To: Members of the Supporting The Local Professor Steven Broomhead Economy Policy Committee Chief Executive
Councillors: Town Hall Cllr D Price - Chair Sankey Street Cllr T Williams - Deputy Chair Warrington Cllrs R Barr, W Hughes, C Jordan, WA1 1UH P Kennedy, S Parish, F Rashid, G Settle,
30 June 2014
Supporting The Local Economy Policy Committee
Tuesday, 8 July 2014 at 6.30pm
Council Chamber, Town Hall, Sankey Street, Warrington, WA1 1UH
Agenda prepared by Julie Pickles, Democratic and Member Services Officer – Telephone: (01925) 443212 Fax: (01925) 656278 E-mail: [email protected]
A G E N D A
Part 1 Items during the consideration of which the meeting is expected to be open to members of the public (including the press) subject to any statutory right of exclusion.
Item Page Number 1 Apologies for Absence
To record any apologies received.
2 Code of Conduct - Declarations of Interest Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012
Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda no later than when the item is reached.
3 Minutes 1
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2014 as a correct record.
4 Warrington East Economic Review – Follow Up 7
Report of the Chairman and the Managing Director of Warrington and Co.
5 Cultural Quarter Proposals
Presentations by the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Committee; and the Assistant Director Transport and Environment
6 Work Programme 2014-2015
To consider a verbal report of the Chairman of this Committee
Part 2
Items of a "confidential or other special nature" during which it is likely that the meeting will not be open to the public and press as there would be a disclosure of exempt information as defined in Section 100I of the Local Government Act 1972.
NIL
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Agenda Item 3
SUPPORTING THE LOCAL ECONOMY POLICY COMMITTEE 9 APRIL 2014
Present Councillor D Price (Chairman) Councillors R Barr, C Jordan S Parish, G Settle and F Rashid
Also Present
Steve Park – Managing Director – Warrington and Co Andy Gatcliffe – Chief Executive, Warrington Wolves Paul Hafren (Co-optee) – Principal and Chief Executive of Warrington Collegiate
STLE 30 Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor W Hughes and Councillor T Williams.
STLE 31 Declarations of Interest
Councillor Minute Reason Action Councillor STLE 34 Councillor Barr was a Board Cllr Barr remained B Barr Member for Helena Housing in the meeting and took part in the discussion and recommendation thereon.
STLE 32 Minutes
Decision,
That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 February 2014 be confirmed and signed as a correct record by the Chair with the inclusion of an amendment to STLE 27 from Cllr B Barr, that he welcomed the report but had some reservations in regard to the presentation, he had additionally asked for some feedback and further information.
STLE 33 Business Survey 2013 – Follow Up
The Committee received a follow up report from Steve Park, Managing Director of Warrington & Co. in relation to further information on the Business Survey 2013 that had recently been completed.
It was noted that the Borough Council had commissioned BMG Research to undertake a repeat of the Business Needs Survey 2011. The recent survey was designed to identify the challenges, needs and opportunities facing businesses in Warrington, so that the Council and its business partners could more effectively Agenda Item 3
target public sector investment, support private sector investment and deliver services that addressed business’s needs and supported their long term growth.
The committee had considered the initial report at its last meeting but had requested that more information / work be done around employee figures and cross tabulations, it was noted the report had been reproduced with the requested additional information printed in italics.
The report summarised the findings of the full data set in relation to;-
Workforce and Skills Customers and Suppliers Business Performance and Confidence Business Land and Premises I.T. Infrastructure Business Support and Network Environmental Improvement Business Location Benchmarking over Time
The Members at length discussed the survey and the indicated outcomes, some of which included the following;-
• Benchmarking over time – comparisons made between 2011 and 2013 • Benchmarking against elsewhere – broadly, results compared favourably for Warrington • Methodology and report chart analysis • Trends in workforce size • Skills gaps and employee qualifications • Geographic spread of suppliers and different geographic markets • Trends in turnover, expectations about future business climate and barriers to growth • Likelihood and reasons for relocating • Access to IT / Communication – Training • Perception of the Chamber of Commerce • Community Investment Banking • Current and future environmental initiatives • The Benefits and disadvantages of being located in Warrington • Business profiles • Business support mechanisms - Warrington & Co
Decision,
That the Supporting the Local Economy Policy Committee recommends that,
(1) the report be considered by Executive Board, (2) requests that the Executive Board re-commissions the Warrington Business Survey for 2014 (November 2014), Agenda Item 3
(3) when re-commissioned to include questions in relation to the impact of leisure, cultural and night life services to both businesses and employees and, (4) acknowledges that findings of the Business Survey 2013 and proposes that Warrington & Co. establish a new business support organisation for Warrington.
STLE 34 Warrington East Economic Review The Committee received a report from Steve Park, Managing Director of Warrington & Co. in relation to an economic strategy for Warrington East.
It was noted that Warrington was appointed as one of 12 Local Authorities to participate in the ‘One Public Estate’ pilot programme that was announced during the UK budget statement, in a response to the report by Lord Heseltine on economic growth in the UK Regions (No Stone Unturned in Pursuit of Growth). One area of focus for Warrington & Co as part of its work was to evaluate the position of Warrington East within the local economy
The Warrington East location, which mainly developed as part of the New Town strategy, had enjoyed considerable economic success over a number of years. The area included the new town locations of Birchwood / Risley, Woolston Grange and associated expanded residential areas along with the original Warrington areas of Woolston and Culcheth.
Birchwood has a provision of office and retail space; Risley and Woolston were locations for a number of businesses and had a prominent logistics sector. Culcheth represented a district centre on the periphery of the Borough.
It was reported that Warrington & Co was seeking to develop a new economic strategy for the area in response to a changing business environment which had seen some increases in business vacancies; an increase in traffic congestion; increasing business space obsolescence issues and concerns that the shortage of new housing provision was challenging employee recruitment.
It was noted that Warrington East was developed at a different economic time and its future role and function needed to be re-appraised in light of these changes. Warrington East was also facing new economic challenges – for a long time Birchwood had represented one of the most important business parks in the Liverpool / Manchester conurbations and still represented the most important concentration of private sector employment in Cheshire and Warrington – but with the emergence of Daresbury Park and Airport City (Manchester Airport), both with Enterprise Zone status (and soon to get assisted area status), the position could potentially be under threat.
Additionally, the purpose of the study was to consider to what extent Warrington East contained a cluster of activity in the nuclear sector and to what extent this clustering required proximity to / gains benefit from a geographic proximity to Sellafield Ltd. Agenda Item 3
The strategy set out the overall vision and objectives for Warrington East. This was based on a robust evidence base, stakeholder consultation and feedback from the Business Engagement programme of work. The recommendations provided a framework from which Warrington & Co would develop an action plan to deliver the strategy.
The report data included the current position of Warrington East in the following areas;-
• Economy • Employment • Population • Transport • Property
The report also included recommendations, these were summerised against the headings of;-
• Access and infrastructure • Commercial property / Availability of land for new build • Sector Support • Demographics
The Members discussed the contents of the strategy at some length, but felt that due to the size and heavy nature of the report it would be best to further consider the document and make recommendations at the next meeting of the committee.
Decision,
That the Supporting the Local Economy Policy Committee recommends that, (1) that the Warrington East Strategy be noted, (2) that the strategy be included for consideration at the committees next meeting where upon recommendations to the Executive Board would be formulated and, (3) the economist author be invited along to the next meeting of the committee to answer questions from the Members in relation to the contents of the strategy.
STLE 35 Work Programme
The committee received a report from the Chairman outlining the work programme for the remainder of the municipal year and the monitoring of recommendations and actions.
Decision,
That the Supporting the Local Economy Policy Committee noted and accepted the Work Programme
Agenda Item 3
Signed…………………………..…….
Dated………………………………….
Economic Strategy - Warrington East Final Report to Warrington & Co
Date: 31/3/2014 Version: Final
Mickledore Ltd Unit 2 Chapel House Barn Pillmoss Lane Lower Whitley Cheshire WA4 4DW Tel: +44 (0)1925 837679 Limited Company No. 6651481
Contents
Section Page Executive Summary 4 1 Background and approach 7 Current position 2 Sub-Regional context and the Warrington East economy 10 3 Key sectors 20 4 Demographics and labour catchment 31 5 Transport and commuter flows 39 6 Other services 47 7 Housing 48 Commercial property 8 Assessment of commercial property stock 52 9 Review of competing sites 66 Trends impacting Warrington East 10 Foreign Direct Investment and sector trends 70 The Strategy for Warrington East 11 SWOT 80 12 Conclusions 83 13 The Strategy – Issues, Opportunities and Proposed Recommendations 89 14 Next Steps 100
Appendices Page
1 Travel flows, 2001 Census 101 2 Services in Warrington East 102 3 Feedback from property consultation 112 4 Housing supply 116 5 List of Consultees 117
Warrington East 3
Executive Summary
The Approach
In order to gain an understanding of Warrington East’s current position and its future potential for further growth, a robust evidence base has been developed and is set-out in this report. This includes data and analysis on: the economy, employment, population, transport and commercial property.
This evidence base has been collected based on the creation of a specific geography for Warrington East. In order to provide a benchmark, comparative data has been included by LEP area, region and on a national basis as well as for a number of cities including Liverpool and Manchester. In addition, the approach to developing the Warrington East Economic Strategy also included stakeholder consultation.
Current Position
Warrington East was mainly established during the expansion of Warrington as it became a New Town in the 1970s. The area incorporates Birchwood, Risley, Woolston Grange and residential areas including Woolston and Culcheth. Warrington East represents one of the most significant private sector employment areas within the wider Cheshire and Warrington LEP area; a total of 27,600 employees. This is a larger concentration of private sector employees compared to Ellesmere Port and Crewe for example.
Warrington East has a thriving economy, but in order to ensure its ongoing success in an increasingly competitive environment, measures need to be put into place to enable Warrington East to maintain its strong position in relation to increasingly competing locations such as Daresbury Park and Airport City.
Key to Warrington East’s success has been its location on the M62/M6 intersections and proximity to the M56 and the rest of the motorway network. This enviable motorway location provides access to one of the most substantial employment catchment areas outside of the M25; with over 2.6 million people of Working Age living within a 30 minute drive time of Birchwood. This has led to Warrington East being an economic centre of gravity, which provides employment to residents from a large catchment area.
Warrington East’s large economic pull provides considerable local benefits, with the locality benefiting from a high performing labour market; with job claimant rates comparing favourably with the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area as a whole and also when compared with the regional and UK average.
As a result, the ability of businesses to continue to attract a pool of labour from a large catchment area is critical and is particularly the case for companies requiring specialist staff. As the entire basis of the development of the business park was based on car-borne commuting, this has resulted in manageable congestion and access to parking being key to the continued success of Warrington East. In addition, increased density of office occupation is also further adding to road and car parking pressure. Easy access to markets and clients is also essential if Warrington East is to maintain and further grow its position as a regional economic centre.
A sector that creates a strong pull of employees from a wide catchment area is the nuclear industry. Warrington East has a nationally significant nuclear cluster that is predominantly based around decommissioning and some new nuclear activity. The nature of the nuclear decommissioning supply chains have led to a strong collaboration with consulting engineering companies, benefiting from a close proximity to Sellafield Ltd Design Engineering Centre in Risley. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that ‘architectural and engineering activities’ represent 11.3% of all employees in Warrington East, a proportion that is seven times higher than the national average.
Warrington East 4
Executive Summary
In addition to serving the nuclear sector, the consulting engineering base in Warrington East also provides services to other industries including water, transport, infrastructure and other forms of energy. As a result, the Warrington East economy is likely to benefit from any uplift in infrastructure expenditure.
Other sectors of importance in Warrington East are ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) and Business Services, both of which are growth sectors in the wider UK economy and which generate the highest proportions of foreign direct investment into the UK. The warehousing and distribution sectors also provide an important employment base, particularly from a more localised area in contrast to the engineering and ICT sector.
The consulting engineering sector is undoubtedly the sector that represents the most important critical mass in Warrington East. The Government’s announcement in December 2013 of an anticipated £375bn spend on infrastructure over the next 20 years is likely to present significant opportunities for the consulting engineering sector based in Warrington East. Within the context of infrastructure spend, the wider UK nuclear new build programme, with an estimated £50bn to be invested over the next 10-15 years on new reactors as well as the importance of nuclear plant life extension, all have the potential to further increase activity in energy infrastructure.
The local and UK wide shortages in engineering skills and the growing demand on this skills base due to the growth of infrastructure projects and particularly in nuclear new build are likely to increase the reliance of employers on a pool of labour from large catchment areas. Although the provision of public transport in Warrington East has recently improved, these linkages are more localised rather than meeting the needs of commuters from a wider catchment area. As a result, increasing congestion and the lack of car parking spaces are placing constraints on locally based companies.
In addition to the existing congestion potentially impacting further on businesses in Warrington East, there are also a number of threats and weaknesses which undermine Warrington East’s position in terms of its commercial property offer.
Industrial and office space combined, presents over 9.2 million sq m of space. Levels of occupancy in the industrial premises sector are good, with a vacancy rate of 13.3%. However, Warrington East’s industrial stock is ageing, with 60% of premises over 30 years in age or older and existing provision limited in size and eaves height. Woolston Grange accounts for 71% of all current industrial floor space. The physical environment at this industrial park is tired, with limited service provision for employees and other issues impacting on the locality such as crime and traveller issues.
In contrast to industrial premises occupancy levels, office vacancy is high, with 55,000 sq m unoccupied, representing over 3.5 years of forward supply. However, the majority of office space is ageing, with over 70% of the office stock being over 21 years of age. Vacant office space requires refurbishment if it is to compete with other business park locations in the North West.
New and existing locations such as Deeside, Airport City and Sci-Tech Daresbury, all of which have significant incentives, could present a threat to Warrington East’s position. This could be exacerbated if the issue of the quality of commercial property stock is not improved and if the locality becomes increasingly congested.
The report also considers housing. In total, during the next 10 years there is capacity for another 600 homes in Warrington East, which in light of the wider Warrington target of 450 homes per year, is insignificant. However, as Warrington has other areas for housing allocation, the balance between employment growth and housing growth across the whole Borough is an issue that should be considered. The strength of Warrington East is the ability to offer private sector employment – something that other areas struggle to achieve and that Warrington East should strive to keep and not at the expense of housing allocation.
Warrington East 5
Executive Summary
The Strategy
Warrington East is a thriving economic centre, however, there are a number of threats and weaknesses (these are identified in the full SWOT analysis in pages 80-82) which could undermine its position. The detailed evidence base and the resultant SWOT has led to the development of a strategy and suggested recommendations. The strategy itself is then derived from following through a logic chain. This logic chain has been set out in the following four steps:
. Identifying the key issue . Assessing the importance of that issue by projecting the outcome if nothing is done . What is the strategic response required? . What are the recommended practical steps that need to be taken if the strategy is to be pursued?
The evidence base in this report and the SWOT have been synthesised into a series of recommendations (pages 88-97) which are summarised against the following key functional headings:
. Access and infrastructure . Commercial property/Availability of land for new build . Sector support . Demographics
The next steps for Warrington & Co will be to determine the priorities it wants to address and how these could be delivered. As such, the steps are as follows:
I. Decide which recommendations need to be taken forward and prioritise II. Work up the recommendations into practical delivery programmes III. Identify who could be responsible for delivering the activities IV. Identify resources required and potential funding V. Set-out timescale VI. Put in place reporting structures/likely outputs
Warrington East 6
Background & Approach
1. Background
1.1 Warrington was appointed as one of 12 Local Authorities to participate in the ‘One Public Estate’ pilot programme that was announced during the UK budget statement, in a response to the report by Lord Heseltine on economic growth in the UK Regions (No Stone Unturned in Pursuit of Growth). One area of focus for Warrington & Co as part of this work is to evaluate the position of Warrington East within the local economy.
1.2 The Warrington East location, which mainly developed as part of the New Town strategy, has enjoyed considerable economic success over a number of years. The area includes the new town locations of Birchwood / Risley, Woolston Grange and associated expanded residential areas along with the original Warrington areas of Woolston and Culcheth. Birchwood has a provision of office and retail space; Risley and Woolston are locations for a number of businesses and has a prominent logistics sector. Culcheth represents a district centre on the periphery of the Borough.
1.3 Warrington & Co is seeking to develop a new economic strategy for the area in response to a changing business environment which has seen some increases in business vacancies; an increase in traffic congestion; increasing business space obsolescence issues and concerns that the shortage of new housing provision is challenging employee recruitment.
1.4 Warrington East was developed at a different economic time and its future role and function needs to be re-appraised in light of those changes. Warrington East is also facing new economic challenges – for a long time Birchwood has represented one of the most important business parks in the Liverpool / Manchester conurbations and still represents the most important concentration of private sector employment in Cheshire and Warrington – but with the emergence of Daresbury Park and Airport City (Manchester Airport), both with Enterprise Zone status (and soon to get assisted area status), that position could potentially be under threat.
1.5 The purpose of the study was also to consider to what extent Warrington East contains a cluster of activity in the nuclear sector and to what extent this clustering required proximity to / gains benefit from a geographic proximity to Sellafield Ltd.
1.6 The Warrington East Strategy sets out the overall vision and objectives for Warrington East. This is based on a robust evidence base, stakeholder consultation and feedback from the Business Engagement programme of work. The recommendations provide a framework from which Warrington & Co can develop an Action Plan to deliver this strategy.
Approach
1.7 Our approach has been to undertake an evaluation of a considerable amount of economic data, primarily based on ONS (Office for National Statistics) and the 2011 Census. The data has been captured by the development of a specific geography for Warrington East based on Middle Super Output Areas. The latter represents a geography with an average population size of 7,500. The map below indicates the boundaries to this geographic area which has been highlighted.
Warrington East 7
Background & Approach
Map of Warrington East based on MSOAs
1.8 The data included in this report has been utilised to present the current position of Warrington East in the following areas:
. Economy . Employment . Population . Transport . Property
1.9 In order to gain an understanding of trends, the data incorporated in this report provides where relevant, an analysis of time series trends. In order to make an informed judgement about the Warrington East economy, this document also uses geographic comparators. Where available, and relevant, these include: England, Regional (North West) the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area as well as the whole of the Warrington Borough. In addition the two neighbouring cities of Liverpool and Manchester are also included where relevant.
1.10 The data includes for example, sector employment and trends as well as employment and claimant trend data. The sector data has been supplemented by the work of the Business Engagement activity. Given the significance of the nuclear sector in Warrington East, part of this report reviews the inter- linkages between nuclear related businesses. In addition, for each of Warrington East’s key sector’s external factors, such sector trends that could impact on Warrington East have been examined.
1.11 An assessment was undertaken of the current commercial property mix, with consideration given to a number of issues, including demand by type and scale as well as reviewing important competitor locations in neighbouring authorities but outside of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area.
1.12 Following the data analysis, a SWOT has been developed which has resulted in the identification of the key elements of the strategy. This section sets out the overall vision and objectives for Warrington East that needs to be agreed. It is this vision and the resultant objectives which underpin the whole strategy. The strategy itself is then derived from following through a logic chain. This logic chain has been set out in the following four steps:
. Identifying the key issue
Warrington East 8
Background & Approach
. Assessing the importance of that issue by projecting the outcome if nothing is done . What is the strategic response required? . What are the recommended practical steps that need to be taken if the strategy is to be pursued
1.13 The recommendations have been summarised against key functional headings
. Access and infrastructure . Commercial property/Availability of land for new build . Sector support . Demographics
1.14 Following the recommendations, the next steps for Warrington & Co are identified. Key to delivering the strategy will be the prioritisation of activity; identification of resources; identification of who could be responsible for delivering the programme of work and likely timescales.
Consultation
1.15 An important aspect of the approach to the Warrington East Economic Strategy was consultation with key stakeholders. Over 20 individuals were consulted on a one-to-one basis, with organisations including property owners such as Northern Trust, MEPC, Pin Properties as well as occupiers including Sellafield Ltd, Fujitsu and Cleveland Cables and the Birchwood Forum. A full list is included in the Appendix 5.
Warrington East 9
Current Position
2. The Sub-Regional Context
2.1 Warrington East represents a significant centre of employment both at a sub-regional and regional level. Over 32,000 people are employed in Warrington East and the locality also represents the largest concentration of private sector employment (27,600) within the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area.
Private Sector Employment by Main Employment Areas, Cheshire & Warrington
Employment Area Total Number of Private Sector Employees* Warrington East 27,600 Crewe 22,200 Ellesmere Port 20,400 Chester Business Park 11,600 Chester 3,800 Source: BRES, using Middle Super Output Areas denoting the locations listed *Note: Private sector employees taken from Broad Industrial Group and excludes categories such as Public, Health, Education and Arts.
2.2 Warrington East’s position on the M62/M6 intersections and proximity to the M56 enables employers to access a very large population catchment. Warrington East has the largest Working Age population catchment within Cheshire and Warrington, over 2.6 million people. This highlights the importance of this employment centre in terms of providing work opportunities both within the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area and wider. Warrington East’s labour pool catchment area is double the size of Ellesmere Port and more than 4 times that of Crewe’s population catchment area.
Working Age Population, 30 Minute Drive Time, Selected Cheshire & Warrington Employment Areas Working Age Population Within a 30 Employment Area Minute Drive Time Warrington East 2,668,500 Ellesmere Port 1,206,100 Crewe 563,900 Macclesfield 587,500 Mid Point 19 (Middlewich) 770,000 Source: 2011 Census, using MapPoint
2.3 Overall, the business base in Warrington East is reflected by the presence of a higher proportion of SMEs compared to Cheshire and Warrington (4.3% and 2.2% respectively). In contrast, the LEP area as a whole has a higher proportion of micro businesses. Warrington East, also has a higher proportion of large businesses compared to LEP area.
2.4 In terms of the proportion of employment within key sectors such as ‘computer programming’ and ‘activities of head office’; Warrington East has similar proportions of employment as the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area. While the engineering sector (civil, electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering) is important within the whole LEP geography, Warrington East has a particular concentration of engineering related activity.
2.5 Although Cheshire and Warrington LEP has a higher proportion of consulting engineering activities than the average for England, over 8% of employees in Warrington East work in this area of activity, double
Warrington East 10
Current Position
the proportion in the LEP area as a whole. The consulting engineering sector is likely to have been attracted by regional opportunities, particularly around nuclear; but is now successfully working on national and international projects. National and international investment in energy (including new nuclear) and infrastructure projects represent a large opportunity for Warrington East and the wider LEP area.
2.6 Warrington East also has a high proportion of employees in warehousing than the LEP area (5.8% of employees compared to 1.6%) reflecting the importance of this sector due to its excellent motorway links.
2.7 The business services and software sectors are overall under-represented in Cheshire and Warrington but are well represented in Warrington East. Business services is a particularly strong sector in Warrington East compared to Cheshire and Warrington region, representing 4.3% of employment compared to 1.4% in the region. Business Services and Software are both important sectors to the Cheshire and Warrington economy as they are the sectors that have generated the most inward investment to the UK over the last ten years.
The Warrington East Economy
2.8 Warrington East represents an employment base of over 32,000 workers, of which 27,600 are employed in the private sector. Over the last four years, there has been a contrast in the increase/decrease of the number of jobs in Warrington East, a contrast which is more marked than the other comparators. Following a strong increase in employment of 6.3% between 2009 and 2010, the most recent data indicates a decrease of 3.8% compared to the previous year of 2011; representing a loss of 1,300 jobs.
2.9 Although there was a minimal increase in total number of jobs in 2012 (0.7%) for England as a whole, the only other location which saw a decrease (albeit very small) was Liverpool which had a decrease of 0.3%. During this same period, Manchester had the highest employee growth from the previous year, an increase of 2.8% which followed relatively flat years. However, it is important to note that the data is survey based and as such, the data is a matter for attention rather than concern.
Employment Increase/Decrease, Warrington East and Comparators, 2009 to 2012
Source: BRES (Business Register Survey), NOMIS
Warrington East 11
Current Position
2.10 Warrington East is made up of the four main employment sites. These are:
. Birchwood and Risley . Culcheth & Croft . Woolston Grange . Fernhead & Cinnamon Brow (including Olympic Park)
The most significant area in terms of employment is Birchwood and Risley which has 19,000 employees, representing 57% of all employees in Warrington East. Culcheth and Croft has the smallest number of employees. Total employee numbers are included in the following table.
Number of Employees by Warrington East Employment Areas Employment Area Total Number of Employees Birchwood & Risley 19,000 Woolston Grange 7,200 Culcheth & Croft 5,100 Fernhead & Cinnamon 1,900 Brow Source: BRES, NOMIS
2.11 In addition to considering the trends in employment for Warrington East as a whole, it is also important to take into account employment trends throughout the four employment sites within Warrington East. Following an increase of 10% in the number of employees in Birchwood and Risley, during the last two years there has been a slight reduction in employee numbers in this particular employment area, declining by 4% between 2011 and 2012. By contrast, Culcheth and Croft has seen the most significant changes, a decrease in the number of jobs by 10.5%. However, during this period, employee numbers in Woolston Grange remained stable.
2.12 However, it is important to note that when examining data at the scale of these very small geographies, given the comparatively low number of employees, it is important not to surmise too much into the changes in employee numbers as these can be represented by the actions of one company in particular or an issue with the extrapolation of the survey data, and does not always represent a trend.
Employment Increase/Decrease, Birchwood & Risley; Culcheth & Croft; Woolston; and Fernhead & Cinnamon Brow, 2009 to 2012
Source: BRES, NOMIS
Warrington East 12
Current Position
Employment by Sector
2.13 In order to ascertain the particular strengths of the Warrington East economy, the following pages provide an assessment of ONS (Office for National Statistics) data to identify which are the most significant sectors in terms of impacting on employment opportunities; and those sectors which are beyond the typically high employment sectors such as wholesale trade and food and beverage activities. A number of indicators have been used for this purpose, including: employment contribution; proportion of employment; location quotients and number of business units associated with each sector. However, with the latter indicator, it is important to note that a concentration of large employers, will not necessarily lead to a high number of business units. For example the telecoms sector in Warrington East is likely to be dominated by the presence of TalkTalk which employs approximately 800 people.
2.14 The first indicator to be explored is the employment contribution of individual sectors. This is based on the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) which captures numbers employed by industry. It should be noted that any survey-based approach is subject to limitations, given its reliance on the accuracy with which forms are completed by businesses as well as the sample sizes generated for smaller areas such as local authorities. Despite such caveats, it provides the most up-to-date perspective of the distribution of employment within Warrington East and how this compares to other locations including the average for England. The following table provides an overview of the 18 largest sectors employing over 500 and in terms of employment numbers by 2-digit SIC code.
Numbers Employed in Warrington East, Proportion of Employment, Warrington East and
Comparators, Sectors with over 500 employees, by 2 digit SIC code, BRES, 2011
Sector
% % % %
No.
on% C&W
ter % ter
North
West%
on East on East
England
Warringt Warringt Warringt
Manches
LEP Area LEP Liverpool 35 : Electricity, gas, steam 1,600 4.6 2.0 0.1 0.2 0.8 0.5 0.4 and air conditioning supply 38 : Waste collection, treatment and disposal 1,000 2.9 1.1 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.5 0.5 activities; materials recovery 41 : Construction of buildings 700 2.0 1.4 0.7 0.6 1.1 1.1 1.3 42 : Civil engineering 800 2.3 0.8 0.2 0.4 0.9 1.1 0.7 43 : Specialised construction 900 2.6 4.0 1.1 1.9 3.1 2.9 2.5 activities 46 : Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and 2,800 8.1 5.0 3.4 2.5 4.2 4.3 4.2 motorcycles 47 : Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and 2,100 6.1 9.2 7.7 11.0 10.6 10.4 10.2 motorcycles 52 : Warehousing and support activities for 2,000 5.8 2.5 2.5 1.3 1.6 1.4 1.6 transportation 56 : Food and beverage 2,100 6.1 5.0 6.0 6.1 5.3 5.2 5.4 service activities 61 : Telecommunications 1,500 4.3 2.0 1.2 0.8 1.1 0.9 0.8 62 : Computer programming, consultancy and related 1,200 3.5 2.0 1.8 1.1 2.0 1.3 2.2 activities 64 : Financial service 500 1.4 1.0 3.9 2.0 3.1 1.9 2.0 activities, except insurance
Warrington East 13
Current Position
and pension funding 70 : Activities of head offices; management consultancy 700 2.0 2.7 3.7 0.9 2.6 1.8 2.1 activities 71 : Architectural and engineering activities; 3,900 11.3 4.4 1.6 0.8 2.4 1.4 1.5 technical testing and analysis 78 : Employment activities 600 1.7 6.0 3.8 3.3 3.9 2.5 3.1 82 : Office administrative, office support and other 1,500 4.3 1.7 1.8 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.3 business support activities 84 : Public administration and defence; compulsory 1,700 4.9 5.1 5.7 9.0 3.8 5.5 5.0 social security 85 : Education 1,100 3.2 5.6 10.9 10.3 7.5 9.0 9.5 Source: BRES, NOMIS
2.10 Beyond the typically labour-intensive sectors of retail and public services (i.e. health, education, social services), the four largest industries in Warrington East in terms of total employment are listed below. For the purposes of this study, ’35: Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ has not been included as a key sector, as the high proportion of employment in this SIC code is most likely due to the presence of Electricity North West. The Business Engagement work identified that out of a total 1,600 staff, only approximately 250 staff are based at their Birchwood headquarters. The majority of employees outside of HQ activity are in engineering roles based in substations and control centres in the North West. The BRES data for 2010 and 2012 includes the smaller number of 250 which may also indicate that 2011 data may be a survey error.
2.11 From the data in the previous table, the most important sectors in terms of total employment and proportion of employment are the following:
. Architectural and engineering activities . Warehousing and support activities for transportation . Telecommunications . Office administrative, office support and other business support activities . Computer programming, consultancy & related activities
2.12 The employee numbers and percentage of employment by sector, highlights how much ‘architectural and engineering activities’ dominates employment in Warrington East. There is more than double the number employed in this area of activity than in the other sectors of computer programming, telecoms and office support activity; and only just under double the amount of jobs compared to warehousing. The concentration of employment in ‘architectural and engineering’ in Warrington East is even more notable when compared to other comparators. 11.3% of all employees in Warrington East work in this sector, compared to the average for England of 1.5% and 4.4% for Warrington as a whole. This sector is also added to by the presence of a much smaller number of employees in civil engineering (SIC 42), which represents 2.3% of employment, compared to the national average of 0.7%. It is likely that a number of civil engineering employees will be based within the consulting engineering area.
2.13 ‘Warehousing and support activities’ represents the second largest number of employees and proportion of employees. Although the number of employees in ‘computer programming’ alone is only 1,200; it does represent a higher proportion of employment than in other comparators. When combined
Warrington East 14
Current Position
with the telecoms industry, under the umbrella of ICT (Information Communications Technology), this represents a total of 2,700 jobs.
2.14 In order to ascertain how Warrington’s sectors perform relative to the national position so as to provide a clearer insight into the comparative advantage of the locality; a useful tool is to calculate Location Quotients which present the proportion of each sector as compared to the equivalent percentage at the national level. Scores of over 1.00 indicate a relatively strong representation locally while scores of over 2.00 indicate that double the proportion of employees in Warrington East in the sector compared to the position in England. The following table highlights all those sectors in Warrington East with a score greater than 1.00:
Location Quotients for 2-Digit SIC Codes for Warrington East and Warrington Industry Warrington Warrington East LQ LQ 11 : Manufacture of beverages 5.22 2.56 18 : Printing and reproduction of recorded media 1.79 0.94 20 : Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 1.44 2.40 24 : Manufacture of basic metals 1.10 1.01 33 : Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 1.79 1.98 35 : Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply 12.10 5.35 38 : Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery 7.81 2.38 41 : Construction of buildings 1.40 1.05 42 : Civil engineering 3.07 1.24 46 : Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 1.91 1.18 52 : Warehousing and support activities for transportation 4.26 1.57 56 : Food and beverage service activities 1.14 0.93 61 : Telecommunications 5.24 2.51 62 : Computer programming, consultancy and related activities 1.83 0.92 71 : Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis 7.31 2.91 77 : Rental and leasing activities 1.15 1.82 79 : Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related 2.65 1.43 activities 82 : Office administrative, office support and other business support 3.81 1.21 activities 92 : Gambling and betting activities 3.73 1.45 95 : Repair of computers and personal and household goods 6.93 2.19 Source: BRES, NOMIS, 2011
2.15 By calculating Location Quotients for the individual sectors, it is clear to see the relative strength of a number of sectors. Some of the sectors are particularly strong, in all likelihood, due to the presence of one or two major companies in this area. For example the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector’ has the highest Location Quotient, no doubt due to the presence of Electricity North West which is headquartered in Warrington and was mentioned in the previous page.
2.16 The second highest Location Quotient is ‘waste collection, treatment & disposal activities’, potentially reflecting the presence of the waste disposal site in Culcheth which is operated by Biffa. The manufacture of beverages also features as a high Location Quotient, but this is likely to be due to the HQ and manufacturing operation of G & J Distillers in Birchwood.
Warrington East 15
Current Position
2.17 The employment associated with ‘architectural and engineering activities’ is almost 7.5 times the size of the average for England and is three times higher than Warrington overall, emphasising the importance of employment in this area of activity. Warehousing is also over four times the national average and over three times higher than Warrington itself.
2.18 The strength of a sector is often characterised by the presence of major players. The table below lists the largest companies, in terms of turnover over £175m which are registered in Warrington East.
Largest Top 10 Companies by Turnover, Warrington East Company name Postcode Turnover Employees Primary UK SIC (2007) description £000s Done Brothers (Cash WA3 7PQ 4,110,480 2,996 Betting operations. Betting) Limited GB Oils Limited WA3 6XG 3,150,587 1,957 The sale of oil products. Tote Bookmakers Limited WA3 7PQ 2,256,753 1,939 Bookmakers. Talktalk Communications The provision of telecommunications WA3 7BH 1,342,048 1,487 Limited services. North West Electricity A group engaged in the operation of WA3 6XG 396,000 1,199 Networks (UK) electricity distribution assets. Electricity North West A group engaged in the distribution of WA3 6XG 393,800 1,189 Limited electricity. t/o = revenue. The distribution and marketing of Pace Fuelcare Limited WA3 6XG 370,195 232 petroleum products. International chemicals company involved in lignin based binding and dispersing Borregaard Industries agents, specialty pulp for chemical WA3 6QQ 304,541 825 Limited applications, and fine chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry and other selected markets. The processing and sale of aluminium Novelis UK Ltd WA4 1NN 289,398 468 products. Tote Credit Limited WA3 7PQ 214,158 234 A telephone and internet bookmaker. The marketing, sale and construction of offshore wind turbine installations and Vestas Offshore UK Ltd WA3 6XG 177,260 126 provision of maintenance of the existing offshore. Source: Companies House, 2012
2.19 This list, which is derived from Companies House data, highlights a number of key points regarding the key employment sectors in Warrington East. As raised previously, the relative strength in some sectors such as telecoms; electricity, gas, steam & air con; and waste is likely to be attributed to the presence of TalkTalk; Electricity North West and Novelis as major employers in Warrington East, rather than due to a broad-based cluster of organisations involved in this industry.
2.20 Not a single firm from the consulting engineering sector is represented in the list despite the significant job numbers and relative performance shown in the LQs. Again, this is likely to be reflection of the limitations (larger companies which may have a number of sites in the UK are not required to register an office in all the localities in which they have a presence) of Companies House data and the typical scale of companies in the sector.
Warrington East 16
Current Position
2.21 The Warrington & Co Business Engagement programme has identified that there is a large number of multinational firms involved in consulting engineering, ICT and business services that have a significant presence in Warrington East but are unlikely to have a registered office in the locality and so are not picked up in Companies House data. In particular, Warrington East is host to a number of large businesses associated with the energy sector, notably nuclear industry which supports circa 4,000 employees, which if picked up as a discrete sector in ONS data, would position it as a leading industry in Warrington East. Key companies within consulting engineering, nuclear and IT/Business services include:
. Sellafield Ltd (Nuclear decommissioning) . AMEC (Consulting Engineering and R&D - nuclear) . Atkins (Consulting Engineering) . Rolls Royce (Consulting Engineering- nuclear) . Fujitsu (IT/Business Services) . HP (IT/Business Services) . CSC (IT)
Business Units
2.22 Warrington East has a total of 1,910 business units, with 7,845 in Warrington as whole. A local unit is an individual site (e.g. a warehouse) associated with a business and is also referred to as a workplace. The data is taken from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR). The number of business units gives an indication of the presence of important sectors through the number of different companies as opposed to the presence of a major company.
2.23 Head office activities represents a larger proportion of businesses, a higher proportion than Liverpool or Manchester, but slightly lower than Warrington overall. Architectural and engineering services are characterised by a considerably larger pool of businesses than is the case with the other comparators and four times larger than the proportion for England.
Industries (by 2 digit SIC code) representing those with more than 50 Business Units,
Warrington East and comparators, IDBR, 2011
% %
%
er % er on%
North
Area % Area
West%
onEast on East
England
Warringt Warringt Warringt
Liverpool C&W LEP LEP C&W Industry Manchest 41 : Construction of buildings 55 2.88 2.61 2.29 3.13 2.86 2.83 3.14 43 : Specialised construction activities 125 6.54 6.12 2.29 5.45 5.14 6.44 6.68 45 : Wholesale and retail trade and repair of 55 2.88 3.70 1.63 2.10 3.28 3.28 3.00 motor vehicles and motorcycles 46 : Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles 140 7.33 5.67 6.87 4.19 5.14 5.26 5.03 & motorcycles 47 : Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and 140 7.33 10.77 12.97 14.33 11.04 12.59 11.01 motorcycles 62 : Computer programming, consultancy & 90 4.71 5.10 4.04 2.71 4.85 3.36 4.65 related activities 70 : Activities of head offices; management 100 5.24 6.12 4.04 2.90 6.67 3.95 5.29 consultancy activities 71 : Architectural and engineering activities; 160 8.38 5.86 2.78 2.25 4.26 3.33 2.83 technical testing and analysis 82 : Office administrative, office support and 60 3.14 2.93 2.35 2.32 3.04 2.54 2.68 other business support activities Source: IDBR, NOMIS Warrington East 17
Current Position
Size of Business Units
2.24 In addition to considering the overall stock of businesses within Warrington East compared to Warrington overall and other locations, it is also important to understand the overall size of these businesses units. Warrington East has a smaller percentage of micro businesses than Warrington as a whole, comparator locations and the national average. Warrington East has a higher proportion of businesses in the medium sized range than any other location and has the same proportion as Manchester in terms of large businesses.
Number of Private Sector Business Units by Size, 2011 Medium- Total Micro (0 to Small (10 Large Location sized (50 Number 9) to 49) (250+) to 249) Warrington East 1,855 1,435 315 80 15 Warrington 7,550 6,140 1,100 260 55
Private Sector Business Units by Size, Percentage Total, 2011 Small (10 to Micro (0 to 9) Medium-sized Large (250+) Location 49) % (50 to 249) % % % Warrington East 77 17 4.3 0.8 Warrington 81 15 3.4 0.7 Manchester 79 17 3.7 0.8 Liverpool 79 17 3.3 0.6 Cheshire and Warrington 85 12 2.2 0.4 North West 84 13 2.5 0.4 United Kingdom 85 12 2.2 0.3 Sources: NOMIS
Summary
. Warrington East represents the most notable private sector employment area within the wider Cheshire and Warrington LEP area. Warrington East has the largest concentration of private sector employees compared to other key employment areas in the LEP area, such as Chester Business Park and Ellesmere Port.
. However, employment is not equally distributed within the business sites in Warrington East. Birchwood and Risley represent the largest proportion of employment; 57% of all Warrington East employees.
. Despite an important increase in employment of 6.3% between 2009 and 2010, most recently, Warrington East has seen an apparent employment decrease of 3.8% compared to the previous year of 2011. The employment area that had the highest proportion of decline in jobs during this period was Culcheth and Croft; representing a decrease of 10.5%. The recent announcement of the HS2 route through Taylor Business Park is likely to make its tenants re-consider further expansion and deter new investors.
. In terms of employment, the most significant sector by all measures is ‘architectural and engineering activities’, representing 11.3% of all employees in Warrington East. The area has more than seven times the proportion of employment in this sector compared to the average for England. Other Warrington East 18
Current Position
important sectors when considering employment include warehousing, business services and ICT (telecoms and software combined). However, in terms of total employment and proportion of employment, these sectors do not appear to represent the same type of critical mass compared to architectural and engineering activities.
3. Warrington East’s Key Sectors
3.1 The previous section which considered a wide range of data, indicates that the most significant sectors in Warrington East are:
. Architectural and engineering activities . Warehousing and support activities for transportation . Office administrative, office support and other business support activities . Telecommunications . Computer programming, consultancy & related activities
3.2 The most notable sector by all indicators including employment, Location Quotient, business units is ‘architectural and engineering activities; technical and related activities’. The Warrington & Co Business Engagement Programme has identified that a large number of consulting engineering firms supporting a broad range of industries, but mainly in energy, with a particular concentration on nuclear energy.
3.3 When considering the sectors and sub-sectors in which Warrington East has strengths, it is important to present these in the context of the overall policy landscape in which the Government and public sector agencies such as UK Trade & Investment as well as the Cheshire and Warrington LEP identify sectors. The Cheshire & Warrington LEP draft ESIF Strategy refers to Energy and Environment and Engineering and Technical Consultancy
3.4 As a result, for the purposes of the Warrington East Strategy, the sectors can be defined as:
. Consulting Engineering and nuclear . ICT – Information Communication Technology (telecommunications and computer programming) . Business services (office admin, office support and other business support activity) . Warehousing and logistics
3.5 To complement the Location Quotient analysis and total employment in these sectors, it is important to understand employment trends within these sectors. To this end, a time-series analysis is included for each sector to show employment growth/contraction between 2009 and 2012. Due to changes in SIC classification, this time series data is only available back to 2009, a shorter period than ideally required to provide a more robust trend analysis.
Consulting Engineering & Nuclear
3.6 The scale of the engineering activities and related technical consultancy is of importance in Warrington East, employing a significant number of people and representing a high proportion of the employee base when compared to the average for England and other comparators.
3.7 The 2 Digit SIC code includes architectural activities, but when checked at 4 Digit Level (SIC 7112) the data indicates that in Warrington East, the broader 2 Digit SIC of architectural and engineering activities does indeed wholly relate to engineering activities. The latest BRES data (2012) indicates that 10% of employees in Warrington East are employed in engineering consulting activities and related technical consultancy, ten times higher than the national proportion of 1%. Warrington East 19
Current Position
Comparative Proportion of Employees in Consulting Engineering, Four Digit SIC Code, 2012 C&W North Warrington Warrington Warrington England LEP West East No. East % % % Area % % 7112 : Engineering activities and related 3,400 10.1 2.8 1.9 1.1 1.1 technical consultancy Source: BRES, NOMIS
3.8 The strength of core infrastructure activities in Warrington East such as energy and power (particularly nuclear); and water management, has led to a deep and broad base of professional services in engineering consultancies. These often specialise in areas such as design engineering, planning, construction and project management.
3.9 The table below indicates how total employment in ‘architectural and engineering activities has changed from 2009 to 2012 Overall, between 2009 and 2012, there was overall employment growth of 42% in this sector. Following a considerable increase in the number of employees in 2010, the number of employees during the last three years has averaged at 3,800. In 2010, this sector saw significant employment growth from the previous year, with all areas increasing apart from the average for England overall. Some of the increases/decreases may be due to consolidation or expansion due to mergers and acquisitions in the sector or are more likely to be a data issue given that the data is survey based.
