Property developer Elliot Lawless has launched an appeal after a controversial student housing plan near Toxteth was rejected by Liverpool Council.
The local authority’s planning committee confirmed last year that proposals for more than 180 student bedrooms and 105 apartments on Falkner Street could not go ahead after it ratified its previous decision to knock back a plan months earlier. The scheme was up before the committee for a third time, having initially been discussed in December 2019.
During a planning meeting in March 2022, councillors went against the council planning officers’ recommendation to approve the plans by Falkner Street Developments - of which Mr Lawless is a director - to build on the site of a former church and probation centre in L8. Despite the plans being recommended for approval, Cllr Joe Hanson said the application should be refused based on the lack of parking, and the detrimental effect on residential amenity.
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As a result, a further report was drafted to review and formalise the rejection. Alastair Shepherd, planning agent speaking on behalf of the applicant, told councillors that the plans represented a “really good, well thought out scheme” and would fit in with existing developments in the area.
Mr Shepherd added that it was a “sustainable” location, “more so than others” in the area. The site on Falkner Street occupies two buildings which would have been demolished; a former probation centre built in the 1990s, and a former church built in the early 2000s, together with surface car parking.
The probation centre’s services were transferred to another location while the church was closed in 2014 - 12 years after it opened. Planning approval had previously been secured at the site in December 2019 subject to a section 106 agreement being entered into.
According to a listing on the Planning Inspectorate website, Falkner Street Developments Limited has launched an official appeal against the council’s decision. It is expected a decision will be made by March 14, with the application launched in January.
The L8 Matters Community Land Trust objected to the plans when they were heard last year and formalised a statement in December opposing what they called the “gentrification” of the area. The group said it would continue to state its resistance to the plans put forward by Mr Lawless’ firm and any other developers.
The ECHO contacted a representative for Mr Lawless for comment.
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