Homes at New Ferry explosion site come forward
Housing provider Regenda’s plans for 34 apartments across sites cleared following the 2017 incident have been lodged with Wirral Council.
The apartments, all of which will be affordable, cover two of the three sites requiring redevelopment after buildings were demolished following damage caused by the gas explosion almost six years ago, an event that destroyed six businesses and left 90 people homeless.
Regenda Group was appointed in March to take the sites forward. Wirral Council had acquired the specific explosion site in 2020 from a private landowner.
John McCall Architects has designed the proposals for Regenda, dealing with two plots on Bebington Road. Plans for the third site, the Woodhead car park (Site A) is the largest of the three, and will be dealt with on a separate application.
The professional team on the project also includes Amenity Tree, Landon Planning Consultants, AJP, 1st Line Defence
The pair of sites are located on the northern boundary of Port Sunlight village, at the southern end of Bebington Road. The first, Site B is rectangular in shape running as a linear plot in line with the main axis of Bebington Road and had housed a row of shops, with flats above, which were demolished following the explosion.
The second, Site C, is the former 41-43 Bebington Road, which was the site of the explosion. This site occupies a prominent position at the southern end of Bebington Road and is oriented to face both onto Boundary Road, towards Port Sunlight, and Bebington Road, towards New Ferry.
Site A, the largest, will be tackled separately. Credit: planning documents
Regenda proposes one- and two-bedroom apartments across Sites B and C, which together will form a new gateway to Bebington Road. According to the submitted design & access statement, Site B will have 11 one-bedroom homes and four two-bed properties, while Site C will house 13 one-bed and seven two-bed homes.
The third site is to include housing. Across the sites, there will be a mix of social rented and shared ownership.
A consultation process held in September saw the respondents split almost equally on whether they viewed the proposals positively, negatively or were neutral. Concerns included a lack of new retail and plans for new parking.
To find out more about the application, see APP/22/02137 on Wirral Council’s planning portal.
These designs look a welcome change from the normal “off the shelf” type buildings on offer, these look like some of the neighbourhood squares I have seen in small towns in the South of France eg Ceret in the Languedoc.
By Anonymous
There is no contextuality between Site C and the adjacent Port Sunlight Housing. Please show some respect! The style and scale of the new development are completely inappropriate.
By Eric
Although execution and materials will be key, I’m really pleasantly surprised. Well done to John McCall Architects here, they clearly understand this site.
By SW
“The style and scale are inappropriate”, why? they are at most 3 floors high and the style is pleasing on the eye, not everything has to mirror it`s surroundings or we`d not need architects.
By Anonymous