Welcome U-Turn on Six56

Local Liberal Democrats have welcomed the U-turn by the Government, which has now instructed Warrington Council not to grant planning permission on the vast logistics site near Junction 20 on the M6. Previously they had announced that the Council could go ahead.

We welcome this decision by the Government. This is an area of Green Belt, and we strongly believe the Labour Council was wrong to approve the planning application for this vast logistics site prior to the Local Plan being agreed. It was premature and greatly angered many residents whose objections were ignored.

They were just as angry with the Conservative government for ignoring the request for the application to be determined nationally. There is precedent for other major local logistics sites to be determined nationally because they are of regional importance. The Eddie Stobart proposal was turned down on appeal, so we wanted this to be considered in the same way and hopefully turned down as well.

There is no rail access to this site and the low skilled jobs created there would steadily disappear with increased automation. We await the government's revised verdict and trust they will reverse their original published decision not to become involved, once they have carried out a proper review.