PLANS to create hundreds of new jobs and attract investment at a multi-million pound warehouse development in Widnes is taking shape.

Extensive remediation of a 24-acre brownfield site at Ditton Park is expected to be completed in the summer.

Construction of the first of three industrial units covering 452,500 sq ft is set to start before Christmas.

The development is being built on Halton Council’s rail freight distribution park, 3MG and will be the largest current commercial development underway in Merseyside.

With an on-site intermodal rail freight terminal it is destined to become one of the UK’s largest inter-modal logistics parks offering unrivalled access to the country’s deep sea ports.

The site will create up to 5,000 new jobs and is in the process of reclaiming 120 acres of contaminated land.

Ditton Park landowner Ainscough and commercial property developer Stoford won planning permission from the council to develop the site near junction six of the M62.

Council leader Cllr Rob Polhill said: "The council is delighted by the investment Ainscough Land and Stoford have made in Halton and by their commitment to the project.

“Their plans for the site are an important addition to 3MG and Halton as a whole providing high quality buildings and the potential to generate hundreds of jobs."

The project is part of the Liverpool City Region 'SuperPort' scheme which provides the industry with a low cost, low carbon solution for moving goods to and from the north especially to the largest, most densely populated region of the UK outside London.

The SuperPort Action Plan identifies 3MG as being at the heart of SuperPort and states that: 'Expanding the existing 3MG terminal will generate an additional £190m of GVA per annum by 2020.'

Ainscough Land director Rachael Ainscough said: "We were delighted to welcome Robert Hough and Cllr Rob Polhill to the site so that they could see first-hand how much progress has been made.

“Remediation and site preparation work undertaken by Ainscough, has been extensive on what has been a challenging site but we are almost there now and work should be complete by late summer.

“We are working closely with the Environment Agency to ensure the remediation is undertaken to the highest standard to ensure the site is ready for development to begin by the end of 2016."

Stoford joint managing director Dan Gallagher said: "Ainscough Strategic Land has done a tremendous job in preparing the site for development.

“This 24.4-acre site is in an excellent location near to the Jaguar Land Rover plant at Halewood.

“We are looking forward to getting on site later this year to start the construction of the industrial and warehouse units which we believe will appeal strongly to companies operating in various sectors, including suppliers working alongside JLR."

Robert Hough, chairman of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said: "Developments such as this are central to our Superport strategy and will help the City Region secure its position as an innovative, global multimodal logistics hub, that will ultimately create opportunities for investors, developers, occupiers and others active in the global industrial and logistics property market."

The proposed accommodation includes units of 196,500 sq ft including 9,500 sq ft of offices, 174,250 sq ft including two-storey offices of 8,600 sq ft, and 85,800 sq ft including offices of 5,960 sq ft.

Birmingham based Stoford is a leading specialist in occupier-focused development.

It has delivered more than 10 million sq ft of pre-let development and in 2015 has more than 950,000 sq ft of pre-let space under construction throughout the UK.