Percentage Change in Employment, Architectural & Engineering Activities, Warrington East and Comparators, 2010-2012
Total employment in Architectural & Engineering Activities, 2009-2012 2009 2010 2011 2012
Warrington East 2,600 3,700 3,900 3,700 Warrington 3,900 4,800 5,100 5,000 C & W LEP Area 8,700 10,300 10,300 10,000 North West 41,400 45,400 42,300 43,500 Sources: BRES, NOMIS
3.10 The nationally notable strength of the consulting engineering sector in Warrington East is likely to result from a long association of the nuclear sector in Warrington East and the legacy of BNFL which was headquartered in Risley from the 1970s up until 2003. Sellafield Ltd, the site licence company for the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria has its design engineering division employing 1,650 people based in Warrington East 20
Current Position
Risley. The complexities of nuclear decommissioning has led to very strong supply chain linkages which benefit from a close proximity to Sellafield Ltd’s Design Engineering Centre and this is examined later in this report.
3.11 Overall, the consulting engineering sector is characterised by a number of national and multi-national consulting engineering firms with large operations in the area. Although there is a strong concentration of engineering services in Warrington East, supporting the nuclear sector, the strength of the consulting engineering is not only underpinned by local projects with Sellafield Ltd or United Utilities for example. A number of these consulting engineering companies have their North West/North of England office in Warrington East as transport links facilitate easy travel serving national as well as international markets.
Selected Consulting Engineering Companies, Warrington East
Company Activity
AMEC Group Consulting engineering, Nuclear Analytical Services and R&D NW Regional Office: design engineering and project Atkins Global management NW Regional Office: Engineering, construction and technical URS services in the energy sector UK HQ: Engineering consultancy in area of sustainable waste MWH UK and energy management including nuclear Jacobs Engineering Professional technical services in design engineering for nuclear North of England office for infrastructure, water and energy CH2M Hill projects Engineering consulting group, predominantly serving nuclear Nuvia sector but also oil and gas and defence. 3.12 The presence of AMEC’s UK nuclear R&D site (the only one of its type in the UK) located in Birchwood also presents potential opportunities for attracting more nuclear related companies to Warrington East. AMEC is a partner in the EDF new build project at Hinkley Point and also has a strong relationship with Hitachi, a partner in the Horizon JV which will be building the Wylfa 3 new nuclear plant. The construction of Wylfa is now likely to be secured following its inclusion in the National Infrastructure Plan.
ICT (Information Communications Technology)
3.13 The Information Communications Technology (ICT) is considered as a single sector as opposed to the two separate sectors of telecoms and software. There is a strong convergence between communications and IT, which is exemplified locally with the presence of MDS, a software development which only serves the telecoms sector including locally based communications company, Talk Talk.
3.14 Talk Talk Business which is headquartered in Birchwood, is likely to account for the overwhelming majority of employment in this sector in Warrington East. This is business broadband, telephone, mobile phone and IT support provider owned by TalkTalk Group. In 2012 the Group went through a significant restructure, which resulted in the loss of approximately 80 jobs in Birchwood. However, in the medium term, this loss was offset by the consolidation of the logistics operations and sales compliance into Warrington. Birchwood is now the UK hub for consumer operations and the operation also includes a Group Shared Service Centre. There is only a small contact centre on site as increasingly more process roles are being offshored.
Warrington East 21
Current Position
3.15 The graph below indicates that over the last four years, employment in the telecoms sector has fluctuated considerably, with a considerable decline in employment in 2010 of almost 60% compared to the previous year. However, given the small sample size represented by Warrington East, it is important to consider that there could be some data anomalies. By contrast, in 2011, employment in Warrington and across all the comparators (apart from in England) as whole increased in 2011. The trends for employment in the telecoms sector as a whole for England indicates more stability, but with a tendency for a decreasing number of employees. The sharp drop in employment numbers in 2010, may be due to the fact that outsourcing company, Webhelp TSC (known as HEROtsc at the time) acquired the Vodaphone contact centre in 2010 and may now be categorised under another SIC code or may have made significant redundancies following the acquisition.
Percentage Change in Employment in Telecoms, Warrington East and Comparators, 2010-2012
. Source: BRES, NOMIS
Total Employment in Telecommunications, 2009-2012 2009 2010 2011 2012
Warrington East 2,100 900 1,500 1,000 Warrington 3,000 1,800 2,300 1,800 C & W LEP Area 4,700 3,100 4,600 3,200 North West 24,300 20,800 27,500 22,700 Sources: BRES, NOMIS
3.16 Warrington East has 1,400 people employed in computer programming. It has a Location Quotient of 1.83, representing close to double the proportion of employment in this area for England and is double the proportion for Warrington as a whole (0.92). The locality has a mix of indigenous, UK and foreign owned software related companies. These range from MDS (formerly known as Martin Dawes Systems) to large multinationals such as CSC (Computer Science Corporation) and software outsourcing companies such as Fujitsu.
3.17 IT outsourcers are very much contract/project driven, so as contracts are won or end, this could have a significant impact on the number of employees at any one time. Fujitsu, a major outsourcer, which employs over 600 people in Warrington East, is the base of the ATLAS build centre, a consortium based project formed in March 2005 to deliver the Ministry of Defence’s ‘Defence Information Infrastructure Future’ contract. At the time of being rolled out in 2005, it was the single biggest IT infrastructure project rolled out in Europe. Other partners in the Consortium include HP Enterprise Services and Logica, with the former also having a presence in Birchwood. The 10 year contract expires in March 2015.
3.18 MDS provides integrated back office software solutions, including billing, CRM and analytics systems for telecoms companies. The company is headquartered in Birchwood Boulevard which is also the location of its R&D centre. In August 2013, the company relocated its HQ from Fernhead to Birchwood Warrington East 22
Current Position
Point. The company has grown over the last 5 years and so reinvested in a larger building (30,000sq ft) where it currently employs 220 staff. Other smaller software companies include UK owned Datel based in Fernhead.
3.19 Since 2010, there has been an increase in the number of employees in computer programming, with a 17% increase in 2012 from the previous year, the highest increase of all the comparators. During this period, there was a decrease of 6% in computer programming employees for England as a whole. Most recently, employment in this sector in Warrington East has increased at almost double the rate for the LEP area. It has also grown at a higher rate than for Warrington as a whole.
Percentage Change in Employment in Computer Programming, Warrington East and Comparators, 2010-2012
Total employment in Computer Programming, 2009-2012 2009 2010 2011 2012
Warrington East 1,200 1,100 1,200 1,400 Warrington 2,200 1,900 2,300 2,500 C & W LEP Area 9,100 7,000 8,600 9,300 North West 38,700 31,900 38,500 38,700 Sources: BRES, NOMIS
Business Services
3.20 The SIC code denoting ‘office administration’ comprises a wide range of business services activities including the provision of back-office services (i.e. outsourcing), legal, accountancy, advertising, marketing. Business Services operations typically includes Contact Centres, Shared Service Centres, Business Process Outsourcing and other operations such as IT helpdesks. A Shared Service Centre is an entity within a multi-unit organisation which provides the organisation with back office services such as IT support, finance and HR. It is important to note that Business Services operations can be difficult to identify and can typically be classified under a different sector.
3.21 As Business Services is a very broad sector, for the purpose of this report in considering potential future employment growth for Warrington East, outsourcing now more commonly referred to as BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) is likely to be the most appropriate sub-sector to concentrate on. BPO is when a company contracts an outside provider for services or business processes. This might include back-office functions such as accounting and human resources but might also include front-end services such as customer care and technical support.
3.22 Warrington East has a number of contact centre operations and Business Process Outsourcing companies with key existing businesses including: Fujitsu, Wipro, HP, Infosys and Webhelp TSC. The
Warrington East 23
Current Position
latter is an outsourced contact centre, providing predominantly outsourced services for Vodaphone and to a smaller extent for E.ON. Webhelp TSC is now in the fifth year of their six year contract with Vodaphone. The Warrington site has approximately 500 seats and employs 1,000 people on shift patterns
3.23 Following considerable employment growth in 2010 (an increase of 900 jobs in 2010 from the previous year), the last two years point to a relatively stable level of employment in Business Services. One of the reasons for this pattern could potentially be due to one or more companies winning an outsourced contract in 2010. Overall, in 2012 employment in office administration declined in all the locations including for England as whole.
Percentage Change in Employment in Office Administration, Warrington East and Comparators, 2010-2012
Source: BRES, NOMIS
Employment in Office Administration, Business Support etc 2009-2012 2009 2010 2011 2012
Warrington East 500 1,400 1,500 1,400 Warrington 1,400 2,500 1,900 1,800 C & W LEP Area 5,300 6,400 6,100 5,900 North West 33,100 37,900 37,700 34,700 Source: BRES, NOMIS
Warehousing
3.24 Warrington East’s strengths in logistics and distribution have been well articulated over many years. The motorway access and relative proximity to areas of high population density make Warrington East a natural contender for distribution activity. The larger warehousing centres include Walkers’ Crisps (PepsiCo), Iceland Distribution Centre (managed by DHL) and Norbert Dentressangle,
3.25 The warehousing sector in Warrington East (and indeed as is the case nationally) is subject to considerable seasonal change. This is particularly the case with consumer warehousing operations, such as the Nobert Dentressangle site in Woolston Grange which services a major Marks & Spencer food contract. Employment at this site can peak to 2,000 people during the Christmas period, with the rest of the year standing at about 750 employees. The seasonal nature of some of these operations can lead to a large proportion of agency staff on site as opposed to full-time employees.
3.26 Following a decrease in employment of 21% in 2010 from the previous year, for the last two years, employment in warehousing in Warrington East has stayed at the same level in 2011 and 2012, representing a total of 2,000 employees in each year. Although there was no employment growth in this
Warrington East 24
Current Position
sector in Warrington East, all the other comparators including Warrington had employment growth in 2012 compared to the previous year.
Percentage Change in Employment in Warehousing, Warrington East and Comparators, 2010-2012
Total Employment in Warehousing and Support Activities for Transportation, 2009 - 2012 2009 2010 2011 2012
Warrington East 1,400 1,100 2,000 2,000 Warrington 2,200 1,900 2,900 3,400 C & W LEP Area 6,300 6,500 7,100 9,600 North West 42,100 39,600 41,600 47,300 Sources: BRES, Nomis
Employment Trends by Key Sector and Employment Sites
3.27 A number of the employment sites within Warrington East have a distinct character in terms of commercial stock and how well employment in the key sectors is represented. This is the case in the patterns of employment in Woolston Grange and Birchwood and Risley. The latter is generally a well landscaped corporate business park, whereas Woolston Grange presents more of a traditional manufacturing and warehousing location. Culcheth and Croft has limited employment within the key sectors.
3.28 It is important to note that given the very small geographies and in most cases the very small number of employees (numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred) that providing employment growth/decrease by percentage could potentially be misleading. As such, only the total number of employees has been included in the tables below. The tables do help to indicate where there is a concentration of employment by key sectors.
3.29 The first table indicates just how strongly employment in architectural and engineering activities is very much concentrated in Birchwood and Risley, with a considerably smaller proportion located in Woolston.
Employment in Architectural & Engineering Activities Employment Site 2009 2010 2011 2012 Birchwood & Risley 2,300 2,900 3,200 3,300 Culcheth & Croft 100 400 400 100 Fernhead & 100 100 100 0 Cinnamon Brow Warrington East 25
Current Position
Woolston Grange 100 300 200 300 Source: BRES, NOMIS
3.30 By contrast, warehousing is very much concentrated in Woolston Grange, reflecting the presence of large distribution units such as Norbert Dentrensangle and Iceland. Birchwood and Risley has under half the proportion employment in warehousing compared to Woolston. Warehousing operations of a larger scale include Walkers Crisp (PepsiCo) which employs approximately 230 people.
Employment in Warehousing and Support Activities for Transportation Employment Site 2009 2010 2011 2012 Birchwood & Risley 500 400 700 600 Culcheth & Croft 100 0 100 100 Fernhead & 0 0 0 0 Cinnamon Brow Woolston 800 700 1,200 1,300 Source: BRES, NOMIS
3.31 The telecoms sector is very much focused in the Birchwood and Risley area, reflecting the presence of the HQ of Talk Talk Business and potentially Webhelp TSC. As was raised earlier in the report, the data combined with knowledge gained through the Business Engagement programme indicates that the large number of employees in the telecoms sector is more due to the presence of a large employer rather than representing a cluster of activity.
Employment in Telecoms Employment Site 2009 2010 2011 2012 Birchwood & Risley 1,800 700 1,100 800 Culcheth & Croft 100 100 200 0 Fernhead & 0 0 0 100 Cinnamon Brow Woolston 200 100 200 100 Source: BRES, NOMIS
3.32 Employment in Computer Programming is dominated by Fernhead and Cinnamon Brow as well as Birchwood and Risley. The employment numbers in Fernhead and Cinnamon Brow are likely to be reflected by the presence of Datel, CSC and MDS. In August 2013, MDS relocated its head office to Birchwood Point, which is likely to impact on the 2013/2014 BRES data. The total number of computer programming jobs in Birchwood and Risley has remained stable at 600 between 2009 and 2012.
Employment in Computer Programming Employment Site 2009 2010 2011 2012 Birchwood & Risley 600 600 600 600 Culcheth & Croft 0 0 0 0 Fernhead & 600 500 600 800 Cinnamon Brow Woolston 0 0 0 0 Sources: BRES, NOMIS
Warrington East 26
Current Position
3.33 Office Administration and other business support activities has notably the largest proportion of employees based in Birchwood and Risley, with limited employment in this sector in the other locations. In 2010 there was an increase in employment in this sector by an additional 800 jobs from the previous year, with employment staying stable in the following years up to 2012.
Employment in Office Administration Employment Site 2009 2010 2011 2012 Birchwood & Risley 300 1,100 1,200 1,200 Culcheth & Croft 0 100 100 0 Fernhead & 100 100 100 100 Cinnamon Brow Woolston 100 100 100 100 Sources: BRES, NOMIS
Clusters – Nuclear
3.34 Warrington East has a long established nuclear industry. The UKAEA (UK Atomic Energy Authority) created in 1954 had its Engineering, Production and Reactor Group headquartered in Risley. In 1971, UKAEA was separated out into two new companies, the main one being BNFL, which had its headquarters located in Risley. BNFL retained its headquarters in Risley until 2003 when it moved to Daresbury Park. In 2005, BNFL transferred all of its nuclear sites to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The commercial arm of UKAEA was privatised as AEA Technology and then exited the nuclear industry in 2004.
Nuclear Decommissioning
3.35 The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is the UK government body that owns the 17 sites and the associated civil nuclear liabilities previously under the control of UKAEA and BNFL. The NDA discharges its responsibilities through contracts with site licensees that manage sites, prepare and implement decommissioning plans and sub-contract work. Licensees are owned by parent bodies, one of which is NMP (Nuclear Management Partners); a consortium led by URS (US owned) and which includes AMEC (UK) and Areva (French). NMP is the parent body of Sellafield Ltd.
3.36 The NDA awarded a five year contract to NMP in 2008 which included an option for periodic extensions up to a maximum of 17 years. The contract was renewed for another 5 years in October 2013. The value of the extended contract was not announced, but annual expenditure at the site currently totals in the region of £1.8 billion. Although NMP currently owns Sellafield Ltd, if the contract was to be awarded to another ‘parent body’, Sellafield Ltd would still remain as the site licence company. This provides stability in ensuring continuity of delivery of nuclear decommissioning. Sellafield Ltd’s site in Risley is the location of its Engineering Design Centre and where 1,650 staff are employed.
3.37 The following diagram outlines the relationship between the different organisations operating within the context of nuclear decommissioning within the context of Sellafield Ltd. This includes the relationship with the Tier 2 supply chain through the major framework of the Design Services Alliance which is mainly delivered by the Engineering Design Centre in Risley.
Warrington East 27
Current Position
Sellafield Ltd Relationship Diagram
Nature of Nuclear Decommissioning Supply Chains
3.38 The Design Services Alliance (DSA) contract is a 15 year contract that includes the delivery of design and safety assessment. The DSA is made up of two groups. The AXIOM consortium is made up of AMEC, Assystem, Jacobs and Mott Macdonald. Progressive is an alliance lead by Cavendish Nuclear (formerly Babcock International Group) and URS.
3.39 Sellafield Ltd has been based in Hinton House (owned by the NDA) for 30 years and as such has made a considerable impact in maintaining and further growing the nuclear cluster in Birchwood. Since the announcement of the DSA contract in February 2012, there has been a notable change in the nature of the supply chain, from one based on short term agreements to a longer term collaborative partnership.
Design Services Alliance (DSA), A Collaborative Supply Chain
3.40 This supply chain framework enables an integrated team to work on ‘best athlete’ principal, leading to a supply chain which is less transactional and more about quality assurance and interaction, with Sellafield Ltd working closely with the Alliance partners along this process. This approach puts even more emphasis on physical proximity and in some cases co-location.
3.41 A number of supply chain companies have direct fibre optic connections into Hinton House. In some cases due to security issues and the sensitive nature of discussions, face to face meetings rather than phone and email communications are used. This makes physical proximity to Hinton House even more important.
Warrington East 28
Current Position
3.42 Given this new long term framework leading to closer collaborations with Tier 2 companies, there is also a focus on developing stronger linkages with Tier 3 and 4 companies. In part, this is driven by the NDA's Supply Chain SME Procurement Action Plan (2013) which has set a target of 20% of annual sub-contract spend (both direct and indirect) of at least £300 million to SMEs by 2015, almost doubling the currently reported level. As part of the consultation process, Sellafield Ltd highlighted that some of the best innovation in the sector comes about from working direct with Tier 3 and 4 companies and is something they are keen to increase.
3.43 This focus on closer collaboration provides a strong market opportunity for Warrington East to further grow the nuclear cluster locally; and across the supply chain, including Tier 2 to 4 suppliers. Continued growth in this sector could lead to further expansion and requirement for more office space locally. Consideration should be given on how the work of the Nuclear Forum could be expanded with extra resources potentially provided by the industry.
Sellafield Ltd Site Constraints
3.44 The Sellafield operation based in Hinton House has 1,650 staff located on site. The NDA also has a small presence in Hinton House, a total of 50 staff. INS, a subsidiary of the NDA specialising in radioactive transportation is also based in Hinton house, with a total of 150 staff. Due to lack of space a number of Sellafield staff are based in other locations. This includes about 250 staff co-locating in third party premises and 250 staff based at an NDA building in Daresbury (formerly occupied by Babcock Nuclear – now renamed Cavendish Nuclear). If Hinton House is refurbished, it would have the potential to hold 2,700 staff.
3.45 The ability to recruit from a large catchment area, given the specialist nature of nuclear design engineering is ‘mission critical’. Sellafield Ltd estimates that there are only 7,000 engineers in the UK with the relevant expertise to work in the nuclear engineering field and Sellafield Ltd employs 2,500 of these people. Staff commute from Cheshire, Manchester, Liverpool as well as Lancashire, North Wales and further afield. There are also a particularly high number of graduates who commute from Manchester and Liverpool. Given this large catchment a high proportion of staff drive to work. At present there are 1,350 car parking spaces at Hinton House. Birchwood rail station is perceived as being too far away from Hinton House to make rail travel feasible or convenient.
3.46 Every three years, Sellafield Ltd undertakes a review to ascertain if its Engineering Design centre should be moved to Cumbria. In order to help safeguard Sellafield Ltd’s presence in Warrington, given this review once every three years, there should be a strong focus to ensure that the needs of the Sellafield Ltd are met locally as well as within the wider nuclear supply chain.
Warrington East 29
Current Position
Summary
The main findings to be drawn from the sector section are:
. The presence of high profile multi-nationals in Warrington East’s key sectors such AMEC, Atkins, URS, Nuvia, MWH, Fujitsu, CSC, WebhelpTSC could provide Warrington East with the opportunity to strongly position itself based on its track record in attracting such investment.
. The location of Sellafield’s Design Engineering Centre in Risley has undoubtedly created a nationally significant nuclear cluster, predominantly based on nuclear decommissioning but with some activity in new nuclear. The importance of the nuclear sector in Warrington and the nature of its supply chain have led to a strong collaboration with consulting engineering companies, benefiting from a close physical proximity to Sellafield.
. The collaborative nature of the nuclear supply chain programmes and the length of contracts, in particular, the DSA contract; has the potential to further deepen the nuclear cluster in Warrington East; and across Tier 2 to Tier 4 companies.
. Although the current focus of nuclear activity is predominantly on nuclear decommissioning, the strength of the nuclear employee base has attracted companies such as Rolls-Royce who established a design engineering new nuclear operation in Birchwood in 2008. The presence of AMEC Nuclear’s R&D facility used by clients including Magnox and EDF also present the opportunity to leverage those relationships to attract more nuclear related companies to Warrington East. There is also the opportunity to position Warrington East as a broader energy engineering location.
. The nuclear industry is supported locally by the Nuclear Forum but at present this is under-resourced.
. The ICT sector is relatively strong in Warrington East. The telecoms sector in particular is defined by the presence of a large employer (Talk Talk) as opposed to representing a broad base of telecoms businesses. Employment in this sector across all the comparators has tended to be more volatile than in other sectors. A reason for this could be due to the growing trends in outsourcing non-core functions as has been characterised by some of the restructuring announcements made by Talk Talk.
. By contrast, employment in computer programming in Warrington East has increased considerably, with a 17% increase in 2012 from the previous year; the highest increase of all the comparators, though the increase was not as significant from 2010 to 2011. Warrington East’s software sector is more diverse than the telecoms sector. It is made up of a mix of large foreign owned investors including Fujitsu, HP and CSC as well as by indigenous SMEs such as MDS.
. Business Services companies (including IT outsourcers) such as Fujitsu are very much contract driven, with the winning of new contracts likely to make an impact on employment growth. This tendency may help to explain the changes in considerable employment growth and contraction. As the larger business services companies tend to have a number of locations in the UK; ensuring that they can recruit the talent they require in a cost effective manner will be important in helping to ensure continued growth in Warrington East. . In contrast to the other sectors, warehousing is very much concentrated in Woolston Grange and to a smaller extent in Birchwood and Risley. In 2011, the warehousing sector experienced a large increase in employment in Woolston Grange, a total increase of 500 jobs. The consumer nature of some of the larger warehousing operators in Warrington East such as PepsiCo and Norbert Dentressangle means that there can be peaks in employment and recruitment of agency staff, particularly around the Christmas period. The ability for these companies to scale up quickly to meet peak periods and recruit from a small catchment area is important.
Warrington East 30
Current Position
4 Demographics and Labour Catchment Population
4.1 The total population of Warrington East based on 2011 Census data is 47,941. The area has a higher proportion of people aged between 45 and 74 compared to the Warrington as a whole, regional and national average. For instance, 22.7% of those living in Warrington East are aged between 45 and 59, compared with 19.4% in England as a whole. Whilst this may not appear to be a significant difference, in time this will mean the economic activity of the population will decline relative to the national position.
Population by Age Bands, Warrington East and Comparators
Source: 2011 Census
Population Change
4.2 Over the last 10 years (between the 2001 and the 2011 Census) the population of Warrington East has declined slightly from 49,566 in 2001 to 47,941 in 2011; this represents a 3.3% decrease. In contrast, Warrington’s population as a whole has increased over the last 10 years by 5.8%. This reflects a stable level of housing stock in East Warrington and a decline in average household size.
Population Change 2001 – 2011, Warrington East, Warrington and England
Source: 2011 Census
Warrington East 31
Current Position
Occupations
4.3 Four in ten of the working population in Warrington East are occupied in professional and managerial related positions (41.8%). This is similar to the picture for Warrington as a whole (42.2%), the sub region (43.8%) and the country (41.1%). It is slightly higher than is seen at a regional level, where 37.7% are occupied in these positions.
4.4 Overall, the occupational breakdown of the working age population in Warrington East is similar to that seen for Warrington borough as a whole; the biggest difference is that there is a higher proportion working in ‘administrative and secretarial’ occupations in Warrington East (13.1% work in this occupation in Warrington East compared to 11.6% in Warrington).
4.5 Comparing Warrington East’s occupational profile to the national picture highlights that Warrington East has a higher proportion of people working in ‘administrative and secretarial’ and ‘sales and customer services’. Warrington East has a greater proportion of people employed in the most senior managerial roles than in Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Reading.
4.6 However, given the considerably higher proportion of employees working in ‘architectural and engineering activities’ compared to the average for England (a Location Quotient of 7.31) compared to a Location Quotient of 3.81 for office administration, it is perhaps surprising that occupations such as professional occupations, associate professional and technical occupations and managers are at about the same level as the average for England. These figures would appear to slightly mask the high level of highly skilled employment.
Occupation of Working Age Population, Warrington East and Comparators, 2011 Census
%
Occupation %
NW NW %
Milton
East East %
Area %
Hove %
East East No.
C&W LEPC&W
Keynes %
Reading % England %
Brighton &Brighton
Warrington Warrington Warrington Warrington
Manchester Liverpool % Managers, directors and 2,669 11.0 11.1 12.3 7.6 7.5 11.7 10.9 9.0 9.9 10.9 senior officials Professional occupations 4,230 17.5 18.1 18.7 17.5 20.0 22.7 18.2 24.5 16.3 17.5 Associate professional & 3,205 13.3 13.0 12.8 11.2 12.4 16.7 13.5 13.5 11.5 12.8 technical occupations Administrative and 3,160 13.1 11.6 10.7 12.7 10.4 9.6 12.6 10.0 11.8 11.5 secretarial occupations Skilled trades occupations 2,360 9.8 9.5 10.3 9.0 7.5 8.6 8.8 9.0 11.3 11.4 Caring, leisure and other 1,957 8.1 8.6 8.8 10.5 9.8 9.2 7.9 8.5 10.1 9.3 service occupations Sales and customer service 2,326 9.6 9.8 8.7 10.6 11.3 9.2 9.3 9.0 9.4 8.4 occupations Process plant and machine 1,642 6.8 6.8 6.9 7.4 6.3 3.6 6.6 5.1 8.1 7.2 operatives Elementary occupations 2,629 10.9 11.5 10.8 13.5 14.8 8.6 12.3 11.4 11.6 11.1 Source, 2011 Census
Warrington East 32
Current Position
Qualifications
4.7 The proportion of people (aged 16+) with Level 4 or higher qualifications in Warrington East is on a par with Warrington as a whole, as well as nationally, but is higher than the regional average (24.4%). However, the proportion of residents with Level 4 or above is higher in the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area (as well as other comparators such as Milton Keynes and Reading) as whole than for Warrington East.
Highest Level of Qualifications Achieved, Warrington East and Comparators, 2011 Census
Highest Level of
% % % % % % %
Qualification No.
NW
East East East
C&W
Milton
Hove %
England
LEP Area
Liverpool
Keynes %
Reading %
Brighton &Brighton
Warrington Warrington Warrington Warrington Manchester
Level 4 and 10,93 27.4 27.4 30.0 22.4 28.9 36.9 28.2 34.8 24.4 27.4 above 7 Level 3 5,170 12.9 12.6 12.6 15.2 16.0 16.0 11.5 13.4 12.9 12.4 Apprenticeship 1,768 4.4 4.1 4.0 2.5 1.7 2.2 3.4 2.5 3.9 3.6 Level 2 6,740 16.9 16.5 16.0 14.2 12.0 12.6 16.7 12.3 15.8 15.2 Level 1 5,790 14.5 14.6 13.1 12.5 11.1 11.0 15.9 12.2 13.6 13.3 No qualifications 7,930 19.9 20.7 20.4 28.7 23.1 16.1 18.0 17.4 24.8 22.5 Other 1,594 4.0 4.1 3.9 4.4 7.1 5.4 6.3 7.4 4.5 5.7 Base – all usual residents aged 16 and over
4.8 Overall, the figures for occupation and qualifications support the data which suggests that employees travel from outside the area.
Claimant Count
4.9 The proportion of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) is consistently lower in Warrington East compared to comparator locations. As happened elsewhere, claimant rate reached a peak in 2009 when there were roundly 900 people claiming JSA, 3.1% of the working age population. As of October 2013, this has fallen to c600 (1.9%). Since 2007 and the economic downturn, the claimant count in Warrington East has been below the national average and lower than all the other comparators.
4.10 The latest claimant rate (as of October 2013) is lower in Warrington East than for the other comparators. As of October 2013, claimant count in Warrington East was at 1.9%; a lower rate than for the Borough as a whole and compared to the other North West comparators as well as those in the South East.
Warrington East 33
Current Position
Claimant Rate, Warrington East, NW Comparators and England
Source: ONS Rate as a proportion of 16-64 population (based on mid-year estimates) Counts taken from October of each year
Claimant Rate, South East Comparators
Source: ONS Rate as a proportion of 16-64 population (based on mid-year estimates) Counts taken from October of each year
Economic Activity Rate
4.11 Economic activity relates to whether or not a person who was aged 16 to 74 was working or looking for work in the week before census. Rather than a simple indicator of whether or not someone was currently in employment, it provides a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market.
4.12 The economic activity rate in Warrington East is 70.4%; this is similar to that seen in nationally (69.9%) and slightly lower than for Warrington as a whole (72.1%). The economic activity rate in Warrington East is significantly higher than the levels in either Liverpool or Manchester (63.4% and 63.5% respectively).
Warrington East 34
Current Position
Economic Activity Rate, Warrington East and Comparators, 2011
Source: 2011 Census. Rate as a proportion of 16-74 population (taken from 2011 Census)
Warrington East’s Labour Market Catchment
4.13 The motorway links via the M62/M6/M56 and beyond provides Warrington East with one of the largest labour pools in the UK outside of London. The labour market catchment area of Warrington East is defined as covering a 30 minute drive time from Birchwood. The map illustrates the large commuter catchment that Warrington East represents.
4.14 The total population (based on 2011 Census data) within the 30 minute drive time catchment area of Warrington East is 3,603,300. The working age population (16-74) is 2,668,500.
Warrington East 35
Current Position
Population by Age Bands, Warrington East Drive Time Area, Warrington and England, 2011
Source: 2011 Census
4.15 Four in ten of the working population in the Warrington East labour market catchment area are occupied in professional and managerial related positions (38.5%); this equates to over 600,000 people. This large labour catchment and ability to attract a wide range of occupations within a 30 minute commute is a key advantage for Warrington East.
Occupation of Working Age Population, Warrington East Catchment Area, 2011 30 mins Warrington 30 mins Warrington Occupation East East No. % Managers, directors and senior officials 154,717 9.5 Professional occupations 277,614 17.0 Associate professional & technical occupations 195,461 12.0 Administrative and secretarial occupations 195,877 12.0 Skilled trades occupations 163,350 10.0 Caring, leisure and other service occupations 159,671 9.8 Sales and customer service occupations 164,724 10.1 Process plant and machine operatives 126,849 7.8 Elementary occupations 197,300 12.1 Source: 2011 Census
4.16 A quarter (24.6%) of the catchment area population (aged 16+) has level 4 or higher qualifications; this equates to over 700,000 people. This large labour catchment and high number of potential employees with high level skills makes Warrington East an attractive business location for employers requiring staff with a high level of qualifications.
Warrington East 36
Current Position
Highest Level of Qualifications Achieved, Number and Proportions, Warrington East Drive Time, 2011 30 mins Warrington 30 mins Warrington Highest Level of East East Qualification No. % Level 4 and above 719,455 24.6 Level 3 383,338 13.1 Apprenticeship 98,986 3.4 Level 2 450,481 15.4 Level 1 395,451 13.5 No qualifications 735,980 25.2 Other 136,452 4.7 Source: 2011 Census Base – all usual residents aged 16 and over
Summary
4.17 The main findings to be drawn from the demographics and labour catchment data are:
. Warrington East’s population is somewhat older than the average for England, with 23% of residents in Warrington East are aged between 45 and 59, compared to 19% in England as a whole. This ageing demographic has important implications for Warrington East in terms of economic growth and for employers that rely on a local workforce as opposed to recruiting from a larger commuter catchment area. This is particularly the case for companies in the warehousing and business services sectors.
. In addition to the increasing ageing population, during the last 10 years the population of Warrington East has declined by 3.3% (to 47,941), in contrast to the population growth of 5.8% in Warrington and of just under 8% for England as whole. The combination of the ageing and decreasing population is not only likely to impact on employers but on economic activity overall, consumer spending in the locality and the use of local services.
Warrington East 37
Current Position
5 Transport and Commuter Flows
5.1 The location of Warrington East on the M62/M6 intersections and proximity to the M56 and the rest of the motorway network, enables Warrington East to benefit from a very large population and commuter catchment area. These road links have been the key to the growth of Warrington East and Warrington as a whole since New Town status was granted in 1968. The previous chapter includes map denoting the 30 minute drive time from Warrington East (see Labour Catchment) and highlights that there is a population of over 3.6 million available within this drive time of Birchwood, with a working age population (16-74) of over 2.6 million.
Commuter Flows
5.2 The economic, labour force data and notable catchment area indicate the importance of Warrington East in creating employment opportunities not only for the locality and Warrington as a whole but for neighbouring authorities. The full datasets for commuter flows by Local Authority and MSOA (Middle Super Output Area) are still not currently available from the most recent 2011 Census. However, the latest data on commuting patterns is available by Local Authority area only, is taken from the Annual Population Survey, 2011 and at least assists in providing an indication of the commuter flows. This is added to further in this section with data from the 2007 Birchwood Area Wide Travel Initiative survey and the work flow data from the 2001 Census.
5.3 The Annual Population Survey 2011 provides information on ‘inward commuting flows’ into Warrington as well as outward commuter flows. The chart below, indicating that 44% of employees are from outside Warrington, highlights that Warrington as a whole is an important economic centre for a number of adjacent authorities, particularly St. Helen’s and Cheshire West and Chester which both represent 6% of all inward commuting flows. Only just over half of all workers originate from within Warrington.
Commuters as a Percentage of all Inward Commuters, 2011
Source: Annual Population Survey, 2011
5.4 As well as commuting patterns into Warrington East which indicate the economic draw of Warrington, the large labour markets in the North West such as Manchester and Liverpool attract some Warrington Warrington East 38
Current Position
commuters. 32% of commuters based in Warrington travel to outside of the Borough, with the largest numbers commuting to Manchester (5%) and 4% to Halton.
Commuters as a Percentage of all Outward Commuters, 2011
Source: Annual Population Survey, 2011
5.5 The 2007 Birchwood Area Wide Travel Initiative survey undertaken as part of the ‘Influencing Travel Behaviour programme’ work by the Highways Agency and Halcrow, a survey of employees within businesses based in the same geography as Warrington East (excluding Culcheth and Croft), reflected a similar picture as the Annual Population Survey for Warrington as a whole. Out of a survey of 2,948 employees, 47% of commuters were from outside of Warrington East and Warrington as a whole. Unlike the 2001 Census data referred to in the following paragraphs, the largest proportion of commuters from the 2007 survey travelled from Manchester, Liverpool and Wigan, as opposed to Wigan, Cheshire and St Helens as indicated in the 2001 Census.
Inward Commuting Flows, Warrington East (excluding Culcheth& Croft), 2007
Source: Highways Agency & Halcrow Birchwood Area wide Travel Initiative Study, 2007
Warrington East 39
Current Position
5.6 As the 2011 Census data on commuter flows is only presently available by Local Authority, data from the 2001 Census on work flow has been included in this report. However, data from this Census does not allow analysis at MSOA level and in terms of smaller geographies is only available at ward level. The wards covering the employment sites in Warrington East area are defined as Birchwood; Culcheth, Glazebury & Croft and Rixton & Woolston.
5.7 The 2001 Census Travel Flow data shows that on average half (52.3%) of people who work in Warrington East (3 ward definition) come from within Warrington itself. Following that, people are more likely to come from neighbouring Wigan (10.7%), Cheshire (6.5%) and St Helens (5.9%).
5.8 The data (see Appendix 1) highlights that there is a higher proportion of people commuting into Birchwood from outside Warrington (54.7%) than there are into Culcheth, Glazebury & Croft and Rixton & Woolston (42% and 38.3% respectively). In Birchwood, where there a propensity for people to commute from further afield, the most common locations are Cheshire, Wigan and St Helens again but also Lancashire.
Mode of Travel
5.9 Given the commuter flows outlined in the previous pages, it is perhaps unsurprising that Warrington residents are highly dependent on car transport in order to travel to work, with proportionally more Warrington residents driving to work than the regional and average for England. Levels of car sharing are slightly higher than the average for England. A smaller proportion of the population in Warrington than the national or regional average use public transport, with 3.3% of the population using buses compared to the regional average of 5.1% and national average of 5.1%.However, presently data on mode of travel is only available by Local Authority as opposed to Middle Super Output Area and so the data has only been included for Warrington as a whole.
Mode of Transport, Warrington, North West and England, 2011
Source: 2011 Census
5.10 The 2007 Birchwood Area Wide Travel Initiative survey also provides an indication of mode of transport to Warrington East (excluding Culcheth and Croft). 76% of journeys to work trips are by single occupancy car, with 8% car share driver and 5% car share passenger. Only 8% of journeys are by public transport.
Warrington East 40
Current Position
Mode of Transport, Warrington East (excluding Culcheth & Croft), 2007
Source: Highways Agency & Halcrow Birchwood Area wide Travel Initiative Study, 2007
5.11 Based on 2001 Census Work Flow data amongst those working in Warrington East (3 ward definition) and living within the NW, most commute by car (81.2%). For workers not travelling by car, commuting by train is most common by those living in Cumbria (7.1% of those living in Cumbria and working in Warrington East travel in by train) and Manchester (5.4%). Commuting by bus is most common amongst those living within Warrington itself, Wigan, St Helens, Manchester and Bolton.
5.12 Commuters into Birchwood are more likely to travel in by car (86.1%). Those commuting to Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft are comparatively less likely to travel by car (67.9%) and a higher proportion commute on foot (9.7%) and by bus (4.2%).
Figure Mode of Travel into Warrington East from North West Authority Areas, 2001
Source: 2001 Census
5.13 From the commuter patterns, it is therefore apparent that within Warrington East, Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft are essentially local labour market economies whilst Birchwood is regionally important.
Warrington East 41
Current Position
5.14 Stakeholder discussions in the property market and feedback from companies in the Warrington & Co Business Engagement programme have raised issues around congestion, availability of car parking and public transport provision. An important finding of the Birchwood Area wide Travel Initiative pointed to employers frequently reporting problems with recruitment and retention of staff along with severe parking shortages.
5.15 Although the audit and survey work was undertaken in 2007, the more recent Business Engagement programme has found that the lack of parking is still a major concern to employers. The issue is particularly important for companies in industries that employ highly skilled and specialised staff, such as nuclear and software engineers, as these employees tend to commute from a wider catchment than a 30 minute drive time. As a result, public transport is often not a realistic option, with the ability to drive to work and park being a key imperative to companies based in Warrington East. By contrast, the companies in the warehousing sector tend to recruit more from the local catchment area.
5.16 The availability of car parking in Birchwood itself and the MEPC Park has been raised by a large number of companies in the Business Engagement programme, with companies requiring extra parking spaces being put on a long waiting list for extra car parking spaces. Indeed, in the Birchwood Area wide Travel Initiative Survey, 13.6% of employees stated difficulties with parking at their site of employment.
5.17 The issue of a lack of a taxi rank at Birchwood station has also been raised on a number of occasions by locally based businesses, resulting in the advance booking of taxis for visitors to their sites. The establishment of the Birchwood Area wide Travel Initiative and funding for transport improvements has made some important improvements, including the establishment of a new bus route. This has been funded through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.
5.18 The MEPC travel plan developed in 2001 includes a free to tenant shuttle bus running between Birchwood Park and Birchwood Rail Station as well as the express bus running between the Town Centre railway stations and other measures are funded through service charges paid for by Birchwood Park tenants. However, a number of organisations outside the MEPC Park also contribute and benefit from the travel plan initiatives.
5.19 There also is an allocated Travel Planner based within Warrington Council who provides travel planning support to businesses in Warrington East (excluding Culcheth and Croft).
Transport Services
5.20 This section assesses the bus services that serve the Warrington East area and also provides an overview on rail links.
Birchwood (Locking Stumps, Oakwood and Gorse Covert)
5.21 Following the work of the Birchwood Area Wide Travel Initiative, public transport provision in Birchwood has been improved with the provision of a new bus orbital east and west service introduced in autumn 2012. The new service connects Birchwood Park to Chapelford via Westbrook and Gemini. There is also a bus service arriving/departing every 10 minutes throughout the day connecting to the wider areas such as Leigh, Gorse Covert, Langford and Warrington Town Centre. Birchwood Park, Warrington provides a free shuttle bus service to integrate with other local transport links.
5.22 MEPC provides shuttle buses which depart Birchwood train station from 7:32am each day and returning to the station from 4.17pm to support commuter travel. The shuttle also takes passengers to Birchwood Shopping Centre during lunch time. The main bus stops at Birchwood Park are Bridgewater Place and Warrington East 42
Current Position
Chadwick House, and the bus can also be hailed on Faraday Street.Connection to the wider transport network is made accessible via the bus stop positioned adjacent to Birchwood Railway Station.
5.23 Birchwood rail station is on the Liverpool to Manchester line, with trains arriving hourly running from 07.45 and the last service departing at 22.58.
Woolston
5.24 Woolston Grange is served by two bus services (Service 3 and Service 4A) with a frequency rate of 30 minutes, which run from 05.00 to 23.00. The services connect to the wider area of Woolston, Bruche, Padgate and Warrington Town Centre. None of the services link to the railway station at Birchwood but do link to Warrington Central.
Fearnhead
5.25 Three bus services (Service 23, 24 and 25) serve the Fearnhead area with half hourly services running from 07.27 to 18.38. These two services connect the area to Padgate and Warrington Town Centre. The frequency of service during the evenings and weekends is limited, with only one service providing evening and Sunday travel.
Croft and Culcheth
5.26 Bus Service 19 offers facilities between Leigh and Culcheth and continues to Warrington via Croft and Winwick. Additional journeys operate on services 28 and 28A providing alternative facilities between Leigh and Culcheth and continuing to Warrington via Locking Stumps, Longbarn and Padgate. A combined 15 minute frequency is provided by services 19 and 28/28A on Monday to Saturday daytimes, with a combined 30-minute frequency on evenings and Sunday. There are no bus links to the railway station at Birchwood from either of these services.
Rail Services
5.27 Warrington East is served by three rail stations, all of which are situated on the Liverpool-Warrington Central-Manchester line. The most important of these is Birchwood Station, which is reflected by its function as a stop on all First Transpennine Express services between Liverpool and Scarborough (as well as some of Central Trains services between Liverpool and Norwich) along with the most recent data released by Network Rail concerning passenger numbers. The latest available data shows usage now exceeding 526,000 people per year, a rise of almost 70% since 2002. This is equivalent to two- thirds of the numbers using Bank Quay, Warrington’s West Coast Main Line station.
5.28 Historically Birchwood Station has had two key issues – one that it is not fully accessible for all, and one regarding the limited parking provision. The former issue is now being actively addressed through Network Rail’s commitment to construct new pedestrian lifts and a footbridge, due to commence in 2014. The funding is in place for this. For some time the constrained station forecourt parking has been augmented by car parking at Birchwood Shopping Centre. However the growth of the Shopping Centre means there may be increasing pressure to take back these spaces for shoppers.
5.29 Currently Birchwood Station has uncertainty around its future services as investment plans unfold for electrification of routes in the North of England and the letting of a new franchise to cover the current First Transpennine and North Rail services. The consequence of the ‘Northern Hub’ investment programme is the electrification of the Chat Moss line to the north of Warrington, which will see future Transpennine services switched away from Birchwood (and Warrington Central). Responding to this,
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Current Position
the Borough Council and Birchwood Forum are promoting the case for the services provided by Central Trains to be expanded to deliver two per hour throughout the day. Without this Birchwood Station will lose fast services to Manchester and Liverpool.
