Barratt Homes says scheme will provide jobs for people locally and provide new housing for ‘range of social and demographic groups’

Hundreds of homes could be built next to a Wirral town where properties “aren’t actually affordable to the normal person”. The developer behind the plans has been accused of “testing the waters” over the “lucrative” site.

Barratt Homes has approached Wirral Council to ask whether a environmental assessment is needed for plans to build up to 300 homes off Chester Road to the south of Heswall. The developer does not see this as necessary for any future planning application and said it has provided information to the local authority to back this up.

Documents put forward by the developer highlight the site’s “mature trees” as well as the site’s grassland and farmland used to grow cereal crops. However it said the application is not next “to an environmentally sensitive area” with low risk of flooding and surveys showed little evidence of wintering or breeding birds.

Barratt Homes said the plans will include cycle and footpaths, open space and play areas, as well as efforts made to protect existing trees and hedges. The plan would be for the homes to be built within six years if approved.

The developer does not consider the plans “to be out of scale” given its close location to Heswall. There are also plans to include affordable housing which would likely be sold at 20% of the market rate.

Heswall is one of the wealthiest areas in Wirral with an average house price of £488,645. Detached houses in the area sell on average for £632,015.

The early stage plans have already prompted concerns in the Wirral town. Community organisation the Heswall Society already say they are against the plans.

Steve Anderson said their group’s position was “there should be no building on greenbelt land unless it’s necessary”. He said this was not the case in Wirral because of the council’s Local Plan which only includes development on brownfield land.

The Local Plan is a strategic document outlining where the council thinks developments should happen across the borough. Thousands of homes are included with a focus on regeneration in deprived areas such as Birkenhead, Seacombe and Bromborough.

He said Barratt Homes really needed to answer why it was putting the plans forward, adding: “My guess is they are trying to test whether the council really does have a housing supply.

“As soon as there is any weakness there, the developers will want to develop on the green belt. It’s maybe testing the waters, I do not know.”

Mr Anderson feels work needs to be done to assess the environmental impact of any plans including potentially ancient trees on the site as well as heritage buildings nearby.

He added: “It’s certainly a very lucrative site for a builder. When they talk about building affordable houses, all the houses maybe meet the government definition of affordable but they aren’t actually affordable to the normal person.”

The Barratt Homes application said the development would provide jobs for people locally and provide new housing for “a range of social and demographic groups” that would support the government’s aim to build 1.5m homes across the country.

The developer said: “The proposed development will help to tackle the ongoing housing crisis at a local level, although it is recognised that this is a national problem that the current government are desperate to resolve.”

It added: “There will be a limited number of people who will be affected by this proposal, mainly by landscape and visual impacts.” The site is also considered “relatively small and self-contained” and would be unlikely “to lead to the loss of a significant amount of additional green belt land beyond its boundaries”.

Barratt Homes was approached for comment.

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