Housing numbers cut at Widnes Waterfront

Mulbury and Magenta Living have put forward fresh plans for the 19-acre site, more than halving housing numbers from a previous application which would have seen the delivery of 624 homes.

The site was given planning permission in 2016 for a mixed-use development, featuring housing alongside up to 48,000 sq ft of offices, shops, and leisure space.

However, a fresh application, submitted this month, has outlined “a significant reduction” in housing numbers, reducing the number of homes to 248.

According to planning documents put forward by Satplan, the number of homes had been reduced following “a full understanding of the ground conditions and remediation requirements” of the site, which was formerly in industrial and office use until the 1990s.

Most of the houses put forward by Mulbury are two-storey, although there will also be 30 apartments in several three-storey blocks.

The houses are split between two, three, and four-bedroom semi-detached and detached homes, while there will also be 39 bungalows ranging between one and four bedrooms.

Under the proposals, 188 of the houses will be for affordable tenures, either as shared ownership properties or for affordable rent.

There we be a large area of green space set aside facing the railway line to the south of the site with apartment blocks to the north, and access both at the east and west.

A separate planning application to remediate the site and build an access road has also been put forward and is expected to be determined by Halton Council in the coming months. The site has been allocated for development under Halton’s draft Local Plan.

Along with Satplan as planning consultant, the professional team also includes Croft as transport planner, Trevor Bridge Associates as landscape consultant, and MPSL Planning & Design.