Summary
5.30 The main findings to be drawn from the section on transport and commuter flows are:
. The location of Warrington East on the M62/M6 intersections enables Warrington East to benefit from a large Working Age population of over 2.6 million people within a 30 minute drive time of Birchwood. The significant catchment indicates the importance of Warrington East in creating employment opportunities not only for the locality and Warrington as a whole, but also for neighbouring authorities. This is supported by data from the Census and the Birchwood Area Wide Travel Initiative.
. These data sets also indicate the large proportion of commuters traveling into Birchwood by car, with a much smaller proportion less likely to travel by car to Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft. It is apparent that within Warrington East, Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft are essentially local labour market economies whilst Birchwood is regionally important.
. The investment in improved bus links and other measures through the establishment of the Birchwood Area wide Travel Initiative and the travel related services provided by MEPC have been key to making important improvements within parts of Warrington East. However, stakeholder discussions and feedback from the Business Engagement programme with companies in the locality have found that congestion and lack of car parking is still a major concern to employers. The condition of footpaths, poor lighting (near footpaths) and signage have also been raised by employers as an area of concern.
. Birchwood Station provides an important train service connecting to Liverpool and Manchester. However, the consequence of the ‘Northern Hub’ investment programme which will see future Transpennine services switched away from Birchwood present a threat. However, Warrington Council and the Birchwood Forum are working to promote the case for the services provided by Central Trains to be expanded to two per hour throughout the day. In some cases, Birchwood Station can been perceived as not easily accessible from parts of Warrington East. Well lit footpaths from the station are at least part of the solution of integrating rail use with some commuting.
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Current Position
6 Other Services
6.1 Appendix 3 provides a comprehensive overview of the services within Warrington East and the extent to which they serve the needs of employers and residents. The findings from this annex are summarised below:
Summary
. There is some 45,000 sqm of service (retail, hot food, medical/community and leisure) floorspace, in 256 properties, in the District, Neighbourhood and Local Retail Centres of Warrington East. 41% of this supply (106 units) is in Culcheth and almost a quarter (59 units) is at Birchwood Shopping Centre. There are also 18 vacant units in the area, primarily recently completed A1 retail units at Birchwood Shopping Centre. This gives a vacancy rate of 7%.
. Warrington East lacks Financial and Professional Services options. In particular there are only three banks in the area (Nat West/Barclays in Culcheth and a second Barclays branch at Birchwood Shopping Centre).
. The hot food and evening economy offer in parts of Warrington East is strong. Culcheth offers a range of good quality restaurants and pub/restaurants (with other pub/restaurants spread throughout the area), which cater to business parties. Birchwood Shopping Centre also provides a range of daytime food facilities, ranging from bakeries to cafes and a fast food restaurant, which meet the needs of both local residents and Birchwood’s business population.
. There are three hotels in the area, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn at Junction 21, M6 and Pentahotel at Birchwood Park.
. The most extensive conference/meeting facilities are at Birchwood Park Centre, which could house almost 300 delegates, in eight rooms. Facilities are also available in the University of Chester which could host conferences of up to 300 people. Two of Warrington East’s three hotels also offer smaller meeting and function rooms.
. Four of Warrington East’s seven supermarkets are in the Birchwood Shopping Centre, two more are in Culcheth. Convenience retail elsewhere is generally limited to mini markets, such as Spar.
. Services in Woolston, Bruche and the neighbourhoods of Birchwood are focused in a small number of Neighbourhood and District centres. With one exception, these are generally some distance from the strategic transport corridors and focus on meeting the needs of local residents.
. Outside of Birchwood, there is a disconnect between local services and employment areas. In particular there are no services in The Grange, which can support local businesses.
7 Housing Land Supply Overview
7.1 This section reviews the potential housing supply forecast within the wards that make up Warrington East. The wards include:
. Birchwood . Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft . Poulton South
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Current Position
. Poulton North . Rixton and Woolston
7.2 The table below gives a broad overview of the extent, type and timing of supply of all sites included in the SHLAA 2012 comprising the full 15 year trajectory. The table indicates the extent to which the SHLAA supply for Warrington East contributes to the Borough's total supply.
Expected Housing Supply in Warrington East Warrington East Warrington Borough % of % of % of Yield Warrington Warrington Yield Warrington East Borough Borough Suitable, Available & 505 81.7 8.6 4,944 84.0 Achievable Suitable, Likely to become Available and 113 18.3 1.9 941 16.0 Achievable Total 618 100.0 10.5 5,885 100.0
Short Term 247 40.0 4.2 2,765 47.0 Medium Term 131 21.2 2.2 1,558 26.5 Long Term 240 38.8 4.1 1,562 26.5 Total 618 100.0 10.5 5,885 100.0
Previously Developed 425 68.8 7.2 4,987 84.7 Greenfield 193 31.2 3.3 727 12.4 Mixed 0 0 0 171 2.9 Total 618 100.0 10.5 5,885 100
7.3 Warrington East has the potential to provide 10.5% of the Borough's housing supply within the 15 year plan period. This is a small contribution considering the area comprises five of the 22 wards (Birchwood; Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft; Poulton North; Poulton South; Rixton and Woolston). The overwhelming housing potential is, unsurprisingly, from sites that are considered suitable, available and achievable, and are located in Brownfield locations.
7.4 In terms of delivery, the largest proportion of sites in Warrington East look set to come forward in the short term period, with an almost equivalent number of units coming forward in the long term. Within the 6 - 10 year trajectory, however, delivery is forecast to be approximately half of the delivery of the 1- 5 years and 10-15 years trajectory.
7.5 The table below summarises the total potential land supply in all wards of Warrington East. Appendix 4 includes tables which summarise the timing of supply for allocations at each of the wards by individual sites.
Quantified ‘Deliverable’ and ‘Developable’ Supply of Housing Land
7.6 The NPPF defines deliverable land for housing as a site which is available now, offers a suitable location for development now which is achievable now (i.e. with a realistic prospect that housing will be delivered on the site within five years). The development also has to be economically viable.
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Current Position
7.7 Out of the 249 sites identified which are capable of contributing to the Borough’s ‘deliverable’ and ‘developable’ supply of housing, 32 are located in Warrington East. Within these areas there is a potential net capacity of 618 dwellings that could be delivered within 2012 and 2027. A breakdown of where these housing allocations are located is included in Appendix 4.
Housing Allocations by Ward Area Number of Ward Net Capacity Potential Sites Birchwood 5 147 Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft 18 105 Poulton South 4 232 Poulton North 2 94 Rixton and Woolston 3 40 Total 32 618
Birchwood
7.8 The ward of Birchwood contains the constituent areas of Chatfield, Gorse Covert, Locking Stumps and Oakwood. Birchwood contributes 30.4% of Warrington East’s 0-5 year supply, and 30% to the 6-10 year supply. There are no housing allocations identified within the ward for the long term trajectory.
7.9 The ward contains one major deliverable site amounting to 70 dwellings through a conversion at the former YMCA building at Hamnet Court. Another site expected to make a significant contribution to the deliverable 6–10 year supply is Land at Admirals Road. This Greenfield site is expected to be disposed, and full planning permission secured within the 0–5 year period.
Culcheth, Croft and Glazebury
7.10 The ward of Culcheth, Croft and Glazebury, though covering the greatest area of Warrington East, contributes only a quarter of Warrington East’s 0-5 year supply, 7.1% of the 6-10 year supply, and 19.7% of the 10-15 years supply. The majority of these are small infill developments (predominately single dwelling allocations) in the built-up area of Culcheth.
7.11 The outlying settlement of Culcheth sees the total potential development of 51 dwellings over ten sites. Future development opportunities are of a limited size within the village, the largest being at Oakdene Nursing Home, which will see the delivery of 15 dwellings. The emerging Core Strategy notes the desirability of the village as a place to live in recent years has driven significant increases in house prices and as such the delivery of additional and genuinely affordable housing for local people represents an important issue, as does maintaining local employment opportunities.
7.12 Croft has a deliverable supply of 28 dwellings over the plan period, with 25 of these dwellings at the site of the former HMS Gosling. Glazebury has a potential delivery of 26 dwellings spread over four sites. Notably there are no sites identified in the medium term trajectory within the settlements of Glazebury and Croft.
Poulton South
7.13 The areas that make up Poulton South comprise Padgate, Paddington and Bruche. The ward of Poulton South contributes 30.8% of Warrington East’s 0-5 year supply, and 60.4% to the 6-10 year supply. There are no allocations identified to come forward in the long term trajectory, and no potential sites identified in Paddington.
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Current Position
7.14 There are only three allocations in the ward of Poulton South, with a major development at the former Police Training Centre in Bruche. This Home and Community Agency owned site secured outline planning permission for 220 homes in early 2012. A minimum of 66 (30%) of these new homes are to be affordable. Whilst the first completions on the site are anticipated to be yielded from 2014 onwards, it is anticipated that the majority of the site (145 out of 220 dwellings) will be realised in the 6–10 year period.
Poulton North
7.15 Poulton North includes Cinammon Brow, Fearnhead, Longbarn and Blackbrook. The ward contributes 71.8% of Warrington East’s 11-15 year trajectory. There are no allocations identified to come forward in the short and medium term.
7.16 The two sites that are identified to contribute to the 11-15 year trajectory are both Greenfield and are split between a minor allocation of 3 dwellings and a major allocation of 91 dwellings. Land to the North of Birchwood Way is one of a few remaining large infill development opportunities within the urban area.
Rixton and Woolston
7.17 There are no housing allocations in Rixton, with only three identified to come forward in Woolston. 13.8% of the 1-5 year supply in Warrington East is identified in Woolston, and a further 2.5% of the 6-10 year supply. There are no allocations in the 11-15 year trajectory.
Summary
The main findings to be drawn from the housing data for Warrington East are:
. The total development potential of sites in Warrington East falling within the trajectory period could yield around 618 new homes, representing 10.5% of the total yield.
. Yield from Greenfield sites makes up 31.2% of the total Warrington East supply (3.3% of the Borough supply). This is reflective of the location of the settlements, with many regarded as suburbs. The remaining yield is from sites with other local or physical constraints, but is confined to the middle and longer term periods of the trajectory.
. Development in the short term trajectory is primarily on previously developed land, whereas the long term supply sees 90.1% of development on Greenfield sites of which 80.2% may be constrained. The mid-term supply however, represents only 2.2% of the Borough wide supply, and circa one-fifth of the Warrington East supply.
. With regards to individual areas, allocations over the plan period are limited, with the ward of Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft being the only ward which contributes to all three trajectory periods, containing a high proportion of single dwelling developments. Notably, the area of Rixton does not have any allocations coming forward in the plan period.
. Poulton South contributes the largest number of dwellings to the Warrington East housing supply due to the redevelopment of the former police training centre at Bruche. Alongside this, Birchwood with the conversion of the YMCA and Poulton North, specifically the constrained land to the North of Birchwood Way, will also contribute to the major housing developments.
. The majority of the allocations are infill developments reflecting the tight greenbelt boundaries around the settlement areas. This also ensures that there are likely to be few windfall developments within such areas. Warrington East 48
Current Position
. Outside the urban locations proposals to create residential allocations are likely to be in conflict with greenbelt policies within the Core Strategy, but Warrington should be mindful of any emerging opportunities resulting in the future, such as potential future relocation of public sector / educational facilities out of Warrington East to other parts of the Borough.
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Commercial Property
8 Assessment of Commercial Property Stock
8.1 This section examines the findings of the property audit across Warrington East and is split between offices and industrial. The audit involves a review of all properties and assesses the property stock in terms of location, age, specification, size range and provides a general comment on the condition of the property stock. The schedules for industrial premises (including warehouses and workshops) and offices have been included in Appendix 3.
8.2 Supply cannot be viewed in isolation, therefore, the section also contains a brief commentary on performance and take up in each property sector.
Industrial
8.3 The industrial sector is split geographically into three areas, with a description of the estates located within these geographic provided in the following pages.
. The A57 corridor – includes property directly adjacent to the A57 between Junction 21 M6 and the western edge of the study area, together with the small industrial estates around New Cut Lane and Bridge Lane . Woolston Grange – all properties within the estate accessed from Woolston Grange Avenue . Risley – including the properties off Risley Road, Leacroft Road, Clayton Road, Birchwood Park, Trident and Taylor Business Park in Culcheth.
New Cut Lane/Bridge Lane
8.4 Two small industrial estates just off Manchester Road (A57) which are made up of a mix of 1960s and 1970s workshops and a former industrial complex that has been split up into smaller units.
Access - limited and shared with residential traffic to both locations. Condition - generally the space is well maintained but with little refurbishment and improvement, it does reflects its age.
Woolston Grange
8.5 This site extends to circa 100 hectares, which sits alongside the M6. The estate was originally developed in the 1970s by the Warrington New Town Development Corporation, and was extended in the 1980s to incorporate Grosvenor Grange to the northwest of the main estate.
8.6 The estate is split by a spine road running along its length. To the rear of the estate are seven cul-de- sacs which serve a series of terraced developments, the majority of which provide units of 929 sqm or less. In terms of unit numbers these make up the bulk of the estate. The area to the front of the spine road was set aside for larger custom designed buildings and over the years has housed some major occupiers, including Marks and Spencer, Nestle and Rolatruc.
Access – with the estate immediately adjacent to junction 21 M6, and served by a distributor road (Woolston Grange Avenue) running alongside the motorway, access is very good and has been one of the biggest attractions for occupiers. Condition – the condition of property at Woolston varies. The larger owner occupied properties tend to be well maintained. The recycling of these properties when they come to the market usually sees them being refurbished and improved.
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8.7 The terraced estate has been broken up over the years and is in the ownership of numerous property companies and investors. A number of properties remain on long term leases, and in some cases, little work has been carried out over the last 25 years, evident from the external appearance. The majority of property owners have recognised that to re-let their premises and maintain rental levels, buildings need to be refurbished, with both internal and external improvements. The painting of faded cladding or its replacement gives certain areas of the estate a modern feel.
8.8 Beyond the individual developments there is an appearance that the estate as a whole is not well maintained or managed with little active landscape management, poor road condition and pockets of overspill roadside parking. This reflects the fact that there is no overall management company.
Risley
8.9 This is another New Town developed area, which is slightly newer than much of the Woolston Grange area and comprises small terraced units and two large nursery schemes ranging from 46 sqm to 185 sqm. The area does have a number of large scale operations which include G&J Greenalls distillery and a regional distribution hub for Walkers Crisps. These were developed in the 1990s and give a more modern feel to the area.
Access – Road access is very good to junction 11 M62, with a good road link to junction21 M6. Condition – Most properties are in good condition, and the multi let terraces have generally been refurbished and improved as space is vacated and remarketed. There are pockets of development that would benefit from external improvement as cladding and exterior finishes age.
Birchwood Park
8.10 The Park is a mix of the original laboratory space, some up to fifty years old, together with recently developed warehousing. Cavendish Place built within the last ten years, comprises a mix of detached and small terraces of modern warehouse units with a mix of shared and individual yards. The scheme is the first phase of the 13.75 hectare industrial area planned for Birchwood Park, where older space is being refurbished or demolished to clear the way for future development.
Access – Off Birchwood Way with a secondary access road from the Risley Employment Area. Condition – MEPC has undertaken improvements and extensive refurbishment to the industrial space that they have inherited and retained. The older space has the original metal clad finishes, but with modernisation to entrance areas, windows and external hard landscaping. The new stock is in very good condition and represents the best quality stock in the Warrington East area.
Taylor Business Park, Culcheth
8.11 A vibrant industrial estate at the edge of Culcheth, consisting of a mix of large warehouses interspersed with small terraces of workshop and converted offices. One of the attractions is the level of on-site management, including 24 hour manned security.
Access – From Warrington Road which links Culcheth to Birchwood. The M62 is a ten minute drive to the south. Whilst the East Lancs road is approximately a 15 minute drive north. Condition – The estate and its buildings are maintained to a good standard, reflecting the resident management team at the Park.
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Demand
8.12 At the end of 2012 some 5.37 million sqm of industrial and logistics floorspace was available across the North West (18% of the available floorspace across Britain). This compares to a 2012 take-up rate of 1.16 million sqm (67% of which was for units of 929 sqm or less), the highest regional take-up rate in the UK. Take-up is led by the manufacturing and distribution sectors, notably internet-related logistics.
8.13 The lack of recent speculative development means that there is a shortage of available space, against demand, across the region. In particular, the lack of sub-9,290 sqm units is encouraging landlords to reduce incentives and maintain headline rents as voids are let. Despite an improving economic picture occupiers remain very cost sensitive. Although a small number of speculative schemes have commenced in 2013, shortage of supply of good quality units is expected to remain acute, across the North West, for the foreseeable future.
8.14 The take up of industrial floor space across Warrington over a 10 year period to 2012 is on average 73,000 sqm per annum. . This peaked in 2010 when the total exceeded 140,000 sqm a threefold increase from the previous year, and whilst that level has not been maintained the last two years still is above the 10 year average.
8.15 Warrington East accounts for a high proportion of the industrial activity in the Borough accounting for around 50% of all deals on a year on year basis. Woolston Grange consistently is the best performing best performing area and captures some 40% of the new lettings and sales annually.
8.16 Analysis by size shows that approximately 65% of all deals are 1,000 sqm or less, with 1,000-5,000 sqm accounting for a further 32%. The small number of deals above 5,000 sqm is in part due to the lack of available supply which will be shown in the analysis of supply. Where large properties do come to the market, these tend to let quickly reflecting the strong demand for large distribution space across the North West.
8.17 The majority of deals each year are leasehold. This reflects the tenure of the stock, rather than a lack of demand. In 2012, 32% of enquiries received were freehold compared with 18% of transactions. Again the supply figures will show a lack of freehold property across the total stock in Warrington East.
Stock Analysis
8.18 The property stock is examined by vacancy levels, age, specification and size. The table below shows the total floorspace across all three areas, broken down into occupied and vacant space. Vacant space is defined as property that is on the market and unoccupied and other space that is clearly unoccupied but not on the market.
Total Industrial Floorspace Total Floorspace % of Total No. of % of Total Occupancy (sqm) Floorspace Units Units Occupied 506,430 86.7 386 76.6 Vacant 77,832 13.3 118 23.4 Total 584,262 100 504 100
8.19 The total industrial floorspace within the Warrington East area is just under 585,000 sqm, of which 13.3% is vacant. When assessed in terms of number of units, there are 504 properties of which 23.4% are vacant. This disparity suggests that much of the vacant space is at the smaller end of the market.
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Commercial Property
8.20 Woolston Grange accounts for 71% of all current vacant industrial floorspace in Warrington East. As it is the largest employment area accounting for 59% of the stock, this is expected, but in percentage terms Woolston also has the highest proportion of vacant space, at 16% based on total floorspace.
8.21 The A57 corridor shows the highest level of occupancy with just six vacant units, or just under 11% of the available stock.
8.22 At Risley, the vacancy level based on floor area is low (under 10%). However, due to the large number of smaller units currently on the market, the vacancy level based on unit number is 28%.
8.23 The following tables outline the age profile of the total industrial stock and breakdown by area.
Age Profile of Total Industrial Stock Total % of Total % of Units Age Floorspace No. of Units Floorspace (sqm) 0-10 years 120,282 20.6 43 8.5 11-20 years 51,635 8.8 30 6.0 21-30 years 84,034 14.4 115 22.8 31+ 328,312 56.2 316 62.7 Total 584,262 100 504 100
8.24 A high percentage of floorspace, particularly in Woolston and Risley was constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, consequently more than half of the total stock is over 30 years old. This is reflected not only in the condition of some of the space, but also in the specification and the ability of the space to meet modern day requirements. There has been some recent development with around 20% of the stock having been constructed within the last ten years. This is primarily in new developments at Birchwood Park, Trident Industrial Estate and Birch Court in Woolston, together with a small number of in-fill detached units.
8.25 The table below gives a breakdown of the configuration of industrial premises in Warrington East.
Configuration of Total Industrial Space Total Configuration % No of Units % Floorspace Detached 3,613,388 57.5 91 18.1 Semi-Detached 268,057 4.3 9 1.8 Terrace 2,407,556 38.3 404 80.2 Total 6,289,001 100 504 100
8.26 The New Town development programme saw a high level of small terraced floorspace being built and consequently over 80% of the total stock is terraced. A further consequence of the New Town legacy is that much of this space has low eaves height – less than 6m. For small workshop use this is not an issue, but with an increasing demand from the service and warehouse sectors, companies are often seeking a higher eaves height to satisfy storage requirements, even in the smaller spaces.
8.27 The Development Corporation did attract a substantial number of businesses requiring custom designed space, which has resulted in a good level – just under 20% of the stock being detached buildings. Woolston Grange has the highest percentage of this space, which reflects its position during that time as a premier industrial location and its success in attracting a larger number of warehouse operators wanting a prominent M6 position.
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8.28 However, what was considered state of the art distribution space in the 1980s is somewhat dated today. Loading facilities are a key requirement and around 50% of the stock has no yard area except for the apron in front of the loading doors.
8.29 Furthermore almost 70% of the total stock, including many of the larger buildings, have no dock loading facility whatsoever.
8.30 A breakdown of size range is further evidence of the changing requirements of business as seen from the table below.
Size Range Total Floorspace % of Total Size Range No. of Units % of Units (sqm) Floorspace 0 - 5,000 58,084 9.9 264 52.4 5,001 - 10,000 69,558 11.9 106 21.0 10,001 - 20,000 68,518 11.7 53 10.5 20,001 - 50,000 159,796 27.3 59 11.7 50,001 - 100,000 85,736 14.7 13 2.6 100,000 + 142,570 24.4 9 1.8 Total 584,262 100 504 100.0
8.31 73% of all units are less than 929 sqm in size, the vast majority comprising terraced space, whilst just 4.4% or 22 units are in units of 4,645 sqm or more. There are no large buildings along the A57 which is not unexpected given the nature of those locations. Risley, developed more recently than Woolston Grange, accounts for just seven of the larger buildings.
8.32 Finally, analysis of ownership shows that 13% of properties are owned by the businesses occupying the space, the rest is leased of for lease. This can be broken down further to show that just 0.55% is held by the developers who originally built the space with the rest having been sold to property investors.
Offices
8.33 Birchwood is the principal office area in Warrington East, and whilst most areas are referred to as Birchwood, there are a number of distinct locations summarised as follows:
Birchwood Park
8.34 The 53 ha development owned by MEPC in the heart of Birchwood. It is a mixed use business park encompassing both old and new stock. These include two multi storey blocks of around 27,870 sqm built in the 1950s but extensively refurbished; a number of former laboratory buildings converted to offices, and a range of new office space in several locations. Bridgewater Place is the park’s flagship development and consists of five headquarter buildings arranged around a central boulevard, with occupiers such as Rolls Royce, Department of Work and Pensions and GB Oils. The remainder include a scheme of two storey offices ranging up to 3,716 sqm in a high quality environment.
. Access – The main Park entrance is from Birchwood Park Avenue, linking to both J21 M6 and J11 M62. There are a number of other roads into the site from other parts of Birchwood.
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. Condition – The portfolio has been maintained to a high degree and all properties are in very good condition. The estate is well managed and very well maintained. The Park has been carefully planned with attention to detail to hard and soft landscaping, and a range of central facilities for the entire area.
Birchwood Boulevard
8.35 This development is a planned development arranged around a central Boulevard, with groups of office development at either side. It sits between the M6 and the Birchwood Shopping Centre. Development took place over a 20 year period and some buildings are limited in design and specification. The most recent scheme, Birchwood Point, now over 15 years old stands out as a high quality group of three storey headquarter buildings with occupiers such as HCA, MDS Ltd and Avios (Airmiles).
. Access – Located close to the shopping facilities and Birchwood Railway Station. Road connections are fair linking into the district network giving access to both the M6 and M62, but with only one access road suffer from congestion at peak times. . Condition – The buildings are in several ownerships and investment over recent years by most owners means the stock of offices is well maintained and when vacated, modernised to meet current business needs. However, a number of the smaller buildings have been allowed to fall into disrepair and will require substantial works to attract occupiers. Externally the estate is well maintained, although there are areas of neglect around the un-refurbished buildings.
Birchwood Science Park
8.36 The original office development dates back to the 1970s and comprises a number of large office buildings in a mature landscaped environment. The buildings are quite individual in character and range from the 27,871 sqm pagoda style Hinton House to the multi-let Genesis Centre a two/three storey metal clad office building originally designed to house both office and lab users.
8.37 There has been more recent infill development, including the redevelopment of the first ever science park building to create a group of two storey self-contained buildings at the Beacons, with others at Trident and Kelvin Close.
. Access – A district road runs around the Birchwood area and links the different science park locations, providing access to the motorway network and the shopping centre. . Condition – The buildings have all been maintained in very good condition, with periodic refurbishment of the stock. Currently one building, Allday House is undergoing complete refurbishment back to shell. Hinton House is subject to major refurbishment proposals. Perhaps the biggest test facing most owners and occupiers in the older buildings is the renewal of the plant as it nears the end of its economic life.
Learcroft Road
8.38 Daten Avenue is an infill office park built in two phases, with the first phase built in 1989 and the second phase in 1996. It is unusual that it sits within the Risley industrial area, but the developers felt the site was prominent enough to warrant a higher value use. The buildings are all around 929-1394 sqm in self-contained two storey blocks. A large proportion of the space is currently vacant.
. Access – Close to the J11 M62, but with an access onto a road shared with commercial vehicle traffic. . Condition – The buildings are in good condition and the vacant buildings have recently been refurbished. Warrington East 55
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Fernhead
8.39 The area is to the west of the M6, and not strictly in Birchwood although developers have latched onto the Birchwood postal address. Longbarn Boulevard is a group of three large buildings constructed in the 1980s. The largest was extended two years ago to create a 13,935 sqm base for one of the Ministry of Justices police functions. The remainder of the site was developed six years ago as a group of two storey buildings ranging from 372-929 sqm.
8.40 At Crab Lane, adjacent to the University of Chester campus, is Cinnamon Park consisting of a mix of two and three storey buildings from 557-1858 sqm. Occupiers include Seddons Construction and a Regus Business Centre.
. Access – The site is well located and is linked to J21, M6 via Woolston Grange Avenue. . Condition – The buildings and estate are maintained to a good level. Two of the buildings are vacant and need refurbishment which will take place shortly.
Demand
8.41 Warrington East is the largest office market across the whole of the Borough and this is reflected in the annual take up of office space. Since 1999 over 225,000 sqm of floor space has been let or sold. This equates to an average of 15,000 sqm per annum. Leasehold property accounts for the vast majority of deals with an annual average of 12,700 sqm per annum or 85% of the market.
8.42 In recent years, floorspace occupied has been erratic affected greatly by the downturn in the economy. In 2010 new space occupied to an all time low of 1750sqm, but since that time, there has been a steady return towards the norm and in the 10 months to October 2013, the level stood at 12,305 sqm.
8.43 In terms of size, the majority of deals are at the lower end of the market. Over the 15 year period from 1999, three quarters of all transactions are for 1,000 sqm or less. Deals between 1,000 and 2,000 sqm account for a further 18%, whilst lettings and sales of office space greater than 2,000 sqm account for just 6.8% of the transactions. This translates to an average of just one such deal a year over the15 year period. (Source: Warrington Property Review, BE Group – excludes deals below 200 sqm)
8.44 2013 has seen stronger activity in large office deals with lettings completed to MDS and Your Housing, and an anticipated completion by the end of the year of a further 2,000 sqm building at Birchwood Boulevard.
8.45 Approximately 20% of all office space in Warrington East is occupied by Nuclear-related businesses which totals 48,471 sqm.
8.46 Public sector related organisations occupy 23,450 sqm in 7 separate units and these are:
Location Organisation Spencer House CAB Birchwood One Land Trust 5 Boroughs Partnership and NHS Spencer House Trust Bridgewater Community NHS Spencer House Trust Arpley House HCA Warrington East 56
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Bridgewater Place DWP Birchwood Corporate The Home Office
Stock Analysis
8.47 The office stock is examined by vacancy levels, age, specification and size. The table below shows the total floorspace across Warrington East, broken down into occupied and vacant space.
Total Office Stock, Occupied and Vacant Total Total Floorspace Floorspace % No. of Units %
(sqft) (sqm) Occupied 2,086,602 193,850 77.9 258 69.7 Vacant 590,453 54,854 22.1 112 30.3 Total 2,677,055 248,704 100 370 100
8.48 The Warrington East office market is substantial with a stock of just under 250,000 sqm in 370 units. With 112 empty units, just under a third of the total number of office units are vacant in Warrington East. In terms of floor area, this equates to 22.1% of the total. When compared to the annual take up for the area, this equates to just over 3.5 years forward supply.
8.49 The analysis of the different locations shows that Leacroft Road and Birchwood Boulevard have the greatest percentage of vacant floorspace, at 35.3% and 33.4% respectively. These are two locations that are seeing poor levels of demand. The reasons for this are that at Birchwood Boulevard some of the space has been neglected in recent years and is virtually unlettable; whilst Leacroft Road suffers from its position away from the main office area. The space has let well in the past, but with over half million sq ft of vacant space needs to meet a wide range of criteria to compete.
8.50 The amount of vacant floorspace across the remaining office areas are at similar levels around 18-19% based on total floorspace, with the exception of Fearnhead which has a 24.4% vacancy rate. There, the oversupply at Olympic Park constructed immediately before the recession, is slowly reducing, but recent relocations by Seddons and MDS have created voids at Cinnamon Park.
The following tables set out the age range of the total office stock as well as providing a breakdown by each area.
Age of Office Stock Total Total Age Floorspace % No. of Units % Floorspace (sqm) 0-10 years 441,406 41,008 16.5 53 14.3 11-20 years 578,700 53,763 21.6 44 11.9 21-30 years 479,833 44,578 17.9 64 17.3 31+ 1,177,116 109,357 44.0 209 56.5 Total 2,677,055 248,704 100 370 100
8.51 The office stock in Birchwood is now beginning to age and with the exception of two buildings at Birchwood Park, no development has taken place for over 5 years. Today just a quarter of the stock is less than 20 years old, and over half the stock was constructed over 30 years ago. As Birchwood is Warrington East 57
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competing in a regional arena, and whilst age alone does not preclude a building from attracting new occupiers, particularly those seeking high quality headquarters level space, the condition and specification is a key factor. Without upgrading and renewal of plant, fixtures and fittings, the older space will gradually become obsolescent and unlettable.
8.52 When condition is analysed, almost half the stock is either un-refurbished or, worse, unlettable. However, as much of the un-refurbished space is subject to long term occupation, the statistic could be misleading. What is more relevant is the condition of the current stock vacant and on the market. Just under 69% this space is either modern or refurbished. Landlords have come to realise that in order to let space, they have to invest when it becomes vacant. Tenants when faced with 55,000sqm in 112 different office suites and building will invariably look to space that can be occupied with the minimum cost and work. An analysis by BE Group in 2010 of businesses relocating within Birchwood, showed that over a ten year period with just one exception, companies moved into newer or refurbished space.
8.53 What has happened recently with some of the very poor quality stock is that it has been acquired by owner occupiers at heavily discounted prices, for refurbishment. Companies are prepared to invest in an asset they own, but are reluctant to spend time and money on leasehold property, when there is so much choice elsewhere.
Vacant Space by Condition Total Total Specification Floorspace % No. of Units % Floorspace (sqm) Modern 441406 41008 16.5 53 14.3 Refurbished 592,509 55045 22.1 120 32.4 Un- 1,431,957 133032 53.5 170 45.9 Refurbished Un-Lettable 211,183 19619 7.9 27 7.3 Total 2,677,055 248704 100 370 100
8.54 When analysing by size, two thirds of the total stock by unit numbers is 500 sqm or less. This is not surprising when 80% of businesses in Warrington have less than 10 employees. Vacant space breaks down in a similar way with 71% available for companies seeking 500 sqm or less.
8.55 Within the total stock, there are seven buildings of 5,000 sqm or greater, but this accounts for buildings that are either currently vacant or in single occupation. There are several large offices, such as Rutherford House and Chadwick House that fit into this size range, but which have been sub-divided to meet the demand for smaller suites. Indeed four of those buildings are vacant, and it remains to be seen if in the longer term these will be broken up, although from the take up analysis in recent years the demand for larger premises has increased after a period of virtually no demand for large single offices.
8.56 The area does have a good range of space, with a spread across the size ranges, and when compared with the take-up of space is representative of ongoing demand.
8.57 The makeup of tenure shows that 18.2% of space is owner occupied, whilst 4.1% is held by the developer and 77.65% of the stock is now held as an investment.
Trends in Office Density
8.58 According to the research (BCO Density report September 2013) the average density of workplaces in the UK today is 10.9 m2 per workplace compared to 11.8 m2 in a previous 2008 survey. This marks a significant increase since 1997, when surveys at the time indicated that the average office density was Warrington East 58
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16.6 m2. While economic pressure and flexible working patterns have encouraged more efficient and more effective occupation of space over recent years, leading to higher workplace densities, this latest figure represents a slowdown of the rate of increase. The report found that Corporate, Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) and Professional Services sectors have average densities of 13.1m2, 12.3m2 and 10.5m2 compared to 9.7m² for the Financial & Insurance sector
8.59 The trend has been increased density, but that has not led to a move out of business parks. The city centres where corporates are less cost conscious have lower densities. Birchwood with a high degree of engineering type business has always seen very efficient use of space – BNFL in the 1990’s worked on a density of 8-9 sqm/workspace. From our experience few companies make significant allowances for home-working, but have areas that previously may have been break out and meeting areas, can now also be used as working space.
8.60 Town centres will continue to be expensive locations to develop as offices, as land is at a premium, and to provide even a proportion of the parking that is seen on business parks means basement of multi- level parking which is expensive to construct. Parking in town centres has to be paid for, whether within leased buildings or in contract parking areas. Warrington East has numerous examples of where companies have had to lease spaces. Business parks may lose some business to town centres, but the availability of parking is still seen as a key factor in decision making.
8.61 A growing trend has been the growth of the serviced office sector and ‘touchdown’ office space. This type of space could provide a useful service offering in Warrington East for both public sector and private sector executives when they are in Warrington East on business trips from outside the locality.
Feedback from Property Consultation
8.62 There are, however, a number of localised issues that continue to dominate the property stakeholder discussions and could threaten the future property market (summary of discussions included in Appendix 3). Both the industrial property stakeholders at Woolston Grange have the same concern with regards to the lack of services on offer within the area. The perception of a lack of public transport into Birchwood and Culcheth, with few services at suitable times remains a common thread of concern for companies located there. Due to this, the majority of tenants at Birchwood use their private vehicles which cause some problems including increased traffic flow at peak times and a lack of car parking areas. The lack of accessibility into Birchwood is reiterated by MEPC and Pin Properties. Poor directional signage around Woolston Grange and Birchwood Science Park is another issue stated by Peter Stevens Estate and Pin Properties. Other threats to the Warrington East property market include the development of HS2, with plans revealing the line is proposed to run through Taylor Business Park.
8.63 The differing responses to the economic climate between each scheme have resulted in different levels of success with some stakeholders offering deals at an attractive market level, and others reassessing their disposal policy. The majority however have invested to refurbish the existing stock, with further commentary provided below.
8.64 The importance of refurbishing the older property market stock is an important feature of the stakeholder discussions. Six of the stakeholders undertook some form of refurbishment in their portfolio, with the predominate outcome being a positive one which helped maintain demand and rental levels. A number of units at 601-865 Birchwood Boulevard have recently been refurbished and are forecasted to be a catalyst for the rest of the estate. The only property stock which has not benefitted from refurbishment (though this has only been partially refurbished) is Millennium House in Millennium Park. This is attributed to competition of similar sized modern self-contained spaces.
8.65 Appendix 3 presents the comments of private sector stakeholders (scheme owners, developers, investors and their agents) on Warrington East’s industrial, office and mixed-use property markets. The Warrington East 59
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industrial market refers to accommodation for manufacturing, storage, distribution and warehousing purposes including smaller workshop premises.
Summary
. Occupation levels in the industrial sector are good, with a vacancy rate of 13.3%, although there is a higher percentage of smaller space on the market.
. The industrial stock in Warrington East is ageing with over 60% of premises 30 years or older, and this is reflected in a number of characteristics – size, specification and design. Examples of ageing stock include Trident Industrial Estate and Grosvenor Grange at Woolston.
. The vast majority of space is located in terraces with over half of units amounting to 465 sqm or less and much of it with low eaves and limited yard and loading areas.
. There is a reasonable level of detached space and this does incorporate some of the features missing in the smaller terraced space. However, even this sector of the stock is limited in size, and what is missing is any significant number of properties above 4,645 sqm.
. Modern warehouse businesses are looking for high eaves – 10m or greater, and for regional and national hubs, the requirements often are for over 9,290 sqm.
. The estates will continue to meet the needs of smaller businesses, and the recycling of this space through refurbishment should maintain a level of occupancy, but Warrington East will not capture the larger requirements
. Office vacancy is high with 55,000 sqm unoccupied, or 3.6 years forward supply.
. The office stock is ageing with over half greater than 30 years old.
. Vacant space needs to be refurbished if it is to compete, and over two thirds of the vacant space is either modern or has been refurbished.
. Increasingly, landlords are selling poor quality vacant space to owner occupiers as refurbishment opportunities.
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9 Review of Competing Sites
9.1 A number of competing locations within the sub region have been considered to review their performance to date and locational strengths in comparison to Warrington East. Both office and industrial locations have been reviewed, grouping schemes together geographically rather than looking at individual parks.
Office Sector
Daresbury
9.2 Located around Junction 11 of the M56, and within the A 56 corridor. Daresbury Park and Sci-Tech Daresbury (previously known as Daresbury Science and Innovation Centre) are the principal developments, although there are a number of smaller office schemes at Preston Brook and at the edge of the Manor Park industrial area.
9.3 Daresbury Park extends to 91 hectares and has a current planning consent for up to 148,645 sqm. The Park is partly developed out with a group of six headquarter office buildings, each of around 2,787- 3,716 sqm. Occupiers include Babcock, NDA (sublet to nuclear partners) Vistorm and ABB. Two office village developments have also been completed providing two-storey self-contained units from 3,000- 8,000 sq ft. The developers, Marshalls, have sought to maintain strong rental levels despite the recession, and of the 17 units built at Cinnabar Court, the latest scheme, 11 have been let or sold.
9.4 Marshalls have the capability, and land, to develop further phases and are able to meet large occupier requirements. The location is however somewhat isolated from support facilities, although Daresbury Park Hotel is located on the site. The original master plan provided for 929 sqm of supporting commercial space – but this has not been progressed to date.
9.5 Sci-Tech Daresbury is home to over 100 high-tech companies, varying in size with occupiers including IBM, Intel, BAe Systems and Perkin Elmer. The science park consists of the following buildings:
. The Innovation Centre – a three-storey 24,000 sqft building, with a mix of offices and laboratories ranging from 136 sqft and 1,507 sqft. This was the first stage of development of the science park . Vanguard House – the second stage of development with a 3,300 sqm facility spread over three floors which provide office, laboratory and workshop space in units between 94 sqm and 231 sqm and with space to let up to 800 sqm. . The Innovations and Technology Access Centre, the Cockcroft Institute and the STFC CERN Business Incubation Centre all of which provide extra ancillary support to businesses.
9.6 Elsewhere, at Preston Brook, a small office park has grown up over the past fifteen years with around 13,935 sqm of two storey pavilion type space, plus the large O2 call Centre. The area is fully developed out and is seen as successful as an investor and occupier location, although currently there are three second hand buildings coming back to the market.
9.7 At Manor Park are further pockets of offices, although these have not let as well due to a less prominent location.
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9.8 Generally businesses locating to Daresbury tend to be quite local or from the North Cheshire area. Access to Manchester Airport is an important site selection factor, and in some cases a reluctance to cross the Manchester Ship Canal is cited as a reason for locating to Daresbury. The specialist nature of Sci-Tech Daresbury (now an Enterprise Zone) does attract businesses from a wider geographic area.
Haydock
9.9 The Haydock area has evolved as an office location over the past 20 years and is a grouping of several office developments centred around Junction 23 M6 and along the A580 East Lancs road. The most prominent of these is The Parks which is located adjacent to the M6 and comprises over 11,148 sqm in 15 units. The Woodlands, on the A49 south of Junction 23, consists of five buildings totalling 7432 sqm. Occupiers here include Nichols plc (Vimto), Citilink, Miller Homes and Trader Media. The scheme is fully let, although some tenant space is available.
9.10 There are also small developments at Haydock Industrial Estate and Stone Cross near Leigh. These schemes have not let well, possibly due to their industrial environments and their relative isolation in terms of other offices.
9.11 There is little scope for further office development and as the sites are developed out and let, any threat to the Warrington East area will be from the recycling of the current stock.
South Manchester
9.12 The area covers a wide swathe of the South Manchester conurbation, running from Altrincham to Stockport, and includes various suburban locations. The prime locations are centred around the Airport, the M60 and M56 motorways and the A34 corridor running from the M60 south to Wilmslow.
9.13 The total stock is estimated at around 102,193 sqm, of which around 148,644 sqm is vacant, or 14% ( a lower vacancy rate than Warrington East) of the stock. South Manchester has suffered from an over- supply of office space for a number of years since a period of development in the late 1990s to early 2000s but take-up over the past two years has picked up with transactions of around 46,451 sqm per annum.
9.14 Much of the vacant stock now is good quality secondary, accounting for around 92,903 sqm, whereas vacant grade A space accounts for just 14,864 sqm. Thus there is a shortage of high quality space that will attract inward investment.
9.15 Airport City in the medium term will help fill that gap with 92,903 sqm of office space proposed (almost double the entire South Manchester stock), alongside space to accommodate logistics and manufacturing business together with two new hotels. With Enterprise Zone status offering rates relief and the potential for Enhanced Capital Allowances (Airport City has been identified in the Government consultation stage for Assisted Area Status) this potential may be a big attraction to businesses. In the longer term, Airport City would also benefit from the proposed HS2 rail station.
9.16 Beyond Airport City, business parks such as Manchester Business Park, The Parks Didsbury, and Cheadle Royal do offer strong established locations and the churn of space will ensure that the area is a threat to other North West office locations including Birchwood.
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Industrial
Runcorn
9.17 The areas of Manor Park, Whitehouse and Astmoor make up the bulk of the Runcorn industrial stock, and are a legacy from the extensive development by the New Town in the 1970s and 1980s. Much of the area is developed, either with low grade terraced space, particularly at Astmoor. However, both Manor Park and Whitehouse have attracted some large scale warehousing as they benefit from access to Junction 11 M56.
9.18 Land availability is now very limited as these areas are developed out. The threat to Woolston will be if the current owners of the various schemes invest in wholesale refurbishment, which could create some competition. This is likely to be limited though as the resident businesses are very local with little movement in from other areas. Warrington is seen as a different market.
Haydock
9.19 Haydock Industrial Estate is a large trading estate that sits alongside the East Lancs Road, and in terms of size and level of stock will compete with Warrington East to a limited degree, as it is within a 10 minute drive time. Some of the larger occupiers have selected the location for regional distribution reasons, such as Sainsburys and The Book People. The level of mid sized buildings 1,858-4,645 sqm will compete, from churn and refurbishment. Some limited development has taken place, alongside programmes of refurbishment. However, businesses tend to be mainly local from the edge of Merseyside or South Lancashire.
Knowsley
9.20 The scale of Knowsley Industrial Park as one of the UK’s largest estates will inevitably see the area as some competition to Warrington East. However, much of the area was traditionally manufacturing and still houses large industrial plants.
