Town centre vision for car-free developments and ‘maximising’ Mersey

Residents are being invited to share their views on a new document aimed at ensuring a well-designed, vibrant, attractive and sustainable future for the heart of the borough.

Warrington Borough Council is launching a public consultation on its draft town centre supplementary planning document (SPD), which will set out the design expectations of the council for developers bringing forward proposals in the town centre.

The document will support the council in managing the increasing number of development proposals coming forward in the town centre by bringing together the vision and aspirations for the sustainable development of the town centre to benefit all residents, business and visitors to the town, establishing clear design principles to guide new development in the town centre and across key development sites and requiring developers to give more detailed consideration to how their proposals will contribute to the wider town centre at the start of their design process.

The council’s cabinet Member for environment, public protection and climate change, Cllr Judith Guthrie, said: “We have strong ambitions to make our town centre an attractive, thriving and sustainable place for everyone who lives, work and visits here. Our SPD will play an important part in that, by setting the framework for future development.

“Delivering a high quality environment in the heart of our town will benefit us all, so it’s vital that local people play their part in shaping our SPD.

“Please get involved in the consultation and let us know your views on the document. All views will be taken on board.”

The SPD focuses on a number of key areas including preserving and enhancing the town centre’s heritage and cultural assets, while facilitating increased densities of development, including taller buildings in appropriate locations, creating a green town centre through strong relationships between new buildings and new and improved open, green and riverside space, along with the progression towards zero carbon targets and ensuring sustainable development, with good links to public transport, and promoting improved pedestrian and cycle routes in line with the council’s ‘first and last mile’ masterplan.

Warrington town centre

The council’s cabinet member for economic development and innovation, Cllr Tom Jennings, said: “Warrington town centre is undergoing a renaissance - high quality, affordable housing; new developments which complement what we have and unlock sustained investment; clean, green infrastructure; and first class transport links. It’s vital that people are at the heart of it all.

“Our SPD sets out the principles through which we will enable the sustainable developments we aspire to see in our town centre. By taking part in the consultation, you can help us make sure we get this important document right.”

The document says in the central area, within the town centre SPD boundary, the council will expect car-free (zero parking) proposals in both residential and non-residential developments.

Where a development is proposed to include car parking, developers will be expected to demonstrate that the parking is essential to the specific needs of the development such as blue badge car parking provision.

New or additional publicly available long-stay parking, typically serving visitors and commuters, will be situated in locations outside of the central area, but within the SPD boundary to intercept traffic that would otherwise access the town centre at peak times. Short stay parking will be available in the town centre to serve the businesses located there.

The proposals also include a vision to ‘maximise the River Mersey as a placemaking feature’.

It would see development along the frontage of the river should improve access to the river with new green links that can combine to form a linear park alongside the Mersey and connect the green spaces that surround the town centre.

Meanwhile, the document includes plans to identify opportunities for new green spaces alongside increasing the amount of green infrastructure across the town centre.

It says developments should be people-focused, properly considering how pedestrian and cyclists will move in-and-around building proposals, with appropriate consideration given to how buildings will be serviced to maintain safety.

Warrington town centre

Developments should ensure that the street level of buildings to promote animation and engagement for people walking past.

A building will be classed as a tall building where it is significantly higher in scale than the buildings within its locale and/ or it is a building which significantly changes the skyline.

The 'general datum' of building heights across the town centre proposed in the document is three to five storeys.

Any taller buildings proposed will need to be designed and justified with regard to their setting and the height of surrounding buildings.

Significant buildings of height may be considered at key gateways and along the A49. This may be between 10 and 12 storeys at key gateways and up to eight storeys along the A49 corridor.

Reference should be made to the guidance at the neighbourhood scale for locations where these buildings may be considered and applicants must still design and justify any proposals for such buildings based on contextual appraisal.

The document adds: “Warrington is a town rather than city, and as such it benefits from being able to be traversed comfortably by a person walking.

“This human scale of the town centre should be maintained and permeate through the future development of the town. The design of elevational components and their arrangement should be done with the human scale as the starting point.

“Developments should consider how people will move through the town and how they will experience buildings and spaces when doing so by foot or cycle.”

The council is now consulting with the public on the draft town centre SPD.

You can make comments about the document by emailing localplan@warrington.gov.uk, or by writing to: Planning Policy and Programmes Team, Warrington Borough Council, East Annex, Town Hall, Sankey Street, Warrington, WA1 1UH.

The council will be collating the feedback and documenting the various themes of people's responses.

The final consultation report will inform the final version of the SPD, which will be presented to the cabinet later in the year for final approval.

The consultation period is from today, February 12, until March 14.

For more information, or to read the document in full and have your say, visit warrington.gov.uk/TownCentreSPD.

If you have any questions, call 442826 or e-mail localplan@warrington.gov.uk.

The team aims to respond to specific question by e-mail within five working days, during the consultation period.