The site forms part of the Fleetwood-Thornton Area Action Plan and is owned by NPL Estates. The former ICI works is now the home of Hillhouse secure business park which is attracting a range of new employment uses. Construction has recently commenced on a modern waste technology park on land to the west of the disused railway line which runs through the site.

BSP Masterplanning was engaged to assist the design team with the preparation of a scheme for the first phase of housing on the former power station site. We undertook an appraisal of the site which informed a proposed urban structure incorporating existing landscape assets and establishing a street hierarchy which provided convenient, direct and save pedestrian connections to the surrounding area.

One of the key opportunities identified in the appraisal was the existence of a former rail halt next to the site and the longer term potential to re-open the railway line. The design safeguarded land around the rail halt to be used in the interim as a ‘pocket park’.

The next phase of the project is to establish a strategic framework for the entire landholdings which will then inform the preparation of a spatial masterplan for consultation with key stakeholders.