9.21 In the 1990s Knowsley MBC embarked on a programme of redeveloping much of the vacant land they owned in the newer southern park in a joint venture with Caddick Developments. This was part funded through Objective One monies and changed the nature of the estate. The partnership developed modern industrial space and drew tenants from the wider Merseyside area. In reality few companies looked at Warrington as an alternative. However, Warrington needs to be alert to further development programmes KMBC may seek to promote. There is significant undeveloped employment land which the local authority is keen to bring into use.
M62 Eastern Corridor
9.22 Much of the industrial land within the Manchester area is located with good access to the M62, either to the West at Trafford Park, or along the corridor from the M60 out to Rochdale. This includes locations such as Heywood Industrial Estate, Stakehill and the recent development at Kingsway Business Park.
9.23 These all provide regional and national bases for major logistics hubs and compete at a regional level. Both Heywood and Stakehill cover some 81 hectares each, and together whilst mostly developed, there are areas where the owners are prepared to demolish and redevelop to meet current warehousing needs. Trafford Park still has large areas of vacant land and whilst not so strategically located to give access across the Pennines, is seen as an alternative to these locations. Developers, until the onset of the recession, were keen to acquire land there and the mid 2000s saw speculative development. The
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travel time between Warrington East and Trafford Park is only 20 minutes by road, and historically, businesses have looked to the area as an alternative.
9.24 Kings Business Park in Prescot is geared to large distribution hubs. Asda bought 14 hectares in 2012 and will not compete with the industrial areas of Woolston and Birchwood in the same way. It is however recognised as competition for Omega.
M6 Southern Corridor
9.25 The estates around the towns of Cheshire will compete to a small extent, but the sites and estates fall into two distinct categories – those serving the local population with small scale industrial and warehousing, and the larger regional distribution hubs at Basford, Crewe and Midpoint 18 at Middlewich.
9.26 The latter areas are providing a different offer to Warrington East where there is a lack of opportunity to build new logistics hubs. Whilst the smaller estates have a range of good quality space that will periodically come to the market through normal churn, they are serving a Cheshire business community rather than reaching to Warrington.
Alternative Sites in Warrington
Offices
Lingley Mere
9.27 Lingley Mere was acquired by United Utilities in the 1990s to develop a headquarters campus for its business. It extends to around 41 hectares, immediately south west of Omega South, and is accessed via the local road network from Junction 8 M62.
9.28 Currently Lingley Mere houses some 41,806 sqm, mostly occupied as offices, customer service centres and laboratories by United Utilities. The remaining land is being developed with joint venture partner Muse Developments, to provide up to 116,129 sqm of additional space. A first phase of offices has been successfully let or sold comprising four buildings totalling around 4,645 sqm. Further phases are planned, but with no proposal to develop speculatively at present.
9.29 United Utilities have invested in good onsite services for their staff which other occupiers can benefit from. The link road that is currently being developed to serve Omega South should provide an improved road access to Junction 8 as it will enable a connection to Lingley Mere.
9.30 Whilst the site does not have the critical mass of Birchwood, nor the availability and variety of floorspace, it has attracted businesses, and United Utilities has proved a draw to supply chain partners.
Gemini
9.31 Close to Lingley Mere and with good motorway links at both Junctions 8 and 9 of the M62, the Gemini area does have a small but established office provision, primarily in two schemes to the rear of the Retail Park. The Pisces development consists of four buildings ranging from 743 sqm to 1,394 sqm, and houses Warrington and Co in the IBC. Two of the other buildings are owned by European Metal Recycling, whilst the third is part let.
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9.32 Adjacent is Webster Court a scheme of 15 offices with small to medium sized occupiers, and is largely fully let. There are also two multi let schemes at Europa House, a 3,716 sqm building within a predominantly industrial area, currently 50% vacant; and Westbrook House part of the Westbrook Shopping Centre which has been largely vacant for the last ten years.
9.33 The only previously proposed expansion land for the office area, known as Gemini 16, is now being promoted by the owners HCA for housing, and so going forward the area presents limited competition to Warrington East.
Warrington Town Centre
9.34 The town centre is not a single defined office location, but comprises a mix of the traditional office core mainly in period converted town houses; edge of centre purpose built offices; and to the south and north of the town a number of converted or purpose built sites including Centre Park, a modern business park with some supporting leisure facilities.
9.35 It has been estimated that there is around 116,129 sqm of floor space, but little detailed work has been undertaken to review this stock. The traditional core suffers from the common limitations of poor inefficient space that conversion creates, a lack of lifts and disabled access, little or car parking onsite and very limited on-street parking.
9.36 The newer space around the edges includes New Town House, currently housing the Council, a group of offices along Mersey Street including the Job Centre, Priory House and Patten House. To the South West, are Bank Quay House and Hilden House, two multi storey blocks. The larger Hilden House houses the Department of Works and Pensions, whilst Bank Quay House has a range of tenants.
9.37 Beyond the town centre are sites such as:
. Wilderspool Park – 8,361 sqm converted brewery . St James Court – 7,432 sqm multi tenanted conversion with good parking . Tannery Court, Ribban Court, Dallam Court on the northern edge, all refurbished by RAM Properties and providing around 7,432 sqm . Centre Park – a mix of two storey self contained buildings, ranging from 372 sqm to 4,181 sqm.
9.38 Take up across the town centre averaged around 6,968 sqm per annum, pre-recession, although over the last five years this has dropped considerably. Regeneration initiatives in recent years have identified a number of development opportunities around the town. Immediately available at Centre Park is approximately 1.6 hectares, whilst the Warrington Waters scheme, if brought forward, could release substantial tracts of land including around 24 hectares of commercial land.
9.39 The Bridge Street Quarter will see a mixed commercial scheme and which could see upwards of 9,290 sqm of office space underpinned by new offices for Warrington Council.
9.40 The Stadium Quarter to the north of the town centre, another mixed use scheme, could see a vocational innovation centre run by the University of Chester with business space alongside.
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Industrial
South Warrington
9.41 A mix of industrial and warehouse space developed around the former Stretton Airfield with a mix of modern and older hangar type accommodation. The location houses a number of larger occupiers in buildings of 100,000 sq ft plus, including Stobarts and The Hut. There has been a recycling of some of the older space, which has proved popular due to an increasing lack of supply of good quality industrial space in Warrington.
9.42 In recent years Stretton has competed well with the Woolston area to attract businesses. Its road links to the M56/M6 interchange are seen as attractive and provide a base for the East West axis to north Wales and South Manchester.
9.43 Opportunities for further expansion of the area are presently limited to infill development and recycling of the older stock, as the area is in green belt and there are no proposed new allocations under Warrington’s emerging Local Plan.
Omega/Gemini
9.44 The latest industrial development to the North West of Warrington, Gemini saw industrial development in the 1990’s with a number of good quality schemes in the 465-1858 sqm range. These have always let well commanding the best rents in the town with one or two exceptions. The proximity of the Retail Park attracts trade type uses, although often in contravention of planning. The buildings generally have good parking, good loading areas, and at 7-8 metres in height, provide more volume of space than the older Birchwood and Woolston terraces of units. There is no further land for development at Gemini.
9.45 Omega presents the largest deliverable development site for B2, B8 development. The north side which has always been earmarked for industrial space is almost fully committed, with three warehouses of 18,580 sqm plus either built or under construction.
9.46 Omega South, originally proposed for B1 will now see a mix of B1, B8 and residential. The scale of the B8 is not finalised, but ultimately could be extensive. Asda is already building a 55,742 sqm distribution facility there. It is likely that in the short term development will be large scale warehousing which poses little threat to Woolston, although if Birchwood Park proceeds along the route of developing its remaining land for industrial use, Omega may be seen as direct competition.
Winwick Quay
9.47 The smallest of the employment areas built in the 1980s by the New Town Development Corporation, the main estate is developed out and comprises a number of terraced and semi-detached blocks. The majority of the area was purchased by an investor recently, who has undertaken a programme of refurbishment and built occupancy levels up to over 90 percent. Planning consent has been granted to convert space to leisure units alongside an existing play area and bowling centre which could marginally reduce the industrial offer.
9.48 One development site of 4.9 hectares remains at Calver Road, but is constrained by an overhead power line crossing the site. It will be possible to develop around this with some land loss and there have been various attempts to sell or develop the site with car showrooms and a small industrial scheme.
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Summary
. Office developments at Daresbury and Lingley Mere have good availability in a variety of floorspace, with the potential for expansion. With Sci-Tech Daresbury there is the added attraction of utilising high-tech facilities for specialist businesses, and therefore these two locations could compete for businesses with Warrington East.
. The regeneration initiatives to develop commercial developments in Warrington Waters are likely to threaten the office take-up at Warrington East in the long term.
. South Manchester also competes with Warrington East for businesses, with areas such as the Airport City providing some attractive incentives.
. Business parks such as Manchester Business Park, The Parks Didsbury and Cheadle Royal also offer strong established locations that threaten other North West office locations including Birchwood.
. The M6 eastern corridor presents the largest threat to Warrington East’s industrial space, with businesses historically looking to Trafford Park as an alternative location.
. Dependent on how Knowsley Council promotes and develops their employment land, this may present large threats to Warrington.
. If Birchwood Park proceeds along the route of developing its remaining land for industrial use, Omega may be seen as direct competition. Kingsway Business Park at Rochdale is also considered competition for Omega.
. The competition from the industrial space located at South Warrington, Runcorn, Winwick Quay, Haydock and the M6 South Corridor is limited due to various reasons such as low levels of land availability, and will most likely be from natural churn.
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Competitor Analysis – Case Studies
9.49 Locally, the two key sites which could be considered as competition for the Birchwood Business Park in the key sectors identified are Sci-Tech Daresbury and Airport City.
9.50 As one of only two national Science and Innovation campuses, Sci-Tech Daresbury is a good example of a high tech employment site for businesses which are involved in leading edge science and research. It has an international reputation and is recognised nationally as one of the major investment opportunities for innovation and science in the UK.
9.51 Sci-Tech Daresbury has a well-established business support service which helps to differentiate it from some other employment sites. In addition to being able to access various R&D facilities, the site has put in place an infrastructure of several business support services such as a wide programme of networking forums and events and advice on many areas such as sources of funding and research opportunities. The business engagement team at the site also offer to help facilitate networks and collaborative opportunities for SMEs with the larger corporates both on site and in the wider high tech network.
9.52 Business support services include the Gold Partner programme, specifically aimed at SMEs. The Gold Partners are a group of partner companies which offer high-level strategic support for companies based on site, in areas such as intellectual property, risk management, financial & tax management, corporate finance & funding, legal services, technology commercialisation, scientific research, banking and cloud solutions. Partners include Grant Thornton, the University of Liverpool, IBM and Santander. The scheme will provide the SMEs based at the site with access to their services via free of charge surgery sessions.
9.53 For larger corporates, the infrastructure on site can help them identify and better engage with collaborative opportunities. Due to its position as one of only two national Science and Innovation campuses, the site can offer large corporates the opportunity to collaborate on the government’s technology agenda.
9.54 Sci-Tech Daresbury has significant university links; the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester and Lancaster all have a presence on site through various institutions and the site (through STFC) also acts as a portal to all UK universities which can act as a useful link to collaborative opportunities, particularly attractive for large corporates. IBM runs a Global Entrepreneur System which is in place to help facilitate IBM to collaborate with entrepreneurs; Sci-Tech Daresbury is an official strategic partner in this scheme.
9.55 Manchester Airport City is an £800 million expansion of Manchester Airport. The plan will follow an airport city model with the aim of stimulating the Greater Manchester economy by creating on-site logistics, manufacturing, office and leisure facilities. It is due to open in 2016 and the development is expected to create around 16,000 new jobs and attract international businesses.
9.56 The scheme, which has been designated as an Enterprise Zone consists of a cluster of distinctive and highly-connected development sites adjacent and in proximity to the Airport. Airport City, within the Enterprise Zone, consists of two major employment sites – Airport City Manchester, a mixed use development (totalling 3.5 million sq ft) of offices, hotels and advanced manufacturing that sits to the north of the Airport. The other site – World Logistics Hub is within the Airport to the west of the World Freight Terminal. Also part of the Enterprise Zone is the proposed MediPark, a 200-acre business park for life sciences and pharmaceutical companies adjacent to a major teaching hospital and international centre of medical research.
9.57 It has recently been announced that Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) has agreed a joint venture with Manchester Airports Group (MAG), UK construction group Carillion, and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to develop the £800m business park over the next 12 years. DHL, will Warrington East 68
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occupy a 3,466 sqm new facility at Airport City, becoming the first business to locate on this development.
9.58 The following table outlines the offer from these two sites.
Site Specifics Sci –Tech Daresbury Airport City, Manchester
Legal Structure Public-private joint venture partnership Public-private joint venture partnership 100+ high tech companies employing c500 people. None as yet but DHL investment of 3,466 sqm A mix of SMEs and large corporates, inc IBM, Perkin Elmer, SGI announced in November 2013. Companies on site and Rapiscan Systems ABB is located at the adjacent Daresbury Park
Advanced engineering and materials; biomedical; Logistics; airport supply chain; advanced manufacturing; digital/ICT/mobile; energy & environment (including nuclear); R&D; pharmaceutical & health; professional services; IT, Sector Specialisms security. media & telecoms; retail & leisure and hotels & conferencing 100+ high tech companies on site alongside research Will offer 5m sq. ft. of development, including 1.4m sq. ft institutions of a world logistics hub; 1m sq. ft. offices; 650,000 sq. ft. Innovation Centre (24,000 sq.ft.) offers office, workshop and lab advanced manufacturing; c2,400 hotel beds and 100,000 space for start-ups (1-15 employees) ranging from 136 sq ft to sq. ft. retail space 1,500 sq ft. Also offers a multi-user facility offering single desk Simplified planning allows delivery within 9 months, space. freehold and leasehold packages Offer Vanguard House (36,000 sq. ft.) offers units between 1,000 Space on offer from 10,000 – 250,000 sq. ft. sq.ft. up to 2,450 sq.ft – office, lab and workshop space – intended as “grow on” units Innovations Technology Access Centre – access to scientific equipment & laboratories Employs a strict “high tech company” only policy Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) including the Various amenities inc hotels, conferencing and meeting Daresbury Laboratory – companies can access laboratory space facilities. Adjacent to major teaching hospital and and equipment. proposed MediPark development. Cockcroft Institute Virtual Engineering Centre On site facilities Conference and meeting facilities Hotel 1.5 miles away. A managed campus environment Adjacent parking Campus catering services, media services, library, laboratories and gym Enterprise Zone – simplified planning, reduced business rates Enterprise Zone – simplified planning, reduced business Business Support Business Support mechanisms in place such as networking rates events/forums, advice on university research links, funding etc Motorway (M56) access (5 minutes) Direct air, motorway (M56 and M60), train and public Connectivity Rail access – 10 to 15 min drive away transport (train/bus/metro) links Limited public transport access to site Superfast fibre optic broadband (100 mbps) Indicative rents for logistics/warehousing plots are £6.25 Rents and Values Not available. per sq. ft. Indicative office rents range from £!8 - £22.50 per sq. ft.
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10. Business Investment and Sector Trends
Inward Investment Trends
10.1 In considering the trends impacting on the sectors that are identified as being the most significant in Warrington East, as part of work considering how to further attract investment into Warrington East, it is useful to set the wider context of inward investment trends.
10.2 There is no definitive list of all investment projects that allows a comprehensive picture of investment to be gained across the UK. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are recorded by a number of organisations but these figures exclude UK owned businesses making new investments in new locations. The figures regarding FDI are also incomplete since they are based on different collection methods, as there is no need for any foreign owned company to specifically record their investment on an official register.
10.3 Ernst & Young has maintained a database of FDI decisions since 1997. This database, known as the ‘European Investment Monitor’ (EIM) relies on press reports of investments from news feeds across Europe. The data has been maintained in a consistent manner for 14 years and now holds over 39,000 separate investment records. The data allows market research on investment trends by a number of factors such as size, sector, activity, location, country of origin and location. Whilst the actual data sets out foreign owned investment, the trends that it reveals are applicable for the economy in general.
10.4 The table below shows the ten most important sectors in generating investment into the UK.
Ten Most Important Sectors in Generating Investment into the UK Percentage share of Percentage change on Sectors 2012 Projects 2012 projects 2011
Business Services 183 26% 14% Software 120 17% -18% Machinery & Equipment 43 6% 10% Financial Intermediation 28 4% -18% Other Transport Services 26 4% 271% Food 25 4% -14% Electronics 23 3% 28% Automotive Components 21 3% 31% Pharmaceuticals 19 3% 90% Publishing 16 2% -11% Source: EIM 2013
10.5 The two sectors which have attracted the largest number of projects are Business Services and Software. Warrington has a good track record of attracting businesses in these sectors such as Fujitsu, HP (albeit subject to a recent downsizing announcement), Infosys, Wypro and Vertex. The track record, nature of the employment space, location and access to customers places the area in a good position for attracting more investment from these two areas. However, it is also important to note that the way sectors are defined does not necessarily match with common expectation of what is categorised as a sector. For example, the E&Y report would not specifically capture nuclear/consulting engineering projects.
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10.6 The following chart shows the percentage share of inward investment projects secured for the North West (2003-2012). This helps to indicate which sectors might have a higher propensity to consider a location in Warrington East and illustrates the importance of software and business services in generating inward investment projects.
Percentage Share of Inward Investment Projects for the North West, 2003-2012
Source: EIM 2013
10.7 Within the context of the analysis of Warrington East’s sector strengths, from the analysis of existing sector strengths, the key sectors that have been identified as providing potential opportunities for investment in Warrington East are:
. Nuclear and Consulting Engineering . Warehousing and Logistics . ICT – Information Communication Technology (telecommunications and computer programming) . Business services (office admin, office support and other business support activity)
10.8 In order to ascertain where the strongest areas of opportunity might be for Warrington East, a PESTEL analysis for each of the above sectors is provided in the following pages. A PESTEL analysis is a framework to analyse and monitor the macro-environmental factors that have an impact on an organisation. This is followed by a summary of what the implications of the trends might be for Warrington East and openings for attracting further investment.
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PESTLE Analysis: Nuclear and Consulting Engineering
10.9 The key drivers of change and competition in the UK consulting engineering and nuclear sector are listed in the PESTLE analysis below. Consulting engineering firms offer a wide range of services including: pre-design, design, managing and consulting on the construction of buildings and infrastructure. Given the importance and inter-dependencies of the consulting engineering sector particularly in the area of nuclear energy in Warrington East, for the purposes of this report, these two industries have been combined into one PESTLE.
PESTLE Analysis of Nuclear and Consulting Engineering Sectors
Factor Trends
Political . Government investment focus on major infrastructure projects such as Crossrail, HS2 and the Thames Tideway Tunnel is presenting opportunities for engineering consultancies . Strong political will/support from UK Government is key to the future of nuclear sector. . Launch of Government’s Nuclear Industry Strategy in 2013 which seeks to further enhance the UK nuclear commercial base and grow global market share . Government stated commitment to finding a way that will enable investors to deliver a programme of new nuclear build and is reforming the electricity market system to make this possible Economic . Global financial crisis significantly reduced level of investment in construction projects and ongoing uncertain economic climate impacting on consultant engineering sector . Cost of nuclear build has deterred investment and may cause more delays in delivering the UK’s new build programme . Over the coming decades, the nuclear industry is set for a global expansion Investment of approximately £930 billion investment is planned globally to build new reactors . In the UK, industry has set out plans to deliver around 16 GW of new nuclear by 2030 equating to an investment of around £60 billion through the delivery of at least 12 reactors on five sites Success of nuclear new build in UK has potential to open up other new nuclear markets and global nuclear supply chains . Market opportunity of £250 billion in decommissioning sites around the world that are coming off-line . Decommissioning is an existing UK market worth around £3 billion a year. . In addition, there is a significant potential market of extending the life of existing nuclear reactors . Consulting engineering sector has been increasingly exporting its services, particularly to Middle East in the absence of market opportunities in areas such as construction, civil engineering and highways . Mergers and acquisitions have been buoyant in the consulting engineering sector, creating more large global consultancies. This trend is anticipated to continue Social . Shortage of UK engineering skills could lead to UK based nuclear related employers losing first mover advantage for follow on nuclear build as overseas skills pick up the slack to meet demand . UK nuclear skills base more based on AGR reactor technology as opposed to EPR technology being implemented by EDF at new Hinkley Point site . The current nuclear workforce is ageing, with up to 70% of its highly skilled workers forecast to retire by 2025 . Public sentiment on nuclear energy, particularly in aftermath of Fukushima. Technological . Technological advances in the nuclear sector are critical in delivering safe and efficient Warrington East 72
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energy . Government funding in civil nuclear R&D for 2010/11 totalled £66 million. Expectation that industry cannot be expected to fully fund nuclear R&D given long lead times for commercialisation resulting in market failure Legal . Nuclear industry is highly regulation, with UK aiming to achieve high levels of nuclear safety consistent with the standards set out by the IAEA . Deregulation of water industry through the 2013 Water Bill is likely to encourage more new entrants and opportunities for engineering consultancies Environmental . Similarly, there are several environmental factors which also drive up operating costs . Climate change and requirement for to reduce CO2 emissions driving requirement for nuclear energy . Environment impact of nuclear disasters makes the safety case paramount
Implications for Warrington East
10.10 The Government’s continued support for the programme of new nuclear plants in England and Wales is certainly likely to provide further growth opportunities for the nuclear sector in Warrington East. In the UK, the plans are to deliver around 16 GW of new nuclear by 2030 equating to an investment of around £60 billion through the delivery of at least 12 reactors on five sites. Given the delays on nuclear new build, plant life extension will also provide market opportunities for the consulting engineering sector.
10.11 A number of key nuclear related companies such as Rolls Royce Nuclear and AMEC Nuclear service the UK nuclear sites from Warrington East. The fact that the first three plants will be built at Hinkley Point, Oldbury and Sizewell (all in the South of England) will hopefully not deter earlier potential investment into Warrington East. The most recent announcement by Toshiba of its investment in NuGen in the NuGen venture presents opportunities for developing a programme of work to capitalise on this investment. Although the new build site in Moorside, West Cumbria is unlikely to be operational until 2024, this could present an opportunity to position Warrington East for non-site based activity such as design engineering.
10.12 With the estimated market in the UK for decommissioning, waste treatment and disposal over the next 20 years is £250 billion and in the much longer term, the decommissioning and waste management of the new power stations not yet built, nuclear decommissioning presents a sizeable and stable market opportunity.
10.13 The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has a budget of £2.8 billion per annum and approximately £1.3 billion is assigned to the supply chain. This presents an opportunity for Warrington East to attract more companies in Tier 2 to Tier 4 supply chain as well as working with existing companies who have the potential to diversify into the nuclear sector.
10.14 The Water Bill will lead to substantial changes within the industry, with changes potentially encouraging competition by enabling new businesses to enter the water market to provide new sources of water or waste water treatment services. The presence of the headquarters of United Utilities in Lingley Mere provides a strong base of water industry experts, which could make a nearby location attractive to new entrants, looking to recruit existing talent. The potential for new entrants is also likely to lead to a requirement for more support services through consulting engineering firms.
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PESTLE Analysis: Warehousing and Logistics
PESTLE Analysis of Warehousing and Logistics Sector Factor Trends Political . Major public investment projects will impact Warrington’s relative attractiveness – including any congestion easing schemes and nearby port or rail developments (e.g. Liverpool Super Port) . Various EU, national, regional and local public policies impact the sector including increases in fuel and road taxation, low carbon regulations, EU working conditions and health & safety regulations, planning and transport policies, local authority approach to enforcement of Penalty Charge Notices and roadside provision for deliveries. To mitigate some of the rising costs of meeting these obligations results in a drive for further efficiencies being made in operations. Economic . Uncertain economic climate is increasing the need for the industry to be price and cost driven and slow growth is expected in coming years . Low margins are leading to underinvestment and risk aversion . Uncertain climate leading to shortage of quality warehouses as less speculative development is being undertaken. . Mergers and acquisitions creating more large global players . Need for economies of scale leads to wanting larger warehouses (large and mega- sheds), cross-docking facilities, more automation etc. . Industry highly dependent on fuel prices which are rising and near an all-time high . Trends to increasing outsourcing of logistics services . Intermodal (rail) is seeing bigger growth and is championed by the Government. Increasingly, large operations are looking for this flexibility. However, road still dominates and inter-modal less important for smaller operations. . Due to increase in multi-channel online retailing there will be continued demand for range of logistics real estate, from large and smaller e-fulfilment centres (100,000 sq m), sortation centres, parcel hub and spokes (hub 10-20,000 sq m, spokes 5.000 sq m) and online food ‘dark stores’. Social . Rise in online shopping will drive growth in warehousing and logistics – changing demands will impact the type, size and traditional operation logistics – impact of increase in more micro deliveries, increasing returns of products (increasing the need for reverse logistics), demand for next day (or even same day) delivery (meaning fulfilment centres needing to be located near to parcel hubs and near to population clusters) . Access to population clusters is important as is finding a location where unemployment levels are higher to enable effective recruitment . Carbon footprint – more social conscience about environmental issues . Industry has an ageing workforce – leading to a possible skills shortage . Demand for 24/7 online retailing logistics an increase in shift/seasonal/temporary work – can often mean employers more likely to want to locate where public transport is good outside of peak hours Technological . Some of the main technologies affecting the industry include: . Need for more efficient vehicles (low-carbon, fuel efficient, longer, double deck trailers etc) . An FTA 2012 survey on logistics carbon reduction scheme to establish the optimum locations for a national gas refuelling infrastructure drew up a list of 20 locations, one of which was M62/M60 at Warrington . Increased complexity at warehouses to enable cross-docking (load/unload with no storage time in between) etc – results in more automation required . Increased complexity and automation requires personnel with higher IT skills
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. In-warehouse technology such as barcode scanning guns, voice picking and conveyor equipment – to increase efficiency . All lead to need for increasing specialisation and automation within warehouses and vehicles (although labour demand is likely to remain high) Legal . Several legal factors influence the sector and result in higher operating costs. These include: . Working time directives, health and safety (employment law) . Environmental regulations (low carbon emissions etc) . Road taxation Environmental . Similarly, there are several environmental factors which also drive up operating costs . Need to reduce CO2 emissions . Need to seek alternative fuel sources as oil and gas are not sustainable . Increase in use of recycling – has an impact on packing . Increasing Road congestion – impacted by government infrastructure projects
Implications for Warrington East
10.15 Warrington East offers an attractive proposition for warehousing and logistics operations – it has a central location, good motorway connections, availability of an appropriate workforce and close proximity to key markets. Warrington East in particular has a number of key companies operating in this sector, mostly based Woolston Grange with some located off Learcroft Road, adjacent to the M62.
10.16 Although it has core strengths, the lack of land, large modern high eaves height warehouses and therefore the ability to supply huge warehousing facilities (which trends indicate will become more common) poses a risk to the future viability to the area for warehousing. Mega-sheds (500,000 sq. ft. and above) however are largely built to serve a national market and often located away from large population clusters. Warrington East is better served for regional and smaller specialised warehousing – of which there is likely still to be a significant need.
10.17 The analysis above shows that the industry is impacted by a range of political, economic, legal and environmental factors which have all driven up operating costs. Therefore there is a need to increase efficiencies as much as possible, which can be achieved a number of ways including technological advances in warehousing facilities and transport alternatives.
10.18 The growth in automation in warehousing operations and requirement for buildings with high eaves heights in order to help create efficiency savings, may present a threat as some of the larger distribution companies based in Warrington East look in neighbouring authorities for new buildings. More efficient and larger warehouses are unlikely to become available in Warrington East due to the lack of land availability. In the absence of suitable sites and premises, this may lead to more warehousing developments being sited at Omega
10.19 In terms of access to staff for the warehousing sector, Warrington East does present some challenges. With a reliance on lower cost labour, access to a pool of unemployed locally based residents and lower and mid-level skills is important in this sector. The local demographics for Warrington East, indicate an ageing workforce, low claimant count and higher than average levels of qualifications. This does make it more challenging for local warehousing operations to recruit and feedback from some companies in this sector, point to an ever increasing reliance on agency staff and migrant labour.
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PESTLE Analysis: Business Services
10.20 Business Services has been identified as an important employment sector in Warrington East. This sector covers a huge range of sub sectors including office admin, office support and other business support activity. The key strength in Warrington East is that of Outsourcing including contact centres, BPO and shared service centres. Hence this is the sub sector that the PESTLE analysis focuses on.
PESTLE Analysis of Business Services Operations (in particular Outsourcing) Sector
Factor Trends
Political . Continued public sector cuts likely to mean continuation of trend towards public sector outsourcing . Government policies to infrastructure, both physical and digital, will affect a locality’s attractiveness as a business services site Economic . Continued uncertainty in economic climate means that trend for outsourcing is likely to continue and there is predicted growth for a number of years . However, clients getting more demanding and with ever squeezed margins want more for their money. It is thought that this will lead to a move towards less domination by large global BPO providers and an increase in multi sourcing amongst different specialist and smaller providers which might mean an increase in partnership approaches . If there is a move to smaller providers this may mean less requirement for large floor plates . Clients wanting “more for less” from outsource providers – a bigger emphasis on quality and value added services. Move towards Payment by Results which creates higher risk for outsource providers. . Providers worry more about contract risk and squeezed margins Social . The industry requires a large population catchment area for a cost effective labour force. This also means that employers like to locate near public transport hubs to better attract a flexible, lower skilled workforce who need to work shift patterns outside of peak travel times. . Language skills, educational standards and culture are all important to help maximise customer satisfaction . For contact centre outsourcing, there is increasing awareness (and customer pressure) in UK of customer satisfaction being significantly higher if outsourcing is on- shore. There have been some high profile cases of moving contact centres back to the UK, but is seen as too early to say if this is an established trend . Current high youth unemployment provides a larger pool of labour than had previously Technological . Several technological developments that impact on outsourcing: . increased big data will mean business intelligence opportunities will improve for outsource providers . increased need for more complex IT outsourcing and IT professionals . cloud based outsourcing, move away from traditional CRM platforms . robotics – automation of some business processes . emerging trend of social media outsourcing . IT outsourcing to move into mainstream – integrated into BPO, not a separate activity Legal . Minimum wage, working conditions, regulatory framework can make off-shoring more attractive than on-shoring . Increase in data management rules will increase scrutiny of outsource providers Environmental . This sector less impacted on by Environmental concerns as opposed to others, but business services companies as other companies are under increasing pressure from Warrington East 76
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regulators and government bodies to determine their total carbon footprint. This could lead to more focus on large operation reducing their carbon footprint by encouraging their staff to use public transport to travel to work.
Implications for Warrington East
10.21 As outlined earlier in this report, Warrington East has an identified strength in business services and a number of outsourcing companies are located in the locality. The analysis above indicates that the outsourcing industry is likely to continue to grow as the economic climate remains uncertain.
10.22 The trend towards smaller outsource providers could provide a good opportunity for Warrington East and help to spread the risk of having just a few major large contracts.
10.23 A key issue for BPO investors is labour force. Staff typically make up 75-80% of annual running costs of a BPO centre. Labour force issues include cost, skills, productivity, labour market competitors, attrition rates, temporary agency providers, culture of shift working. Warrington East does not provide as competitive labour cost base as other nearby locations such as Liverpool and parts of Greater Manchester.
10.24 BPO operations tend to look for locations that have a young age profile and have below than average unemployment levels and staff to come from a more local area. The ageing profile of Warrington East’s and the Borough’s population as whole may not make the area so attractive for this type of operation. Given the younger age profile of business service and BPO operations, there is a tendency for these type of projects to be located in city and town centres.
10.25 Business Services and BPO operations often run on a number of shift patterns and as such, there needs to be a good public transport offer for out of peak periods.
10.26 Skills development is important as companies offshore lower value functions and automation replaces more basic process roles and may require a higher skills base, particularly in areas such as IT.
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PESTLE Analysis: Telecommunications and IT
PESTLE analysis of the Software and Telecommunications Sector
Factor Trends
Political . Government pressures on regulatory issues, Ofcom/Oftel etc . The European Commission is planning to put in place measures to encourage creation of a pan-EU telecoms market . Public programmes and policy into broadband coverage will impact the sector Economic . Industry is enjoying growth as technology innovations and social habits drive growth . However, a combination of factors such as network congestion, increasing competition pressure and regulatory change are forcing companies to drive cost efficiencies and create economies of scale, which may see more M&As . More and more competition emerging as new products and applications are developed . The growing use of big data will help open new commercial opportunities, such as businesses providing data aggregation and analytics services to a diversity of businesses in areas ranging from climate change to manufacturing. . Growth may slow in developed countries, but significant growth in developing countries . Cost of 3G/4G licences . Cost pressures leading to growth of outsourcing non-core business processes in the telecoms sector Social . Social networking habits have driven the mobile market and will continue to do so. . Low cost iterations of mobile market likely to expand . Demand for mobile applications . UK skills shortages in software has major impact on software and telecoms sector Technological . Technological advances ever changing and driving this industry – companies need to be able to respond quickly and be flexible to keep up . Move away from fixed-voice telephony with the emergence of new technologies and services such as mobile and data services . Technological improvements leading to growth in mobile apps for the commercial sector as well as consumer markets . Technology such as 4G, big data management, cyber security systems, cloud based solutions, crowd funding portals . High end TV technology to develop such as voice and gesture activation . Growth of big data has been facilitated by advancements in computer memory storage and processing, making it possible to store and analyse huge amounts of data. . Increasing convergence of software/IT and telecoms industry – no longer separate . Online connectivity driving new applications and allowing cloud application delivery Legal . Possible increasing regulation as cyber security and data management risks increase . Licencing framework Environmental . The European Commission (EC) and datacentre industry consortium are collaborating on policies to improve efficiency in datacentres
10.27 As outlined earlier in this report, Warrington East has a combined identified strength in software and telecommunications, represented by a mix of indigenous and foreign owned companies and large IT outsourcers such as Fujitsu.
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10.28 The analysis above indicates that the telecommunications and software/IT industry will continue to be a key growth sector in the future. The telecoms industry is particular very cost sensitive with a number of major telecoms companies outsourcing non-core functions. Talk Talk Business has already outsourced a number of functions (e.g. contact centres) and this trend may continue leading to less employment at their Birchwood site.
10.29 Given the pre-dominance of US companies in the software sector, these companies may be likely to be more pre-disposed to a business park environment rather than a city/town centre location. However, pressures in recruiting skilled staff with software development skills may lead to businesses siting themselves in major urban centres and within proximity to universities highly rated in the area of computer sciences.
10.30 The ability for software companies in Warrington East to attract staff from a large commuting catchment is critical and so manageable congestion and access to parking will be a key location requirement.
10.31 As well as software development activity, there will be more opportunities in IT support functions, but this is essentially Business Service activity. Warrington East could build on its track record in this area, given the presence of Fujitsu and HP.
10.32 There may also be opportunities in data centres but these are land intensive with low job density. Given Warrington East’s central position, there could also be opportunities in disaster recovery operations, but these are also low job density.
10.33 The telecommunications infrastructure including superfast broadband as well as transport infrastructure will be a key requirement.
10.34 The convergence and business alliances between software and telecommunications companies also could provide the potential for Warrington to build on its existing telecoms strengths from which to grow its software sector.
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11. SWOT
Strengths Weaknesses . Warrington East is the most significant private sector employment . Public transport linkages are more localised rather than meeting needs of location within the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area commuters from outside of the . It is a centre of economic gravity providing employment to residents . Issue of lack of enough availability of car parking spaces further from a large catchment area exacerbated by increased density of office occupation . A well functioning labour market with low levels unemployment . A potentially not diverse enough employment base with an over-reliance on . Excellent motorway linkages and close to Manchester Airport. London is nuclear/consulting engineering sector employment less than two hours away . Lower than average levels of unemployment and a shrinking local . The geographic position of Warrington East links companies to a very population makes area less attractive to employers requiring less well skilled large customer base staff (e.g. warehousing and admin staff) . A knowledge economy with more resilience to global changes . Limited levels of public transport outside of commuter peak times makes the . Relatively high skill and high wage economy locality less sustainable for companies operating long shift patterns and . High performing economy relative to the economies that immediately weekend working surround it . Services are unevenly distributed across Warrington East; Woolston Grange . Best modern large scale business park in the North West of England in particular lacks retail and food outlets . The strength of the nuclear and consulting engineering sector locally is . Woolston Grange is ageing in terms of the environment and has traveller of national significance and crime issues . The presence of Sellafield Ltd has attracted a considerable nuclear . Shortage of available freehold properties and larger industrial and cluster consisting of a number of global firms warehouse units of more than 4,645 sqm, which could meet the needs of . The location of AMEC Nuclear R&D laboratories, used by international inward investors or existing businesses looking to expand clients including EDF . Shortage of newly built office stock and ageing stock often not fit for . The consulting engineering sector is diverse, serving a variety of other purpose. industries as well as nuclear, including water, transport and other forms . No warehouse units of a size (greater than 9,290 sqm) and specification (i.e of energy with high eaves height of 10 metres or more) that can compete for regional . Growing relationships and linkages with the local nuclear cluster and and national logistics requirements engineering consultancy sector . Insufficient local signage to direct drivers from the motorway junctions to key . Warrington East also has strengths in growth sectors of ICT and schemes like Birchwood Science Park and Woolston Grange business services . Paucity of HE and FE offer in delivering locally based engineering . Diverse software sector made up of large multinational and indigenous qualifications, particularly mechanical and process engineering as well as companies lack of training providers in area of Computer Aided Design . Good commercial property occupation levels in the industrial sector . A declining population in contrast to all comparators where population has . An established regional office location with some 2.7million sqm of increased floorspace . Established evening economy (Culcheth) and daytime service offer, albeit one unevenly distributed throughout the area . High quality conference and meeting facilities are available at several Warrington East 80
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prominent locations across Warrington East, which can cater for up to 300 delegates. . Warrington East has three hotels, all of reasonable quality and located close the main employment areas Opportunities Threats . The presence of global companies provides the opportunity to position . SellafieldLtd’s current site constraints and political pressure to move Warrington East as having a strong track record in its key sectors. SellafieldLtd’s design engineering centre to Cumbria is Warrington East’s . The government’s announcement of £375bn of spend on infrastructure most significant threat over the next 20 years as part of its National Infrastructure Plan is likely . Competing sites for the nuclear and software sectors could include Sci-Tech to create more growth in the consulting engineering sector Daresbury which offers significant university linkages and access to R&D . The UK’s new nuclear programme and government’s guarantee to facilities not available in Warrington East support finance for the development of Wylfa’s nuclear power station . Competing office developments at Daresbury and Lingley Mere have good could lead to more companies establishing a presence in Warrington levels of availability in a variety of floorspace, with potential for expansion East so as to benefit from the locality’s nuclear skills base, skills that are . In addition, the investment in the Airport City Enterprise Zone, the strength in short supply nationally of its offer and Manchester’s proactive inward investment activity may lead . The nature of the nuclear supply chain and the need for physical to more businesses locating there proximity presents opportunities for attracting more nuclear related . Assisted Area status which may be allocated to a number of Enterprise suppliers to the locality Zones including Daresbury and Manchester Airport City, providing enhanced . Long term nuclear supply chain contracts of 15 years provides more capital allowances is a further threat. certainty for companies who may potentially consider establishing a . The M6 eastern corridor presents a threat to Warrington East’s industrial local office space, with businesses historically looking to Trafford Park as an alternative . Opportunity to grow SME nuclear supply chain locally through location diversification of the existing companies . The regeneration of Warrington Waters with initiatives to develop . The programme of UK nuclear new build has potential to open up global commercial schemes are likely to threaten office take up at Warrington East nuclear supply chains and other new nuclear markets. Warrington . Omega may also compete with any new industrial developments which are East’s skills base could be used to attract companies not already brought forward in Warrington East located in the locality . The higher than average proportion of large businesses in Warrington East . The longevity of nuclear decommissioning and associated expenditure means that the local economy is more exposed if a large employer leaves provides a long term and secure market opportunity . The population is older than the national average with a ‘New Town . The importance of the software sector in generating Foreign Direct demographic’ heading towards retirement Investment is an opportunity to encourage more investment from this . The ageing engineering/nuclear workforce and shortage of key skills could industry into Warrington East lead to consulting engineering firms being located closer to Manchester to . The trend towards smaller specialised outsourcer (particularly higher benefit from University of Manchester & Salford engineering graduates and value processes) could provide an opportunity for Warrington East to access to a younger population ensure there is a balance between the number of large and small . Business Process Outsourcers are contract driven. The loss/end of a major providers contract could make a significant impact locally . The University of Chester’s UTC Engineering and Energy if successful . Business Services and BPO operations tend to be reliant on cost effective could encourage more local young people to consider careers in and younger workforce and one that is more dependent on public transport; Warrington East 81
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engineering but currently bid does not contain engineering making Warrington East’s offer less attractive than those of the nearby cities apprenticeship framework required by local employers of Liverpool and Manchester . Specialised nuclear engineering apprenticeship providers could have . The proportion of Warrington East’s residents in management and the potential to be attracted to the Warrington East to serve local professional occupations is similar to the national proportion but lower than demand the average for the LEP area. There are a higher proportion of residents in . With landlords selling poor quality space to owner occupiers for sales/admin occupations than the national average. This may lead to refurbishment, there is an opportunity to update the available stock companies continuing to recruit from a larger catchment area, with residents . Potential to use funds such as RGF loan vehicle or a sub fund to create not benefiting from some of the economic opportunities a small revolving fund to help finance commercial property . The ability of other town and cities to improve travel times to London and refurbishments for SME businesses other UK locations due to the HS2 investment may potentially reduce Warrington East’s competitive position . The proposed HS2 Hoo Green to Bamfurling Spur passes straight through Taylor Business Park which will have a significant impact on the locality. Companies may already be considering vacating this Park. . Uncertainty around future services (particularly fast services to Manchester and Liverpool) offered at Birchwood Station as a consequence of the Northern Hub investment programme . Industrial and office stock is ageing and without ongoing investment and modernisation it will increasingly struggle to meet occupier needs. There are few new build options proposed which could deliver modern space, particularly in the office sector . The growth of Birchwood Shopping Centre may increase pressure on the already limited parking provision at Birchwood Station. . Options for the development of further housing in Warrington East are limited, with no more than 618 new homes likely to be brought forward over the next 15 years. The limited housing supply will also increase disparity in housing affordability and may mean that Warrington East struggles to attract young professional residents
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12. Conclusions
12. Conclusions
12.1 Warrington East has a strong economy and is a significant centre of employment in the North West. Warrington East has a total of 33,200 employees, of which 27,600 are employed in the private sector. This represents the most significant private sector employment location within the wider Cheshire and Warrington LEP area.
12.2 One of the reasons for this success is Warrington East’s location on the M62/M6 intersections and proximity to the M56 and the rest of the motorway network. These motorway links have been key to the growth of Warrington East since New Town status was granted in 1968. This has contributed to make Warrington East a centre of economic gravity, which provides employment to residents from a large catchment area including Cheshire, Wigan and Manchester. This catchment area provides access to a working age (16-74) population of 2.6million within a 30 minute drive time of Birchwood. Within Warrington East as a whole, the evidence base indicates that Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft are essentially local labour market economies whilst Birchwood is regionally important.
12.3 The continued success of Warrington East is dependent on ensuring effective access to and from the business sites. The ability for companies to be able to continue to attract a labour pool from a wide catchment area as well as easy access to markets is critical if Warrington East is to maintain and further grow its position as a regional major economic centre.
“Sellafield Ltd (formerly BNFL) has been established in the Risley area for many years, and is reliant on the road network for travel to work. There are approximately 1650 staff in Hinton House and many hundreds of people in the nuclear supply chain who have located their premises on Birchwood Park.
