly established our reputation as a catalyst for regeneration across Merseyside, the move to such a prominent location, on the Widnes Waterfront, has given us a strategically located base from which to operate across Merseyside and the North West.”

Turnstone is located at the entrance to the Widnes Waterfront regeneration area, on the banks of the Mersey, and offers a mix of self-contained office and hybrid units ranging in size from 1,174 to 6,616 sq ft.