Wirral takes local plan to next stage
A public consultation on the 15-year strategy, aimed at guiding the delivery of 13,360 homes, will run for the next six weeks.
Wirral’s local plan, which once adopted will be in place until 2037, proposes no Green Belt release and focuses on the regeneration of the east of the borough around Birkenhead.
The proposals set out in the draft local plan “will transform the LeftBank area, addressing several decades of decline and the existing social and economic deprivation”, according to the council.
Around 8,000 of the 13,360 homes required during the plan period could be delivered as part of the £1bn regeneration of Birkenhead town centre, and Peel L&P and Wirral Council’s 500-acre docklands mixed-use scheme Wirral Waters.
Read more about Wirral’s plans for Birkenhead.
Alan Evans, Wirral Council’s director of regeneration and place, said: “Following the initial consultation, when there was widespread opposition to Green Belt release and a desire to focus on urban regeneration, we have used this opportunity to focus on major regeneration across Wirral’s LeftBank to help us achieve our housing and other development needs.”
As well as homes, the regeneration of Birkenhead town centre features plans for 1.4m sq ft of commercial space.
At Wirral Waters, the council and Peel L&P are hoping to deliver 13,000 across the 20-year lifespan of the project, as well as the 1m sq ft MEA Park industrial scheme also features within plans for Wirral Waters.
As a one time occupant of Birkenhead, latterly in the lovely “village” of Oxton, I am aware of the many delightful residential areas in the Borough. The connection between Hamilton Square and Birkenhead Park presents an opportunity to go some way to completing the ambitious plans that the then architect had for housing along that road that, unfortunately, floundered when he bacmae bankrupt. Whilst it might not be sensible to replicate the very fine houses that were intended for that area it would be, perhaps, worth considering a modern replication. Whilst the Borough needs to address the areas of deprivation it must not ignore the needs of more wealthy residents who will bring with them much needed revenue.
By Nigel Bruce
Whether the new housing is private or social-housing, a priority has to be good design. at present the centre of Birkenhead , especially near Hamilton Square, is blighted by the most mundane and uninspiring housing you could wish to see , and what is required is thoughtful rows of town housing with back gardens only, not the suburban boxes that currently prevail and inspire no-one.
By Anonymous
This still doesn’t address the problems of housing delivery on the Wirral as a whole – it just provides a convenient white elephant to meet the housing need avoiding any development in places people would actually like to live. It’s a disgrace this has taken so long to get to this stage and will almost certainly fail at the final hurdle again.
By Anonymous