Our staff cover a large catchment area in the North West and, as such, we would like to encourage them to use public transport, however bus and rail routes are not convenient enough to provide a viable alternative to the car. Our car park areas are generous by current standards but still become very congested at times and overspill can cause inconvenience in the immediate neighbourhood.
Improvements to the public transport routes would help in encouraging more staff to use the bus or train to travel to work. This in turn would take pressure of our car park while helping us to promote a greener travel approach for our workforce.”
Paul Adams, Head of Risley Office, Sellafield Ltd.
“Birchwood’s unique selling point for attracting industry to the area is its proximity to the main road networks of the M62/M6. Maintaining an efficient infrastructure in the local area is critical to our business and on-going commitment to staying in the Birchwood area”
Ian Rooney, Senior Operations Manager, PepsiCo Northern Logistics
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Conclusions
Economic base
12.4 There are almost 2,000 business units located in the locality, with the analysis of Warrington East’s sectors indicating a strong knowledge economy. The most important sectors are identified as:
. Consulting Engineering and nuclear . ICT – Information Communication Technology (telecommunications and computer programming) . Business services (office admin, office support and other business support activity) . Warehousing and logistics
12.5 Without doubt, the most significant sector by all measures is ‘architectural and engineering activities’, representing 11.3% of all employees in Warrington East, a total of 3,900 workers. The area has more than seven times the proportion of employment in this sector compared to the average for England. Birchwood in particular, is host to a large number of consulting engineering activities associated with the nuclear industry.
12.6 The presence of Sellafield Ltd’s Design Engineering Centre in Risley has undoubtedly created a nationally significant nuclear cluster, predominantly based on nuclear decommissioning but with some activity in new nuclear. The importance of the nuclear sector in Warrington and the nature of its supply chain have led to a strong collaboration with consulting engineering companies, benefiting from a close physical proximity to Sellafield Ltd. As a result, the presence of Sellafield Ltd in Warrington East is of outmost importance in ensuring the presence of the nuclear related supply chain in the locality as well as the potential to encourage new entrants to also benefit from this proximity.
12.7 The requirement of Sellafield Ltd to undertake a review and business case every three years to maintain its Engineering Design Centre in Risley as opposed to moving it to West Cumbria means that Warrington Council, Warington & Co and other partners need to ensure as far as possible that both the NDA and Sellafield’s site needs are met locally as well as those within the wider nuclear supply chain. In addition, any potential reviews to explore relocating the Sellafield Ltd Engineering Design Centre to another part of Warrington (for example the Town Centre) could result in Sellafield Ltd becoming a ‘footloose’ project with the potential to relocate out of the Borough all together – this would have a considerable negative impact on the economy of Warrington East.
12.8 The collaborative nature of the nuclear supply chain programmes has the potential to further deepen the nuclear cluster in Warrington East; across Tier 2 to Tier 4 companies and growing the locally based SME nuclear supply chain through diversification of the existing companies. The wider UK nuclear new build programme, with an estimated £50bn to be invested over the next 10-15 years on new reactors, should also present an opportunity to attract nuclear new build related operations to Warrington East.
12.9 The importance of the nuclear sector in Warrington East and the future market opportunity in new build and on-going decommissioning activity highlights the importance of a proactive programme to further develop this cluster and build on existing local support mechanisms such as the Birchwood based Nuclear Forum and the recently announced University of Chester’s University Technical College in Engineering and Energy.
12.10 Other knowledge driven sectors which are well represented in Warrington East includes ICT (telecoms and software combined). The business services and warehousing and distribution sectors also provide an important employment base, particularly from a more localised area in contrast to the engineering/nuclear and software related businesses who recruit specialised staff from a much larger catchment area.
12.11 Across all these sectors, there are a number of multi-national firms which have an established presence in Warrington East. This includes Atkins, URS, Nuvia, MWH, Fujitsu, CSC, WebhelpTSC, PepsiCo and
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Conclusions
TalkTalk. This strong track record is an opportunity to position Warrington East for new investment into the locality.
Demographics & Labour Market
12.12 Warrington East has a total population of 47,941, a population size that has declined by 3.3%, in contrast to national population growth of just under 8% during the same period. In addition, the ‘New Town demographic’ created during the rapid increase in population in the 1970s and 1980s means that the local population is now moving toward retirement. Warrington East’s population is significantly older than the average for England, 23% of residents in Warrington East are aged between 45 and 59, compared to 19% in England as a whole.
12.13 The ageing demographic has important implications for Warrington East in terms of economic growth and for employers (for example in warehousing and business services) that rely more on a local workforce as opposed to recruiting from a larger commuter catchment area. It also has implications on future services that might be required to meet the needs of an ageing population.
12.14 Warrington East has a high performing labour market with claimant rates comparing very favourably compared to the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area as a whole, the regional and UK average. The latest claimant rate (October 2013) for the proportion of Warrington East residents claiming Job Seekers Allowance is 1.9%, compared to the UK rate of 3.1%.
Commercial Property
12.15 Warrington East is viewed as one of the largest and successful business locations in the North West of England, with floorspace totalling some 833,000sqm in a mix of industrial, warehouse and office premises in a number of industrial and business parks at Woolston, Birchwood and at the edge of Culcheth. Industrial space accounts for the larger proportion of the floorspace, with 584,262 sq m of space. The largest estate covering around 100 ha is Woolston Grange, accounting for over 71% of all the industrial stock in Warrington East, but with significant developments also at Risley and Taylor Business Park.
12.16 The industrial stock has consistently performed well, and despite the recent down turn in the economy, occupancy in terms of floor space is at 86.7%. However, the figure drops to 76.6% when considered in terms of units. This reflects the nature of much of the stock in Warrington East with a higher number of smaller units less than 1000sqm in area, and the vacancies are high at the lower end.
12.17 This highlights one of the issues with the industrial stock. Much of it was constructed over 30 years ago, and was built to accommodate small to medium sized businesses. Also the larger warehouse requirements in the 1970’s and 1980’s were often for less than 10,000sqm, whereas today demand is for much larger warehouse space. With much of the land developed out there is little opportunity for new build to meet those current needs.
12.18 Warrington East is ageing in terms of stock, and needs continuing investment to upgrade or renew the stock to meet the needs of current business. This is happening in some areas, and private sector landlords do refurbish and redevelop individual sites. Active investors include: British Steel Pension Fund, Royal London Asset and Nationwide Bank. However, the overall impression is of dated stock Particular properties that need re-investment include: The Links, Kelvin Close; Spencer House, Birchwood Shopping Centre; Grosvenor Grange and Tatton Court in Woolston.
12.19 Because the estates are in multiple ownership; improvement work is piecemeal, and there is no co- ordinated effort to deal with area wide issues such as security and maintenance of landscaping, signage and public realm. The area, particularly Woolston Grange does not have the benefit of central or onsite facilities such as shops for lunches. This issue has been raised by a number of companies through the Business Engagement work and could provide the opportunity to develop a bid for a Warrington East 85
Conclusions
Business Improvement District. Crime and concerns about illegal gypsy and traveller encampments in Warrington East were also raised during the consultation process and are important issues raised by local occupiers.
12.20 The office market is centred around Birchwood, with just under 250,000sqm of floorspace across the wider Warrington East area. Since the development of the Birchwood Science Park in the 1970’s by the New Town Development Corporation, The office sector has continued to grow, and for the most part has been successful, with a surge of development through the 1990s and early 2000’s.
12.21 However, at present the Warrington East office market is beginning to suffer partly from its own success, but also from a series of other factors. There is currently over 590,000sqm of vacant floorspace representing 22.1% of the total. In terms of units over 30% are empty. As the economy picks up, it was hoped that the vacant space, equating to 3.5 years forward supply would fall. Whilst in the past two years take up has improved, back close to the long term average, the vacant supply is reducing only slowly.
12.22 One factor is the lack of new inward investment into the Warrington East area. Companies will move around, expanding and seeking better quality space, but this results in poorer quality space released back into the market.
12.23 Like the industrial stock, much of the office floorspace is over 30 years old, and without substantial upgrade to core areas, heating and cooling plant and internal finishes, the buildings will struggle to compete in the wider regional market place. Over half the floorspace is un-refurbished, and with companies almost always trading up in terms of quality there are some buildings that are facing the possibility of remaining vacant for a long time.
12.24 The lack of inward investment into the area reflects some of the other issues highlighted by existing businesses, in particular the limited car parking and the increasing congestion seen at peak times on all roads leading into Warrington East. This is increasingly given as a reason why companies choose not to locate in the area. The issue of congestion and in certain locations, the limited car parking has also been raised by existing companies through Business Engagement work.
12.25 During the consultation process, property owners and developers were candid in their views that without investment in the infrastructure, their own investment will be limited or will follow alternative strategies, such as development of remaining land for industrial not offices, which creates less traffic.
12.26 There is a need for new modern office space to continue to meet business needs, but there is also a case for reducing the overall stock, in particular, the ageing poor performing offices.
12.27 Business Parks in the adjoining authorities and outside of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area are likely to provide very strong competition, particularly for the Birchwood Business Park area. These include Airport City and Daresbury Park/Sci-Tech Daresbury which are not only Enterprise Zones but might also receive Assisted Area Status, they have the potential to offer Enhanced Capital Allowances. In addition, the high tech facilities at Sci-Tech Daresbury could also be a draw for companies based in Warrington East who may be considering relocation and for new companies considering a locating in the area. The increasing competition for sites and premises makes it imperative that Warrington East can continue to offer an attractive offer, particularly around ease of access, availability of facilities and high quality commercial stock.
Residential
12.28 The residential stock in Warrington East falls into three areas. To the West of the M6 the large residential areas of Padgate, Woolston and Fearnhead ranging in size and age typical of a suburban area of a large town; Birchwood, planned and developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s with a deliberate mix of private and public housing; and the large affluent village of Culcheth.
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Conclusions
12.29 Although there is a good range of house types across Warrington East the future supply of land is limited. The only sizeable allocation is the Bruche Police Training Centre, which will deliver 220 homes, and the next largest the conversion of the former YMCA building at Hamnett Court Birchwood. This is not a new allocation but recycling a building previously providing single person accommodation. In total over the next 10 years there is capacity for another 600 homes, which in light of the wider Warrington target of 450 dwellings a year, is insignificant.
12.30 For Warrington East to maintain its position as a leading business location, the provision of good quality housing is an important element, especially in view of the need to reduce the commuting highlighted elsewhere in this report. The current allocation does not support this need. However, as Warrington has other areas of housing allocation, the balance between employment growth and housing growth in every area of the Borough is an issue that should be considered. The strength of Warrington East is the ability to offer private sector employment – something that other areas struggle to achieve.
Retail and services
12.31 Warrington East does have a good provision of local and district shopping facilities. The centres of Culcheth and Birchwood Shopping Centre deliver a good mix of convenience and comparison shopping and continued investment is ensuring that the needs of local residents and the business community are met there.
12.32 Facilities within the business parks are mixed with some locations not having on site convenience and lunchtime services. There is a need to improve these facilities, particularly in Woolston Grange. The evening economy is reasonably well served with a variety of pubs and restaurants, and Culcheth meets the needs of residents seeking a range of good quality restaurants.
Public transport
12.33 The area does benefit from a mix of both bus and rail services. There are three railway stations in Warrington East on the busy East – West commuter line, which at the present time has very good links to Manchester, Warrington and Liverpool. However, this may change in future with the electrification of the Chat Moss line.
12.34 Passenger movements beyond the rail stations are less comprehensive. MEPC recognised this and provide their own bus link to their Park from Birchwood station, but other areas are not served in this way.
12.35 The private bus companies run services from the town centre to all areas, and there is a bus service linking Birchwood with Gemini that is currently being trialled. Thus the lack of linking services throughout the business areas mean that there remains a high reliance on car transport putting pressure on car parking and the road network.
12.36 Clearly, whilst Warrington East is a thriving economic centre, there a number of threats and weaknesses (as identified in the SWOT analysis) which could undermine its position. These issues have been categorised into themes and are included in the following Strategy section. These are:
. Access and infrastructure . Commercial property/Availability of land for new build . Sector support . Demographics
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Conclusions
Approach
12.37 Following the completion of the SWOT the key elements of the strategy have been pulled together. This section sets out the overall vision and objectives for Warrington East that needs to be agreed. It is this vision and the resultant objectives which underpin the whole strategy. The strategy itself is then derived from following through a logic chain. This logic chain is set out in a table below which follows fours steps:
. Identifying the key issue . Assessing the importance of that issue by projecting the outcome if nothing is done . What is the strategic response required? . What are the recommended practical steps that need to be taken if the strategy is to be pursued
12.38 The strategy for Warrington East is therefore the recommendations which are numbered in the following table and that have been pulled together in themes.
Vision and Objectives
12.39 Warrington East is the most important concentration of private sector employment in Cheshire & Warrington and Birchwood is one of the most successful business parks in the North West of England.
12.40 This is a strategy document and as such, a long term vision for Warrington East is important. This vision is that Warrington East maintains its pre-eminent position for private sector in the sub-region over the long term.
12.41 This may be argued to demonstrate something of a lack of ambition, in that it does not set out any dramatic growth aspirations. However, with much of the built space and infrastructure nearing the end of its economic life (with no significant new areas of employment land available within the area) and with incentivised locations such as Sci-Tech Daresbury / Daresbury Park and Airport City now competing for occupiers the position of Warrington East in general and Birchwood in particular may be considered under threat of decline in the medium term.
12.42 Cascading from any vision it is of course important to set out some tangible (SMART) objectives. The following objectives are recommended:
. That Warrington East increases private sector employment from 27,600 (2012 level) to 31,000 within 3 years and then allows 20% growth1 over the remainder of the decade to 2023 as vacant office stock is reduced and accommodation use intensifies. . That Warrington East increases the number of engineering related businesses year-on-year . That Warrington East reduces the office vacancy rates over the next 5 years to levels representing 1-2 years supply
12.43 The strategy and recommended actions in the following table are completely aligned with achieving these objectives. The following table also highlight why these objectives have been selected and why other measures are not considered primary objectives for the strategy. Nevertheless, the report does also highlight some secondary objectives relating to infrastructure, housing, retail, industrial space and local services. These are considered ancillary to the primary vision.
1 With vacant office stock of c600,000ft2 there is theoretical office capacity for a further 6,000 people (or roughly an increase in employment of 20%).
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13. Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Access & Infrastructure Birchwood and Woolston’s If the entire differentiator of the Whilst economic strategies based 1. This is not a transport strategy differentiators are as highly business parks is undermined by on car-borne commuting are and as a result very specific accessible business parks. poor access their attractiveness, currently not viewed as highways measures are not Inevitably as a New Town location especially in the face of strong sustainable for new development part of the recommendations, of the 1970s, the access is mainly alternatives, diminishes. Occupier sites, any strategy for a location but there is clearly a need to based on car-borne commuting. comments suggest that a lack of such as Warrington (which was increase capacity of key This is their raison-d’etre and the car-parking for staff and peak time originally conceived as an junctions and roadways within infrastructure is based on 1980s congestion is now having a major economy based on car-borne Birchwood and Woolston volumes even though the original impact on the suitability of the commuting) needs to ensure that Grange. Routes to / from concept of the Park was for a location. the opportunity that was originally junction 11 on M62 are greater capacity road network. created is maintained. particularly congested. If nothing is done, it is likely that Warrington East in general and There is now a need to increase 2. There is a need for some Birchwood in particular will start to road and in particular junction central provision of car parking lose contestable projects and capacity within Warrington East. within each of the areas of large companies leaving the Each of the key roundabouts are employment in Birchwood (and location will not be replaced. now beyond their capacities at perhaps Woolston Grange). In peak times. order to achieve this outcome, If this slow loss of attractiveness private land is likely to be takes place, the location will not In addition, there is an required. The reality of attract private sector investment in increasingly urgent need to creating this provision, maintaining its building stock at provide additional car parking therefore, is that some the very time that it will be vital to provision within Birchwood and element of charging will be do so (see below) creating a risk Woolston Grange. The recent and required. This will therefore of a downward spiral in the parks. ongoing Government consultation result in a wider strategy for with local authorities on setting prevention of wide scale It is the triple impact of infra- their own parking standards to roadside parking; barrier structure issues; competition reflect local need presents an controls for some estates and coming on stream; and ageing opportunity for the Council to some parking enforcement office stock that represents a review its policies. measures. genuine risk to long term success. This is not a strategy entirely 3. There has already been based on car transport. There is considerable engagement with recognition that Birchwood railway Network Rail and train station is an important gateway operating companies to ensure Warrington East 89
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations into the Birchwood area and the that (as a minimum) peak hour vital role that it plays is at risk. express train services are There is a need to try and maintained to / from safeguard the strong service Birchwood once the Northern provision as electrification of the line from Liverpool to Northern route from Liverpool to Manchester is electrified. Manchester takes place. More can Without such services, travel also be done to link the station time to Manchester will both by bus and for pedestrians. increase from 15mins to The station is perceived as a 30mins and travel time to significant distance from Liverpool will increase from employment sites by foot – and 30mins to 50mins. Although yet in a large number of cases the Warrington Council is unlikely distance is significantly less than to have limited control over the that typically walked by rail number of services, continuing commuters to city destinations. the ongoing dialogue in this area is still important.
4. There is a perception from employers that Birchwood station is too far for workers to access on foot. Whilst this may be true for some locations within Birchwood (and is true for the remainder of Warrington East), it is also the case that commuters to city centre locations will often walk further to their workplaces than is typical in Birchwood. This is partly a function of footpaths which are generally dark, overgrown and in some places hidden from general view. There is an opportunity to realign and improve some footpaths from the station. On a wider basis, more could be done to encourage cyclists by Warrington East 90
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations increasing signage, lighting and safety. Support available through the Green Travel Plan could be further encouraged through the Business Engagement work and other networks.
5. Birchwood Park operator (MEPC) does operate a bus service linking their site with the railway station. More could be done to facilitate a dialogue between other land owners and major occupiers to extend this service with an appropriate financial contribution being made.
6. The overall approach to Birchwood, involving multiple roundabouts and access roads, can create some confusion for those unfamiliar with the location. There is some need to improve visitor navigation, but at the same time, large numbers of individual sign boards for individual schemes would not offer improvement. We recommend a zoned approach to the area as was partially implemented when the Science Park concept for the area was developed.
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Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Commercial Property For many years Warrington East If Warrington East does not Warrington East becomes an area 7. Warrington East becomes an has been the private sector driver become an area of focus, there is of focus for Warrington & Co and area on which management of the Warrington economy. a risk that the market alone will reports for the area are presented information is consistently not solve the office obsolescence to Warrington BC. reported, with the appropriate The success of Warrington East in issue and with large numbers of objectives set and actions the regional economy has almost offices constructed at a similar In terms of focus, it is important taken. Private sector been achieved by stealth. As a time, the rental levels will fall, high that the main measure is investment into the built estate location reliant on car-borne quality office refurbishment will investment into the built estate. If should be tracked (not just commuting the area has been out become uneconomic and there there is simply a focus on occupancy rates) and become of alignment with much new will be a downward spiral in the occupancy rates there is a risk the area of focus. economic development strategy quality of the offer whilst new that as the economy accelerates and the focus of local policy has locations attract the higher quality the area will appear to be largely been on alternative occupiers. performing well but the underlying projects such as Bridge Street and issues which will affect the area Omega. over time (obsolescence) will be hidden below a veneer of Warrington East remains a apparently good news. success and can continue to be so.
This will require Warrington East to be an area of significant policy focus for the next 3-5 years. Large amounts of the commercial If large amounts of stock become Experience from elsewhere 8. Warrington & Co needs to map building stock within Warrington obsolete and therefore virtually suggests that stock deterioration the ownerships, lease lengths East has now reached the point unlettable there will be a and reducing attractiveness and of units across Warrington where the fabric of many of the downward spiral in the rents that values is generally not reversed East. There is a need to buildings, and the mechanical and can be charged. Some landlords by market forces alone especially engage with owners electrical installations, will require will be tempted to offer their in locations where there is a large (particularly where there is a major refurbishment or the property at a massively amount of stock in different large amount of ageing, vacant property will become virtually discounted rental level rather than ownership available for rent but all or difficult to let stock) and unlettable. Large institutional face large renovation bills. of a similar age. understand the opportunities investors with long term leasehold for investment or willingness occupiers generally have little The effect of some discounted Where stock is held by long term owners to dispose of freehold incentive to undertake rental levels is likely to create a tenants there is a disincentive for interests. Information on future refurbishment but this is leaving downward force on the remaining incremental investment by strategies for the area, trend entire areas of Birchwood at risk market rental levels. If market landlords who are receiving a information on lettings and of obsolescence. rentals are reduced, the potential steady rental stream which is not enquiries; and information on Warrington East 92
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Areas of Warrington East, notably return that landlords can expect to enhanced by investment over other willing investors interest the Grange, have also seen gain from property even if they anything other than the long term. can facilitate this discussion. increases in incidents of crime, undertake expensive This recommendation will including vandalism of and theft refurbishment work will be Where vacant stock is held by involve the letting agents for a from properties and vehicles. reduced. This will further large institutional investors, whilst scheme (where relevant) or Strong concern has also been exacerbate the problem. there is an incentive to gain new introducing opportunities to expressed by stakeholders about tenants when property falls investors where letting agents illegal Gypsy and Traveller Areas of built estate which are vacant, the imperative is not as are not involved. Dialogue with encampments both in Woolston vacant, old and in need of urgent as for a smaller property all the active agents through Grange and across Birchwood. refurbishment are unattractive to owner. Furthermore, larger this process will be important – other occupiers. This outcome is financial investors may accept a but a regular dialogue with perhaps more acute in a New lower rent on a diminishing asset large scale / institutional Town location where a large rather than choose to invest when investors will also be amount of stock was built at the any possible upside rental beneficial. same time. This outcome can be remains uncertain. By this stage seen in the older new towns of the the property is likely to have 9. Where small scale (SME) Skelmersdale (particularly generated the required return investors or SME owner Gillibrands); Halton (particularly against which the original occupiers are identified there Astmoor) and Cramlington / purchase price was calculated and remains an opportunity to Washington. In all these cases a even a small return is a ‘windfall’. create a small revolving fund decline in the physical quality of to help finance commercial accommodation has been There is an opportunity for property refurbishment. Such a accompanied by negative social Warrington & Co to intervene fund could be established as a effects, notably increases in crime proactively in this dynamic. Work sub-fund of ERDF, use an against property and vehicles. of this type would involve existing RGF loan vehicle, Vacant, or underused sites, can information provision; influence; become a sub-fund of a future also become a focus for and occupier / agent / investor LEP funding stream or be vandalism, trespass, illegal linkages. This is somewhat similar financed directly by the encampments and associated to the English URC model of the Council. Any such vehicle unauthorised activities. late 1990s / 2000s. would be self-financing but would be intended to address A continual renewal process is those areas where small required to avoid a downward companies could not raise spiral in occupier attractiveness finance. and investment values. Such a spiral must be avoided if Warrington East is to remain an 10. Multiple ownership and important economic location. leasehold occupiers has also resulted in some areas where Warrington East 93
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations the physical environment has deteriorated and where responsibility for upkeep is blurred / un-enforced. In places the situation has been compounded by some increases in crime and the encroachment of Gypsy and Traveller encampments on vacant/underused land. Whilst work through organisations such as the Birchwood Forum (in that area) is invaluable in assisting in engagement on matters such as this, in the case of Woolston Grange there appears to be justification for more proactive work and as such consideration could be given to the provision of extra resources to the Birchwood Forum. There is an opportunity to engage tenants in strategy improvements and one method that could be employed is to develop a Business Improvement District (BID) covering the Woolston Grange area. Such a scheme based on employer / owner contributions could be focused on physical estate improvements; signage and crime reduction. BIDs tend to work well when there is a clearly defined area of influence.
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Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Sector Support Warrington East has quietly Without a strategy to track the In terms of a strategy for securing 11. Ensure on-going engagement developed into the most important nuclear opportunities (projects, inward investment Warrington has with Sellafield Ltd to provide concentration of private sector tenders, successful bidders and a strong offer in: as much support as possible employment in Cheshire & market entrants), as well as . Nuclear so that the organisation can Warrington. This position has, to a marketing material that fully sets . Consulting engineering continue to make a strong large extent, been gained through out the attractions of Birchwood, is . IT and telecoms case for remaining in employment by engineering to take a risk that occupiers (even . Water Warrington East to counteract businesses in general and by those with links to the area) will . Business Process any potential threat of nuclear engineering related select locations scattered across Outsourcing (BPO) relocation to West Cumbria. companies in particular. North West England. This is even . Logistics As part of this process, the more likely as competitor locations need to develop a relationship The nuclear decommissioning and offer new fit for purpose units. A Whilst occupiers will determine with the NDA to ensure that nuclear new build opportunities lack of accommodation in their own location strategy, this Warrington East continues to will create long term and Warrington East has already report does suggest that: meet their requirements as significant capital expenditure forced some occupiers to select well as identifying potential requirements (and therefore very Daresbury Park as a location and a) Nuclear, consulting supply chain opportunities is significant contract opportunities). there is a risk that a critical mass engineering and IT / also key. This is likely to drive investment in is achieved in Daresbury which telecoms are sectors for the near term. starts to attract others. which Birchwood is a 12. The importance of the nuclear practical and valued sector points to the need to put In addition consulting engineering As this report identifies, Sellafield location. more resources into this strengths and the number of large must justify their Warrington b) BPO occupiers (and other sector. With extra resources, scale infrastructure projects location against Cumbria every 3 large administrative The Birchwood based Nuclear underway in the UK (particularly years. There is a strong case for functions / call centres) Forum could be an opportunity energy and rail) will drive demand working more closely with tend to favour town centre for developing more proactive for a location which allows client Sellafield on their requirements locations at the confluence work in this area. The locations to be reached easily and since failure to do so risks the loss of transport routes – this is importance of socio economic has a reputation for strength in the of one of Warrington’s most the opportunity for the benefits within the activity NDA sector. important occupiers (and in terms renaissance of Warrington and Sellafield Ltd could be an of clustering the most important). Town Centre. opening to attract more If high quality offices are provided c) Modern logistics resources. The existing pinch there is no reason why additional companies need a more points in the nuclear supply sectors should not select space than Warrington chain and the drive by the Birchwood as a location but it East can provide – this is NDA to make more use of the should be recognised that now fulfilled by Omega SME base is an opening for Birchwood does represent one of (and Appleton) supporting appropriate SMEs very few areas of genuine based in Warrington to specialism, involving multiple diversify to serve this industry. Warrington East 95
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Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations tenants, in North West England. 13. Track the nuclear opportunities and establish the Birchwood offer. Major contract decisions on further decommissioning, new build at Wylfa and the next wave of new sites will create more opportunities either for existing Birchwood tenants (creating a need for new space) or for new entrants who could be attracted to Birchwood. This will need continued Business Engagement work, proactive inward investment activity including with UKTI.
14. Establish similar investment offers for Warrington around logistics and BPO but which have a primary focus on areas outside Warrington East. Demographics The population of Warrington East As an economic strategy for a It is recognised that the new 15. An approach to limit housing is ageing and declining. This is relatively small area of the town, housing provision identified for development to in-fill sites is representative of a combination of and with recognition that a large Warrington is predominantly consistent with the the New Town demographic proportion of the Warrington East located in the centre and the recommended strategy for (aspirational young working workforce travels from outside the western edges of the town. Such Warrington East. families moved to Warrington East Borough to work, the fact that the an approach to house building will in the late 1970s and early 1980s overall population is falling not help the local demographic in 16. This report identifies a lack of and are now approaching relatively slowly is not likely to Warrington East but given the car industrial and warehousing retirement age), and the recent represent a significant issue for borne characteristics of the labour space; a lack of car-parking; national demographic trends for the overall objectives of market, this is unlikely to an opportunity to reserve smaller households. With a Warrington East. dramatically impact on the local some land for limited retail reduction in the average number economy. supply; and a belief that the of people per house, without new The falling (and aging) population office market can recover. All housing being created, the combined with the associated The alternative to an acceptance these uses will take-up land population of an area will typically drop in economic activity will that the house-building is and it is therefore expected Warrington East 96
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Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations fall. reduce local disposable income concentrated in central and that there will be few levels. This is likely to have a western Warrington is to adopt a opportunities to re-allocate negative impact on local resident strategy that over time land for residential use. retail expenditure (although not as employment land is recycled for significant as in other areas residential use. This would be 17. Housing provision in because of the predominance of contrary to the overall vision Birchwood and Fearnhead is convenience over comparison identified for the area. based on stock which was retail). constructed in the 1970s and The result is that residential 1980s. There are some areas A fall in local population and a development in Warrington East is of Birchwood where the social reduction in the economically likely to be restricted to in-fill sites. housing (in particular) is active population are also likely to suffering from a lack of increase the number of investment and there is a need commuters into the area, who will for renovation. There is the take up jobs previously held by opportunity for a dialogue with local people. Golden Gates housing on the prioritisation for housing investment. One idea would be to ring fence new-homes bonus / RTB receipts in Warrington East for re- investment in this stock. However, there would need to be an exercise carried out first to evidence that the housing stock required certain improvements such as energy efficiency before any reinvestment form New Homes Bonus could be justified.
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14. Next Steps
14.1 The evidence base in this report and the SWOT have been synthesised into a series recommendations set out in the previous pages and based on thematic issues.
14.2 The next steps for Warrington & Co will be to determine the priorities it wants to address and how these could be delivered. As such, the steps are as follows:
VII. Decide which recommendations need to be taken forward and prioritise VIII. Work up the recommendations into practical delivery programmes IX. Identify who could be responsible for delivering the activities X. Identify resources required and potential funding XI. Set-out timescale XII. Put in place reporting structures/likely outputs
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Travel Flows, 2001 Census
Percentage Share of Travel Flows into Warrington East from North West Authority Areas, 2001 Census (base – all those in employment aged 16-74)
Culcheth, Glazebury B10irchwood Rixton and Woolston Total Area of Residence and Croft % % % %
Blackburn with Darwen 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 Blackpool 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 Bolton 1.7 1.8 1.0 1.5 Bury 1.2 0.2 0.6 0.9 Cheshire 9.1 1.9 4.2 6.5 Cumbria 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 Halton 3.1 1.4 3.5 3.0 Knowsley 1.3 0.5 1.0 1.1 Lancashire 4.5 1.6 2.3 3.4 Liverpool 2.8 1.0 1.5 2.1 Manchester 2.3 0.5 1.1 1.7 Oldham 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.6 Rochdale 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.6 Salford 2.0 2.0 3.2 2.4 Sefton 1.5 0.4 0.9 1.2 St Helens 5.6 3.6 7.4 5.9 Stockport 2.4 0.7 0.8 1.6 Tameside 0.8 0.1 0.4 0.6 Trafford 3.6 0.8 1.6 2.6 Warrington 45.3 58.0 61.7 52.3 Wigan 9.4 23.8 7.3 10.7 Wirral 1.3 0.6 0.9 1.0
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Appendices
Appendix 2
Services
2.1 This section reviews the services (shops, hot food outlets, hotels, leisure and medical facilities) of Warrington East, considering what services are available to local business needs and identifying any relevant gaps in the current offer.
2.2 Warrington East includes the Birchwood Shopping Centre which is identified as one of Warrington Borough’s three key ‘District Centres’ (alongside Stockton Heath and Westbrook) by Policy SN4 of the emerging Local Plan Core Strategy (2012). To the north, Culcheth Village is identified as one of Warrington Borough’s nine Neighbourhood Centres as is Fearnhead Cross in Fearnhead.
2.3 The residential neighbourhoods of Birchwood, Bruche, Croft and Woolston contain eight Local Centres, as defined by the Core Strategy. These are: . Birchwood – Locking Stumps, Oakwood and Gorse Covert . Bruche – Bruche Heath Gardens . Croft – Croft Village . Woolston – Dam Lane, A57 Manchester Road/Holes Lane Junction, Parksway.
2.4 These service centres, along with other available services in Warrington East are considered individually below. However, this section begins with a look at hotel and conference facilities in the Warrington East Area.
Hotel and Conference Facilities
2.5 There are three hotels in Warrington East – Pentahotel, Birchwood Park; Premier Inn, Manchester Road, Woolston and Holiday Inn, Manchester Road, Woolston.
2.6 The Pentahotel, Birchwood Park has 103 rooms and is located on the southern edge of Birchwood Park, close to the junction of Faraday Street and the A574 Birchwood Way. The hotel has two meeting rooms, 35 and 44 sqm in size, which can hold up to 66 delegates. Catered day conference packages range from £39 per person to £49 per person, with the latter including a three course hot and cold buffet. Other relevant facilities offered by the hotel include free wifi, fax machine, photocopier, and printing services. Safety deposit boxes are also available.
2.7 Premier Inn, Warrington East has 105 rooms and is located off Junction 21, M6 at the junction of Woolston Grange Avenue and the A57 Manchester Road. It has no conference facilities but does offer a ‘Thyme‘ brand restaurant. To the immediate north of the A57, the Holiday Inn offers 96 rooms, of which 81 are single person rooms, marketed primarily at business travellers. Two rooms are also specially designed for the disabled. Seven meeting/conference rooms are available, including four ‘boardroom style’ rooms, which can hold up to six people and three ‘Theatre Style’ rooms, which can hold 10-25 delegates. Meeting/conference catering facilities are available, including buffet and full meal options. Other business facilities include wi-fi, fax machine, photocopier, and printing services. PCs are also available to rent.
2.8 The Birchwood Park Centre , Faraday Drive offers eight meeting and conference rooms. The smallest (Spruce) holds six delegates, while the largest (The Auditorium) is a full amphitheatre with a capacity of 150. If operating at capacity, the eight rooms could hold some 292 delegates, simultaneously. However, onsite parking is only available for 140 cars. More informal half day meeting packages are also available, offering a small booth, coffee and free wifi for £25. Catering facilities in the Centre include a café and the Garden Restaurant, which also provides hot food to conference/meeting parties.
2.9 Located off the A574 Birchwood Park Avenue, Birchwood Golf Club also offers three private hire rooms, capable of holding 40-150 people. However, these facilities are marketed towards private functions (weddings, parties, etc.) rather than business functions.
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Appendices
2.10 Finally, the University of Chester’s Warrington Campus offers a range of meeting/conference rooms, ranging from one-to-one meeting rooms to lecture theatres for over 300. These are linked to the University’s catering and residential facilities and are available both in and outside of the teaching semesters to meet most business or academic requirements.
District Centres
Birchwood Shopping Centre
2.11 The Warrington Retail Centres Report (2012) identifies that Birchwood Shopping Centre contains 21,836 sqm of A1/A2 retail floorspace, 2,124 sqm of A3-A5 floorspace and 819 sqm other relevant floorspace within 59 retail units (see Table…). However, these figures include five units to the rear (adjacent to Betfred) which have subsequently been demolished.
2.12 With 33 A1 retail units (56 % of the total); Birchwood Shopping Centre meets the regular convenience and comparison shopping needs of both local residents and business employees from across Warrington East. In terms of floor space, supermarkets dominate, with a 10,000 sqm Asda and Aldi at opposing ends. A smaller Home Bargins convenience store is located within the main shopping complex. In addition, there are a number of other large national multiple stores, including Pets at Home and Peacocks.
2.13 Generally, the Centre offers a good mixture of comparison and convenience outlets which are well used by the local business community. Most significant is the Centre’s diverse hot food offer, which includes two bakeries (Greggs and Waterfields), four cafes/sandwich bars (including Subway) a McDonalds fast food restaurant (including drive-thru) and a larger pub/restaurant (The Peacock) prominently located on the frontage.
2.14 The main gap is for A2 Financial and Professional Services facilities. There is only one bank in the Centre (Barclays) and no building societies or other options.
2.15 Birchwood Shopping Centre has seen significant recent investment, and the rear of the Centre has now been reconfigured of the rear of the Centre to deliver ten new shop units (nine of which remain vacant at the time of writing). As discussed, a block of five units to the rear (adjacent to Betfred) has also recently been demolished. The cleared land will be used to provide additional parking, possibly for nearby businesses.
2.16 The Centre also offers substantial parking, while Birchwood Rail Station is immediately adjacent. The station is on the Liverpool - Manchester line, with train departures every 20 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes throughout the day. Bus services arriving/depart at the Centre every 10 minutes throughout the day. The centre also has four ATMs which are well used.
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Appendices
Diversity of Uses – Birchwood Shopping Centre Use No. of Outlets
A1 Shops – Food Retail Supermarket 3 Mini Market 2 Bakers and Confectioners 2 Total Food Retail 7 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail Clothes 7 Toys, Gifts and Cards 3 Chemists and Opticians 3 Furniture, Carpets and Textiles 2 Charity Shops 2 Other Non-Food 9 Total Non-Food Retail 26 A2 Financial and Professional Services Banks and Financial Services 1 Betting Shops 1 Total Financial and Professional Services 2 A3 Restaurants and Cafes Restaurants 1 Cafes/ Sandwich Bars 4 Restaurants and Cafes Total 5 A4 Drinking Establishments Pub/Restaurants 1 D1 Non-Residential Institutions Community Centres 3 Day Nurseries 1 Non-Residential Institutions Total 4 Sui Generis Activities Beauty Salons 1 Vacant Units Vacant and on the Market 11 Vacant, no Evidence of Marketing 2 Total Vacant 13 Total 59
Neighbourhood Centres
Culcheth Village
2.17 The Warrington Retail Centres Report (2012) identifies that Culcheth Village Centre contains 6,691 sqm of A1/A2 retail floorspace, with a further 2,689 sqm of A3-A5 hot food retail. This floorspace is focused on Common Lane and Lodge Drive, which contain most of Culcheth’s large national multiple stores including the 1,754 sqm Sainsbury’s supermarket. Above Sainsbury’s there are 25 units within the self contained CPS Centre. These comprise boutique shops of 10-73 sqm (1,295 sqm in total) mostly occupied by clothing and gift retailers. Common Lane is also a focus for Culcheth’s food offer, with five restaurants, two pub/restaurants, a café and two takeaways.
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Appendices
2.18 The retail offer of A574 Warrington Road and Church Lane is secondary to that of Common Lane/Lodge Drive and dominated by service uses such hairdressers, beauty salons and estate agents.
2.19 The table below shows the diversity of uses in Culcheth Neighbourhood Centre. Culcheth provides two supermarkets (Sainsbury’s and Co-op), along with other national chains such as NatWest and Barclays. In addition to being the largest store in the village, Sainsbury’s provides 109 parking spaces (including 7 disabled and 3 family bays) and an ATM. There is additional car parking on Jackson Avenue (52 spaces) and at the junction of Common Lane and Warrington Road (35 spaces).
Diversity of Uses – Culcheth Village Use No. of Outlets
A1 Shops – Food Retail Supermarket 2 Bakers and Confectioners 4 Greengrocers and Fishmongers 1 Health Food Shops 1 Off-Licences 1 Total Food Retail 9 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail Clothes 10 Toys, Gifts and Cards 6 Hairdressers/Barbers 6 Furniture, Carpets and Textiles 5 Dry Cleaners 3 Art Galleries/Art Shops 3 Jewellers and Repair 3 Chemists and Opticians 3 Footwear and Repair 2 Newsagents 2 Other Non-Food 8 Total Non-Food Retail 51 A2 Financial and Professional Services Banks and Financial Services 5 Estate Agents and Valuers 2 Other Financial and Professional Services 2 Total Financial and Professional Services 9 A3 Restaurants and Cafes Restaurants 7 Cafes/ Sandwich Bars 4 Total Restaurants and Cafes 11 A4 Drinking Establishments Pub/Restaurants 4 A5 Hot Food Takeaway Takeaway 4 D1 Non-Residential Institutions Various Therapies (Chiropody, Massage, Hypnotherapy, etc.) 3 Medical Centres/Surgeries/Dental Surgeries 3 Education/Training Centres 1 Libraries 1 Community Centres 1 Total Non-Residential Institutions 9 Sui Generis Activities Beauty Salons 4 Vets 1 Total Sui Generis Activities 5 Vacant Units Vacant and on the Market 0 Vacant, no Evidence of Marketing 4 Warrington East 103
Appendices
Total 106
2.20 In addition to the supermarkets, food retail in Culcheth includes four bakers/confectioners (one specialising in wedding cakes), a greengrocer, health food shop and an off-licence. There are no mini market convenience stores.
2.21 Almost half of the outlets are non-food retail (some 3,155 sqm) and most categories are represented, although the village lacks national multiple comparison retailers, such as clothes shops. There is also only one charity shop, although a number of units within the CPS centre provide equivalent budget clothing and associated goods.
2.22 In terms of Culcheth’s role in supporting the business community of Warrington East, the village has only a limited financial and professional services offer. Only two high street banks are present in the village (NatWest and Barclays) and no building societies. There are three other financial services businesses in the Neighbourhood Centre (accountants and insurance brokers) but these cater to the needs of local residents.
2.23 However, Culcheth does have a strong hot food and evening economy offer, including seven restaurants (mostly providing Indian and Italian food) and four pub/restaurants. All are of a good quality and generally large enough to cater for business parties. There are also four smaller cafes and four takeaways. The village also offers a range of medical facilities, including a medical centre, dental surgery and chiropody practice.
2.24 The vacancy rate in Culcheth is low, with only four vacant units across the whole centre (a vacancy rate of 3.8 %). An additional retailer in the CPS Centre is advertising a closing down sale. None of the vacant units are being actively marketed at present.
Fearnhead Cross
2.25 The main shopping facilities of Fearnhead are located at Fearnhead Cross, on Insall Road. Further retail facilities exist in the nearby streets of Station Road, Orchard Street and Hilden Road (see Table…).
2.26 Fearnhead Cross offers a Co-Op supermarket and second mini market (with a Spar located to the west, off Hilden Road). Other relevant facilities include a newsagent, chemist and hairdressers. The only financial services facilities in the area are betting shops and credit union lending agencies. Hot food is limited to a Waterfields Bakery and two takeaways.
2.27 Overall, some 3,000 sqm of retail accommodation exists in Fearnhead. Fearnhead Cross provides some 110 car parking spaces and is served by three bus services.
Diversity of Uses – Fearnhead Use No. of Outlets
Fearnhead Cross A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Hairdressers/Barbers 2 A2 Financial and Professional Services – Betting Shops 2 A5 Hot Food Takeaway 2 A2 Financial and Professional Services – Banks and Financial Services 1 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Supermarket 1 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Newsagent 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Bakers and Confectioners 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Chemist 1 A2 Financial and Professional Services – Estate Agents and Valuers 1 D1 Non-Residential Institutions – Community Centres 1 Total 14 Hilden Road/Blenheim Close Junction A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 Sui Generis Activities – Beauty Salons 1 Total 2 Orchard Street Warrington East 104
Appendices
A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Florest 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Stationary 1 A2 Financial and Professional Services – Banks and Financial Services 1 Total 3 Total 19
Local Centres and Other Facilities
Birchwood
2.28 The three neighbourhood of Birchwood (Locking Stumps, Oakwood and Gorse Covert) each have a designated Local Centre. The Locking Stumps Local Centre comprises a Nisa mini market/post office, with limited off-street parking, and a public house (881 sqm of space – see Table…). Although aimed at local residents, a high number of business commuters do pass through Locking Stumps to the A574 Birchwood Park Avenue, making good use of these services.
2.29 The Oakwood Local Centre serves that residential area and comprises retail three units (one vacant), with a pub across the road (472 sqm of space – see Table…). Located in the heart of the residential area, and some distance from the business uses of Birchwood, this centre generally meets the needs of local residents only.
