Trio gears up for 1,450 Halewood houses
Planner Lichfields, working for Bellway, Redrow and Miller Homes, has submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment scoping report to Knowsley Council for a major 202-acre housing site east of Halewood.
The three housebuilders are to submit separate planning applications for parcels of land they each control, with the total number of houses to be delivered coming to 1,450. All of the plans are set to come forward within roughly the same time frame, and the intention is that a single Environmental Statement will cover all applications.
Each project falls within the wider 202-acre sustainable urban extension allocated for housing in Knowsley’s core strategy and is described as “in a general sense” located close to shops, a school, Halewood railway station and leisure centre, being around 500m from the centre of Halewood. It is divided into three distinct plots, physically split by the Manchester-Liverpool via Newton-le-Willows railway line and the A562.
Parcel A is to the north of the railway line, and lies to the south of the Bridgefield Forum site developed by Countryside. Parcel C, at the bottom of the SUE site, is relatively small, and isn’t being considered as yet.
Of the three sites, the largest is Parcel B, which is bordered to the east by Everton FC’s Finch Farm training ground, to the north by the railway, and the south by the A562. A large part of this parcel is woodland, which is owned by the council. The main points of access will be from Baileys Lane to the east.
Although there are some smaller ownerships within the wider SUE, the largest of around 5 acres, there are no known plans for these parts and they are not included in the scoping report.
The land is effectively divided so that Redrow controls the northern part of Parcel A, comprising 40 acres, and the northern part of Parcel B, which comes in at 50 acres.
Bellway controls the 9.6-acre southern part of Parcel A, and the 30-acre central portion of Parcel B, with Miller controlling the southern part, which is partly occupied by an RSPCA kennels and occupies 11 acres in total.
Lichfields’ report states that Bellway Homes is likely to submit a single full application for the development of its two parcels of land, which will be capable of accommodating around 400 homes.
Miller will also file a single application, for around 150 dwellings, while Redrow is expected to submit an outline or hybrid application for its 90 acres. As the northernmost part of Parcel A is affected by flood risk, it will develop there at a slightly lower density than in counterpart areas, but is nonetheless expected to eventually build out around 900 dwellings in total.
Cue more depressing cul-de-sacs, rabbit warren estates, identikit semis and zero public realm from the usual ‘housebuilders’.
By LEighteen
LEighteen – why moan if you’re never going to go there? Idiot.
By crazyjohn
The amount of moaning about development (on a development focussed website) is ridiculous. This isn’t the Daily Mail, jog on.
By Same Old Housebuilder Bashing
Looks super, I for one would love to live there.
By Peter Rabbit
crazyjohn, if you think the design quality of 1,450 homes on greenbelt is irrelevant then that’s a sad indictment of our profession.
By LEighteen
[It’s not greenbelt.]
By Dennis Nails
House builders deserve bashing. Their business model and incentives are so detached from the interests of consumers and wider society. You can see it in the dire quality of their product, the dire value for money, the dismal legacy of characterless urban sprawl disconnected from amenities that supports a high standard of living, and on top of it all, you have the likes of Persimmion and their £300m-odd bonus pot – reward out of all proportion to value or risk. Volume house builders truly are a scourge on our society. No other advanced European country operates on this model but in the UK we seem to uphold a different set of values; values that appear to place the persuit of excessive profit above all else.
By House builder basher
What a shame. Schools and doctors are packed in Halewood as it is.
By John
Are there going to be more schools for this?
Are surrounding roads going to be upgraded?
Is the Knowsley Expressway going to be upgraded to M57 motorway standard?
By Kayla Bibby
Has there been any further news about this development such as when work will commence?
By Jim Bob Joe
Any update on plans please?
By Anonymous
If I knew this I would of never of bought a house here. What a shame.
By Anonymous
Development is going to blight our community, I have lived in Halewood for all of my 55 years and have watched as more and more of our green open spaces have been swallowed up by house builders. Knowsley council are a disgrace, we have one of the highest Community Charges in the country, we don’t have a single 6 form, our schools are over crowded, our transport system is hit & miss, roads in Halewood become grid locked and are-full of pot holes. Now what green space we have left is to become a giant super estate. Shame
By Alan
This is all greenbelt land,Halewood is already overcrowded ie.schools,road system,doctors,bus links
Plus the risk of flooding increasing,as Lower Rd floods real bad as it is….
There are plenty of brown sites to build on an leave our countryside alone,when its gone its gone.
By Jane Clements
@Jane Clements – it is not Greenbelt, as it has been identified as a Sustainable Urban Extension and removed from the GB.
By Ardy