Swathes of farmland on the borough's border could be lost to a huge rail hub which would ‘swamp’ the area with traffic, residents fear.
Off Newton Road, at the edge of Lowton, houses back onto hundreds of acres of fields stretching as far as you can see. The area has been farmed for generations and is celebrated for it.
Local residents walk their dogs over the fields and deer are often seen there. But around 500 acres of this land is at risk, with plans for a new strategic rail freight interchange on the Wigan/St Helens/Warrington border.
Residents fear the scheme, if allowed, will drastically impact on their lives and the consequences could reverberate for miles around. The warehouses are expected to stretch up to 30 metres in height, dwarfing the controversial Astley warehouses which are around 18m tall.
Campaigners against the plan also believe calling it a rail interchange is misleading as much of the operation would be carried out by road. If it is built, residents could see daily 1,200 Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) journeys to and from the site, which sits between Lowton, Culcheth, and Croft.
Up to 16 trains, up to 775m in length, a day could also come and go from the hub. Residents fear these would be largely in the evening and overnight due to what they describe as already limited capacity on the rail network.
Lane Head South Residents Group member Gareth Edwards said: “Of course, they call it a strategic rail freight interchange, but actually the biggest concern is it’s really a road-to-rail interchange.
“It’s not as if trains come in and then unload and other trains take them on. The area will be swamped with traffic, particularly HGV traffic coming into the area to deliver into the rail freight interchange and also to take away from the rail freight interchange as well.
“It actually has highway impacts up to maybe 10 miles away, and it’s just the enormity of it. One of the biggest things after traffic is it’s a 24/7 operation.
“We’ll have noise and light night pollution all the way through the night. The railway capacity isn’t great, so most of the train movements will likely be done in the evening and overnight.
“That’s 16 trains in and 16 trains out every day when it gets to full capacity and these trains can be 750m long. That’s a real concern.”
Local resident Simon Ellam added the local area has already changed ‘beyond belief’ over decades through new homes and warehousing. Among the major recent developments is the Parkside development currently under construction which will see around 2.5m sq ft of employment space delivered over two phases.
The rail freight interchange would be the ‘straw that breaks the camel’s back’, he believes.
Mr Ellam said: “What they’re proposing is an enormous, and I do mean an enormous, industrial site close to the M6 at Winwick. There’s a lot of people up in arms about it saying it’s ridiculous, it’s too big for the area, etc.
“It’s going to be built alongside a road called Winwick Lane which, every single night, the local radio has a note that says Winwick Lane is queued, expect a tailback, expect to queue.
“We can’t survive as things stand around here. The roads are absolutely clogged day and night.
“So we’re questioning the validity of even proposing this scheme. It’s too much. We can’t have a rail freight terminal stuck on these fields.”
Tritax has carried out a formal consultation with residents, but this excluded key areas of concerns including traffic, air quality and noise impacts. It is understood further consultation is expected next year which will cover these areas.
The scheme has been in the offing for years, with a significant chunk of the land previously allocated for this use in the 2022 St Helens local plan. The campaign group fought that allocation, but lost when the Government’s planning inspectorate deemed the local plan acceptable.
A local plan sets out where development should take place within a local authority area and is intended to protect communities from speculative – or unplanned – building.
The community then "braced itself" for the development that would fundamentally alter their lives. But a new shock came in 2024, Mr Edwards said, when logistics company Tritax bought the land. Their proposals for the interchange went ‘far beyond’ the land originally allocated, stretching into Wigan and Warrington, he added.
Wigan council had initially included the portion of land that fell within its boundaries in its current draft local plan. However, the allocation was one of four sites removed in the latest update.
Wigan council said at the time of the update that it now felt it could meet employment needs in the borough without using this land. But residents still fear the land could be used for this purpose regardless and are calling for Wigan council to go further and commit to opposing development on the land.
Mr Edwards said: “It’s almost come across like a bit of a publicity stunt, really. They’ll look good, Wigan Council will look good, but Tritax will just carry on.
“If I was in Tritax’s position, I would be challenging Wigan, and I would actually use the evidence that Wigan put on the table 12 months ago to support the fact that it should come out of the green belt. You can’t take that evidence away.”
The latest draft of Wigan’s local plan also commits to a review of the document by 2029, with campaigners fearing they could see the land back in the allocations list at that point.
Wigan council were asked whether it intends to oppose the rail freight hub plan should it proceed to planning.
Councillor Paul Kenny, cabinet portfolio holder for planning, environmental services and transport, said: “We’re well aware of the strength of feeling from residents, which has been reflected by our decision to remove the site from the latest version of the Local Plan.
“We believe this latest version strikes the right balance between supporting economic growth and job creation, providing opportunities for residents, and protecting our environment.
“We will continue to engage with residents, businesses and other stakeholders to ensure their voices are heard, and we encourage people to express their views and concerns by taking part in the next and final phase of our Local Plan consultation by 21 October.”
A spokesman for St Helens Council said: “Intermodal Logistics Park North (ILP North) is a site that has been allocated for employment-led development within the adopted St Helens Local Plan and therefore the council has already designated the area for employment development. The allocation reflects the site’s strategic role in supporting economic growth, job creation and logistics-and industrial related investment in the borough and as part of the Liverpool City Region (LCR). It is also important to note that the site is designated as a LCR Freeport Tax site.
“Given the scale and nature of the proposals being promoted, any future application is expected to be considered as a Development Consent Order (DCO) process as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). This means that the application would be determined through a national consenting regime rather than by St Helens Borough Council acting as the local planning authority.
“We recognise that residents may have concerns regarding proposals of this scale, including potential impacts on traffic, noise, visual amenity and the surrounding environment. At this stage, no formal DCO application has been submitted, and the proposals remain subject to ongoing consultation and development by Tritax. We would encourage residents to continue engaging with the consultation process to ensure their views are considered.”
A spokeswoman for Tritax said: “Intermodal Logistics Park North (ILPN) is currently at the pre-application stage of the Development Consent Order process. The proposals continue to be refined and therefore the application has not yet been submitted for examination. The project team is continuing to engage with local communities, local authorities, statutory bodies and other stakeholders to understand concerns and inform the evolution of the proposals.
“There will be further consultation ahead of submission of the application in early 2027. This will provide additional opportunities for interested parties to review the proposals and share their views. The purpose of the consultation process is to gather feedback and ensure that potential impacts are fully assessed before any application is made.”
Tritax have been asked whether the changes to the Wigan local plan would change their approach to developing the site, but did not receive an answer to that question.
Warrington Council was also approached for a comment but had not received one at the time of publication.
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