2.30 The Gorse Covert Local Centre offers only two units, a Spar mini market and an adjacent pub (614 sqm of space – see Table…). Ample off-street car parking is provided whilst the environmental quality is generally good within the centre. As with Oakwood, the centre is located away from the main roads of Birchwood and generally caters for the needs of local residents only.
2.31 Diversity of Uses – Elsewhere in Birchwood No. of Outlets Use
Locking Stumps A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Total 2 Oakwood A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Newsagent 1 A5 Hot Food Takeaway 1 Vacant, No Evidence of Marketing 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Total 4 Gorse Covert A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Total 2 A574 Warrington Road (Risley) A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Total 2 Birchwood Park A1 Shops – Non Food Retail – Dry Cleaners 1 C1 Hotel 1 A3 Restaurants and Cafes 2 D2 Assembly and Leisure – Gym 1 Total 5 Birchwood Park Avenue D2 Assembly and Leisure – Birchwood Golf Club (includes restaurant) 1 Total 16 Warrington East 105
Appendices
2.32 Facilities in Birchwood Park include a 103-room hotel (Pentahotel, Warrington) at the Faraday Street/A574 Birchwood Avenue junction. Also ‘The Centre’ off Chadwick Place, which (in addition to conference and meeting facilities) offers both a café and larger restaurant, with a dry cleaners and gym to the rear. To the north, at the junction of Warrington Road and A574 Birchwood Park Avenue is a Spar mini mart, while a pub/restaurant (The Noggin Inn) is located on Warrington Road, close to the bridge over the M62. All these services are well used by the local business community.
Bruche (Also Eastern Padgate and Paddington)
2.33 The largest retail facility in this area is Bruche Heath Gardens, Green Lane. Designated as a Local Centre in the Warrington Core Strategy, Bruche Heath Gardens offers ten shops (740 sqm of floorspace) within a purpose built retail complex (see Table...). The Gardens provide a diverse range of uses including a small café, off licence, newsagent and butchers. Four of the ten units are in use as hairdressers, a tanning salon and tattoo parlour. There is unsurfaced car parking to the rear of the building.
2.34 Further to the north, surrounding Padgate Station, is a smaller group of shops, mostly providing hot food, along with a chemist and medical centre. Several other hot food outlets and a mini market are found within the residential area, on Harpers Road and Pasture Lane.
Diversity of Uses – Bruche (Including Eastern Padgate and Paddington) No. of Outlets Use
Bruche Heath Gardens A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Hairdressers/Barbers 2 Sui Generis Activities – Beauty Salons/Tattoo Parlours/Tanning Salon 2 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Butchers 1 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Off Licence 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Newsagent 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Pet Shop 1 A3 Restaurants and Cafes 1 Sui Generis Activities – Launderette 1 Total 10 Station Road (Adjacent to Padgate Station) A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Chemists 1 A3 Restaurants and Cafes 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 A5 Hot Food Takeaway 1 D1 Non-Residential Institutions – Medical Centre 1 Total 5 Harpers Road A3 Restaurants and Cafes 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Total 2 Pasture Lane A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 Total 18
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Appendices
Croft Village
2.35 Facilities in Croft Village comprise two pub/restaurants, a convenience store, hairdressers, community centres and a framing and a printing shop (with art gallery), totalling 1,400 sqm (see table below). Facilities here generally cater for local residents, although the two pubs can meet wider needs as the village has good access to Birchwood in the south and Junction 22, M6 in the west. The various facilities offer reasonable off-street parking and Croft enjoys excellent environmental quality.
Diversity of Uses – Croft No. of Outlets Use
A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 2 D1 Non-Residential Institutions – Community Centres 2 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Art Galley/Art Shop 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Hairdressers/Barbers 1 Total 7
Woolston
2.36 There are three main retail centres within Woolston – Dam Lane, shops at the A57 Manchester Road/Holes Lane Junction and Parksway (see table below). All are designated as Local Centres in the Warrington Core Strategy.
2.37 Dam Lane is a purpose built local centre containing 12 individual units (528 sqm of space) and presently occupied by 10 businesses. The quality of the centre is generally low, but the scheme does offer relevant uses such as a mini market, hairdressers and dental surgery and has ample off-street parking. The hot food offer is limited to two takeaways.
2.38 The Holes Lane Local Centre contains nine units (some 1,500 sqm of space), prominently located off the A57 Manchester Road route between Junction 21, M6 and central Warrington. Shops include a Co-Op, Woolston’s only supermarket, chemist and a post office. There is a day nursery to the north, while a branch of Subway is located to the east, on Manchester Road. Modest off-street parking is available.
2.39 Located south of the A57 Manchester Road, Parksway comprises a small parade of low quality shops including a newsagent, mini market, hairdressers and takeaway (408 sqm of space). There is limited off-street parking. Positioned some distance from the A57, these shops generally cater for the needs of local residents only.
2.40 Warrington East’s accommodation offer is focused around Junction 21, M6 with a 97-bed Holiday Inn located north of the A57 Manchester Road and a 106-bed Premier Inn to the south
Diversity of Uses – Woolston Use No. of Outlets Martinscroft (A57 Manchester Road/Woolston Grange Avenue Junction) C1 Hotel 2 A57 Manchester Road/Dam Lane Junction A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Hairdressers/Barbers 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Total 2 Dam Lane
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A5 Hot Food Takeaway 2 Sui Generis Activities – Beauty Salons/Tattoo Parlours 2 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Butchers 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Toys, Cards and Gifts 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – DIY, Hardware and Housewares 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Hairdressers/Barbers 1 D1 Non-Residential Institutions – Dental Surgery 1 Total 10 A57 Manchester Road/Holes Lane Junction A2 Financial and Professional Services – Estate Agents and Valuers 2 A1 Shops – Food Retail – Supermarket 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Chemists 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Post Office 1 A3 Restaurants and Cafes 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 D1 Non-Residential Institution – Day Nursery 1 Sui Generis Activities – Beauty Salons 1 Total 9 Parksway A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Newsagent 1 A1 Shops – Non-Food Retail – Hairdressers/Barbers 1 A5 Hot Food Takeaway 1 Total 4 Total 27 .
Houghton Green/Cinnamon Brow
2.41 There are no Local Centres within Houghton Green or Cinnamon Brow. Facilities within this large residential area are limited to three pub/restaurants, dispersed throughout the neighbourhoods. There is also a Spar mini market on Cinnamon Lane.
Diversity of Uses – Houghton Green/Cinnamon Brow Use No. of Outlets Mill Lane A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Ballater Drive and Blackbrook Avenue A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Cinnamon Lane/Perth Close Junction A1 Shops – Food Retail – Mini Market 1 A4 Drinking Establishments – Pub/Restaurants 1 Total 2 Total 4
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Services in Warrington East
2.42 There are a range of meeting and conference facilities in Warrington East. The most extensive are at Birchwood Park Centre, which could house almost 300 delegates, in eight rooms. Facilities are also available in the University of Chester which (utilising the available lecture halls) could host conferences of up to 300 people. Two of Warrington East’s three hotels also offer smaller meeting and function rooms, while the Birchwood Golf Club caters for private parties.
2.43 Retail, hot food and associated services are focused in Birchwood Shopping Centre and Culcheth. Most of the neighbourhoods of Warrington East, along with the village of Croft, also have at least one local retail operation, although these generally cater to the needs of local residents only. Other services are available in, and around, Birchwood Park.
2.44 The Warrington Retail Centres Report estimates that there is some 45,000 sqm of relevant floorspace in the recognised District, Neighbourhood and Local Retail Centres of Warrington East. This study has identified 256 properties in service (retail, hot food, medical/community and leisure) use Warrington East. 41 % of this supply (106 units) is in Culcheth and almost a third (59 units) is at Birchwood Park Shopping Centre. Broken down by use class, the following facilities are provided in Warrington East:
. 37 A1 Food Retail Units . 105 A1 Non-Food Retail Units . 16 A2 Financial and Professional Services Units . 21 A3 Restaurants and Cafes . 17 A4 Drinking Establishments . 9 A5 Hot Food Takeaways . 3 C1 Hotels . 18 D1 Non-Residential Institutions (mostly medical and community facilities) . 2 D2 Assembly and Leisure Uses (a private Gym at Birchwood Park and Birchwood Golf Club) . 10 Sui Generis beauty salons (plus a Launderette).
2.45 There are also 18 vacant units in the area, primarily recently completed A1 retail units at Birchwood Shopping Centre. This gives a vacancy rate of 7 %. The general points raised by this research are that:
. There are seven supermarkets in Warrington East, including Sainsbury’s and Co-Op at Culcheth; Asda, Aldi and Home Bargains at Birchwood Shopping Centre and Co-Ops at the A57 Manchester Road/Holes Lane Junction and Fearnhead Cross . Mini markets, such as Spar, are found in most of the retail centres . Birchwood Shopping Centre is the focus for national multiples, particularly clothing retailers while Culcheth is a focus for local independent shops, in a wide range of sectors . Warrington East lacks Financial and Professional Services options. In particular there are only three banks in the area (Nat West/Barclays in Culcheth and a second Barclays branch at Birchwood Shopping Centre) . The hot food and evening economy offer of Warrington East is strong. Culcheth offers a range of good quality restaurants and pub/restaurants (with other pub/restaurants spread throughout the area). Birchwood Shopping Centre provides a range of daytime food facilities, ranging from bakeries to cafes and a fast food restaurant, which meet the needs of both local residents and Birchwood’s business population . There are three hotels in the area, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn at Junction 21, M6 and Pantahotel at Birchwood Park . There are a range of private and public medical facilities in the area, although these focus on meeting the needs of local residents.
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Appendix 3
Warrington East Property Market
This Appendix presents the comments of private sector stakeholders (scheme owners, developers, investors and their manufacturing, storage, distribution and warehousing purposes including smaller workshop premises.
The private sector stakeholders made a range of comments regarding the local market. The following tables provide a breakdown of the comments received from scheme owners, and their agents. It should be noted that each organisation’s comments are their perception of the situation, and may well reflect their role and involvement, rather than being the complete picture.
Property Market Comments – Industrial Contact Comment Peter Stevens Estates These two terraced schemes offer some 21,000 sqm of industrial accommodation (13,000 sqm in Rufford Rufford/Rivington Court, Woolston Court and 8,000 sqm in Rivington Court) in 50 units. There is a mix of 279 sqm, 465 sqm and 650 sqm units, Grange although some are now combined to create larger spaces. Both schemes are performing well at present with an occupancy rate of 96 %. The existing tenants are a mix of local businesses (who draw most of their staff from within Warrington Borough) and larger regional/national firms. The major occupiers are Alstom Power and Sinclair Collis (vending machine operators).
The occupiers report no issues with access, either within Hardwick Grange or the wider Warrington East/strategic road network. There are no major issues with the quality of the premises or with traffic and transport. Both schemes have good linkages to Junction 21 of the M6. Peter Stevens have continued with a programme of refurbishment that previous owners, SERGO embarked upon, and which has helped maintain demand, and also rental levels.
Concerns which have been raised are: . The lack of directional signage around the Grange. This makes it difficult for visitors coming off Woolston Grange Avenue to find Rufford and Rivington Courts . Crime – Have had recent break-ins in several units and a number of petty thefts. Feel this is a significant issue in Hardwick Grange . The area lacks services and the only food options are mobile catering vans. The Grange could benefit from a small convenience store.
Generally, Warrington East is well able to compete for major occupiers at a regional/national level. Most such occupiers will look at Warrington East and Trafford Park, but while Trafford Park serves Greater Manchester, Warrington East links to the whole North West. Northern Trust Northern Trust own and manage Birch Court, Grosvenor Grange. This scheme offers 3,100 sqm of industrial Birch Court, Woolston Grange accommodation, in 18 units ranging from 102 sqm to 260 sqm. Only one unit (of 204 sqm) is vacant at present and there is reasonable demand, from local businesses, for property at this location. The occupancy took a while to build over the economic downturn but this was perhaps symptomatic of the lack of new start- up businesses at the time.
The scheme performs well now, and there are few management issues. Northern Trust did point to the complete lack of any services such as shops and cafes on the Grange.
Property Market Comments – Offices Contact Comment Conygar The Links is a scheme of self contained detached and semi detached offices constructed in 1990. The The Links, Kelvin Close, Birchwood scheme was very successful and the developers AMEC let all the buildings within the space of a year, all on 25 year leases without break.
Conygar acquired The Links several years ago as part of a larger portfolio purchase with a range of properties across the country. At the time, all leases were still in place, and thus the company continued to hold The Links as it had a secure income to 2015. However, as the term diminished the company were increasingly aware that the majority of the leases were unlikely to be renewed as several properties had been vacated by the tenant companies. Despite these properties being marketed, economic conditions and perceptions of The Links suggested that Conygar were facing a significant loss of income at the lease ends. Tenants included North West Development Agency (the office vacant for over eight years), Taylor Wimpey (vacant for around six years) and Delloittes (vacant for three years), but with no active marketing of the Warrington East 110
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space.
In 2011 Conygar received an approach by local serviced office operator, Claremont to set up a second facility, Breeze Two, after the success of the Breeze close by. The company agreed to sell an office at a discounted price, but with a premium from the tenant to surrender the lease. This then led to further similar sales of three more properties. The overall feel at The Links has changed from empty, agent boarded buildings to a more vibrant feel. Conygar will continue to react to approaches from purchasers, but having mitigated the loss in income being faced in 2015, the deals will have to be at an attractive market level. British Steel Pension Nominees Millennium Park was built in the late 1980s and comprises a mix of two and three storey offices ranging from Millennium Park, Birchwood Boulevard 280 sqm to 1860 sqm. The two largest buildings were let until recently by NHS, NDA and two smaller private organisations. British Steel Pension Nominees have held the property as an investment for some years and have attempted to let the vacant space with mixed results. A smaller self contained unit was refurbished and let pre-recession without problems, but as the largest building – Millennium House – became vacant over the last four years, interest in the space was poor, despite areas being refurbished by the owners. The view was that space of c. 465 sqm as part of a multi-let building was in too much competition with more modern self contained space.
A decision was made to empty the building, relocating the remaining company to another unit, and then marketing the building as a whole. This decision was made partly to reduce running costs, and partly as there are very few buildings of a similar size in Birchwood. Earlier this year the NHS lease came to an end on the neighbouring 929 sqm building, and was returned in poor condition, subject to an ongoing dilapidations claim.
Improving demand saw interest generated in the former NHS building, which has recently been let, but at a discount to reflect the condition of the property, and there is a strong interest to purchase the larger 1,858 sqm building and BSPN are prepared to sell an individual building to reduce liabilities. Highcross The Genesis Centre is an 8,825 sqm multi tenanted building, constructed in the early 1980s. It was originally Genesis Centre, Birchwood designed to house a mix of office, workshop and laboratory type space, but over the years has been let primarily as offices. Its strength is flexibility with demountable internal separating walls, which allows the space to expand or reduce to meet company needs. The space ranges from 46 sqm up to 740 sqm, and is occupied by TEP.
Highcross bought the property as a high yielding investment around five years ago, attracted to the multi tenanted aspect, with the ability to add value through ongoing lettings. The building is currently 81 % occupied, and there is active interest in some of the remaining space. They find that business retention is good. Companies will look around Birchwood, but in most recent cases have renewed leases in the Genesis Centre.
The biggest barrier to complete occupation may revolve around issues of car parking. Whist the parking ratio at 1:250 is reasonable, there is pressure on the allocated and unallocated spaces and as the building has little prospect of increasing parking, the parking is at capacity. Highcross has rearranged the ratio to fairly allocate more space to individual companies, as the large unallocated space was being taken up by those high occupancy tenants.
Very few companies use public transport to any great degree and Highcross would like help in solving the parking problems across Birchwood, either by provision of general car parking areas or a park and ride scheme.
Asked about the road network, they do not feel they have lost business due to congestion, but are aware that peak times can cause problems. Duchy of Lancaster/Nationwide Bank The responses are combined to demonstrate how different approaches can result in different levels of 601-865 Birchwood Boulevard success.
The Duchy sold their interest in Birchwood Boulevard in 2008 just prior to the property crash. It was purchased by a private property company that held it for three years before, on the instructions of the bank, receivers stepped in.
The development has around 8,360 sqm of office space in self contained units ranging in size from 80 sqm to 929 sqm.
The Duchy carried out a programme of refurbishment and was able to take occupancy levels up to around 95 %, at which point they chose to sell their interest. This was not because they anticipated the economic crash, rather the property, with a mix of small short-term tenancies, did not match the profile of long-term secure investments that the organisation were looking to invest in. It was felt value had been maximised, and the time was right to sell.
The purchaser failed to maintain the level of investment in an increasingly difficult economic climate, and Warrington East 111
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tenants moved out. Although some work was carried out to attract new business, a number of buildings were left in a poor state of repair as work to refurbish commenced but was not completed.
The receivers took over the buildings in 2011 and have begun to refurbish the individual buildings and the estate to bring it back to its former condition. One building comprising four units of 1,486 sqm has been sold to a specialist engineering recruitment company, who have carried out an extensive refurbishment, which the Asset Managers hope will be a catalyst to the rest of the estate. The success of that has led to a rethink on disposal policy, and the receivers will now consider further sales. Cantt Park/Pin Properties Rutherford House, a 1970s five storey office was the first office purchase for Cantt Pak operated through the Rutherford House, Allday and marketing and management arm, Pin Properties. Previous investment had been in the industrial sector. Washington House, Birchwood Science Park Pin invested in a substantial refurbishment programme to transform the former BNFL engineering office, and over a relatively short period reached a high level of occupancy. Many of the occupiers are in the engineering/nuclear field.
On the back of that success Cantt Pak have purchased a further two buildings close by. One is occupied by consulting engineers, URS, whilst Allday house a 4,645 sqm two storey office has been stripped back to shell and is being refurbished to create a high quality offer for either a single occupier or several smaller lets.
Pin Properties feel the Birchwood area is successful, hence the investment. However, the company will not hold the properties long term. Once let, they may be placed on the market to release capital for an ongoing investment programme.
Pin feel that there are some issues in Birchwood that need addressing. In particular, accessibility is a problem and the opening up of Warrington Road, currently a cul-de-sac, would help. Parking on the road also hinders traffic movement, but generally the parking in Birchwood is considered to be an issue.
Signage is also poor. The three buildings were originally part of the Science Park, but that designation seems to have diminished, and that area of Birchwood lacks an identity, which consequently means directional signage is poor. Pin would be happy to see the Science Park identity retained and improved.
Property Market Comments – Mixed Use Contact Comment MEPC Birchwood Park MEPC purchased the former UKAEA research establishment in 1998 which comprised around 52 ha of land Birchwood Park comprising industrial units and offices. These ranged in age, and included some war time ordnance buildings, multi storey offices built in the 1950s and specialist laboratory buildings constructed over the preceding 40 years.
MEPC produced a comprehensive masterplan for the redevelopment of the whole site, and embarked on implementing this with the development of new offices and warehouses in several locations, together with substantial investment into much of the remaining standing stock. This programme of investment has continued and has transformed the Park into one of the leading business parks in the North West. Companies on the park include a number of nuclear and energy related businesses, with other strong sector representation including forensics and business services. Some historic occupiers that have grown include Atkins, Nuvi and AMEC. Other new occupiers in a range of sectors include Rolls Royce, Volex, Department of Work and Pensions and GB Oils.
Rolls Royce chose Birchwood as a location to establish a new facility, despite not previously having had representation there, due to the labour and skills pool in the specialist consulting engineering field. The office is a design function to support activities at the Derby base.
MEPC currently has cleared land totalling around 14 ha, and has secured planning consent for around 46,450 sqm of B1 space. There are completions due up to February 2014 which over the last 12 months has seen the stock grow by 79,000 sqm. The Park, therefore, is successful and growing with the potential to add some 5-10 years supply of new office stock into the area.
However, the growth is unlikely to be realised unless there are significant improvements to accessibility through highways investment. The road network is at capacity with peak time delays. Also as a self contained business area, there is increasing pressure on car parking. MEPC as a business has invested in a range of travel measures to alleviate traffic, including the provision of a dedicated bus service to Birchwood station, and encouraging alternative modes of transport. This has been done without any public sector support, and to a great degree, in isolation.
Whilst Birchwood is considered to be the economic driver for Warrington through the nature and level of business located there, this will not continue and the poor infrastructure is a real threat to its future success. MEPC will look at alternative B2 and B8 uses to develop out much of the remaining land without that
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investment.
The strong nuclear and energy cluster is very important to the success of Birchwood, but as these businesses often support locations away from Warrington, there is an ongoing threat that the cluster could disperse if the area is not supported with ongoing investment. St Modwen Properties St Modwen has owned Trident for around 20 years. It was formerly an inland naval engineering and supply Trident Business Park base, and St Modwen initially looked to re-let the range of industrial buildings that existed at the time. They have also undertaken some redevelopment, providing Fujitsu with a new 3,716 sqm office in the 1990s to support its national distribution centre adjacent. St Modwen subsequently built a group of two storey offices and a scheme of small industrial units.
The offices let well, pre-recession, although one of the larger buildings is now vacant. The industrial buildings have let very slowly for a variety of reasons both in terms of specification and economy related.
The only issues raised by St Modwen when asked for a comment was traffic and parking which in common with other owners is an ongoing problem for its tenants. Taylor Estates A successful family run estate developed post-war and that has consistently improved and developed. It is Taylor Business Park, Culcheth primarily industrial, but with some offices in converted industrial space, and a group of character buildings at the entrance to the estate.
In total there are 50 buildings, with only three small offices vacant. The industrial space is fully let, although one tenant’s building of 1,393 sqm is empty and on the market.
Recent investment in high speed broadband has made a big difference to demand. Taylors have invested in microwave connection with a fibre ring around the site and all buildings have the ability to connect.
The Park suffers from poor public transport, with no buses passing the site beyond 6.30pm. With a local working population, many travelling from central Warrington, this is an issue. Also there is no current link to the railway station at Birchwood.
The site cannot be developed further within its current confines, although Taylors have land around the estate. The estate is in Greenbelt and further development has been resisted due to this. At the review of Warrington’s Core Strategy, employment land arguments stated that provision can be met elsewhere. However, they feel that this does not take account of the nature of businesses seeking new premises, with a need that cannot be satisfied at those other locations. The site employs around 500 people, in established successful businesses, but with no prospect for their expansion.
HS2 is a long term threat to the estate as the plans show the line running right through the middle, and effectively wiping it out. This is starting to affect demand, despite the uncertainty of the HS2 plans. Emerson Group Alderley Edge based investors, The Emerson Group have invested in a number of industrial and office Various properties over the past two years in the Birchwood area. The properties fit into their business model of relatively secure income, but with the opportunity to add value. Purchases include the Beacons in Birchwood, comprising two office buildings, and Ravenhurst Court a 1980s development of terraced industrial units of Risley Road, Birchwood. The company have also purchased elsewhere in Warrington and just outside the Borough at Preston Brook, Runcorn.
The area is seen as a strong long term growth area, with a good mix of property type and businesses and Emerson are building a medium sized investment portfolio centred on Warrington.
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Appendix 4 - Housing Supply
Deliverable Sites 0–5 Years Ward Area Name SHLAA Ref Site Name Supply Supply by Ward Birchwood Birchwood 1539 Land at 1 Delenty Drive 5 75 2014 YMCA, Hamnett Court 70 Culcheth, Croft Culcheth 1652 Land to the rear of 8 Hob Hey Lane 1 63 and Glazebury 2162 Fourways 1 2163 Oakdene Nursing Home 15 2323 466 Warrington Road 4 Croft 1792 Site of Former HMS Gosling 25 2033 Ovenback Farm 1 2312 Highcroft Barn 1 Glazebury 1712 312 Warrington Rd, Glazebury 9 2030 Land between the Methodist Church and 280 5 Warrington Road Poulton South Bruche 1643 Bruche former Police Training Centre 75 76 Padgate 1761 355–357 Padgate Lane 1 Rixton and Woolston 2165 Land off Riversdale, Woolston 10 34 Woolston 2458 Site of William Tarr & Co Ltd Offices (Site 1) 24 Total 247 247
Developable Sites 6–10 Years Ward Area Name SHLAA Ref Site Name Supply Supply by Ward Birchwood Birchwood 1640 Land at Admirals Rd 57 72 1760 Land at 3 Delenty Drive 7 2188 Delenty Drive Police Station 8 Culcheth, Croft Culcheth 1507 Land between 53 and 67 Hob Hey Lane 7 17 and Glazebury 1737 Land between Public House and 3 Church Lane 8 2260 Land at junction of Glebeland/Landsdowne 1 2272 Land adj 49 Brookfield Rd 1 Poulton South Bruche 1643 Bruche former Police Training Centre 145 145 Rixton and Woolston 2459 Site of William Tarr and Co. Ltd Offices (Site 2) 6 6 Woolston Total 240 240
Developable Sites 11–15 Years Ward Area Name SHLAA Ref Site Name Supply Supply by Ward Culcheth, Croft Culcheth 1590 Tanners Farm 11 26 and Glazebury 2245 Jackson Avenue Hall 2 Croft 1588 Heath House, Kenyon Lane 1 Glazebury 1739 Land opposite Chat Moss Public House 4 1740 Land between 284-302 Warrington Rd 8 Poulton South Paddington 1762 Site of Dog & Partridge 11 11 Poulton North Longbarn 1803 Land to North of Birchwood Way 91 94 Fearnhead 2159 Crab Lane House 3 Total 131 131
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Appendix 5
Consultees
. Garry Legg, Planning Policy and Programme Manager, Warrington Borough Council . Bobby Barnet, Property Fund Manager, British Steel Pension Fund . Iain Taylor, Senior Asset Manager, Highcross Strategic Advisors . Imran Younis, Marketing Director, Pin Properties . Jonathan Walsh, Managing Director, Birchwood Park . Kevin Riley, Projects Director, Mott McDonald (re. pinch point) . Mike Ralph, Planning Director, Red Property Services . Nick Gregory, Senior Retail Asset Manager, Redefine International . Nick Hemmings, Management Surveyor, Northern Trust . Paul Taylor, Managing Director, Taylor Business Park . Paul Worrell, Site Manager, Grange Packaging . Paul Hubball, Senior Development Manager, Orbit Developments . Philip Owen, Property Fund Manager, Royal London Asset Management . Richard Stevens, Surveyor, Peter Stevens Estates . Sarah Lindsay, Asset Manager, Hansteen Holdings . Steven Knowles, North West Regional Manager, St Modwen . Steven Vaughan, Property Director, Conygar . Paul Adams, Head of Risley Office & Engineering Improvements; Paul Rainford-Miller; Helen Roach, Sellafield Ltd . Susan Spibey, Birchwood Forum . Mark Manchin, Manager, Cleveland Cables . Sara Bott, Facilities Manager, Fujitsu
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Economic Strategy - Warrington East Executive Summary & Recommendations
Date: 31/3/2014
Executive Summary
The Approach
In order to gain an understanding of Warrington East’s current position and its future potential for further growth, a robust evidence base has been developed and is set-out in this report. This includes data and analysis on: the economy, employment, population, transport and commercial property.
This evidence base has been collected based on the creation of a specific geography for Warrington East. In order to provide a benchmark, comparative data has been included by LEP area, region and on a national basis as well as for a number of cities including Liverpool and Manchester. In addition, the approach to developing the Warrington East Economic Strategy also included stakeholder consultation.
Current Position
Warrington East was mainly established during the expansion of Warrington as it became a New Town in the 1970s. The area incorporates Birchwood, Risley, Woolston Grange and residential areas including Woolston and Culcheth. Warrington East represents one of the most significant private sector employment areas within the wider Cheshire and Warrington LEP area; a total of 27,600 employees. This is a larger concentration of private sector employees compared to Ellesmere Port and Crewe for example.
Warrington East has a thriving economy, but in order to ensure its ongoing success in an increasingly competitive environment, measures need to be put into place to enable Warrington East to maintain its strong position in relation to increasingly competing locations such as Daresbury Park and Airport City.
Key to Warrington East’s success has been its location on the M62/M6 intersections and proximity to the M56 and the rest of the motorway network. This enviable motorway location provides access to one of the most substantial employment catchment areas outside of the M25; with over 2.6 million people of Working Age living within a 30 minute drive time of Birchwood. This has led to Warrington East being an economic centre of gravity, which provides employment to residents from a large catchment area.
Warrington East’s large economic pull provides considerable local benefits, with the locality benefiting from a high performing labour market; with job claimant rates comparing favourably with the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area as a whole and also when compared with the regional and UK average.
As a result, the ability of businesses to continue to attract a pool of labour from a large catchment area is critical and is particularly the case for companies requiring specialist staff. As the entire basis of the development of the business park was based on car-borne commuting, this has resulted in manageable congestion and access to parking being key to the continued success of Warrington East. In addition, increased density of office occupation is also further adding to road and car parking pressure. Easy access to markets and clients is also essential if Warrington East is to maintain and further grow its position as a regional economic centre.
A sector that creates a strong pull of employees from a wide catchment area is the nuclear industry. Warrington East has a nationally significant nuclear cluster that is predominantly based around decommissioning and some new nuclear activity. The nature of the nuclear decommissioning supply chains have led to a strong collaboration with consulting engineering companies, benefiting from a close proximity to Sellafield Ltd Design Engineering Centre in Risley. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that ‘architectural and engineering activities’ represent 11.3% of all employees in Warrington East, a proportion that is seven times higher than the national average.
In addition to serving the nuclear sector, the consulting engineering base in Warrington East also provides services to other industries including water, transport, infrastructure and other forms of energy. As a result, the Warrington East economy is likely to benefit from any uplift in infrastructure expenditure.
Warrington East 2
Executive Summary
Other sectors of importance in Warrington East are ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) and Business Services, both of which are growth sectors in the wider UK economy and which generate the highest proportions of foreign direct investment into the UK. The warehousing and distribution sectors also provide an important employment base, particularly from a more localised area in contrast to the engineering and ICT sector.
The consulting engineering sector is undoubtedly the sector that represents the most important critical mass in Warrington East. The Government’s announcement in December 2013 of an anticipated £375bn spend on infrastructure over the next 20 years is likely to present significant opportunities for the consulting engineering sector based in Warrington East. Within the context of infrastructure spend, the wider UK nuclear new build programme, with an estimated £50bn to be invested over the next 10-15 years on new reactors as well as the importance of nuclear plant life extension, all have the potential to further increase activity in energy infrastructure.
The local and UK wide shortages in engineering skills and the growing demand on this skills base due to the growth of infrastructure projects and particularly in nuclear new build are likely to increase the reliance of employers on a pool of labour from large catchment areas. Although the provision of public transport in Warrington East has recently improved, these linkages are more localised rather than meeting the needs of commuters from a wider catchment area. As a result, increasing congestion and the lack of car parking spaces are placing constraints on locally based companies.
In addition to the existing congestion potentially impacting further on businesses in Warrington East, there are also a number of threats and weaknesses which undermine Warrington East’s position in terms of its commercial property offer.
Industrial and office space combined, presents over 9.2 million sq m of space. Levels of occupancy in the industrial premises sector are good, with a vacancy rate of 13.3%. However, Warrington East’s industrial stock is ageing, with 60% of premises over 30 years in age or older and existing provision limited in size and eaves height. Woolston Grange accounts for 71% of all current industrial floor space. The physical environment at this industrial park is tired, with limited service provision for employees and other issues impacting on the locality such as crime and traveller issues.
In contrast to industrial premises occupancy levels, office vacancy is high, with 55,000 sq m unoccupied, representing over 3.5 years of forward supply. However, the majority of office space is ageing, with over 70% of the office stock being over 21 years of age. Vacant office space requires refurbishment if it is to compete with other business park locations in the North West.
New and existing locations such as Deeside, Airport City and Sci-Tech Daresbury, all of which have significant incentives, could present a threat to Warrington East’s position. This could be exacerbated if the issue of the quality of commercial property stock is not improved and if the locality becomes increasingly congested.
The report also considers housing. In total, during the next 10 years there is capacity for another 600 homes in Warrington East, which in light of the wider Warrington target of 450 homes per year, is insignificant. However, as Warrington has other areas for housing allocation, the balance between employment growth and housing growth across the whole Borough is an issue that should be considered. The strength of Warrington East is the ability to offer private sector employment – something that other areas struggle to achieve and that Warrington East should strive to keep and not at the expense of housing allocation.
Vision and Objectives
Warrington East is the most important concentration of private sector employment in Cheshire & Warrington and Birchwood is one of the most successful business parks in the North West of England.
Warrington East 3
Executive Summary
This is a strategy document and as such, a long term vision for Warrington East is important. This vision is that Warrington East maintains its pre-eminent position for private sector in the sub-region over the long term.
This may be argued to demonstrate something of a lack of ambition, in that it does not set out any dramatic growth aspirations. However, with much of the built space and infrastructure nearing the end of its economic life (with no significant new areas of employment land available within the area) and with incentivised locations such as Sci-Tech Daresbury / Daresbury Park and Airport City now competing for occupiers the position of Warrington East in general and Birchwood in particular may be considered under threat of decline in the medium term.
Cascading from any vision it is of course important to set out some tangible (SMART) objectives. The following objectives are recommended:
. That Warrington East increases private sector employment from 27,600 (2012 level) to 31,000 within 3 years and then allows 20% growth1 over the remainder of the decade to 2023 as vacant office stock is reduced and accommodation use intensifies. . That Warrington East increases the number of engineering related businesses year-on- year . That Warrington East reduces the office vacancy rates over the next 5 years to levels representing 1-2 years supply
The strategy and recommended actions in the following table are completely aligned with achieving these objectives. The table also highlight why these objectives have been selected and why other measures are not considered primary objectives for the strategy. Nevertheless, the report does also highlight some secondary objectives relating to infrastructure, housing, retail, industrial space and local services. These are considered ancillary to the primary vision.
The Strategy
Warrington East is a thriving economic centre, however, there are a number of threats and weaknesses (these are identified in the full SWOT analysis in the full report) which could undermine its position. The detailed evidence base and the resultant SWOT has led to the development of a strategy and suggested recommendations. The strategy itself is then derived from following through a logic chain. This logic chain has been set out in the following four steps:
. Identifying the key issue . Assessing the importance of that issue by projecting the outcome if nothing is done . What is the strategic response required? . What are the recommended practical steps that need to be taken if the strategy is to be pursued?
The evidence base in this report and the SWOT have been synthesised into a series of recommendations (listed in the following table) which are summarised against the following key functional headings:
. Access and infrastructure . Commercial property/Availability of land for new build . Sector support . Demographics
1 With vacant office stock of c600,000ft2 there is theoretical office capacity for a further 6,000 people (or roughly an increase in employment of 20%).
Warrington East 4
Executive Summary
The next steps for Warrington & Co will be to determine the priorities it wants to address and how these could be delivered. As such, the steps are as follows:
I. Decide which recommendations need to be taken forward and prioritise II. Work up the recommendations into practical delivery programmes III. Identify who could be responsible for delivering the activities IV. Identify resources required and potential funding V. Set-out timescale VI. Put in place reporting structures/likely outputs
Warrington East 5
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Access & Infrastructure Birchwood and Woolston’s If the entire differentiator of the Whilst economic strategies based 1. This is not a transport strategy differentiators are as highly business parks is undermined by on car-borne commuting are and as a result very specific accessible business parks. poor access their attractiveness, currently not viewed as highways measures are not Inevitably as a New Town location especially in the face of strong sustainable for new development part of the recommendations, of the 1970s, the access is mainly alternatives, diminishes. Occupier sites, any strategy for a location but there is clearly a need to based on car-borne commuting. comments suggest that a lack of such as Warrington (which was increase capacity of key This is their raison-d’etre and the car-parking for staff and peak time originally conceived as an junctions and roadways within infrastructure is based on 1980s congestion is now having a major economy based on car-borne Birchwood and Woolston volumes even though the original impact on the suitability of the commuting) needs to ensure that Grange. Routes to / from concept of the Park was for a location. the opportunity that was originally junction 11 on M62 are greater capacity road network. created is maintained. particularly congested. If nothing is done, it is likely that Warrington East in general and There is now a need to increase 2. There is a need for some Birchwood in particular will start to road and in particular junction central provision of car parking lose contestable projects and capacity within Warrington East. within each of the areas of large companies leaving the Each of the key roundabouts are employment in Birchwood (and location will not be replaced. now beyond their capacities at perhaps Woolston Grange). In peak times. order to achieve this outcome, If this slow loss of attractiveness private land is likely to be takes place, the location will not In addition, there is an required. The reality of attract private sector investment in increasingly urgent need to creating this provision, maintaining its building stock at provide additional car parking therefore, is that some the very time that it will be vital to provision within Birchwood and element of charging will be do so (see below) creating a risk Woolston Grange. The recent and required. This will therefore of a downward spiral in the parks. ongoing Government consultation result in a wider strategy for with local authorities on setting prevention of wide scale It is the triple impact of infra- their own parking standards to roadside parking; barrier structure issues; competition reflect local need presents an controls for some estates and coming on stream; and ageing opportunity for the Council to some parking enforcement office stock that represents a review its policies. measures. genuine risk to long term success. This is not a strategy entirely 3. There has already been Warrington East 6
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations based on car transport. There is considerable engagement with recognition that Birchwood railway Network Rail and train station is an important gateway operating companies to ensure into the Birchwood area and the that (as a minimum) peak hour vital role that it plays is at risk. express train services are There is a need to try and maintained to / from safeguard the strong service Birchwood once the Northern provision as electrification of the line from Liverpool to Northern route from Liverpool to Manchester is electrified. Manchester takes place. More can Without such services, travel also be done to link the station time to Manchester will both by bus and for pedestrians. increase from 15mins to The station is perceived as a 30mins and travel time to significant distance from Liverpool will increase from employment sites by foot – and 30mins to 50mins. Although yet in a large number of cases the Warrington Council is unlikely distance is significantly less than to have limited control over the that typically walked by rail number of services, continuing commuters to city destinations. the ongoing dialogue in this area is still important.
4. There is a perception from employers that Birchwood station is too far for workers to access on foot. Whilst this may be true for some locations within Birchwood (and is true for the remainder of Warrington East), it is also the case that commuters to city centre locations will often walk further to their workplaces than is typical in Birchwood. This is partly a function of footpaths which are generally dark, overgrown and in some places hidden from general view. There is an opportunity to realign and improve some Warrington East 7
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations footpaths from the station. On a wider basis, more could be done to encourage cyclists by increasing signage, lighting and safety. Support available through the Green Travel Plan could be further encouraged through the Business Engagement work and other networks.
5. Birchwood Park operator (MEPC) does operate a bus service linking their site with the railway station. More could be done to facilitate a dialogue between other land owners and major occupiers to extend this service with an appropriate financial contribution being made.
6. The overall approach to Birchwood, involving multiple roundabouts and access roads, can create some confusion for those unfamiliar with the location. There is some need to improve visitor navigation, but at the same time, large numbers of individual sign boards for individual schemes would not offer improvement. We recommend a zoned approach to the area as was partially implemented when the Science Park concept for the area was developed. Warrington East 8
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations
Commercial Property For many years Warrington East If Warrington East does not Warrington East becomes an area 7. Warrington East becomes an has been the private sector driver become an area of focus, there is of focus for Warrington & Co and area on which management of the Warrington economy. a risk that the market alone will reports for the area are presented information is consistently not solve the office obsolescence to Warrington BC. reported, with the appropriate The success of Warrington East in issue and with large numbers of objectives set and actions the regional economy has almost offices constructed at a similar In terms of focus, it is important taken. Private sector been achieved by stealth. As a time, the rental levels will fall, high that the main measure is investment into the built estate location reliant on car-borne quality office refurbishment will investment into the built estate. If should be tracked (not just commuting the area has been out become uneconomic and there there is simply a focus on occupancy rates) and become of alignment with much new will be a downward spiral in the occupancy rates there is a risk the area of focus. economic development strategy quality of the offer whilst new that as the economy accelerates and the focus of local policy has locations attract the higher quality the area will appear to be largely been on alternative occupiers. performing well but the underlying projects such as Bridge Street and issues which will affect the area Omega. over time (obsolescence) will be hidden below a veneer of Warrington East remains a apparently good news. success and can continue to be so.
This will require Warrington East to be an area of significant policy focus for the next 3-5 years. Large amounts of the commercial If large amounts of stock become Experience from elsewhere 8. Warrington & Co needs to map building stock within Warrington obsolete and therefore virtually suggests that stock deterioration the ownerships, lease lengths East has now reached the point unlettable there will be a and reducing attractiveness and of units across Warrington where the fabric of many of the downward spiral in the rents that values is generally not reversed East. There is a need to buildings, and the mechanical and can be charged. Some landlords by market forces alone especially engage with owners electrical installations, will require will be tempted to offer their in locations where there is a large (particularly where there is a major refurbishment or the property at a massively amount of stock in different large amount of ageing, vacant property will become virtually discounted rental level rather than ownership available for rent but all or difficult to let stock) and unlettable. Large institutional face large renovation bills. of a similar age. understand the opportunities investors with long term leasehold for investment or willingness occupiers generally have little The effect of some discounted Where stock is held by long term owners to dispose of freehold incentive to undertake rental levels is likely to create a tenants there is a disincentive for interests. Information on future Warrington East 9
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations refurbishment but this is leaving downward force on the remaining incremental investment by strategies for the area, trend entire areas of Birchwood at risk market rental levels. If market landlords who are receiving a information on lettings and of obsolescence. rentals are reduced, the potential steady rental stream which is not enquiries; and information on Areas of Warrington East, notably return that landlords can expect to enhanced by investment over other willing investors interest the Grange, have also seen gain from property even if they anything other than the long term. can facilitate this discussion. increases in incidents of crime, undertake expensive This recommendation will including vandalism of and theft refurbishment work will be Where vacant stock is held by involve the letting agents for a from properties and vehicles. reduced. This will further large institutional investors, whilst scheme (where relevant) or Strong concern has also been exacerbate the problem. there is an incentive to gain new introducing opportunities to expressed by stakeholders about tenants when property falls investors where letting agents illegal Gypsy and Traveller Areas of built estate which are vacant, the imperative is not as are not involved. Dialogue with encampments both in Woolston vacant, old and in need of urgent as for a smaller property all the active agents through Grange and across Birchwood. refurbishment are unattractive to owner. Furthermore, larger this process will be important – other occupiers. This outcome is financial investors may accept a but a regular dialogue with perhaps more acute in a New lower rent on a diminishing asset large scale / institutional Town location where a large rather than choose to invest when investors will also be amount of stock was built at the any possible upside rental beneficial. same time. This outcome can be remains uncertain. By this stage seen in the older new towns of the the property is likely to have 9. Where small scale (SME) Skelmersdale (particularly generated the required return investors or SME owner Gillibrands); Halton (particularly against which the original occupiers are identified there Astmoor) and Cramlington / purchase price was calculated and remains an opportunity to Washington. In all these cases a even a small return is a ‘windfall’. create a small revolving fund decline in the physical quality of to help finance commercial accommodation has been There is an opportunity for property refurbishment. Such a accompanied by negative social Warrington & Co to intervene fund could be established as a effects, notably increases in crime proactively in this dynamic. Work sub-fund of ERDF, use an against property and vehicles. of this type would involve existing RGF loan vehicle, Vacant, or underused sites, can information provision; influence; become a sub-fund of a future also become a focus for and occupier / agent / investor LEP funding stream or be vandalism, trespass, illegal linkages. This is somewhat similar financed directly by the encampments and associated to the English URC model of the Council. Any such vehicle unauthorised activities. late 1990s / 2000s. would be self-financing but would be intended to address A continual renewal process is those areas where small required to avoid a downward companies could not raise spiral in occupier attractiveness finance. and investment values. Such a spiral must be avoided if Warrington East 10
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Warrington East is to remain an 10. Multiple ownership and important economic location. leasehold occupiers has also resulted in some areas where the physical environment has deteriorated and where responsibility for upkeep is blurred / un-enforced. In places the situation has been compounded by some increases in crime and the encroachment of Gypsy and Traveller encampments on vacant/underused land. Whilst work through organisations such as the Birchwood Forum (in that area) is invaluable in assisting in engagement on matters such as this, in the case of Woolston Grange there appears to be justification for more proactive work and as such consideration could be given to the provision of extra resources to the Birchwood Forum. There is an opportunity to engage tenants in strategy improvements and one method that could be employed is to develop a Business Improvement District (BID) covering the Woolston Grange area. Such a scheme based on employer / owner contributions could be focused on physical estate improvements; signage and crime reduction. BIDs tend to work well when there is a Warrington East 11
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations clearly defined area of influence.
