The Leverhulme Estate has applied for planning permission to construct up to 290 new homes, as well as "sport pitches", "play areas" and "wildlife habitats" in a Wirral village.
The Leverhulme Estate, founded by Lord Leverhulme who was behind the construction of Port Sunlight, has applied to build up to 290 new homes in the village of Irby, Wirral, in an area of green belt land East of Glenwood Drive. Their planning application said, if successful, they intend to build up to 290 homes, almost a third of which will be affordable housing, as well as "green infrastructure" that includes "sports pitches, play areas and parkland, wildlife habitats and green corridors".
The proposed development at Irby is part of wider plans to bring 780 new home to the Wirral, all built on green belt land owned by the Leverhulme Estate. The wider plans were slammed by people living in the Wirral last month.
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The Estate has now told the ECHO that the planned development at Irby has been in the works since before the war, and had to be "shelved" as the Estate moved to "support the war effort."
Nigel McGurk, Head of Land and Planning for Leverhulme, said: “Leverhulme’s application for up to 290 new homes east of Glenwood Drive forms part of our vision for sustainable and deliverable communities in Wirral. Each of the communities has been designed to meet local requirements and aspirations.
"Our plans will not only deliver on Wirral’s significant outstanding need to meet the area’s market and affordable housing requirements but will do so in a way that enhances the built and natural environment.
“If successful, the Glenwood Drive application would include 30 per cent affordable housing and 10 per cent self-build [or] custom-build properties. It would also deliver part of the borough’s cycle super greenway as well as sports pitches, play areas and parkland, wildlife habitats and green corridors.
“Leverhulme originally planned to develop this site earlier in the 20th Century and the houses built at Parkway were the first phase of a much larger development than that currently proposed.
“Leverhulme subsequently donated significant landholdings, including around Arrowe Park, to support the war effort and plans were shelved. “Leverhulme’s history as an enlightened developer is integral to and entwined with Wirral’s history and we are proud to evolve the vision to provide homes and places that meet the needs of today’s and future generations.”
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