Campaigners are celebrating after a controversial housing development in South Liverpool was rejected.
After a four month campaign, Liverpool Council ’s planning department has confirmed that it will not allow an application to go ahead for the building of an additional storey on the existing building at Beech Court, Allerton. Members of the action group made up of concerned residents, who dubbed themselves Extension Rebellion, said they were pleased with the decision.
Applicant Rachmarc Properties had sought to add the properties on a new floor above the current three storey building that consists of 30 two-bed flats. According to the application submitted to Liverpool Council by Peter Hamilton planning consultancy on behalf of Rachmarc, the proposed development would have included one two bed and eight further one bed apartments on top of the current block of flats.
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A supporting statement submitted as part of the application outlines that the one bed flats were “designed with a study/office space to provide accommodation for occupiers to work from home.” Residents packed into the Allerton United Reformed Church on Mather Avenue in February for a preliminary discussion on efforts to stop the building work.
A formal committee was then established to oppose the plans. In its written reasoning for knocking back the plans, the planning authority said: “The proposed development would fail to provide adequate off-street car parking spaces to meet the demands of the increased number of residents, which would likely lead to parking on a busy highway to the detriment of highway safety, and parking on the Beech Court access road to the detriment of highway and pedestrian safety”. It added that despite the council wishing to work with the applicant in a “positive and proactive manner in seeking solutions to any problems arising during the course of the application” in the case of this application, no advice was sought before it was submitted.
Reacting to the decision, Paul Riley, chair of the campaign group at Beech Court said: “All the Beech Court residents and tenants and also extremely supportive neighbouring residents are over the moon with the council ruling. We worked very hard by holding meetings, petitioning, lobbying and submitting 171 objections to the extension application.”
Mr Riley paid tribute to political leaders from across the city who supported the efforts to block the proposals and added: “Democracy prevailed, and happily we managed not to raise the roof. We plan to hold a joint celebration very soon.”
Paula Barker, Labour MP for Wavertree, who branded the plans as a disaster, said she was delighted hers and the concerns of residents had been heard. She said: “They would have been a disaster for the residents at Beech Court and hugely disruptive to the local area.
“I am glad that the council have recognised that these plans were ill conceived, and I hope the developer now drops them for good. I want to congratulate the residents and the Save Beech Court campaign group for their determined and passionate campaign to oppose the plans and I am so happy that their collective efforts have paid off.”
The applicant will have six months to appeal the decision by the local planning authority.
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