Sector Support Warrington East has quietly Without a strategy to track the In terms of a strategy for securing 11. Ensure on-going engagement developed into the most important nuclear opportunities (projects, inward investment Warrington has with Sellafield Ltd to provide concentration of private sector tenders, successful bidders and a strong offer in: as much support as possible employment in Cheshire & market entrants), as well as . Nuclear so that the organisation can Warrington. This position has, to a marketing material that fully sets . Consulting engineering continue to make a strong large extent, been gained through out the attractions of Birchwood, is . IT and telecoms case for remaining in employment by engineering to take a risk that occupiers (even . Water Warrington East to counteract businesses in general and by those with links to the area) will . Business Process any potential threat of nuclear engineering related select locations scattered across Outsourcing (BPO) relocation to West Cumbria. companies in particular. North West England. This is even . Logistics As part of this process, the more likely as competitor locations need to develop a relationship The nuclear decommissioning and offer new fit for purpose units. A Whilst occupiers will determine with the NDA to ensure that nuclear new build opportunities lack of accommodation in their own location strategy, this Warrington East continues to will create long term and Warrington East has already report does suggest that: meet their requirements as significant capital expenditure forced some occupiers to select well as identifying potential requirements (and therefore very Daresbury Park as a location and a) Nuclear, consulting supply chain opportunities is significant contract opportunities). there is a risk that a critical mass engineering and IT / also key. This is likely to drive investment in is achieved in Daresbury which telecoms are sectors for the near term. starts to attract others. which Birchwood is a 12. The importance of the nuclear practical and valued sector points to the need to put In addition consulting engineering As this report identifies, Sellafield location. more resources into this strengths and the number of large must justify their Warrington b) BPO occupiers (and other sector. With extra resources, scale infrastructure projects location against Cumbria every 3 large administrative The Birchwood based Nuclear underway in the UK (particularly years. There is a strong case for functions / call centres) Forum could be an opportunity energy and rail) will drive demand working more closely with tend to favour town centre for developing more proactive for a location which allows client Sellafield on their requirements locations at the confluence work in this area. The locations to be reached easily and since failure to do so risks the loss of transport routes – this is importance of socio economic has a reputation for strength in the of one of Warrington’s most the opportunity for the benefits within the activity NDA sector. important occupiers (and in terms renaissance of Warrington and Sellafield Ltd could be an of clustering the most important). Town Centre. opening to attract more If high quality offices are provided c) Modern logistics resources. The existing pinch there is no reason why additional companies need a more points in the nuclear supply sectors should not select space than Warrington chain and the drive by the Birchwood as a location but it East can provide – this is NDA to make more use of the should be recognised that now fulfilled by Omega SME base is an opening for Warrington East 12
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Birchwood does represent one of (and Appleton) supporting appropriate SMEs very few areas of genuine based in Warrington to specialism, involving multiple diversify to serve this industry. tenants, in North West England. 13. Track the nuclear opportunities and establish the Birchwood offer. Major contract decisions on further decommissioning, new build at Wylfa and the next wave of new sites will create more opportunities either for existing Birchwood tenants (creating a need for new space) or for new entrants who could be attracted to Birchwood. This will need continued Business Engagement work, proactive inward investment activity including with UKTI.
14. Establish similar investment offers for Warrington around logistics and BPO but which have a primary focus on areas outside Warrington East. Demographics The population of Warrington East As an economic strategy for a It is recognised that the new 15. An approach to limit housing is ageing and declining. This is relatively small area of the town, housing provision identified for development to in-fill sites is representative of a combination of and with recognition that a large Warrington is predominantly consistent with the the New Town demographic proportion of the Warrington East located in the centre and the recommended strategy for (aspirational young working workforce travels from outside the western edges of the town. Such Warrington East. families moved to Warrington East Borough to work, the fact that the an approach to house building will in the late 1970s and early 1980s overall population is falling not help the local demographic in 16. This report identifies a lack of and are now approaching relatively slowly is not likely to Warrington East but given the car industrial and warehousing retirement age), and the recent represent a significant issue for borne characteristics of the labour space; a lack of car-parking; national demographic trends for the overall objectives of market, this is unlikely to an opportunity to reserve smaller households. With a Warrington East. dramatically impact on the local some land for limited retail reduction in the average number economy. supply; and a belief that the Warrington East 13
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations of people per house, without new The falling (and ageing) office market can recover. All housing being created, the population combined with the The alternative to an acceptance these uses will take-up land population of an area will typically associated drop in economic that the house-building is and it is therefore expected fall. activity will reduce local concentrated in central and that there will be few disposable income levels. This is western Warrington is to adopt a opportunities to re-allocate likely to have a negative impact on strategy that over time land for residential use. local resident retail expenditure employment land is recycled for (although not as significant as in residential use. This would be 17. Housing provision in other areas because of the contrary to the overall vision Birchwood and Fearnhead is predominance of convenience identified for the area. based on stock which was over comparison retail). constructed in the 1970s and The result is that residential 1980s. There are some areas A fall in local population and a development in Warrington East is of Birchwood where the social reduction in the economically likely to be restricted to in-fill sites. housing (in particular) is active population are also likely to suffering from a lack of increase the number of investment and there is a need commuters into the area, who will for renovation. There is the take up jobs previously held by opportunity for a dialogue with local people. Golden Gates housing on the prioritisation for housing investment. One idea would be to ring fence new-homes bonus / RTB receipts in Warrington East for re- investment in this stock. However, there would need to be an exercise carried out first to evidence that the housing stock required certain improvements such as energy efficiency before any reinvestment form New Homes Bonus could be justified.
Warrington East 14
Economic Strategy - Warrington East Recommendations
Date: 31/3/2014 Version: Final
Warrington East 1
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Access & Infrastructure Birchwood and Woolston’s If the entire differentiator of the Whilst economic strategies based 1. This is not a transport strategy differentiators are as highly business parks is undermined by on car-borne commuting are and as a result very specific accessible business parks. poor access their attractiveness, currently not viewed as highways measures are not Inevitably as a New Town location especially in the face of strong sustainable for new development part of the recommendations, of the 1970s, the access is mainly alternatives, diminishes. Occupier sites, any strategy for a location but there is clearly a need to based on car-borne commuting. comments suggest that a lack of such as Warrington (which was increase capacity of key This is their raison-d’etre and the car-parking for staff and peak time originally conceived as an junctions and roadways within infrastructure is based on 1980s congestion is now having a major economy based on car-borne Birchwood and Woolston volumes even though the original impact on the suitability of the commuting) needs to ensure that Grange. Routes to / from concept of the Park was for a location. the opportunity that was originally junction 11 on M62 are greater capacity road network. created is maintained. particularly congested. If nothing is done, it is likely that Warrington East in general and There is now a need to increase 2. There is a need for some Birchwood in particular will start to road and in particular junction central provision of car parking lose contestable projects and capacity within Warrington East. within each of the areas of large companies leaving the Each of the key roundabouts are employment in Birchwood (and location will not be replaced. now beyond their capacities at perhaps Woolston Grange). In peak times. order to achieve this outcome, If this slow loss of attractiveness private land is likely to be takes place, the location will not In addition, there is an required. The reality of attract private sector investment in increasingly urgent need to creating this provision, maintaining its building stock at provide additional car parking therefore, is that some the very time that it will be vital to provision within Birchwood and element of charging will be do so (see below) creating a risk Woolston Grange. The recent and required. This will therefore of a downward spiral in the parks. ongoing Government consultation result in a wider strategy for with local authorities on setting prevention of wide scale It is the triple impact of infra- their own parking standards to roadside parking; barrier structure issues; competition reflect local need presents an controls for some estates and coming on stream; and ageing opportunity for the Council to some parking enforcement office stock that represents a review its policies. measures. genuine risk to long term success. This is not a strategy entirely 3. There has already been based on car transport. There is considerable engagement with recognition that Birchwood railway Network Rail and train station is an important gateway operating companies to ensure
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations into the Birchwood area and the that (as a minimum) peak hour vital role that it plays is at risk. express train services are There is a need to try and maintained to / from safeguard the strong service Birchwood once the Northern provision as electrification of the line from Liverpool to Northern route from Liverpool to Manchester is electrified. Manchester takes place. More can Without such services, travel also be done to link the station time to Manchester will both by bus and for pedestrians. increase from 15mins to The station is perceived as a 30mins and travel time to significant distance from Liverpool will increase from employment sites by foot – and 30mins to 50mins. Although yet in a large number of cases the Warrington Council is unlikely distance is significantly less than to have limited control over the that typically walked by rail number of services, continuing commuters to city destinations. the ongoing dialogue in this area is still important.
4. There is a perception from employers that Birchwood station is too far for workers to access on foot. Whilst this may be true for some locations within Birchwood (and is true for the remainder of Warrington East), it is also the case that commuters to city centre locations will often walk further to their workplaces than is typical in Birchwood. This is partly a function of footpaths which are generally dark, overgrown and in some places hidden from general view. There is an opportunity to realign and improve some footpaths from the station. On a wider basis, more could be done to encourage cyclists by Warrington East 3
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations increasing signage, lighting and safety. Support available through the Green Travel Plan could be further encouraged through the Business Engagement work and other networks.
5. Birchwood Park operator (MEPC) does operate a bus service linking their site with the railway station. More could be done to facilitate a dialogue between other land owners and major occupiers to extend this service with an appropriate financial contribution being made.
6. The overall approach to Birchwood, involving multiple roundabouts and access roads, can create some confusion for those unfamiliar with the location. There is some need to improve visitor navigation, but at the same time, large numbers of individual sign boards for individual schemes would not offer improvement. We recommend a zoned approach to the area as was partially implemented when the Science Park concept for the area was developed.
Warrington East 4
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Commercial Property For many years Warrington East If Warrington East does not Warrington East becomes an area 7. Warrington East becomes an has been the private sector driver become an area of focus, there is of focus for Warrington & Co and area on which management of the Warrington economy. a risk that the market alone will reports for the area are presented information is consistently not solve the office obsolescence to Warrington BC. reported, with the appropriate The success of Warrington East in issue and with large numbers of objectives set and actions the regional economy has almost offices constructed at a similar In terms of focus, it is important taken. Private sector been achieved by stealth. As a time, the rental levels will fall, high that the main measure is investment into the built estate location reliant on car-borne quality office refurbishment will investment into the built estate. If should be tracked (not just commuting the area has been out become uneconomic and there there is simply a focus on occupancy rates) and become of alignment with much new will be a downward spiral in the occupancy rates there is a risk the area of focus. economic development strategy quality of the offer whilst new that as the economy accelerates and the focus of local policy has locations attract the higher quality the area will appear to be largely been on alternative occupiers. performing well but the underlying projects such as Bridge Street and issues which will affect the area Omega. over time (obsolescence) will be hidden below a veneer of Warrington East remains a apparently good news. success and can continue to be so.
This will require Warrington East to be an area of significant policy focus for the next 3-5 years. Large amounts of the commercial If large amounts of stock become Experience from elsewhere 8. Warrington & Co needs to map building stock within Warrington obsolete and therefore virtually suggests that stock deterioration the ownerships, lease lengths East has now reached the point unlettable there will be a and reducing attractiveness and of units across Warrington where the fabric of many of the downward spiral in the rents that values is generally not reversed East. There is a need to buildings, and the mechanical and can be charged. Some landlords by market forces alone especially engage with owners electrical installations, will require will be tempted to offer their in locations where there is a large (particularly where there is a major refurbishment or the property at a massively amount of stock in different large amount of ageing, vacant property will become virtually discounted rental level rather than ownership available for rent but all or difficult to let stock) and unlettable. Large institutional face large renovation bills. of a similar age. understand the opportunities investors with long term leasehold for investment or willingness occupiers generally have little The effect of some discounted Where stock is held by long term owners to dispose of freehold incentive to undertake rental levels is likely to create a tenants there is a disincentive for interests. Information on future refurbishment but this is leaving downward force on the remaining incremental investment by strategies for the area, trend entire areas of Birchwood at risk market rental levels. If market landlords who are receiving a information on lettings and of obsolescence. rentals are reduced, the potential steady rental stream which is not enquiries; and information on Warrington East 5
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Areas of Warrington East, notably return that landlords can expect to enhanced by investment over other willing investors interest the Grange, have also seen gain from property even if they anything other than the long term. can facilitate this discussion. increases in incidents of crime, undertake expensive This recommendation will including vandalism of and theft refurbishment work will be Where vacant stock is held by involve the letting agents for a from properties and vehicles. reduced. This will further large institutional investors, whilst scheme (where relevant) or Strong concern has also been exacerbate the problem. there is an incentive to gain new introducing opportunities to expressed by stakeholders about tenants when property falls investors where letting agents illegal Gypsy and Traveller Areas of built estate which are vacant, the imperative is not as are not involved. Dialogue with encampments both in Woolston vacant, old and in need of urgent as for a smaller property all the active agents through Grange and across Birchwood. refurbishment are unattractive to owner. Furthermore, larger this process will be important – other occupiers. This outcome is financial investors may accept a but a regular dialogue with perhaps more acute in a New lower rent on a diminishing asset large scale / institutional Town location where a large rather than choose to invest when investors will also be amount of stock was built at the any possible upside rental beneficial. same time. This outcome can be remains uncertain. By this stage seen in the older new towns of the the property is likely to have 9. Where small scale (SME) Skelmersdale (particularly generated the required return investors or SME owner Gillibrands); Halton (particularly against which the original occupiers are identified there Astmoor) and Cramlington / purchase price was calculated and remains an opportunity to Washington. In all these cases a even a small return is a ‘windfall’. create a small revolving fund decline in the physical quality of to help finance commercial accommodation has been There is an opportunity for property refurbishment. Such a accompanied by negative social Warrington & Co to intervene fund could be established as a effects, notably increases in crime proactively in this dynamic. Work sub-fund of ERDF, use an against property and vehicles. of this type would involve existing RGF loan vehicle, Vacant, or underused sites, can information provision; influence; become a sub-fund of a future also become a focus for and occupier / agent / investor LEP funding stream or be vandalism, trespass, illegal linkages. This is somewhat similar financed directly by the encampments and associated to the English URC model of the Council. Any such vehicle unauthorised activities. late 1990s / 2000s. would be self-financing but would be intended to address A continual renewal process is those areas where small required to avoid a downward companies could not raise spiral in occupier attractiveness finance. and investment values. Such a spiral must be avoided if Warrington East is to remain an 10. Multiple ownership and important economic location. leasehold occupiers has also resulted in some areas where Warrington East 6
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations the physical environment has deteriorated and where responsibility for upkeep is blurred / un-enforced. In places the situation has been compounded by some increases in crime and the encroachment of Gypsy and Traveller encampments on vacant/underused land. Whilst work through organisations such as the Birchwood Forum (in that area) is invaluable in assisting in engagement on matters such as this, in the case of Woolston Grange there appears to be justification for more proactive work and as such consideration could be given to the provision of extra resources to the Birchwood Forum. There is an opportunity to engage tenants in strategy improvements and one method that could be employed is to develop a Business Improvement District (BID) covering the Woolston Grange area. Such a scheme based on employer / owner contributions could be focused on physical estate improvements; signage and crime reduction. BIDs tend to work well when there is a clearly defined area of influence.
Warrington East 7
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations Sector Support Warrington East has quietly Without a strategy to track the In terms of a strategy for securing 11. Ensure on-going engagement developed into the most important nuclear opportunities (projects, inward investment Warrington has with Sellafield Ltd to provide concentration of private sector tenders, successful bidders and a strong offer in: as much support as possible employment in Cheshire & market entrants), as well as . Nuclear so that the organisation can Warrington. This position has, to a marketing material that fully sets . Consulting engineering continue to make a strong large extent, been gained through out the attractions of Birchwood, is . IT and telecoms case for remaining in employment by engineering to take a risk that occupiers (even . Water Warrington East to counteract businesses in general and by those with links to the area) will . Business Process any potential threat of nuclear engineering related select locations scattered across Outsourcing (BPO) relocation to West Cumbria. companies in particular. North West England. This is even . Logistics As part of this process, the more likely as competitor locations need to develop a relationship The nuclear decommissioning and offer new fit for purpose units. A Whilst occupiers will determine with the NDA to ensure that nuclear new build opportunities lack of accommodation in their own location strategy, this Warrington East continues to will create long term and Warrington East has already report does suggest that: meet their requirements as significant capital expenditure forced some occupiers to select well as identifying potential requirements (and therefore very Daresbury Park as a location and a) Nuclear, consulting supply chain opportunities is significant contract opportunities). there is a risk that a critical mass engineering and IT / also key. This is likely to drive investment in is achieved in Daresbury which telecoms are sectors for the near term. starts to attract others. which Birchwood is a 12. The importance of the nuclear practical and valued sector points to the need to put In addition consulting engineering As this report identifies, Sellafield location. more resources into this strengths and the number of large must justify their Warrington b) BPO occupiers (and other sector. With extra resources, scale infrastructure projects location against Cumbria every 3 large administrative The Birchwood based Nuclear underway in the UK (particularly years. There is a strong case for functions / call centres) Forum could be an opportunity energy and rail) will drive demand working more closely with tend to favour town centre for developing more proactive for a location which allows client Sellafield on their requirements locations at the confluence work in this area. The locations to be reached easily and since failure to do so risks the loss of transport routes – this is importance of socio economic has a reputation for strength in the of one of Warrington’s most the opportunity for the benefits within the activity NDA sector. important occupiers (and in terms renaissance of Warrington and Sellafield Ltd could be an of clustering the most important). Town Centre. opening to attract more If high quality offices are provided c) Modern logistics resources. The existing pinch there is no reason why additional companies need a more points in the nuclear supply sectors should not select space than Warrington chain and the drive by the Birchwood as a location but it East can provide – this is NDA to make more use of the should be recognised that now fulfilled by Omega SME base is an opening for Birchwood does represent one of (and Appleton) supporting appropriate SMEs very few areas of genuine based in Warrington to specialism, involving multiple diversify to serve this industry. Warrington East 8
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations tenants, in North West England. 13. Track the nuclear opportunities and establish the Birchwood offer. Major contract decisions on further decommissioning, new build at Wylfa and the next wave of new sites will create more opportunities either for existing Birchwood tenants (creating a need for new space) or for new entrants who could be attracted to Birchwood. This will need continued Business Engagement work, proactive inward investment activity including with UKTI.
14. Establish similar investment offers for Warrington around logistics and BPO but which have a primary focus on areas outside Warrington East. Demographics The population of Warrington East As an economic strategy for a It is recognised that the new 15. An approach to limit housing is ageing and declining. This is relatively small area of the town, housing provision identified for development to in-fill sites is representative of a combination of and with recognition that a large Warrington is predominantly consistent with the the New Town demographic proportion of the Warrington East located in the centre and the recommended strategy for (aspirational young working workforce travels from outside the western edges of the town. Such Warrington East. families moved to Warrington East Borough to work, the fact that the an approach to house building will in the late 1970s and early 1980s overall population is falling not help the local demographic in 16. This report identifies a lack of and are now approaching relatively slowly is not likely to Warrington East but given the car industrial and warehousing retirement age), and the recent represent a significant issue for borne characteristics of the labour space; a lack of car-parking; national demographic trends for the overall objectives of market, this is unlikely to an opportunity to reserve smaller households. With a Warrington East. dramatically impact on the local some land for limited retail reduction in the average number economy. supply; and a belief that the of people per house, without new The falling (and aging) population office market can recover. All housing being created, the combined with the associated The alternative to an acceptance these uses will take-up land population of an area will typically drop in economic activity will that the house-building is and it is therefore expected Warrington East 9
Strategy
Issue Do Nothing Strategy Recommendations fall. reduce local disposable income concentrated in central and that there will be few levels. This is likely to have a western Warrington is to adopt a opportunities to re-allocate negative impact on local resident strategy that over time land for residential use. retail expenditure (although not as employment land is recycled for significant as in other areas residential use. This would be 17. Housing provision in because of the predominance of contrary to the overall vision Birchwood and Fearnhead is convenience over comparison identified for the area. based on stock which was retail). constructed in the 1970s and The result is that residential 1980s. There are some areas A fall in local population and a development in Warrington East is of Birchwood where the social reduction in the economically likely to be restricted to in-fill sites. housing (in particular) is active population are also likely to suffering from a lack of increase the number of investment and there is a need commuters into the area, who will for renovation. There is the take up jobs previously held by opportunity for a dialogue with local people. Golden Gates housing on the prioritisation for housing investment. One idea would be to ring fence new-homes bonus / RTB receipts in Warrington East for re- investment in this stock. However, there would need to be an exercise carried out first to evidence that the housing stock required certain improvements such as energy efficiency before any reinvestment form New Homes Bonus could be justified.
Warrington East 10
Palmyra Quarter Update – June 2014 Aims – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
• Engage with residents, businesses Photo and visitors
• Establish transport and public realm issues within the Palymra Quarter
• Identify specific area based transport and public realm issues Photo • Provide evidence base for developing a medium term improvements plan
Page 2 Consultation Area – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Page 3 Process – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
• Postal Questionnaire to all residents and businesses in consultation area
• Questionnaires in Contact Centres
• Questionnaires in Warrington Bank Quay, Central and the Bus Interchange
• Internet response form on WBC website
• Email address
• Postal address
• Telephone response
• Engagement events at The Gateway and Golden Square
• Stakeholder event at the The Gateway
Page 4 Questionnaires – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Page 5 Engagement Boards– Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Page 6 Public Events – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Page 7 Summary Response Results – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
• 2,000 questionnaires printed and 1,288 distributed
• 6 online responses
• 45 questionnaire responses
• 3 engagement sessions
• 1 stakeholder workshop
• 3 public information stands
– Golden Square: 107 members of the public engaged; 87 questionnaires distributed
– Gateway: 13 members of the public engaged; 13 questionnaires distributed
• Response rate of 5%
Page 8 Issues by Location – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
• Respondents were asked to identify where various transportation/public realm issues exist.
• These issues were categorised and mapped into the following categories:
– Parking issues
– Walking & Cycling issues
– Community issues
– Public transport issues
– Signage issues
– Infrastructure & Manoeuvring issues
– Pollution issues
Page 9 Parking Issues – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Key areas:
• Crosfield Street
• Palmyra Square North
• Springfield Street
• Cairo Street
Key comments:
‘Parking is an issue in the town centre; more parking is needed’
‘Parking restrictions are a big deterrent for consumers’
Page 10 Walking & Cycling Issues – Palmyra Quarter Consultation Key areas:
• Midland Way
• Springfield Street
• Bridge Street
Key comments:
‘More pedestrian zones and green spaces are needed’
‘I am alarmed by the speed of traffic within the vicinity of the pedestrian crossing points’
Page 11 Community Issues – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Key areas:
• Winmarleigh Street
• Cairo Street
• Bold Street
Key comments:
‘Cultural Quarter doesn’t exist to Warrington residents’
‘Bridge Street is a disgrace’
‘No primary reason for going to this area other than for work purposes’
Page 12 Public Transport Issues – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Key areas:
• Legh Street
• Sankey Street
• Bold Street
Key comments:
‘Public transport should be better advertised from the quarter’
‘Introduce bus lanes’
‘The town doesn’t feel linked’
Page 13 Signage Issues – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Key areas:
• Palmyra Square North
• Bold Street
Key comments:
‘More cycling signs needed’
‘Remove excess signage around Queens Gardens’
‘Signposting for visitors… and an entrance to the Cultural Quarter should be created’
Page 14 Information & Manoeuvering Issues – Palmyra Quarter Consultation Key areas:
• Midland Way
• Sankey Street
• Wilson Patten Street
Key comments:
‘Widening is required at Midland Way/Froghall Lane’
‘Traffic calming is needed… to reduce rat-running’
‘HGV restrictions ignored’
Page 15 Pollution Issues – Palmyra Quarter Consultation
Key areas:
• Crosfield Street
• Parker Street
• Bold Street
Key comments:
‘Traffic congestion on Crosfield Street is appalling’
‘Noise pollution is a major issue at night’
Noise and pollution levels are unacceptable’
Page 16 Next Steps
• WBC need to consider the results of the consultation
• Necessary reporting
• Escalation for review and approval by Executive Board
• WBC officers need to identify some potential solutions to the issues raised
• Development of potential options
• Further public and stakeholder consultation required on the potential solutions
• Agreement of solutions and inclusion within a delivery programme
Page 17 Transportation Warrington Borough Council May 2014
Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report
Prepared by: ...... Checked by: ...... Nicola Kennon Jamie Birtles Graduate Consultant Principal Consultant
Approved by: ...... Mark Edwards Regional Director
Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report
Rev No Comments Checked by Approved Date by
1 New York Street, Manchester, M1 4HD Telephone: 0161 601 1700 Website: http://www.aecom.com
Job No 60282132 Reference M001.021 Date Created May 2014
This document is confidential and the copyright of AECOM Limited. Any unauthorised reproduction or usage by any person other than the addressee is strictly prohibited. f:\projects\development - warrington waterfront phase ii\16. consultation\palmyra square consultation\palmyra cultural quarter consultation report.docx
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AECOM Limited considers that the following constitutes exempt information on grounds of confidentiality and commercially sensitive information under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which shall not be disclosed to third parties -
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The above information is not to be made available to the public for at least six years from the end of the project, unless specifically agreed otherwise. We would be grateful to be informed of all requests by third parties for information contained in this document.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ...... 2 1.1 Purpose ...... 2 1.2 Scope ...... 2 1.3 Wider Context ...... 2 2 Approach ...... 5 2.1 Overview ...... 5 2.2 Method ...... 5 3 Outputs ...... 10 3.1 Structure ...... 10 3.2 Public Engagement Sessions ...... 10 3.3 Stakeholder Workshop ...... 11 3.4 Requested Engagement Events ...... 12 3.5 Postal and Internet Reponses ...... 14 3.6 Demographics and Equality Analysis ...... 29 3.7 Telephone, Email and Postal Responses ...... 31 3.8 General Comments ...... 32 4 Key Findings & Conclusion ...... 34 4.1 Key Findings ...... 34 4.2 Conclusion ...... 34 Appendix A – Postal Questionnaire ...... 35 Appendix B - Plans ...... 36 Appendix C – Consultation Comments Received ...... 37
1 Introduction
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 2
Capabilities on project: Transportation 1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose AECOM has been commissioned to undertake a public consultation exercise to understand the issues and problems of respondents with regards to transportation and public realm in the Palmyra Cultural Quarter area of Warrington Town Centre. Warrington Borough Council (WBC) would like to understand the transportation and public realm issues and problems in the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. WBC intends to use the information gathered through the consultation to inform future plans for improvements to the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. 1.2 Scope The consultation area extends from Midland Way in the north to south of Wilson Patten Street in the south. This extends to Bridgefoot Bypass and Bridge Street in the east and to Parker Street in the west. Figure 1.1 shows the consultation area.
Figure 1.1: Consultation Area
The consultation aimed to gather a broad understanding of the transportation and public realm issues affecting residents, business and visitors to the Palmyra Cultural Quarter area. The consultation asked consultees a range of questions about the issues that they encounter, including offering the opportunity to specify exact locations, through a variety of mediums. The approach is detailed more clearly in Chapter 2. 1.3 Wider Context The Palmyra Cultural Quarter represents a key development area for the continued growth and success of the Town Centre. The area is characterised by a mix of residences, business and leisure venues that WBC are keen to support. There is a documented history of transportation and public realm issues within and around the Palmyra Cultural Quarter area and the impacts of the wider transportation network cause residual problems within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 3
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Photo 1: Buses on Sankey Street Photo 2: Residential areas in the PCQ
The Palmyra Cultural Quarter is enclosed by two key Town Centre highway routes, from Parker Street and Wilson Patten Street, both of which lead into the gyratory at Bridgefoot. In addition, two key Town Centre bus corridors run through the Palmyra Cultural Quarter from Legh Street to either Sankey Street or Bridge Street. The Palmyra Cultural Quarter is located within walking distance of the key Town Centre retail areas and the Town Hall. There are pockets of residential development within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter, in addition to a range of day and night time business and leisure activities. A failure to resolve some of the existing transportation and public realm issues that this consultation highlights will have ongoing impacts on all the existing activity within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter.
2 Approach
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 5
Capabilities on project: Transportation
2 Approach
2.1 Overview The consultation needed to give respondents the opportunity to tell WBC their transportation and public realm issues. This needed to provide a number of avenues for understanding, discussion and response, ensuring that no groups were excluded from the consultation. The following avenues for response were established: . Internet based consultation webpage and response form; . Postal questionnaire hand delivered to all residents/business within the consultation area; . Postal questionnaires placed in two town centre Contact Centres, Central Rail Station, Bank Quay Rail Station and Warrington Bus Interchange; . Staffed public exhibition in Golden Square Shopping Centre on a weekend shopping day; . Staffed public ‘drop in’ events at The Gateway in Warrington Town Centre; . Invitation only key stakeholder workshop at The Gateway; . Telephone response line; . Email response box; . Postal mail response address; and . On-request meetings with relevant council officer to discuss issues related to the consultation. This followed an official press release to mark the opening of the consultation advertised in the Warrington Guardian. The following section outlines the method taken and the items above in more detail. 2.2 Method AECOM was commissioned to organise the overall consultation, part-staff the engagement sessions, produce the consultation materials and report on the findings. The consultation ran from 6th March until the 10th April (inclusive). A postal mailout to all residences and businesses started w/c 3rd March and completed w/c 10th March. The internet consultation webpage and response form was live from 6th March. Copies of postal leaflets were placed in public locations including the WBC Contact Centres, Central Rail Station, Bank Quay Rail Station and Warrington Bus Interchange by w/c 10th March. 2.2.1 Printed Postal Questionnaire AECOM produced a multi-purpose questionnaire that was delivered to all residences and businesses within the consultation area, used at public events to hand out to interested members of the public and was included as a download with an interactive response form on the webpage (Figure 2.1). The questionnaire was freepost. Appendix A includes a copy of the postal questionnaire.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 6
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 2.1: Postal Questionnaire Cover
AECOM printed 2,000 questionnaires and distributed 1,288 to residents, businesses and members of the public. The questionnaires contained the following questions: . Map based response inviting respondents to identify spatial locations of issues within the consultation area; . Open response asking respondents to identify transport and public realm issues within the consultation area; . Closed response asking respondents to identify a issue ‘category’ based on 12 closed response options; and . Additional information about home/work postcode and travel to work modes.
The questionnaires also included the standard equality and diversity questions. 2.2.2 Internet Based Responses An internet based webpage was setup on the WBC ‘Consultations’ section of the council website. This included some outline information about the reasons for the consultation, information about public events and ways to respond (Figure 2.2). The webpage also included a link to an online response form.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 7
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 2.2: WBC Webpage and Response Form
2.2.3 Public Exhibitions A joint WBC/AECOM/Mott Macdonald team ran the following public exhibitions: . Staffed public exhibition in Golden Square Shopping Centre on 22nd March 2014; . Staffed public ‘drop in’ events at The Gateway in Warrington Town Centre on 26th March 2014 during both afternoon and evening sessions; and . Invitation only key stakeholder workshop at The Gateway on 27th March 2014.
Golden Square Exhibition The public exhibition at Golden Square ran from 9am-5pm on Saturday 22nd March 2014. There was a manned stand (minimum three staff) at the main entrance to Golden Square Shopping Centre. The team erected consultation boards with plans and information about the consultation for the public to browse, in addition to promotional materials and consultation leaflets available for members of the public to take away. Officers were available to members of the public and attempts were made to engage the public, explain the aims of the consultation and garner opinions/thoughts.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 8
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Photo 2.1: Consultation Stand – Golden Square Photo 2.2: Promotional Materials
The Gateway Drop In Events A joint WBC/AECOM/Mott Macdonald team staffed ‘drop in’ events at The Gateway on 26th March 11am-2pm and 5-8pm. These events were advertised prior to the Saturday through the press release and through the consultation leaflet. These events were located within the consultation area and gave respondents the opportunity to discuss issues with a council officer and collect further information/materials if required.
Photo 2.3: Gateway ‘Drop In’ Stand Photo 2.4: Consultation Leaflets
The Gateway - Key Stakeholder Workshop A joint AECOM/WBC/Mott Macdonald team facilitated an invitation only stakeholder workshop session. The aim of the session was to allow local stakeholder groups, residents groups, businesses and other representatives to outline the specifics of their transportation and public realm issues within a closed setting. The team introduced the purpose of the stakeholder workshop and then split the stakeholders into two groups, working through a series of map based discussions to understand the key issues arising. Then the groups were regrouped and asked to identify some potential solutions to the issues raised in the earlier session. 2.2.4 Email, Telephone and Postal Responses WBC made the Local Transport Plan email and phone number available to respondents if they wanted to represent their issues via these mediums. In addition, the WBC Transportation mail address at New Town House was identified as a route for representation. The details were included on the webpage and the postal questionnaires. This was also to allow those with visual impairments or learning difficulties to request the consultation response forms in a more accessible format. 2.2.5 On Request Meetings WBC also made officers available to attend on request meetings with individuals or groups that wished during the consultation period.
3 Outputs
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 10
Capabilities on project: Transportation
3 Outputs
3.1 Structure This section of the report presents the results of the public consultation exercise which was held during March and April 2014. The consultation process contained six key elements: . Public Engagement Sessions: o Public stands in Golden Square Shopping Centre o Drop-in events at The Gateway Community Centre . Invitation-only stakeholder workshop; . By request engagement with specific interest groups; . Postal leaflet and internet responses; and . Telephone, Email and Postal Responses.
The results of the above are detailed below. 3.2 Public Engagement Sessions As stated in the method, the project team conducted the following public engagement sessions: . Staffed public exhibition in Golden Square Shopping Centre on 22nd March 2014; and . Staffed public ‘drop in’ events at The Gateway in Warrington Town Centre on 26th March 2014 in both afternoon and evening.
Golden Square Exhibition
The Golden Square exhibition engaged with 107 members of the public and distributed 87 consultation leaflets. General comments relating to the following were discussed: . Inappropriate parking on Crosfield Street; . Loading and taxi parking on Sankey Street; . Turning circle and pedestrian safety on Legh Street; . Parking and access to Parr Hall/Pyramid; . Traffic on Parker Street/Wilson Patten Street; . Pedestrian access between Bank Quay Rail Station and the Town Centre; . Pedestrian safety across Sankey Street; and . Pedestrian safety in Bank Park.
Respondents were asked to respond officially to the consultation using the consultation leaflet response form. The comments are noted here as a general impression of discussions of note during the exhibition. The Gateway Drop In Events The Golden Square exhibition engaged with 13 members of the public and distributed 13 consultation leaflets. General comments relating to the following were discussed:
. High quality environmental enhancements required; . Café culture with street furniture; . Traffic levels on Crosfield Street; . Highways signing needs improving; and . Cleanliness in the town centre needs addressing.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 11
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Respondents were asked to respond officially to the consultation using the consultation leaflet response form. The comments are noted here as a general impression of discussions of note during the exhibition. The results of the above are detailed below.
3.3 Stakeholder Workshop AECOM/Mott MacDonald/WBC held an invitation only stakeholder workshop. Various key stakeholder groups across Warrington were invited to attend. The following were represented: . Matthew Harris – Warrington Collegiate . Mike Lyne – Warrington Advanced Motorists . Dave Rostron – WBC . Phil Pearson – Network Warrington . Nick Wheeler – WBC Taxi Licensing . Alyn Jones - WBC . Mike Dunn – Culture Warrington . Richard Fleming – Culture Warrington . Maurice Leslie – Warrington Cycle Campaign . Lynne Bennett – The Gateway . John Gardner – Association of British Motorcyclists . Cllr Parish . Cllr O’Neill – Leader of WBC Council
As detailed in the methodology, the team engaged with the stakeholders in two structured group sessions intended to capture in- depth details about their experiences of transportation and public realm issues within the PCQ. Graph 3.1: Key Stakeholder Transport & Public Realm Issues
20% 18% 18% 17% 16% 16% 14% 13% 12% 10% 8% 7% 7% 8% 5% 6% 4% 4% 2% 2% 1% 1%
Percentage of Respondents (%) of Respondents Percentage 0% 0%
Other Signing
Congestion Road safety Bus access Cycle parking Cost of parking Inadequate parking Access to property High bus movements High vehicle movements Provision for disabled people Pedestrian and cycle safety
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 12
Capabilities on project: Transportation
A sample of the comments made during the workshop include:
Open and accessible for all needs to be maintained Rat runs around Bridgefoot caused due to tailbacks Cost of parking too high Access only signs not enough Winmarleigh crossing to Museum St
In addition, the stakeholder workshop group were asked to provide some thoughts on initial improvements that WBC might want to consider. Thoughts included: . Improve pedestrian link between Bank Quay and Town Centre; . Look at lighting and access points; . Extend CCTV; . Look at a long term plan over 25 years; . Exempt cyclists on the one-way orders; . Improve the public realm; . Ensure there is no detriment to public transport; . Improve access for people living with disabilities; . Extend and improve parking; . Improve capacity on Wilson Patten to Bridgefoot; . Improve for motorcyclists; . Provide public transport for passengers; . Improve access for pedestrians; . Oppose a big one way but a small one way OK; and . Deliver park and ride into the town centre.
3.4 Requested Engagement Events WBC offered key stakeholder groups the opportunity to request one-to-one or wider engagement events with a relevant WBC representative. The following groups requested this engagement:
. Speak Up Warrington; . IMPACT and Youth Parliament; and . Town Centre Board.
Speak Up Warrington
WBC also engaged with a key stakeholder group, ‘Speak Up Warrington’ that seeks to ensure that those people with learning difficulties are represented. A member of the AECOM team visited the ‘Speak Up Warrington’ group during March at their monthly meetings to explain the purpose of the consultation and gain views. The stakeholder workshop session was facilitated by a member of the Speak Up Team who worked with the AECOM team to ensure that all points were understood and conveyed appropriately.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 13
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Graph 3.2: Speak Up Warrington Transportation and Public Realm Issues
50% 47% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 20% 15% 10% 10% 10% 7% 3% 3% 5%
Percentage of Respondents (%) of Respondents Percentage 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Other Signing
Congestion Road safety Bus access Cycle parking Cost of parking Inadequate parking Access to property High bus movements High vehicle movements Provision for disabled people Pedestrian and cycle safety
A sample of the comments made during the engagement session include:
Springfield St is dangerous as cars turn in from Sankey St Lots of drop offs and collections to The Gateway – a loading bay would be good Crossing Sankey Street and near the Museum is difficult Sankey Street bus stop – need to cross over the road to access The Gateway Uneven pavements outside The Gateway recently highlighted by a fall during a fire drill
IMPACT and Youth Parliament
WBC engaged with the local Youth Parliament and IMPACT, a stakeholder group run by person under 19 to represent the views of young people within Warrington. A one hour engagement session was conducted during the groups weekly meeting on 23.04.14 and used plans and discussion to stimulate inputs. The following comments were made during the session:
. Long wait to cross the road at Bridgefoot Gyratory; . Dangerous for cyclists on Wilson Patten Street, Sankey Street and turning the corner at Winwick Street;
. Limited areas for young people to skateboard and undertake free-running; . Dangerous for pedestrians to cross Legh Street, Sankey Street/Liverpool Road junction and Crosfield Street; . Lights needed in Bank Park and Queens Gardens; . Driver impatient on Crosfield Street; . No signs to either Bank Quay or Central Rail Station; . Block off access at Hilden Square so tables/chairs can be laid out; . The Skittles/Bridge Street is intimidating, especially at night;
. Bus and cars conflict on Sankey Street, with buses leaving indicators on whilst parked; . Why would we come into Warrington Town Centre when parks are available elsewhere;
. Passenger information on the boards at bus stops is often inaccurate and difficult to read;
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 14
Capabilities on project: Transportation
. Attitude of bus drivers to young people is poor; . Sunday service of buses is poor; and . Bus pass cost inconsistency –why is the Touch and Go’ card giving discount to under-19’s when standard youth fare is under-16’s. A number of further comments were made regarding facilities for young people, bus fare costs and transport related issues outside the consultation area. These were passed onto the relevant departments internally at WBC. Town Centre Board
WBC engaged with the Town Centre Board at their monthly meeting in April. The following key comments were noted:
. All existing bus routes need to be developed to incorporate the new cinema development. Improving access for the public needs to be a priority; and
. Babauld Street is currently unattractive and needs improving.
3.5 Postal and Internet Reponses A postal leaflet/questionnaire sent out to all of the local residents and businesses within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. In addition, an internet response form was available on the WBC website that matched the response format of the postal leaflet. The questionnaire was divided into three key areas: . About You: This included questions to ascertain respondents travel habits, including reasons for trips into Warrington Town Centre, work/home postcodes and primary mode choice; . Transport and Public Realm Issues: Respondents were asked to highlight any problems within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter and invited to detail any transport and public realm issues via comments and highlighting on a provided plan / map; and . Equality information: This included questions relating to information such as age, gender, disabilities, caring responsibilities and ethnicity.
A total of 6 online surveys were completed and 45 postal responses were received resulting in a total of 51 consultation responses. This represents a response rate of 5%. 3.5.1 Mode Choice The survey asked respondents to identify their primary mode of transport to work in a typical week. Graph 3.3 demonstrates that 54% respondents travel to work by car, 26% walk and 13% travel by some form of Public Transport. Graph 3.3: Primary Mode Spilt of Commuter Trips
60% 54% 50%
40%
30% 26%
20% 8% 10% 5% 3% 3% 3%
PercentageofRespondents (%) 0% 0% 0%
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 15
Capabilities on project: Transportation
In order to ascertain why people travel into Warrington, respondents were asked to identify their main reasons for travel into the Town Centre with the results summarised in Graph 3.4 below. It can be seen that 30% of trips are for shopping purposes, 24% for work and 24% are leisure trips. Graph 3.4: Key Reasons for Trips into Warrington Town Centre
1% 3%
18% 24% Work Shopping Leisure Resident Education 24% Other
30%
Respondents were asked to provide both their home and work postcodes in order to gain an insight into the distances travelled and type of trips made by respondents. Figure 3.1 illustrates the home postcode areas of the respondents. As can be seen, 6 respondents live in the postcode region WA5 covering Great Sankey and Penketh, 5 respondents live in WA2, covering Winwick, Orford and Fernhead and 3 respondents live in WA1 and WA4.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 16
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.1: Home Postcode Sector Area
Figure 3.2 illustrates the work locations of the consultation recipients. As highlighted, the majority of the respondents work within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter, specifically within the vicinity of Queens Gardens. A number of respondents worked outside of the consultation boundary in Postcode areas WA2 and WA4.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 17
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.2: Work Postcode Sector Area
The home postcode and work postcode data has been used to determine the distances travelled to work by each of the consultation respondents which is shown in Figure 3.3. Respondents travelled between 0.2 miles – 5.4 miles to the Palmyra Cultural Quarter with an average commuting distance of 1.8 miles.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.3: Distance Travelled from Home to the Consultation Area
3.5.2 Transport & Public Realm Issues
Respondents were asked to indicate which transport and public realm issues are problems within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter from the following 12 subject areas:
- Congestion - Access to Property - Cycle Parking - High Bus Movements - Inadequate Parking - Road Safety - Cost of Parking - High Vehicle Movements - Provision for Disabled Parking - Signing - Bus Access - Pedestrian & Cyclist Safety
Of the 51 questionnaires completed, 146 transport and public realm issues were raised. These are summarized in Graph 3.5.
