Gleeson withdraws ‘premature’ plans for 161 St Helens homes
The housebuilder’s application to build a neighbourhood on safeguarded land for development off Chapel Lane has been pulled, but will be resubmitted in the new year.
Gleeson Homes’s plans for the 161 homes had been submitted to St Helens Council as a mixture of two-, three-, and four-bedroom homes – 49 of which were to be affordable.
Previously Green Belt, the application plot was removed from the classification following the adoption of the St Helens Local Plan in July 2022 and has been identified as safeguarded land in order “to meet longer term development needs beyond this plan period”.
St Helens Council told Place North West that the development’s benefits did not outweigh “the harm from the conflict with the local plan for development on safeguarded land”.
As a result, the council was not supportive of the scheme, and Gleeson Homes elected to withdraw the application.
The local authority added: “Safeguarded land will only be granted [permission] following a future local plan update that proposes such development on currently safeguarded land.”
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A spokesperson for Gleeson Homes told Place: “The local planning authority felt the application was a little premature, so working with the LPA, Gleeson has withdrawn the application to allow the council’s new plan to take shape.”
Gleeson had previously stated its plan to invest £7m in affordable housing for the Haslam Grove-owned plot in Sutton Manor.
The scheme would have provided public space in the form of perimeter woodlands and a children’s play area.
Gleeson has stated that it will try to develop the land again with an application in early 2026.
To view the application, use the planning reference number P/2025/0076/FUL on St Helens Council’s planning portal.
How does this differ from the Breck Homes scheme at Elton Head Road – which is also safeguarded land?
To quote the LA: “Safeguarded land will only be granted [permission] following a future local plan update that proposes such development on currently safeguarded land.”
So presumably the Breck site will also be withdrawn upon threat of refusal from the Council?
By Bash the Housebuilder!
There wouldn’t be an all-out election on the horizon, would there? Asking for a mate who builds houses.
By Anonymous
With regards to the Breck Homes scheme referenced in another comment, I’m sure the Local Planning Authority will similarly consider it on its merits as its duly obliged to do. It is notable that a previous premature application on that Elton Head Road site was withdrawn (I suspect as it would have been otherwise refused) and the former Eccleston Park Golf Course proposal on a now safeguarded site was refused. So it seems St Helens Council are consistent in protecting its relatively recent Local Plan when it comes to safeguarded sites.
By Saint