Next stage of Fiddlers Ferry demolition approved

Jonathan Blackburn

21 June 2024 at 8:13 am·2-min read

-Credit: (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)

Warrington Borough Council has approved the next stage of the demolition of Fiddlers Ferry power station. The coal-fired power station was decommissioned in March 2020 after 49 years of operation.

The eight cooling towers are a local landmark and have towered over Widnes and Warrington for over fifty years. The first four were demolished in December, along with the coal stockyard and former administrative buildings.

Just one coal power station remains operational in the UK, Ratcliffe in Nottinghamshire. The station is set to close in September 2024.

At its peak, Fiddlers Ferry could produce enough electricity to power around two million homes and employed hundreds of Widnes and Warrington residents. Peel NRE purchased the 820-acre site in July 2022, the Liverpool Echo reports.

The firm is demolishing the power station in stages, with plans for future industrial and housing uses for the area. Now, Warrington Council has granted Peel NRE permission to proceed with the next stage of demolition.

This will not see the remaining four towers knocked down, instead, a number of other buildings on the site will be demolished. According to planning documents, this will include a pump house, treatment areas, the gas turbine house, storage tanks, slurry pits and many other buildings.

The power station is expected to be demolished in its entirety by 2025 or 2026, paving the way for Fiddlers Ferry to be utilised for commercial and residential projects. The site has been identified in the draft Warrington Local Plan for the development of around 250-acres for business use, as well as a residential community.

Included in the plans are four large logistics and manufacturing buildings plus service yards over 1.4m square feet of land. Peel NRE says this will support more than 2,100 jobs, 845 of which will be created by the project, and will contribute £89.2m to Warrington’s economy.

Later phases will include a new neighbourhood east of the former power station, with the potential to include a primary school, shops and GP surgery, with further plans for more housing to be submitted later.

Peel said Widnes Road will be improved as part of the project and a pedestrian path and cycleway will be created. The company says it has committed to a net 10% biodiversity gain.

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