The future of a WWI memorial site is in question after a company applied to demolish it to make way for a new development of flats.
St Luke's Memorial Hall, on Breck Road, Wallasey was built in 1926 in memory of the 250 soldiers from Poulton who lost their lives in WWI. For most of the century the building, which sits beside St Luke's Church, served as a community centre though fell into disuse and eventually disrepair as the 21st century approached.
The building has been unused for years. Now Liverpool-based SEP Construction Services has applied to demolish the building and build a development of flats in its place. The application proposes 33 new flats, all of which are to be managed as social housing, and a space for parking attached to the building that will be four storeys high at points.
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Despite it being unused, for many who object to the proposals the site still holds the same sentiment for which it was constructed. It was built after being funded by local people who had lost loved ones, such as Mary Bennett, a widow who lost three of her four sons in the war and who was asked to lay the foundation stone for the site when construction began in 1926.
One person who lives in Wallasey said the plans to demolish the site are "shameful" but was equally incensed by the fact such an important building had been allowed to fall into such disrepair. There are currently 23 public objections to the plans listed on the Wirral Council's planning application site.
The application for the proposed apartment building mentions the construction will remain "sensitive" to the site's historical importance, and that its architects have worked "assiduously" to design the building in respect of this historical context.
The ECHO approached SEP for comment.
UPDATE: A previous version of this article named Magenta Living, a housing association based in Birkenhead, as the organisation who put forward the application. A spokesperson for Magenta has since confirmed that they no longer have any involvement in this project, instead it is in the sole remit of SEP Construction LTD.
