PLANS for a 66-acre country park on a former colliery off the M62 have been formally submitted for approval.

The proposals for the former Cronton Colliery form a major part of the planned Halsnead Garden Village development, which also includes 1,600 homes to the north of the M62 and a business park on the western part of the colliery site.

Plans submitted to Knowsley Council state the park will be operated by the Land Trust and will include a visitors centre with a cafe and education space.

In its planning application, the Land Trust’s architects said: “The proposal aims to allow visitors to experience the landscape as a park for park’s sake – a place for walking, playing, riding your horse, making use of the facilities or enjoying the habitats and wildlife – while allowing those who are interested [to] engage with the educational facilities and activities to discover the forming of the historic landscape.”

READ > Councillor warns of care home residents' 'deteriorating mental health' in visitors debate

The plans include a network of paths through the park that will trace the old mine workings below the surface and a walking and cycling route along the southern boundary of the park connecting Fox’s Bank Lane to the former mineral line and, in turn, Stadt Moers Park.

The Land Trust was granted planning permission for a country park at the former colliery in 2015, but was unable to secure funding to develop the site.

This time, it is hoped the sale of part of the site to Tritax Symmetry for use as a business park will provide the funds to “facilitate the creation of an exemplar country park that opens up the redundant colliery site to the local population”.

The wider garden village is one of 14 such projects approved by the government in 2017 and will be Merseyside’s largest housing development for years.

Planning applications have been submitted for the business park and several parts of the housing development, while permission has already been granted for the first 360 homes.

The Land Trust’s country park plans can be viewed on Knowsley Council’s website, and the local authority intends to make a decision on the application by February 8.