AECOM Palmyra Cultural Quarter Consultation Report 19
Capabilities on project: Transportation
Graph 3.5: Summary of Transport & Public Realm Issues
18%
17% 16%
16%
14%
11%
12% 11%
10% 9%
8% 8% 8% 8%
6%
4%
3%
4%
3%
PercentageofResponses (%) 2% 2% 0%
Inadequate parking, congestion, pedestrian & cyclist safety and road safety were the four key issues identified, with 17%, 16%, 11% and 11% of respondents identifying that these are an issue in the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. The fewest concerns were regarding cycle parking, signing, bus access and high bus movements. In order to ascertain if the Palmyra Cultural Quarter issues varied between respondent groups, the consultation responses have been analysed to determine if local residents have different transport and public realm issues than the overall responses as highlighted in Graph 3.5 above. A total of 59 issues were raised by residents which is 43% of the total issues raised through the consultation. A summary of the transport and public realm issues raised by local residents is highlighted in Graph 3.6 below.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Graph 3.6: Resident Transport & Public Realm Issues
25% 20% 20%
15% 15% 13% 11% 10% 10% 10% 8% 5% 5% 3% 2% 2% 2%
0% PercentageofResponses (%)
As can be seen in Graph 3.6, inadequate parking is the primary concern for local residents with 20% of resident responses raising this issue. Congestion and pedestrian /cyclist safety were also highlighted as issues with 15% and 13% of residents raising concerns in these areas.
Analysis of the transport and public realm issues indicate that residents have the same issues with the Palmyra Cultural Quarter as the respondents who travel into Warrington Town Centre for work, educational and leisure purposes. 3.5.3 Consultation Comments
In addition to the Transport & Public Realm issues above, respondents were given the opportunity to comment, in detail, on any specific issues within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. Of the 51 completed questionnaires, 102 comments were received in this section of the questionnaire. Analysis of the results highlights the key streets/areas within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter highlighted in Figure 3.4. Appendix B includes A4 copies of the plans presented within this section.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.4: Overview of Responses Areas
Analysis of the consultation comments has identified eight key themes:
- Parking - Walking & Cycling - Community Issues - Public Transport - Signage - Congestion & Pollution - Infrastructure & Manoeuvres - Positive Feedback -
Parking In total, 25 consultation comments focused on parking related issues. Figure 3.5 illustrates the key locations within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter that have been identified as having parking related issues. These locations have been cross-referenced with a tally of the number of times the location was mentioned in the consultation responses.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.5: Parking Issues
As shown in Figure 3.5, the key area experiencing parking issues is Crosfield Street where 4 or more responses have highlighted this area as having parking issues, Legh Street and Sringfield Street each received 3-4 comments. Figure 3.5 highlights that the majority of parking related issues are situated in the southern region of the Palmyra Cultural Quarter, in particular within the vicinity of Queens Gardens. The availability of residential parking was a significant concern with regards to parking, with most comments indicating that residential parking permits are required to alleviate parking restrictions for local residents. The comments suggest that residents have to compete with local businesses and commuters for parking spaces in the Cultural Quarter. Parking time restrictions were also a common feature within the comments. Respondents stated that 30 minute parking bays limit the scope to access dining and entertainment amenities within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. Below are a summary of the parking comments received:
Parking is an issue within the town, more car parking is needed; On-street parking restrictions seem to prevent early ‘Cafe Culture’ diners from 4pm – 6pm; Parking limitations play a big deterrent for consumers to enjoy the full extent of the Cultural Quarter; As a business owner I struggle on a daily basis with deliveries and loading as there are no designated loading bays.
Walking & Cycling Figure 3.6 summarizes the locations within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter which respondents identified as having walking and cycling related issues. The key areas highlighted are Sankey Street and Bold Street, adjacent to the Golden Square Shopping Centre and at the Midland Way / Crosfield Street / Froghall Lane junction. The walking and cycling related comments mainly focused on safety with the key issue being cars obstructing pedestrian footpaths in particular along Sankey Street and Springfield Street.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.6: Walking & Cycling Issues
Below are examples of the walking and cycling comment received during the consultation:
Pedestrians can barely pass along the pavements with cars parked on the pavement, half on the road; More pedestrian zones and green spaces are needed; I am alarmed at the speed of traffic within the vicinity of the pedestrian crossing points; Cyclists always travel the wrong way up one-way streets; Footpath surfaces are very uneven and cause safety concerns.
Community Issues
In total, 16 comments were related to public realm and community issues within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter, which are highlighted in Figure 3.7. All of the comments regarding community issues were focused around the southern region of the Cultural Quarter. Winmarleigh Street received the most comments followed by Bold Street, Cairo Street and Palmyra Square. There were no community issues raised with Bank Park and the neighboring streets. Respondents are concerned with the number of derelict buildings within the Cultural Quarter, in particular along Bridge Street, Cairo Street and Egypt Street. Anti- social behavior within the vicinity of Winmarleigh Street was an issue highlighted by 3 respondents. The comments indicate that there is potential to develop and attract people into Warrington however the Palmyra Cultural Quarter is lacking an ‘atmosphere’. The comments suggest that more shops are required, alongside open-air bars and cafes to create a ‘Café Culture’.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.7: Community Issues
Comments received included:
Cultural Quarter doesn’t exist to Warrington residents; Bridge Street is a disgrace; Bridge Street and the market area look derelict; Cairo Street and Egypt Street and run down; No primary reason for going into this area other than for work purposes.
Public Transport
A total of 7 consultation responses were related to public transport issues within the Cultural Quarter. 1-2 responses were related to Bold Street, Sankey Street and the Legh Street/ Sankey Street junction as shown in Figure 3.8.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.8: Public Transport Issues
Public Transport comments received through the consultation include:
Public transport should be better advertised from the Quarter; The town doesn’t feel linked – a bus linking the areas would be beneficial; Introduce bus lanes; Buses have to swerve into the other side of the carriageway to undertake a manoeuvre on Sankey Street.
Signage
In total, 4 comments were received relating to signage issues in the Cultural Quarter. All of the signage comments were focused around the vicinity of Queens Gardens, in particular Palmyra Square as shown in Figure 3.9. The comments received were:
More cycling signs are needed; Remove excess signage around Queens Gardens; Directions are not accurate in the Cultural Quarter; Sign posting for visitors should be improved and an entrance to the Cultural Quarter should be created.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.9: Signage Issues
Infrastructure & Manoeuvres
Of the 88 consultation comments received, 24 were related to infrastructure and vehicle manoeuvres. Analysis of the comments highlights that the Midland Way / Froghall Lane / Crosfield Street junction and the Parker Street / Liverpool Road / Sankey Street junction are seen to have operational issues. The comments suggest that a key concern with both of these junctions is that right turning traffic blocks straight / ahead movements resulting, in congestion at these junctions. The comments also indicate that Wilson Patten Street experiences high levels of congestion and vehicles travel along this section of road above the speed limit. It can be seen that the key routes in the Cultural Quarter have some form of infrastructure / traffic manoeuvre issues as shown in Figure 3.10.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.10: Infrastructure Issues
The comments below summarise the infrastructure and traffic manoeuvre issues that have been highlighted through the questionnaire:
Widening is required at the Froghall Lane / Midland Way / Crosfield Street junction as right turning traffic blocks ahead movements; Traffic calming measures are needed to slow vehicles that race along during non peak periods; Vehicles form two lanes where only one lane is marked; One-way along Sankey Street towards Bold Street however being used as two-way; Hanover Street being used as a ‘rat-run’ at peak times; HGV restrictions on night time movements has gradually become ignored by some companies.
Pollution
The questionnaire also implies that respondents feel that there are pollution issues within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. As shown in Figure 3.11 there are four main areas which were identified as having pollution issues; Crosfield Street, Bold Street, Parker Street and the Liverpool Road / Parker Street / Sankey Street junction. It can be seen that these areas are also the same areas identified as having infrastructure / traffic manoeuvre issues in Figure 3.10.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.11: Pollution Issues
Traffic congestion on Crosfield Street is appalling – levels of pollution are terrible; Noise pollution is a major issue at night time due to the number of HGV movements especially after 10pm; The noise and pollution levels are unacceptable; High levels of pollution around the Liverpool Road / Parker Street / Sankey Street junction.
Positive Feedback
The comments section of the questionnaire invited respondents to highlight any issues within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter regardless of the nature of the comment. Alongside areas for improvement within the Cultural Quarter, respondents also provided positive comments for the area. A total of 6 positive feedback comments were received, 4 of which were based on Queens Gardens and Palmyra Square as shown in Figure 3.12. The positive feedback focused on recent implementations to the road network and the regeneration of the Cultural Quarter.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Figure 3.12: Positive Comments
Cultural Quarter looks great; Bars and restaurants are doing well, parks are busy in the summer; I welcome the regeneration of the Cultural Quarter – hopefully this will expand into Bridge Street; The wild flower on Bank Park looks great in the summer.
3.6 Demographics and Equality Analysis 3.6.1 Age & Gender All respondents were asked to state their gender and age. 52% of respondents were female, 48% were male. Almost 30% of respondents were aged between 45-54 and 24% were aged between 55-64. No respondents were aged above 85 years or below 16 years old. Graph 3.7 illustrates the age breakdown for both males and females.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Graph 3.7: Age / Gender of Respondents
85+
75-84 2% 65-74 7% 2%
55-64 15% 9%
45-54 9% 20% Male
Age Range Age 35-44 9% 9% Female 25-34 7% 9%
16-24 2%
Below 16
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Percentage of Respondents (%)
3.6.2 Religion Respondents were asked to state their religion, with the results summarised in Graph 3.8 below. 54% were Christian, 31% had no religious belief, 3% were Muslim and the remaining 11% did not want to disclose their religion. Graph 3.8: Religious Belief
0% 11% 0% No Religious Belief 3% 31% Buddhist Hindu Jewish Christian Muslim 0% Sikh Prefer Not to Say Other 54%
3.6.3 Disability & Caring Responsibilities
The questionnaire asked respondents to state if they had a long-term disability of which 25% of respondents consider themselves to have a disability, 55% of these respondents have a physical disability, 23% have a mental disability, 11% have a hearing impairment and 11% have a learning disability. 15% of the 51 respondents stated that they have caring responsibilities, of which 9% declared that they care for a child and the remaining 6% caring for an adult over the age of 18 years old.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
3.6.4 Ethnic Origin
Of the 51 completed surveys, 44 respondents disclosed their ethnic origin, of which 42 were White British origin, 1 was White British Gypsy and 1 was of Bangladeshi origin. 3.7 Telephone, Email and Postal Responses WBC received some limited responses via telephone, email and postal responses from the following groups: . Town Centre Wardens Group; . Voisey and Co Accountants; and . Local Members.
Town Centre Wardens
The Town Centre Wardens submitted an independent and detailed response of transportation and public realm issues based on their experience delivering the wardens service. Graph 3.9: Town Centre Wardens Transportation and Public Realm Issues
60% 57%
50%
40%
30% 21% 20% 14%
10% 7%
Percentage of Respondents (%) of Respondents Percentage 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Other Signing
Congestion Road safety Bus access Cycle parking Cost of parking Inadequate parking Access to property High bus movements High vehicle movements Provision for disabled people Pedestrian and cycle safety
A sample of the comments made by the town centre wardens include:
The gateways at Bold Street & Palmyra Square South have brick work missing, also in the Gardens we have problems with the York paving, i.e.-possible trip hazards. This makes the Gardens looking neglected. Safe cycling routs around the park, so families can bring their children to enjoy safe bike riding. Free parking after 18:00hrs week days & after 16; 00hrs Saturdays & All day Sundays The improvements of the leisure space would only bring more people in to the Cultural Quarter & the bars, restaurants, museum & library would benefit form the natural extra foot fall this would promote.
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Capabilities on project: Transportation
Voisey & Co Accountants
Voisey & Co Accountants, located within the PCQ, sent a formal letter to the WBC Transportation Service identifying their transportation and public realm issues. Three key issues were raised: . Road safety: safety between Springfield Street / Winmarleigh Street cited as a particular concern and the overall speed of buses on Bold Street; . Pedestrian flows: low pedestrian flows creates a dead space in the gardens; and . Parking and space usage: in particular the creation of shared space around the gardens with echelon parking.
Local Members
All local Members/Councillors were asked for their comments via a FREEPOST response leaflet. This was issued into each of the Councillor pigeon-holes within the council buildings at the beginning of the consultation. 3.8 General Comments Analysis of the survey results and the comments received indicates that respondents welcome the regeneration to the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. The feedback suggests that respondents feel there is a great potential for the Palmyra Cultural Quarter to develop a ‘Cafe Culture’ through the implementation of open-air bars and restaurants. Respondents would like to see a reduction in traffic volumes travelling through Warrington Town Centre which would alleviate congestion at key junctions and reduce pollution levels. Parking was a concern highlighted throughout the consultation responses; in particular residential parking with a number of respondents complaining that there is a lack of residential parking. The consultation demonstrates that there is scope to encourage walking and cycling in the Cultural Quarter by improving walking and cycling facilities, including resurfacing footpaths and providing clear signage to major attractions. There is also potential to enhance public transport in the area through the creation of new bus routes linking different areas of Warrington and providing public transport information within the Palmyra Cultural Quarter. Appendix C contains a full table of comments received.
4 Key Findings & Conclusion
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Capabilities on project: Transportation 4 Key Findings & Conclusion
4.1 Key Findings The analysis of the results has highlighted the following key findings: . The key issues within the Palymra Cultural Quarter relate to parking, congestion and pedestrian & cyclist safety; . Congestion at the Midland Way / Froghall Lane / Crosfield Street junction and Parker Street / Liverpool Road / Sankey Street junction is exacerbated by right turning traffic; . Vehicles are travelling above speed limits along Winmarleigh Street and Wilson Patten Street impacting on pedestrian safety; . Signage within the Cultural Quarter is obscure and clear signage routes are required; . There is a lack of pedestrian parking; . Parking times restriction are a deterrent for consumers to visit the Cultural Quarter; . Pedestrian footpaths are being obstructed by parked vehicles; . Pedestrian facilities need improving including resurfacing footpaths and providing clear signage to major attractions; . Pollution concerns have been identified in the same areas identified as having infrastructure / manoeuvre issues; . The number of derelict buildings in the Town Centre is creating a ‘lacking atmosphere’; and . Local residents welcome the regeneration of the area and believe that there is great potential for the Palmyra Cultural Quarter to develop a ‘Cafe Culture’ through the implementation of open-air bars and restaurants.
4.2 Conclusion Following analysis of the results the following further investigation into works is recommended: . Review of the parking arrangements on Crosfield Street to understand the nature of parking behaviour; . Enforcement of inappropriate parking at Crosfield Street; . Analysis of the movements at Midland Way/Crosfield Street junction to understand whether vehicles movements are conflicting and if any remedial works can be identified; . Analysis of pedestrian/bus/vehicle conflict at Legh Street/Sankey Street corner to understand any potential violation of the ‘Access Only’ order and whether a pedestrian safety issue at the crossing exists; . Review key pedestrian desire lines between the Town Centre and Bank Quay Rail Station, identifying any potential lighting, improvements or signing that can be instated to highlight this route; . Identify areas within Queens Gardens that would benefit from additional lighting to improve pedestrian safety in the evening; . Review existing data on parking behaviour around Queens Gardens (Springfiled Street, Palymra Square North, Palmyra Square South and Bold Street) to assess whether improvements can be made to the pedestrian environment and changes to car parking arrangements can be undertaken; . Analysis of the movements at Parker Street / Liverpool Road / Sankey Street junction to understand whether vehicle movements are conflicting and identify if any mitigation measures can be introduced; . Review the existing infrastructure on Wilson Patten Street and Winmarleigh Street to identify if there is potential to introduce speed deterrents; . Assess the use of Winmarleigh Street on approach to the Golden Gates, particularly in relation to right turning movements into Sankey Street;
. Need ensure that a review of access and loading is included within any future work proposals, in particular on Sankey Street at The Gateway and around Parr Hall/Pyramid; and
. Need to deliver a consistent standard of street improvements, building on the existing work already undertaken in other parts of the Palmyra Cultural Quarter.
PALMYRA CULTURAL QUARTER
CONSULTATION PROPOSAL
Prepared by:
Cllr Dan Price & Cllr Tony Williams
Chair & Deputy
Supporting the Local Economy Policy Committee Why did we consult?
The area around Palmyra Square will play a key role in the future development of the town centre.
The towns Cultural Quarter houses a wide variety of zones; vibrant bars and restaurants, parks and leisure areas, residential properties, offices, shops, and key civic centres such as: The Parr hall Pyramid, Museum, and Central Library.
Palmyra square is one of the jewels in Warrington’s crown and has formed an important part of the Supporting the Local Economy (STLE) policy committee 2013 work programme.
On the 3rd July 2013 the STLE policy committee unanimously recommended that a draft proposal of improvements for the Palmyra area be adopted. Consequently Warrington Borough Council wanted to hear the views of residents and businesses regarding the current and future ways pedestrians, residents, businesses, and traffic use the area.
A consultation exercise started on 6 March 2014 and ran until 10 April 2014. It is has been an important opportunity for local businesses and members of the public to discuss their ideas and concerns with council officers. This info can then be built into a future masterplan and strategy for the area.
Potential examples of common transportation issues in the area are: Congestion, signage, traffic routing, cycling, road safety, lighting, parking, disabled access, maintenance, walking, quality of the public realm, public transport access.
What do we propose?
After direct consultation with businesses, stakeholders, residents, and members of the public it is the position of the STLE committee Chair & Deputy that the scheme of work required should be carried out over a staged period of time.
The reasoning behind a staged implementation is because some aspects of the proposals can be delivered in a short period of time while other parts will need much greater analysis. Particular attention must be made to proposals concerning changes to traffic movements. In-depth traffic modelling should be carried out as part of this planning process.
In short the proposal of the Chair & Deputy is in three phases of delivery.
Phase 1 : May 2014 – Nov 2014
Phase 2 : Nov 2014 – May 2015
Phase 3 : May 2015 – May 2016 Phase 1 Palmyra Square Pedestrianisation
The part pedestrianisation of upper Springfield street and fully pedestrianisation of lower Springfield street is key to changing the feel of Palmyra Square. To complementing the existing pedestrianized areas around the Parr Hall, it is proposed that we continue this in front of the former Treasury building until Winmarleigh Street.
Pedestrianisation is shown on the left in the green areas.
There must also be a goods unloading areas incorporated within this scheme. Suggested areas are shown in Red.
When introducing the areas shown on the right, it is important to note that traffic will flow in the same direction as it currently does.
Aims of the improvements are:
1. Making the Green zones pedestrian only areas would allow for outside licensing of the current bars and restaurants. 2. Increase the likelihood of new bars/cafes/restaurants opening up in the area. (1am licensing should be formalised as this the accepted standard for the area) 3. This further visually enhances the area as a social/cultural part of the town centre and promotes a “café style” to eating and drinking. 4. As is standard practice, the introduction of pedestrianized zones will cause traffic to slow down. Drivers become more conscious of somebody stepping into the road. 5. Potential for businesses to install canopies over their outside licensed areas. Phase 1
Palmyra North Street Parking As part of phase one, a key proposal is to replace parallel parking on both sides of Palmyra North street with echelon parking as shown on your right.
Aims of the improvements are:
1. To increase the parking provision as parallel parking is very inefficient, but also offset the loss of parking from pedestrianizing Springfield Street. 2. In line with business owners requests, up to 2hr stays would be allowed using parking meters. This would also act at a much needed revenue stream for WBC, and help fund the capital investment in the area. 3. Echelon parking is much more aesthetically pleasing than parallel parking, and is actually more in keeping with the tree lined Queens Garden. It will also add to the continental style “Café Culture” the business owners are trying to achieve.
Phase 1
Cultural Quarter Car Park An absence of clearly signposted parking for the Cultural Quarter has been a recurring theme when speaking to businesses in the area. However the directional signage for the Cultural Quarter has also been called “poor and confusing”. It is the position of the Chair and Deputy, that this could be resolved by having the current Town Hall car park (shown in purple) renamed to the Cultural Quarter Car Park. Appropriate signage should be installed on all entrances to the town centre.
Furthermore the car park seems to be laid out in an inefficient manner. A one way system should be investigated to see if this would maximise the capacity and revenue of the site.
Aims of the improvements are:
1. To increase the parking provision for the area. 2. To maximise the revenue of the Car Park, and help pay towards the improvements in the Cultural Quarter. 3. To increase the visibility of the Cultural Quarter/Palmyra Square area with new signage which will aid visitors to reach their destination. Phase 1 Essential Finishing Touches As part of the revamp, it was felt that the Cultural Quarter would benefit from some addition improvements that go further than just changes to the infrastructure of the area. We should actually inject some art and iconic lighting into the area.
Lighting When asked about the lighting of the trees in Queens Gardens during the Christmas period, everyone was supportive and suggested that this could go further. With this in mind, it is proposed to actually introduce some simple lighting to act as a lighting canopy for the full length of Springfield Street. This simple installation would convert the newly pedestrianized areas into a more welcoming plaza, and attract any passing trade towards the Parr Hall & Pyramid.
Street Art The Northern Quarter in Manchester City Centre has become one of the most vibrant destinations for independent business owners. Whether they be Cafés, Restaurants, or high value retailers, all agree that street art has changed the feel of the area. By turning ugly dilapidated & abandoned buildings into much loved and visited pieces of art, the Northern Quarter has benefitted from increased visiting trade. This welcoming atmosphere to young professionals has generated positive regional press coverage. With little cost and effort, the Cultural Quarter could easily replicate Manchesters success and ensure Warrington stands out against other similar locations in neighbouring towns.
Aims of the improvements are:
1. Build on the positive effects the current lighting has made to the area. 2. Introduce a Warrington Street Art festival, or at least a number of street art exhibits to the Cultural Quarter. This will help replicate the success Manchester’s, Northern Quarter has achieved.
PHASE 2 First Impressions Phase 2 When approaching the Cultural Quarter from Sankey Street and Winmarleigh Street, visitors are overcome by the scale and imposing style of both Hilden House, and Bank Quay House. Whilst it is accepted that there are worse pieces of brutalist 70’s architecture in the town, you will not find any other buildings that have such a negative impact on an area, and actually damage the perception of the town centre as a whole.
First impressions are fundamental to attracting inward investment.
Towns and cities across the country are faced with the legacy of tower block construction. For the past two decades councils across northern Europe have been demolishing and remodelling what they can. Due to budget and resource pressures it is proposed that instead, WBC should engage with the landlords of both sites to ensure new facades and external lighting are retrofitted to the existing structures. High quality office space frontage will change the feel of the town, and further complement the current investment in Bank Park and around the town centre.
Aims of the improvements are: 1. Greatly enhance the current image of the town centre. 2. Complement the surrounding area and buildings. 3. Deliver low cost and hugely effective architecture. Phase 2 Populating our Town Centre A Crucial part of phase 2 is to increase the current housing provision in the area. In order to accomplish this it is proposed that the renamed Cultural Quarter car park is transferred from its current location (shown in purple) to the former Garven Place site (shown in yellow). Garven Place is an ideal location for low level multi story parking as it will allow traffic to pass the newly revamped Springfield street and is a much more visible location. However, the largest benefit of transferring the car park to Garven Place is that it will unlock the current car park site for development. A site of this size with such a unique location (overlooking the Town Hall front lawn) will allow for high specification mews or apartment housing. By incorporating the re-designation of the west annex and print unit (shown in red) as housing, this large scheme be a lucrative investment for WBC, and would help pay for the improvements in the broader area. Furthermore, this would allow for a significant increase in the local population, and help spur on the current and future economic growth of the Cultural Quarter.
Aims of the improvements are:
1. Increase the housing provision in the area, enabling a significant increase in the location population. 2. Transferring the car parks will enable WBC to maximise its current assets value, and pay for the redevelopment of the broader cultural quarter area. 3. Increase the parking provision, whilst also making the new location more visible than the current car park. PHASE 3 Changing Perceptions
Media City has changed the perception of Salford and the Greater Manchester area. With the delivery of the Stadium Quarter and the Bridge Street redevelopment, the Cultural Quarter will play a crucial role in changing perceptions of Warrington. Phase 3 Changing Perceptions Phase 3 of this proposal is aimed at making bold but simple changes to the town centre infrastructure. These changes will have two benefits. Firstly, we must maximise the effects of the Cultural Quarter transformation. We must ensure that visiting and passing trade leaves the town with a positive lasting impression. Secondly, increasing the traffic flow through the town centre is fundamental to the Boroughs continued economic success. Introducing a one-way system The introduction of a one-way system would consist in three parts: 1. Winmarleigh st (shown in red) would become the main highway for travelling south. This would result in the main route for the town passing directing in front of the Town Hall, and newly fronted office buildings. It would also send visitors to the town past the newly pedestrianized Palmyra street south and showcase the Pyramid centre. This would be a fantastic way to subtly showcase some of the best parts of our town. 2. Make Wilson Patten St (from the junction of Winmarleigh st) and Parker Street one-way travelling North (shown in yellow). 3. Open up Slutchers Lane, and allow traffic from Chester road to use the Blue bridge via centre park. This will enable traffic to travel from South-West Warrington to West Warrington, and avoid Bridge foot completely. Note: Both lanes travelling northwards (blue and yellow) will allow for traffic to move between lanes. They shown as separate colour-coded lanes purely to aid with the description of the proposal
Aims of the improvements are: 1. Significantly increase the flow of traffic through Warrington. 2. Showcase some of the Towns most iconic architecture, and draw visitors towards the Cultural Quarter. Phase 3 Hilden Square Pedestrianisation
Currently there is an accident risk at the corner of Sankey street and Bold street. This has resulted in a number of near misses which will require significant redesigning of the area if this is to be resolved correctly, and continue to let Buses through.
Instead it is proposed that the area is fully pedestrianized. This will allow Hilden Square to become a multi-use space, and ideal for open air markets. This would become a perfect location for Warrington's Christmas markets and we hope for this to grow year on year.
These changes will also allow for the Cultural Quarter to expand. Improvements to this part of the town will mean that businesses can lease smaller premises at a lower monthly rentals. This means less lucrative businesses such as craft shops, independent clothing retailers, bookstores etc. will be able to locate closer to the Cultural Quarter demographic. This will perfectly complement the local business community.
Aims of the improvements are:
1. Make the area safer to pedestrians. 2. Turn Hilden Square into an important centre for outdoor exhibiting, craft sales etc. 3. Start changing the business premises market. This will allow the Cultural Quarter to grow and expand towards Golden Square and Bridge Street.
Phase 3 Bus & Traffic Re-Routing Due to the newly pedestrianized Hilden Square, Buses will no longer be able to travel southwards via Bold Street. Instead is it proposed that buses either travel via Academy Way (the current way that south Warrington buses travel when driving to the Town centre), or on the Green Route as shown below.
Adopting the route below we will add under 1 min (0.2miles) to existing routes, but it will allow for buses to pick up commuters from new locations outside the Pyramid/Parr Hall and Central Library/Museum. It will also ensure that existing the key locations at Golden Square, and the new Market are protected. Aims of the improvements are: 1. Re-route traffic affected by the changes to Hilden Square. 2. Introducing a one-way down Museum Street will reduce the use as a “Rat-Run” 3. Incorporate Bus routes to pick up passengers from more key locations within the Town Centre.
New Market & Bridge Street Re-development
Pyramid & Central Library Parr Hall & Museum What do we hope will be achieved?
Through simple changes to the existing area, the Council could turn the Cultural Quarter into an alive and exciting part of the borough….
A thriving cultural atmosphere will attract the Creative sector to start-up and re-locate to Warrington….
Combining our close proximity to Media City, Warrington's vast business base, the town centres low cost office space, and a vibrant arts scene, Warrington will become the regions Creative incubator….
Agenda Item 6 (Work Programme) WARRINGTON BOROUGH COUNCIL
SUPPORTING THE LOCAL ECONOMY POLICY COMMITTEE 8 APRIL 2014
Report of the: Chairman Cllr D Price, Supporting The Local Economy Policy Committee Report Author: Julie Pickles, Democratic and Member Services Officer Contact Details: Email Address: Telephone: 01925 443212 [email protected] Ward Members: All Wards
TITLE OF REPORT: Work Programme and Monitoring of Actions and Recommendations for Supporting The Local Economy Policy Committee 2013/2014
1. PURPOSE
1.1 The purpose of the report is for the Committee to consider the work programme for the remainder of the municipal year and monitor the actions and recommendations arising from the Committee and its Working Groups.
2. CONFIDENTIAL OR EXEMPT
2.1 Not applicable
3. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
3.1 The work programme was finalised by the Committee at its meeting on 12th February 2013. Since February further work has been undertaken to develop existing topics and identify new ideas for the work programme.
3.2 This report contains details of the further work that has been undertaken and the methodology that was adopted. A revised draft work programme from February 2013 until April 2014 is attached as Appendix A for consideration by the Committee.
3.3 In addition this report also contains a progress update on the monitoring of actions and recommendations for this committee.
Agenda Item 6 (Work Programme)
4. DEVELOPING THE DRAFT WORK PROGRAMME
4.1 The work programme has been compiled in line with the guidance document “how to develop and manage a work programme”. The aim of this document is to assist councillors in the development of their work programmes. The guidance is based on best practice from the Local Government Information Unit, the Centre for Public Scrutiny and leading local authorities.
4.2 The draft topics have been selected from the current work programmes and June cycles of meetings which have been identified by members. In addition a number of new items have been identified as a result of national policy developments.
4.3 All topics have been rationalised using the criteria identified in the “work programme guidance”. The terms of reference for the committee have been referred to when putting together the draft work programmes. The key question that has been asked during this exercise is “what difference can the policy committee make by undertaking this piece of work”.
4.4 To help the policy committee manage work effectively and ensure a consistent approach the work programme has been divided into themes. The themes have been identified from some of the key areas in the Policy Committee terms of reference.
5. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
5.1 When carrying out activity Members are reminded of the general financial climate and the Council’s commitment within the ‘One Team’ framework, “to be well run and efficient.”
6. RISK ASSESSMENT
6.1 The following potential risks have been identified: recommendations not accepted by Executive Board, or not acted upon; partners unwilling to engage; insufficient capacity within Directorates to support activity following service redesign; selection of inappropriate topics, which have minimal impact or are undeliverable; capacity within the work programme to deal with matters arising.
6.2 Risks are regularly monitored and managed by the Policy Committee Chairs Forum, with the advice and support of relevant officers. Links with Partnerships and Performance are being strengthened and the delivery of the Work Programme is routinely monitored.
Agenda Item 6 (Work Programme)
7. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY/EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
7.1 Democratic and Member Services has an up to date Equality Impact Assessment for its policies and services.
7.2 Equalities issues relating to policies, services and other topics under scrutiny are the responsibility of the individual Directorates concerned. However, the committee will monitor the compliance by Directorates on equality and diversity issues when carrying out its functions.
8. CONSULTATION
8.1 Consultation with Supporting the Local Economy Policy Committee members and officers from relevant directorates was undertaken.
9. RECOMMENDATION
9.1 To approve the Work Programme for the remainder of the Municipal Year (Appendix A)
9.2 To note and comment on the Monitoring of Actions, Recommendations and Referrals (Appendix B). Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix A) Supporting the Local Economy Policy Committee - Draft Work Programme – December 2013- April 2014
Work Programme Purpose of the item Type of Policy Methodology Role of Members and Lead Priority & type Topic Development Work Anticipated Outcome Officer of agenda item Theme – Economic Development Changes to Council Tax Explore options to introduce council Respond - make Officer Report PC to provide EB with L Green Policy Legislation tax charges for empty properties and recommendations on containing their views & (A Webster) Development second homes. It is anticipated that matters that are the options for the recommendations on Completed this will help to generate additional responsibility of other PC to consider council tax charges Sept 2013 income and reduce the number of bodies empty homes in the Borough. Development of a Following changes in legislation the Respond - make Officer Report PC to provide EB with L Green Policy Business Rates Policy - council can now extend the grant of recommendations on containing recommendations on (A Webster) Development options for discretionary business rates relief. The PC will matters that are the options for the options for Completed and hardship relief explore options to help support the responsibility of other PC to consider discretionary and Sept 2013 local economy to ensure that there is bodies hardship relief a consistent and transparent approach to the grant of discretionary and hardship relief. Support to Local The PC will explore the needs of local Looking ahead – A working group Two reports the first S Park Briefing by the businesses businesses and the Chamber of impact of national has been set up focussing on Chair at April Commerce to gain a better policy developments business need. 2014 meeting understanding of their needs. Options and emerging local for a community investment bank and needs whether this will be beneficial to local businesses will also be explored. Warrington Means This programme is designed to drive Respond - make Initial officer PC to provide EB with S Park Policy Business Growth & economic growth in the Borough. It recommendations on report their views on the Development Regeneration Programme includes plans to regenerate parts of matters that are the progress of this at April 2014 the borough including the Bridge responsibility of other programme. meeting Street Area, the Stadium Quarter and bodies Omega North and South. The purpose of this item is to initially brief members with a view to reviewing its progress at a later date Agenda Item 6 (Work Programme) Appendix A Night Time Economy This topic was discussed by Looking ahead – Initial briefing Submit views to Officer members of the Stronger impact of national outlining current Executive Board with Briefing by the Communities PC following a policy developments issues. views on Chair at April weekend night time visit to the town and emerging local improvements to 2014 meeting centre. The night time economy is an needs night time economy important part of the town centre, options could be explored to improve this economy prior to the Bridge Street regeneration scheme. Theme – Infrastructure Parking Standards for This item was referred to the Policy Respond - make A Joint task and Amendment to D Boyer Briefing by residential areas Committees by Council who asked recommendations on finish Working planning policies & (M Crowther) Cllr W Hughes the PC to review planning policies to matters that are the Group with recommendations to at April 2014 improve the way in which parking is responsibility of other Strong Council meeting managed in new housing bodies Communities PC developments. has been set up. Road Infrastructure To understand where investment can Looking ahead – A task and finish Report containing D Boyer Briefing by the be made to improve the road impact of national working group recommendations to Chair at April infrastructure to benefit the local policy developments has been set up prioritise future 2014 meeting economy. The PC will also look at and emerging local investment to support current capacity, volume, existing needs the local economy plans and bids for funding. High Speed Rail Link The purpose of this item is to assess Looking ahead – Initial officer Submit views, D Boyer Briefing in (HS2) the impact and potential benefits of impact of national briefing note alternatives and September HS2 in order to maximise policy developments followed by suggested mitigating Policy opportunities. and emerging local detailed measures to the Development needs discussion Government Discussion & formal response in December Theme – Employment and Skills Skills Commission Following the Skills Commission a Reviewing Initial officer Recommendations K O’Dwyer Policy skills strategy is been developed to - Look at what we report. Further and comments on the development address the matters raised by the currently do & make working methods progress of the Timeframe to commission. The purpose of this item recommendations to be determined delivery of the Skills be clarified is to review progress on the actions for improvements Strategy contained within the strategy Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
Monitoring of Recommendations & Actions
Minute No Recommendation Referred to Action Progress & Date & Date STLE 4 Co-Optees Chairman and Chairman and 12/02/13 That annually 4 non voting co-options be made to this Committee Deputy Chairman Deputy to approach to include representatives from the following areas: 12th Feb 2013 potential co-optees • Local Business and invite the • Economic Think Tank (IPPR) committee to • Trade Union approve membership • Skills Commission STLE 5 Work Programme Chairman, Deputy Work Programme 12/02/13 That the chair, deputy chair and relevant officers further Chairman and rationalised. Invite rationalise the items submitted and share with committee Steve Park committee to members for their comments and endorsement at the next 12th February 2013 endorse meeting of the committee on 3 April 2013 recommendation that two working groups be set up to encompass the items put forward at the meeting on 12th February. STLE 9 To approve the nominees for co-option to the committee (non- 03/04/12 Nominations Agreed 03/04/13 voting);- (1) Local Business – Andy Gatcliffe – Warrington Wolves (2) Economic Think Tank (IPPR) – Luke Raikes (3) Trade Union – Stephen Rydzkowski - USDAW (4) Skills Commission – Paul Hafren – Warrington Collegiate Nominations Agreed
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
STLE 10 Protect Peel Hall Park – Petition requesting protection as a Terry Hill / John Referrred to 03/04/13 Queen Elizabeth 2nd Field – Policy Committee recommends to Rowson / Chris Executive Board for the Executive Board that the Council bid for the status to further Oliver – 03/04/13 decision protect the park STLE 11 Work Programme - 2 work streams agreed, additionally 3rd joint 03/04/13 work stream with Building Stronger Communities – want 2 members to join working group
(1) Working Group 1 - Fact finding - To liaise with the Working Group date business community to understand local business needs to set for 14/05/13 include the roll of the chamber of commerce and secondly to assess what impact would a Council led Community Investment Bank have. Membership Chair Deputy Cllr B Barr Cllr B Lines-Rowlands
Cllr T Williams
Plus Co-optees Chair to contact Clerk to advise of dates to set working group meetings (2) Working Group 2 – To review Warrington’s infrastructure, Working Group date establishing what is adversely affecting the local business set for 13/05/13 community in relation to digital, road and rail links. Membership
Chair
Deputy
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
Cllr S Parish Cllr G Settle Cllr T Williams Plus Co-optees Chair to contact Clerk to advise of dates to set working group
meetings
(3) Joint Working Policy Group (Building Stronger Nominations Communities) – Motion from Council – Residents Parking referred to J Schemes / maintenance for new housing developments Cordwell Representatives forwarded:- Cllr D Price Cllr S Woodyatt MAY 2013 ONWARDS Minute No Recommendation Referred to Action Progress & Date & Date STLE 4 Potential Part Pedestrianisation of Palmyra - Andy Farrall / Await response 03/07/13 Verbal update and presentation from Chair:- David Boyer / from Executive Recommendation agreed – report to be considered by Chris Oliver Board Executive Board 03/07/13
STLE 5 Update on work stream 1 – to liaise with the business Chair / Steve Park Report to be 03/07/13 community to understand local business needs, to include Danny Mather presented to next the role of the Chamber of Commerce and assess what 03/07/13 meeting of impact a council led community investment bank would committee have 30/09/13
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
Verbal update and presentation from Chair (survey):-
Survey to commence Recommendation agreed – to adopt the approach taken by Cheshire East Council in liaising with the business community (targeting 500 Warrington Businesses) – and the committee to add specific questions to the survey and for these to be emailed to S Park for inclusion by Friday, 19 July.
Verbal update by Danny Mather in relation to his recent meeting at Cambridgeshire Council about their community investment bank, noted, that it lends money to small to middle size business, Danny to provide further update at next meeting of Committee. STLE 6 Update on work stream 2 – to review Warrington’s Chair / David Report to be 03/07/13 infrastructure and establish what is adversely affecting the Boyer / presented to local business community in relation to digital, road and rail Julie Pickles meeting of links 03/07/13 committee 12/12/13 Update presentation by David Boyer;- HS2, Devolution of Major Capital Spend from DFT, other changes in the rail industry, Northern Hub and Warrington West. Major Capital Schemes, transport infrastructure, local sustainable Plans, Sankey Way, Connect 17 Bus Service. Lower Bridge Street improvements
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
Brian Bevan Island – quick wins
Chair reported new problem of business moving from Centre Park – Chair wants the working group to meet in next 2 months to see if any problems or issues can be resolved
STLE 11 Changes to Council Tax Recommendation Placed on Forward 30/09/13 agreed – report to Plan 17/09/13 be considered by (031/13) Executive Board Will be considered by Executive Board at meeting 11/11/13 STLE 12 Changes to Business Rates – Mandatory Discretionary and Recommendation Placed on Forward 30/09/13 Hardship Reliefs agreed – report to Plan 17/09/13 be considered by (032/13) Executive Board Will be considered by Executive Board at meeting 11/11/13
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
STLE 13 Update on work stream 1 – to liaise with the business Verbal update and 30/09/13 community to understand local business needs, to include presentation the role of the Chamber of Commerce and assess what Steve Park impact a council led community investment bank would (business survey) have Danny Mather (community investment bank)
Verbal update from Placed on FP to be Steve Park - considered by EB telephone survey on 11/11/13 and ready to Report to be commence, presented to next targeting 250 meeting of businesses. committee Recommendation 12/12/13 agreed – report to be forwarded to Executive Board (Non key decision) to request that there is a release of funds (£7000) to allow business survey to commence
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
Verbal update by Report to be Danny Mather in presented to next relation to the meeting of community committee investment bank – 12/12/13 joint venture Cambridgeshire Council and Cambridge University, Danny to provide future update
STLE 19 Update on Work Stream 1 – To liaise with the business Survey to be Report Noted 12/12/13 community to understand local business needs, to include completed by the the role of the Chamber of Commerce and assess End of January what impact a Council led Community 2014 - Results to Investment Bank would have be present to the Committee in February 2014
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
Evaluation of options currently taking place Report Noted
Option to enter into a partnership with Cambridge and Counties Bank no longer possible at the current time. The Cambridge and Counties Bank have raised additional funding from their current stakeholders (Cambridge County Council and Cambridge University) and they do not want any further investors at this current time
Option for a future partnership with Cambridge and Counties Bank may exist in a year or two’s time
£30m Invest to Save Bid for setting up a Warrington Community Investment Bank has been submitted for the next 3 year capital programme
Outline proposal on setting up a Warrington Community Investment Bank to be presented to the Leader, Cllr Bowden and Cllr Keane in the new year
If the Invest to Save Scheme is agreed the business case will be developed in 2014/15
STLE 20 Update on workstream 2 – To review Warrington’s Report Noted Further Report to 12/12/13 infrastructure and establish what is adversely affecting the be considered at local business community in relation to digital, road and rail April 2014 meeting
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
links
STLE 21 Child Poverty Annual Report 2012/2013 Report deferred to K Williams / A 12/12/13 future meeting McCormack
STLE 22 WA Presentation Recommendation S Park / Chairman 12/12/13 – That this committee supports the concept of work done by WA in promoting digital services in Warrington. Agrees the value of promoting the free access to the networking opportunities within Warrington to make Warrington businesses aware
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
of the digital services available. Seeks to help WA Creative to further expand the not for profit arm for the benefit of Warrington Businesses and the local economy.
STLE 27 Business Survey 2013 Survey now S Park / Chairman 05/02/14 completed and as a result working groups to be formed at next meeting STLE 28 Local Enterprise Partnership Overview of LEP Report Noted 05/02/14
Working Group Final Report Recommendations
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.. Agenda Item 6 Work Programme (Appendix B)
2013
Title of Working Group
Recommendation Referred Response/Comments Progress Review to & Date Date
Schedule of Future Meeting Dates
Meeting Dates Where possible, draft Final documentation to be provided no documentation to be provided later than no later than 2013 30th September Friday 10th September Friday 20th September 12th December Friday 22nd November Friday 29th November
2014 5th February Friday 17th January Friday 24th January 9th April Friday 21st March Friday 28th March
Progress Legend Completed Progressing to target Early progress / just started Not started (lower priority) Complete – Immediate review Issues (exception) programmed
NOTE: The Equality Act 2010 includes a number of protected characteristics which are as follows: - Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. For further information please refer to http://www.equalityhumanrights.com..