Northwich News
Lion Salt Works project is on solid ground
2:40pm Tuesday 7th February 2012
MAJOR restoration of a Northwich landmark may finally go ahead after a specialist report confirmed the land is safe to build on.
Work could start as early as spring if plans for the Lion Salt Works, in Marston, get the green light from councillors in March.
The much-anticipated £8million project at the scheduled monument has encountered delays while investigations took place into the top and bottom salt beds and the stability of Adelaide Mine, which largely collapsed in the 1920s.
The geological study, commissioned by Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) and carried out by geotechnical experts Arup, is based on a projected 75-year lifespan of the visitor attraction and was published on Monday.
Clr Stuart Parker, CWAC’s executive member for culture and recreation, said: “Arup’s conclusions are based on specialist investigations involving on-site testing and a comprehensive review of past archive and monitoring data.
“The publication of this report is a key milestone in our proposals for the Lion Salt Works and enables us to move forward with the planning application.”
Test results from Adelaide mine, which sits on the bottom salt bed and at the boundary of the salt works site, reveal that there is a fewer than a one in two million chance of any further collapse.
The report advises that in the unlikely event of any change in behaviour, an early warning monitoring system should be installed to allow mitigation methods to be put in place.
Assessment of the top salt bed shows it is causing surface settlement of between 1mm and 1.5mm each year, which the report says is typical in areas of Cheshire where shallow brine extraction is taking place.
The report predicts settlement rates to be a maximum of 5mm per year and advises buildings should be constructed to accomodate this.
The Lion Salt Works is expected to open in 2014 as a living museum of the 19th century open pan salt works, active when Cheshire produced 86 per cent of the nation’s salt.
The project is being funded by a £5million Heritage Lottery Fund grant and £3million from CWAC.
The planning application will be considered on March 20.