Wirral Council has been accused of "unreasonable behaviour" and forced to pay legal costs to a developer after it won a planning appeal for dozens of luxury apartments.
Proposals for 32 new homes to be built on the former fire station in West Kirby were knocked back by the local authority in May last year after it was felt there was no basis for residential development on the site and failed to comply with national planning policy. Previous plans approved to change the fire station into office and retail space never took off.
Last year, the council said: “The proposals do not adopt an integrated approach to the location of housing, economic uses and community facilities and services, and will fail to function well over the lifetime of the development, establish a strong sense of place, or optimise the potential of the site.”
