The location for the possible salt cavity site was ideal as it was close to the Stanlow Refinery, a number of existing petroleum storage depots and the government pipeline network.

These were extensive and included all the necessary ancillary facilities, connecting the Plumley site to the existing pipeline system, to the Shell refinery at Stanlow and to a new storage depot to be built at Goostrey.

Work started in January 1959, but could only progress quite slowly as each cavity had to be emptied of product and then leached out and was not completed until July 1963.

A system for the removal of fuel from the cavities at a much higher flow-rate of around 25,000 cubic metres per day had been installed as part of the original design.

This involved the use of two water-pumping stations at Acton Bridge on the River Weaver connected to Plumley by two 14-inch (360 mm) water mains.

[3]: 141  In the early 1980s, as the DoE no longer required the storage of civil ground fuels for use in an emergency, the salt cavities were emptied of product, although they were retained as an asset for possible future usage.