Plans to build affordable homes near a Lidl on the Wirral have been allowed despite neighbours being against the idea.
The 13 homes will be built on a grazing field at the bottom of Greenleas Close in Wallasey. Though it has not previously been developed, it is not considered greenbelt land.
An application for 14 homes was previously rejected by councillors for being too close to an existing property but developers said they removed the home in question, created more green space instead and resubmitted the application.
READ MORE: Hundreds oppose Wirral green belt housing plans at public meeting
The plans have faced opposition from people in the area including from parents and teachers at the nearby Greenleas Primary School. This is because of the school’s School Streets scheme which looks at reducing traffic by encouraging children to walk, scoot, or cycle to school.
Despite the concerns that extra traffic could negatively impact this scheme, councillors said it was not possible to reject the application on these grounds as a previous application for 16 homes was not refused on that issue.
However to reduce construction traffic, most of the houses will be built off-site at Wirral Waters and road safety will be improved with a new 20mph zone and possible speed bumps.
Sharon Edwards, Greenleas Primary School's headteacher, said they had worked hard to encourage parents to ditch their cars when taking their kids to school, adding: “The challenge at Greenleas is that we’re located in a close so it’s one way in and one way out which adds to the bottleneck when 300 children are arriving and leaving.”
She said previously traffic had resulted in a number of issues including a child’s foot being run over and the new development “would hinder the progress or retract the progress we have made to date on this very successful scheme.”
Other objectors argued Wallasey would be losing a natural greenspace and a new pathway would “create easy access for opportunists to an area that currently has a very low level of recorded crime.”
Cllr Lesley Rennie, said: “It seems absolutely ridiculous now to impose extra vehicle traffic to this area and flies in the face of all of us trying to improve the safety outside schools.”
She said the people against the application “are certainly not NIMBYs by any stretch of the imagination and it’s because they care about the area.”
Dave Dargan, Founder & CEO Starship Group however argued the application was now deemed acceptable and would provide affordable sustainable homes.
He added: “We apologise to the residents who feel we’ve not been closely consulting with them. What we’ve been focused on is working with officers and various departments within the authority to find a way we can make this acceptable."
He also said the site was not currently providing value to the area, adding: “I’m not trying to downplay the amenity value in any way but it is a flytipped area full of rubble.”
Cllr Steve Foulkes, who was the only one to vote for the previous 14 home plans, said refusing for traffic reasons would be “absurd” and felt concerns had been answered.
Cllr Foulkes added: “I’d like to think more on the positive side of what the opportunities are here. There are 13 affordable houses being developed. That’s 13 families who will have a house in a nice area close to a nice school with decent amenities and well designed green space.”
The application was unanimously approved. An extension to someone’s house in Caldy as well as a major £55m development were also approved at the Birkenhead Town Hall meeting on June 8.
READ MORE:
Liverpool's Epstein Theatre to close its doors for good
Woman 'cried into her corn flakes' after Uber Eats' £90 error
