A former Conservative club building collapsed last week.
Demolition crews have been out throughout this week to complete the levelling of Earlestown Conservative club on Earle Street, following the collapse of the now-derelict town centre building. Plans were drawn up in 2020 to demolish the building to build apartments, with the council granting permission for work to begin.
The plans outlined the building of eight two bedroom flats, and eight one bedroom flats. However, due to an unknown reason, the work never began.
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The proposals, submitted by applicant, Kim Landa said: "The existing building is currently vacant and has been vacant for some time, previously the existing building functioned as a public house.
"In its current state, the building is damaged and the construction quality of the building has not stood the test of time.
"The site being in such close proximity to the town centre, which hosts several high quality and local historic interest buildings, the site is not currently meeting its full potential. The massing and scale of the proposal has been carefully considered by the design team and have accounted for the surrounding the context.
"The proposal has a very similarly sized foot print as the existing public house, and the height of the proposal has considered the heights of the adjacent buildings."
A spokesperson for Tang and Associates agents, who drew up the application, confirmed to the ECHO that work has since commenced on the apartments, but did not provide a reason for the delay. Cllr Seve Gomez-Aspron said: "In 2020, the attached planning permission was granted to build a block of one and two bedroom flats on the Earlestown Tory Club site.
"For whatever reason, probably Covid etc, the owner didn’t progress it. But this permission still remains in place. There are over 9000 cases registered on the housing waiting list in our borough. And a lot need 1 or 2 bedroom properties due to the bedroom tax pricing them out of other houses.
"People living in town centres shop in town centres too. Hopefully the site will be developed ASAP to provide new good quality housing and remove the mess it currently is."
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