Newsletter October 2010 - PDF format 806Kb

A snapshot of the Project’s aims• An exemplar low carbon project with the highest standards of energyefficient design.• A CEEQUAL Excellent Award for Best Practice in its primary infrastructure.• 35 acres of new business park with BREEAM Excellent offices• 18 acres of new sustainable housing.• A new spine road & two new junctions enhancing vehicular accessto and from the Technology Park/Hospital.• The improved functioning of the A483 interchange.• Improved pedestrian access between the residential areas and the TechnologyPark/Hospital.• A new wildlife and recreation corridor to Wrexham Town Centre.• A Combined Cooling Heat & Power (CCHP) Plant.The Project’s achievements to dateThe project has been in development for a number of years.Work, to date, has concentrated on the following areas.• The acquisition of land from various third parties to enable the projectto proceed.• Facilitating the development of the residential community by Redrow Homes.• Working with the Welsh Assembly Government to understand how to developthe site in a low carbon manner.• The creation of a ‘Sustainability Masterplan’ for the site to ensure that the siteis comprehensively and sustainably developed.• Ensuring that the ecology of the site, ie the plants and animal life,is safeguarded before development commences.• Finding a temporary use for the site until work starts to ensure that the landdoes not become under-utilised and/or neglected.• The design of the primary infrastructure works.• Sourcing funding to implement the primary infrastructure works:the total estimated cost is approximately £11 million.Community & StakeholderInvolvementIn the early years of the project,before the residential areas were built,a number of meetings were held withlocal businesses to inform them aboutthe project and address any concernsand issues, specifically with respect tothe primary infrastructure works; at thattime, these were the responsibility ofRedrow Homes.Many thoughts, and some concerns,were expressed at these eventsparticularly about the impact ofconstruction works on the trafficmanagement system in and around thesite. These were noted and have formedpart of the Council’s considerationswhen designing the scheme.At this time, the Council also assigneda designated Business Advisor, MikeBather, to Wrexham Technology Park.Mike continues to act in this businesssupport role and can be contacted bylocal businesses.please call Mike on 01978 667306 ore-mail Mike.Bather@wrexham.gov.uk.The masterplanning work, as a majorpiece of technical study, engaged awide range of professional stakeholders,selected on the basis of their abilityto influence the Masterplan’s technicalconsiderations, eg. the DesignCommission, the Environment AgencyWales, the Welsh Assembly Governmentand the Countryside Council for Wales.Local Members were also involvedas well as local organisations suchas Wrexham Sustainability Forum,Yale College, Glyndwr University andthe Wrexham Maelor Hospital. SharpManufacturing at Llay also participated;Sharp is the largest assembler inEurope of photovoltaic panels (solarcell modules) and it was felt that theycould influence discussions on how todevelop the site with renewable energy.The Western Gateway Masterplan wascompleted in October 2007. It aimsto provide an illustrative direction tothe site’s future development and ispromotional in nature. If you wish toview a copy of the Masterplan, pleasedo not hesitate to contact us.The project is now enteringa new phase of communityand stakeholder involvementas work begins to move on site.The project team is keen to getthe local community involved,particularly local schools. If youhave any ideas as to how this couldbe done, please let us know.The recessionand its impacton the projectAs with many capital regenerationand construction projects across thecountry, the scheme has suffered withthe onset of the recession: funding hasbeen the main issue. Timescales havetherefore had to slip and the projecthas suffered some delay.New funding has now been sourcedfor the implementation of the highwayand pedestrian improvements toCroesnewydd Road Junction – at thelocation of the existing road bridge overthe old railway line - as the first phaseof the primary infrastructure works.23Western Gateway

The next steps…What isCEEQUAL?Emma Jones CEEQUAL AssessorBuilding Croesnewyd d Roadjunction and a vital p edestrian linkThe Croesnewydd Road Junctionwill replace the current road bridgewith a four-leg ground-level roadjunction that will incorporate a newfootpath and cycleway and createa new permanent link to the hospitalcar park. This is being designed bythe Council’s in-house EngineeringConsultancy.This junction does not require planningpermission as it can be completedalongside the existing highway land.Construction works could thereforecommence within the first quarterof 2011.It has a 20-week build period.However, these works are subjectto the availability of funding and costat the tender stage.While the new junction is constructed,the existing highway will remain open.This will reduce the impact on thehighway network.Further detailed information on theworks and their timescales will bereleased in due course.If the costs exceed the current budget,then the alternative will be to proceedwith a stand-alone footpath link andcycleway only, linking the Ruthin Roadresidential areas with the TechnologyPark and hospital.This will be completed largely on theCouncil’s own residential land, eastof Croesnewydd Road.The earliest date that construction workscould start here is August 2011, asplanning permission will be required.The Council is working towardsa CEEQUAL Excellent Awardfor the design and constructionof the Croesnewydd RoadJunction.CEEQUAL is the ‘Civil EngineeringEnvironmental Quality Assessmentand Awards Scheme’.By promoting environmentaland social ‘best practice’ andmeasuring performance in theseareas, CEEQUAL is a tool that canassist significantly in the drivefor more sustainable developmentand construction.The nextnewsletterThe next newsletter will bepublished at the beginningof 2011 with a focus on progresswith Croesnewydd Road Junctionand a more in-depth lookat the issues of designing forsustainability.45Western Gateway

Finding a private sector partnerIn order to fund and deliver the restof the primary infrastructure works,the secondary roads, potentially theCCHP plant and the Technology Parkitself, the Council will be seeking apartner in the private sector.Finally, a note on theNational Eisteddfod2011 will see one of Wales’ mostimportant cultural events theNational Eisteddfod taking placein Wrexham for the first time since1977.Before it does this, it needs to secureplanning permission for the new RuthinRoad junction and the spine road.It hopes to achieve this by February2011.It is to be staged on the site to the southof the Western Gateway from 30 July to6 August 2011. There are no plans forthe Western Gateway site to be usedfor any purpose in connection with thisevent.We welcome yourviews and ideasIf you are interested in knowingmore about the project, wish toshare any ideas with us or needfurther copies of this newsletter,we would like to hear from you.Please ring or e-mailSara KettleRegeneration Project ManagerEconomic DevelopmentTelephone 01978 292453email sara.kettle@wrexham.gov.ukorCatherine PritchardRegeneration Project OfficerEconomic DevelopmentTelephone 01978 292444email catherine.pritchard@wrexham.gov.ukThis newsletter was produced bythe Economic Development DepartmentDesigned byThe Studio ReprographicsTelephone 01978 292166email lisa.gillon@wrexham.gov.ukThis document was printed on 100% recycled paper6Western Gateway