The Pioneers statue celebrates the canal builders who founded Ellesmere Port and was cast in bronze by Liverpool artist Stephen Broadbent.
Local residents and businesses have been invited to get involved in the future planning of the Ellesmere Port Waterfront area, a site which may be one of the new housing sites in West Cheshire as part of the recent government-approved Growth Point.
The land is owned by Peel Holdings (Land and Property) Ltd, who propose to redevelop Ellesmere Port docks for a major housing scheme of up to 7000 new homes over the next 25 years. This will be a major new growth area for Ellesmere Port, which will transform the landscape of the town and the waterside.
The borough council has drawn up a draft development brief for this area, which was be the subject of a five-week consultation exercise. The consultation period ran from Monday 3 November until Friday 5 December 2008 and the council asked for the views of local residents and businesses.
Council officers are now reading through all of the comments that have been received and will report them to both Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council (in February 2009) and to Cheshire West and Chester (in March 2009). Then the brief will be approved. Many valuable comments have been received from a variety of organisations and individuals.
A letter was sent to hundreds of residents within the vicinity of the Waterfront site, but all residents of the town were welcome to give their comments to the council. A number of exhibitions were also held at the Westminster Community Centre to provide additional information and an opportunity to ask planning officers questions about the Development Brief.
The council also ran a focus group at the National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port in November to help residents discuss the brief and provide more detailed feedback.
The Ellesmere Port Waterfront Development Brief sets out the planning and design principles to inform the regeneration of the Ellesmere Port Waterfront site and its surrounding area. It is informed by existing planning policies at the national, regional and local level.
It is expected that Peel Holdings will submit a detailed planning application for the first Phase, which will comprise around 1500 homes, in early 2009. The brief sets out general principles for the development of the whole site and more detail for Phase 1. Later phases will reflect the prevailing policies and guidance at the time, but will be informed by the overall principles set out in this initial brief.
The scheme would require the relocation of the existing dock operation to a new site on the Ellesmere Port and Neston/Wirral boundary near to Eastham. The potential scale of development will be the largest ever seen in a single housing development in Ellesmere Port and it is essential that it is guided appropriately.
The brief covers such matters as:
To read the document online, via our consultation portal, please click the link below:
Alternatively, you can view an electronic (pdf) copy of the brief by clicking the link below.
Hard copies can also be viewed at several venues including the Planning Department at the Council Offices, Ellesmere Port library and Westminster Neighbourhood Office. For a full list of where and when the document can be viewed, click the link below:
For an informal discussion about the content of the development brief please contact:
Perran Baragwanath (telephone 0151 356 6566) or David Butler (telephone 0151 356 6664)
