Partington plans will create 1,750 jobs (From Messenger Newspapers)

Partington plans for National Grid site off Common Lane will create 1,750 jobs

12:20pm Thursday 24th June 2010 in News By Jessica Bell

PLANS to build a business park in Partington, which will create up to 1,750 jobs, have been given unanimous consent.

The development for one million square feet of business floorspace will be built on the former National Grid gas works site off Common Lane and accessed by Manchester Road.

On Thursday June 10, Trafford Council’s planning committee resolved to grant the plans subject to completion of an agreement about funding towards public transport improvements and off-site highway works.

The site will be developed in phases over a number of years and provisional plans show 27 employment units, but the exact number and size have yet to be decided.

Richard Frudd, associate at Indigo Planning, which advised National Grid during the planning process, said the units could be used for a variety of purposes, including research, light industry, workshops, storage or distribution, but there are unlikely to be any stand-alone offices built.

In the planning application, National Grid said the site had the potential to create a ‘new gateway for Partington’ and added that the ‘proposals will ensure that this long under-utilised piece of land will be brought back into beneficial economic use’.

Plans to create an ecological habitat to the south east of the main site, on the other side of the former railway embankment were also passed by the committee.

The plans were originally deferred for additional ecological work in May after it was believed badgers may be living on the site.

There was only one letter of objection received, which stated that the information regarding the replacement wildlife habitat was vague.