As many members will know, an exhibition was held by Countryside Properties, and their planning consultants Turley, on 19th November. Countryside are the prospective developers of the former Gateacre Comprehensive School site. They are proposing to build 202 houses (detached and semi-detached, 3-5 bedrooms) spread across the whole of the area bounded by Grange Lane, Gateacre Park Drive and Cuckoo Lane. This will involve the re-levelling of the entire site, much of which was artificially raised, using landfill material, when the school was built in the 1950s. Road access to the new estate will be mainly from Cuckoo Lane (via a series of access roads designed to preserve the long-distance views to Prescot and beyond) with access points also on Gateacre Park Drive and at the north end of Grange Lane.

The consultants delivered about 1,000 leaflets to local residents, giving details of the proposals and the exhibition, and inviting comments. We notified those of our members for whom we have an email address, and put details on our website. Turley tell us that just over 100 people attended the consultation event. Countryside are currently reviewing the feedback, and deciding whether to modify the proposals prior to submitting a formal planning application.

The Society's Committee discussed the plans and submitted a lengthy response to Turley in early December. We pointed out that the site lies within a Park Deficiency Area (as defined in the Liverpool UDP) and is currently designated as Green Space. The City Council's normal requirement would, therefore, be for an open space to be incorporated within it. We also pointed out that, although the developers state that walking and cycling to the shops will be encouraged, the current 'Masterplan' does not offer an easy route to Belle Vale and Gateacre Village from within the new estate. We therefore suggested the provision of a 1 hectare open space half-way along the Grange Lane frontage, crossed by footpaths leading down from the housing area above. We also suggested that the proposed number of houses should be reduced to 150, which would be more consistent with the existing density of the surrounding area.

You can find and download a copy of our submission by following the links below. If you have sent in your own views, please let us have a copy.