AMBITIOUS plans to relocate Widnes Golf Club to a 260-acre super-site in Cronton have taken a huge leap forward.

Halton Borough Council has offered to buy land where the club is currently based, on Highfield Road, to allow the move to go ahead.

Plans to move the 108-year-old course to land between Norlands Lane and Pex Hill appeared to be dead after the original deal with building giants Redrow Homes to transform Widnes’s existing site fell through.

But now the project is back on after Halton Council offered to take the current site into its ownership and move the now defunct St Michael’s Municipal Golf Course to Widnes Golf Club.

The club would then be free to move and carry out work, which has already been granted planning permission.

St Michael’s Golf Course, in Dundalk Road, Widnes, has been out of action since 2004 following the discovery of dangerous levels of arsenic and contaminants on the course.

Prior to yesterday’s developments, the council had been seeking remediation and remodelling of the golf course, to the tune of an estimated £4m.

But now the Daily Post can reveal some of that land will be used for toll plazas on the new Mersey Gateway bridge over the Mersey.

Members at Widnes will get the opportunity to cast their opinions through a vote, but it is expected to have unanimous support, and golfers could be teeing up in Cronton in two years’ time.

A council spokesman said: “Widnes Golf Club currently has planning permission to relocate to a site in north Widnes.

“The outstanding issue for the Golf Club is how to fund its relocation.Š

“The current Golf Club site provides an important green lung for Widnes, and the council has consistently resisted development on the site. This remains the council’s position.”