Projects

Comprehensive redevelopment of the former Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station

Our role

• We are appointed by Peel NRE to provide Planning and Sustainability services in respect of the comprehensive redevelopment of the former Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station (FFPS) site in Warrington, which was decommissioned in 2020 and acquired in 2022.
• The FFPS site is the largest brownfield site in the Warrington Borough, and one of the largest redevelopment opportunities in the country. Its potential to contribute towards economic growth and local regeneration objectives is unparalleled. 
• The redevelopment potential of the FFPS site has been recognised by Warrington Borough Council (“WBC”) through its identification as a mixed-use development allocation in the adopted Warrington Local Plan. The allocation reflects a vision for the mixed-use redevelopment of the former power station to provide 101 ha (c. 4 million sq ft) of new employment floorspace on the site of the former power station, alongside the development of land previously within the Green Belt to deliver a minimum of 860 new homes, a local centre, public open space, green infrastructure network and other supporting infrastructure. The employment land is allocated for distribution and industrial uses and for low carbon energy projects utilising the site’s established power infrastructure.

Results

• We supported Peel NRE and WBC through the Local Plan process, including attending the examination in public hearing sessions and preparing written representations. 
• Given the scale of the opportunity, it is expected that the redevelopment of the FFPS will extend over a 15–20 year timeframe. We have helped prepare and secured the approval of a Development Framework, which will guide the future of the site, identifying strategic design principles and parameters as well as establishing a delivery and phasing framework.
• The first phases of redevelopment at the site will see the delivery of new employment floorspace on the footprint of the former power station. To facilitate this, we have successfully secured the ‘prior approval’ from WBC for the first two phases of demolition and continue to oversee the preparation of applications for the remaining demolition phases.
• We have submitted a full planning application for the first phase of employment development, which will deliver approximately 1.38 million sq ft of B2/B8 floorspace on 38.82 ha of land currently occupied by the former coal stockyard.