Peel Land submits plans for 1.3m sq ft Haydock Point

Peel Land has submitted an outline planning application for Haydock Point, a proposed 1.3 million sq ft manufacturing and logistics campus beside Junction 23 of the M6 in St Helens.

The submission moves the project beyond public consultation and into the formal planning process after residents and stakeholders were invited to comment during August and September. Peel estimates that the completed campus could support 1,845 jobs and contribute more than £110m in annual gross value added to the local economy.

Haydock Point sits south of Haydock Park Racecourse beside one of northwest England’s main motorway corridors, with access to both the M6 and A580 East Lancashire Road. That position gives the site strong strategic road connections, while also making the effect of additional industrial traffic central to the planning proposal.

The application therefore combines employment space with changes to the surrounding highway network. Peel proposes redirecting the northern arm of the A49 through the development site towards the A580, together with associated works intended to improve traffic flow and the longer-term operation of the Haydock Island roundabout at Junction 23.

For logistics occupiers, motorway proximity only delivers its full value when vehicles can enter and leave the site predictably. Congestion around a junction can absorb the time gained from locating beside a strategic road, while large numbers of additional HGV movements can worsen existing pressure if highway capacity is not addressed alongside the buildings themselves.

Peel says the development would fund improvements at Junction 23 as part of the wider project. The eventual transport benefit will depend on the detailed design, planning process and traffic generated by future occupiers, but the proposed road works are integral to the scheme rather than a separate future intervention.

The masterplan also includes managed and secure HGV parking with driver welfare facilities. Parking shortages remain a persistent operational problem across parts of the UK freight network, especially near major industrial corridors where overnight demand can exceed the number of formal spaces available.

Including a dedicated HGV hub within the development gives visiting drivers a defined location away from surrounding roads and employment estates. Capacity, access arrangements and operating rules will determine how useful the facility becomes, but providing space at masterplan stage avoids leaving the issue for individual warehouse occupiers to solve later.

The same hub is intended to support changing vehicle energy requirements. Current proposals include EV charging and lower-carbon fuel options, with infrastructure designed so that hydrogen could be added in future.

That mixed approach reflects uncertainty around the eventual technology mix for heavy road transport. Battery electric trucks are beginning to enter commercial fleets, while other operators continue to assess renewable liquid fuels and hydrogen for routes where payload, range or charging patterns create different requirements.

A large employment campus can provide a useful location for shared charging and fuel infrastructure because several occupiers and visiting fleets may use the same facilities. High-power charging and alternative fuel provision become easier to justify when enough vehicles pass through the site, although grid capacity and eventual fleet demand will determine what can be delivered economically.

Haydock Point is intended to support manufacturing as well as logistics, broadening the freight profile beyond conventional warehouse and distribution activity. Future occupiers could receive raw materials, carry out production and dispatch finished goods alongside businesses using the site primarily for storage and distribution.

Manufacturing and warehousing generate different traffic patterns. Production sites may receive inputs according to factory schedules and require specialist yards or utilities, while high-volume distribution operations can create concentrated inbound and outbound flows around delivery windows.

An outline planning application sets the broad development parameters before individual plots and buildings are specified in greater detail. The eventual balance between manufacturing, logistics and other employment uses will therefore influence the amount and type of freight generated by the completed campus.

The current proposal is smaller than an earlier Haydock Point scheme of roughly 1.8 million sq ft. The revised plan returns with 1.3 million sq ft of floorspace, a broader employment mix and additional highway, landscape and HGV infrastructure after the previous development was refused following an appeal.

Peel’s current masterplan also includes ponds, wetlands, grasslands and wildlife corridors covering an area described as equivalent to more than 17 football pitches, together with more than 600 new trees.

Those measures form part of the wider planning case rather than the logistics operation itself, but they affect how much of the site can be developed and how buildings, roads and yards are arranged around the available land.

The latest application follows consultation-stage plans covered by IN Site in August. Formal submission is the new development, moving the project from an emerging proposal into a planning application that St Helens Borough Council can now assess.

A Social Value Strategy accompanies the application, with Peel proposing work with schools, colleges, job centres and the council around employment and training. The developer has also set a target of £20m in local construction spending if the scheme proceeds.

The projected 1,845 jobs will depend on the mix of businesses eventually occupying the campus. Highly automated distribution centres can handle significant throughput with comparatively fewer workers, while manufacturing uses can create different staffing and skills requirements.

The forecast contribution of more than £110m in annual GVA is similarly dependent on the scheme receiving permission, being developed and attracting occupiers. Planning approval would create a route towards that economic activity rather than delivering the forecast immediately.

St Helens Borough Council will provide another opportunity for public representations as it considers the outline application. More detailed design work would follow through later planning stages if the development receives permission.

The supply chain proposition combines several pieces of infrastructure that are often planned separately: large employment floorspace, motorway access, HGV parking, driver welfare and energy provision for changing freight fleets. The planning process will now determine whether Peel can turn that integrated masterplan into a deliverable manufacturing and logistics campus beside Junction 23.