John Downes goes full circle with Parkside Colliery deal

LANGTREE managing director John Downes has led a deal to acquire Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows, where he began his working life as a miner.

ProLogis has sold around 270 acres to a joint venture between St Helens Council and Langtree which is based in the town.

The council said the partnership will now begin work on a development strategy for the site which was earmarked for seven million sq ft of warehouse and distribution space until ProLogis abandoned the plan in 2010.

Parkside was the last working pit in Lancashire when it closed in 1993. In 2009 Mr Downes told TheBusinessDesk.com that he began his career there, and working on the redevelopment of closed colliery sites got him into property development.

Following the deal he said: “The former Parkside Colliery site is a tremendous development opportunity and we are delighted to have joined forces with St Helens Council to bring the site back into beneficial use. At its peak some 2,000 people worked at Parkside, mainly in skilled jobs, and it would be fantastic if we could bring such job numbers back to the site.”

Council leader, Barrie Grunewald, said: “Parkside is one of the most important assets this borough has within its boundaries and offers the potential to create thousands of new jobs. This is a prime development site in the North West and offers a unique destination – sitting alongside the M6 and the West Coast mainline. It is hoped to reinstate the rail link with the mainline to create an inter-modal freight centre.”

He added: “The council has received many enquiries regarding development opportunities in recent years but the former owners have, for a variety of reasons, not taken the site forward. The council worked closely with Langtree on the development of the Saints stadium and I am optimistic that this new partnership will bring new jobs to the site.”