Leverhulme lodges plans for 788 Green Belt homes
Originally, the estate had wanted to build 850 homes on 110 acres in Wirral – but cut the number after a public consultation earlier this year.
A total of seven planning applications have been submitted, with the largest covering 43 acres on land north of Thingwall Drive in Irby. Leverhulme has proposed building 290 homes on that site. The smallest application is for 15 homes on two acres of land north of Gills Lane in Pensby.
The applications include both market and affordable housing, with the homes ranging from two-bedroom houses to ones geared towards larger families. Leverhulme anticipates the project will provide more than 200 affordable homes.
“The submission of our planning applications is the next step in delivering a much-needed range of new homes and providing new access to, and enhancing the benefits of, Wirral’s countryside,” said Nigel McGurk, head of land and planning at Leverhulme.
McGurk said that the homes are part of the estate’s Leverhulme Vision project and would meet national planning policy’s push for high-quality design, sustainable communities, and improved green space.
“The plans submitted by Leverhulme achieve all these principles alongside other critical criteria in a viable and deliverable way,” McGurk said. “The Leverhulme Vision provides for reinvestment directly back into long-lasting beautiful places where people want to live and Leverhulme is in a unique position to deliver this.”
Leverhulme has stated that the architecture for the homes would draw inspiration from Port Sunlight and that the neighbourhoods would have ‘leafy streets’ with trees and gardens. The submitted proposals also include new cycleways and footpaths, plans for enhancing biodiversity and details on making the scheme energy efficient.
“Our plans will not only deliver on Wirral’s significant outstanding need to meet the area’s market and affordable housing requirements but will do so in a way that enhances the built and natural environment,” McGurk said.
“Leverhulme is synonymous with sustainable development, long-term stewardship, a commitment to health and wellbeing and sustained reinvestment into place. Wirral needs new homes – it is imperative that they are delivered in an exceptional manner.”
The estate described the seven applications as follows:
- A two-acre site located to the north of Gills Lane in Pensby, between Thorncroft Drive and Gills Lane Farm and stables. To provide up to 15 new homes.
- An 18-acre site located to the north of Gills Lane in Pensby and to the west of Barnston Road. To provide up to 153 new homes.
- A 9.6-acre site located a short distance from the local centre of Pensby Road, Pensby. It sits to the north of Gills Lane, between the existing residential streets of Dale View Close, Gwendoline Close and Thorncroft Drive. To provide up to 92 new homes.
- A 43-acre site located to the north of Thingwall Drive, to the east of Glenwood Drive and to the west of Arrowe Park, Irby. To provide up to 290 new homes.
- An 8.8-acre site located to the north of Raby Hall Road between the Autism Together complex and the residential neighbourhood on Blakeley Road at the edge of Bromborough. To provide up to 80 new homes.
- An eight-acre site located to the north of Raby Hall Road, with built development proposed to the west of Raby Hall and a footpath link to the east. To provide up to 38 new homes.
- A 20-acre site located to the west of Barnston Road and north of Milner Road within easy walking distance of Heswall town centre and Heswall railway station. To provide up to 120 new homes.
The Leverhulme Vision project team includes planner Strutt & Parker, masterplanner and architect alan Baxter, transportation consultant Curtins, landscaping consultant Barnes Walker, and community consultation consultant BECG.
If planning permission is secured, Leverhulme hopes to begin building the first batch of homes in 2023.
The applications for the project are not yet available on the Wirral Council’s planning portal.
