Wirral extra care homes rejected by council

A proposal for a 53-home retirement scheme in Liscard, Wallasey, was turned down over its proposed scale and the loss of trees the development would have caused, against officers’ recommendations.

The scheme is led by NHS Property Services, which manages the NHS’s real estate portfolio, and Anwyl Construction, a unit of the North Wales-based housebuilder.

The applicants proposed to build a part two-storey, part three-storey development containing 53 extra care units to provide supported living accommodation with off-site, 24-hour care for residents.

Of the homes, 45 were to be one-bedroom units, while eight would have been two-bedroom units. The scheme also comprises space for car parking, and associated landscaping.

The 1.2-acre site on which the scheme would have sat is located at 52-54 Greenheys Road, in a mainly residential area southeast of the Victoria Central Hospital in Wallasey.

The site contains two vacant single-storey buildings previously occupied as residential care homes, most recently Sycamore Lodge Nursing Home. The site also contains established trees along the east and southern boundaries, according to the planning application.

The existing buildings would have been demolished to make way for the new structure, together with the trees, under the proposals drawn up by planning consultancy Hive Land and Planning.

The scheme was recommended for approval by Wirral Council last week.

However, the council rejected the proposals citing the project’s scale and massing, the potential increase in traffic volume to the local area and lack of associated car parking, as well as the loss of trees and issues over the tenure of the care home once complete.