Developer says plan will ‘enhance the vitality of the local area’

A “derelict and overgrown site” next to a Merseyrail station in Birkenhead could be brought “back to life” as new plans have been put forward. Wirral Council has been told the new plan “supports economic activity” and “enhances the vitality of the local area”.

Plans have gone into Wirral Council for two commercial units to be built on the ground floor of a new building and one residential flat on the first floor. The development would be built on the corner of Station Road and Stanley Road in the north end of Birkenhead.

The site sits very close to Birkenhead North station, which offers a large park and ride car park as well as Ilchester Park. Diverse Design Collective who have pitched the plans to the local authority said it would be “bringing back to life a derelict and overgrown site in a prominent location”.

The two shops would cover an area of 64 square metres while the first floor flat would be accessed separately. A design and access statement document attached to the application said: “The proposed development site, owned by the applicant, is a large vacant plot that has been derelict and overgrown for some time.”

The document points to a number of buildings in the area including a nearby ASDA and Iceland. According to the planning application, this “provides precedent for more commercial appearing buildings in the context, meaning further commercial units would not appear out of place”.

The Diverse Design Collective said the plans “seek to open up and utilise a wasted site on a very prominent position within Birkenhead” with a “modest and proportionate” development. They said this “represents an efficient and appropriate use of a vacant urban site”.

Pointing to its computer generated images of how the site would look, the design statement said: “We feel these images adequately show that the proposals not only seamlessly connect with the context in materiality and scale, but subtly provide an engaging street scene that is simultaneously not overly prominent, yet activates the street.”

The document added: “We feel the proposed building would be suitable for the application site and would not feel out of place in scale or appearance to the surrounding dwellings of this area and will not impact the streetscape in any way.

“The proposed high-quality palette of materials would be in keeping with and compliment the character of the area and we feel the overall proposals will be a huge improvement on the appearance of the existing vacant and derelict site in such a prominent position. The predominant use of red brick will respect the surrounding dwellings and character of the adjacent train station, all of which are red brick.”

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Apple Inc. lost an early round in a discrimination lawsuit brought in the U.S. by a female engineer from India who says her two managers — one from her country, the other from Pakistan — treated her as they would in their own countries: as a subservient.

The woman’s case in California state court is the latest to allege workplace bias in Silicon Valley that focuses on cultural prejudices of some tech workers from South Asia. Cisco Systems Inc. is fighting a suit brought by California’s civil rights agency alleging bias against a member of India’s so-called lower castes, known as Dalits.

Anita Nariani Schulze is part of the Sindhi minority — she is Hindu, with ancestry in the Sindh region of what is now Pakistan. Her complaint alleges that her senior and direct managers, both male, consistently excluded her from meetings while inviting her male counterparts, criticized her, micromanaged her work, and deprived her of bonuses, despite positive performance evaluations and significant team contributions.

Schulze claims the managers’ animus reflects sexism, racism, religious bias and discrimination on the basis of national origin. The Sindhi Hindu nationality is “known for its technical acumen” and its gender equality, she says, which “exacerbated the managers’ discriminatory treatment.”

In a tentative ruling on Wednesday, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni rejected Apple’s request to toss out the suit. While not ruling on the merits of the case, Kulkarni said Schulze had adequately supported her legal claims. Apple had argued her claims weren’t specific enough and were based on stereotypes.

But the judge rejected Schulze’s request to represent a class of female Apple employees who suffered job discrimination over the last four years. He agreed with Apple that she didn’t show a pattern of discrimination that could be applied to a broader group.