Please OBJECT to the Greenfield Estates Application to build 39 houses on the beautiful GREENFIELD SITE – AKA as the Sheepfield, GRANGE ROAD, WEST KIRBY.
PLEASE SHARE!
Wirrals Local Plan has identified that there is space for 21000 houses on Wirral’s brownfield sites. Despite the WBC’s decision to designate The Greenfields as a Local Green Space within the new Local Plan, the site owners’ agents have submitted an application for outline planning permission for 39 houses.
We need to ensure this planning application is considered by the Council’s Planning Committee (rather than an individual planning officer) and we can have a representative present to speak on our behalf.
HOW TO OBJECT:
We have been made aware of some issues with the council website so if you are having problems you can email your objections to: planningapplications@wirral.gov.uk or write to the planning officer Mr B Bechka, PO Box290, Brighton
Street, Wallasey, CH27 9FQ
OR.......
Click on the following link:
https://online.wirral.gov.uk/planning/index.html
click “+ Register” on left hand menu
Input your details (name, address, email)
A verification email will be sent to your email address, go into your email account and click verify – (remember to check in your junk mail)
Now log in to the council website / portal
Click on “Planning”
Click “Search Planning Applications”
Input the relevant planning application reference number: “OUT/22/01305”
Scroll Down to the application and click the green view button or the reference no. on the left.
A list of documents will appear
Scroll Down to the very bottom of the page, below all the documents to the “make a representation” section and click “object”.
Insert any comments you wish to make in the comments box
Press submit
You will then receive an email confirming your submission.
Please remember to object to all the sites
You do not have to make any comments but if you are able to then please do so. Even just a couple of sentences would help. It is often helpful, if you are writing a lot, to type it out on a Word document first and then copy and paste into the comments box. You can then use the same comments for every site you object to.
Again, we have been made aware of some issues with copying and pasting – but apparently if you change the text slightly (e.g adding a comma) then the system will accept it.
When you submit your comments you may wish to consider the following:
Wirrals Local Plan has identified that there is space for 21000 houses on Wirral’s brownfield sites. Despite the WBC’s decision to designate The Greenfields as a Local Green Space within the new Local Plan, the site owners’ agents have submitted an application for outline planning permission for 39 houses.
We need to ensure this planning application is considered by the Council’s Planning Committee (rather than an individual planning officer) and we can have a representative present to speak on our behalf.
We now need as many people as possible to write to the Council ASAP and to register objections to this planning application. The deadline is 19th December.
Here are some arguments for you can use.
1. WBC has listened to the strong reaction from Wirral residents against development and decided in favour of the LGS (Local Green Space )designation. Granting outline planning approval to this opportunistic application before the Local Plan has been confirmed, or the forthcoming Masterplan for West Kirby Concourse (MPA SA6.1) has been undertaken, would be disturbingly inconsistent and a breach of faith with the local electorate.
2. The Developers argue that a precedent has been set by the Local Plan Inspector, for (what they say) is a similar site in Cambridgeshire. When the Developers take the planning application to appeal, they argue that the Planning Inspector will give no weight to the Local Green Space Designation. This site is totally different to the site in Cambridgeshire and it is not certain that the Planning Inspector will form the same opinion for this site.
3. We all appreciate the local authority’s need in these increasingly difficult times for more Council Tax revenue. However, the important principles of local amenity and quality of environment should not be sacrificed to that end, in this case.
3. West Kirby features prominently in Merseyside tourism advertising and the current view driving down Grange Road is a valuable asset to attracting visitors here. This approach would be dramatically affected by the housing estate. The Developers are cynically claiming that they will preserve this iconic view, although it is obvious from the plans that the view will be significantly impacted.
4. The only certainty in this process is that the current application for 39 houses is a minimum number of housing units that the developer will seek to get approval for. The glossy brochure and images are deceptive and will not reflect the final result.
5. Any promises to soften the impact of the development, such as mixed-value housing or leaving ‘a green corridor’ next to the road, will no doubt be vigorously renegotiated by the developers after approval, to maximise their profits. The Planning Application refers to a request by the Council for a minimum of 20% “Affordable Housing”. Wirral needs genuinely affordable and social housing. There is a site on Banks Road, currently boarded up and owned by a Housing Association, which could provide genuinely affordable social housing in the area. Remember that the definition of “Affordable Housing” is 80% of local market value – so this development would be still completely unaffordable to most. 20% of 39 houses is only 7 or 8 houses and the developers, once planning permission is granted, will use loopholes to argue that affordable housing is not viable on this site.
6. The independent consultants who reported to WBC for the drafting of the Local Plan identified the site as having beauty, tranquillity, richness in wildlife including rare and well-established (ancient) anthills, local character and reasonable proximity to the community. This is also the last area of original agricultural land in West Kirby.
7. The prosed new vehicular access will be onto a busy main road but also a steep hill. Traffic leaving the proposed site and turning right would have limited visibility and increase the risk of accidents. Furthermore, the estimated increase in volume of traffic is based on just one week’s survey in January 2022. In our view, this is not representative of the volumes of traffic using Grange Road, particularly during the Spring and Summer months when traffic volume is increased significantly by additional activity and visitor numbers.
Whilst we the public don’t have the substantial financial resources of site owners, together we have immense passion for the protection of the character of our local area and the features that make it special. Thereaction locally against development and in favour of Greenfields as Green Space was overwhelming and that momentum needs a boost now more than ever.
Other issues you may wish to comment on could include traffic, air quality and pollution, loss of biodiversity, the climate change emergency, loss of food producing land when we need locally produced food more than ever, health and wellbeing, infrastructure issues (e.g schools, GP surgeries etc), Wirrals “brownfield only” Local Plan.
Please share this information and get your friends and neighbours to object too. Each person in each household can object.
Also please email you local Councillor and ask them to ensure that this planning application is heard by Committee and not just decided by a Planning Officer. Their contact details can be found here: Your Councillors | Wirral Council
Thank you for your support