Halton Council’s development management committee convenes next week where it is expected to back a scheme for people with disabilities and health conditions on a vacant parcel of brownfield land in Halton View.
The project has been put forward by Housing association Halton Housing and would see 10, one-bedroom apartments and three, two-bedroom bungalows built on a patch of open land off Crow Wood Lane.
A planning statement submitted in support of the scheme said the bungalows would be for residents who ‘prefer or require more independent living’, while the apartments would operate as a staffed/partially staffed sheltered housing unit, where residents would have independence and access to amenities, but could also get assistance from staff if needed.
The land is located between St Patrick’s care home, Brookfields School and Bridges Learning Centre and near Crow Wood Lane.
The statement added: “The site contains a number of bushes and small trees of no arboricultural merit and is generally overgrown, unmanaged and a blight on the area, albeit largely hidden from view behind a large brick retaining wall.”
It said the design intention was to create a distinctive, safe, pleasant, welcoming, adaptable, efficient environment that ‘brings joy and delight’ to all occupants and members of the public alike.
One objection has been received raising concerns including additional traffic.
Recommending approval, a planning officer’s report said: “Whilst the units are
classified as housing they are not for general sale, will constitute a 100 per cent affordable housing provision, and will fulfil a service to the community by providing supported housing provisions for local people with complex needs in immediate proximity to adjacent community facilities that these individuals may utilise.”
The report said the scheme would also support six, full-time jobs.
It concluded: “Based on the above assessment, it is considered that the proposed scheme would not have an adverse impact that would outweigh its benefits through the delivery of residential accommodation on this vacant site in a manner which would be sympathetic to surrounding land uses.”
The committee meets at Runcorn Town Hall on Monday.
