A field in Prescot plagued by fly-tipping will be replaced by affordable homes despite fears of “overdevelopment” in the area.
Knowsley Council’s planning committee approved a proposal to built 36 houses on the field behind houses on Ash Grove and Kingsway at a meeting on Thursday evening (June 10).
Although the land is currently earmarked as urban green space, planning officers said there was a surplus of green space in the area and there was “a history of anti-social behaviour” at the site making it unsuitable for use in its current form.
Cllr Alan Flute added that the land had been “recognised as a blight on the landscape because of the fly-tipping that goes on there”.
Cllr Flute added that the development, proposed by Forth Homes and housing association LIVV Housing, would help address an “acute shortage of social housing” in Knowsley.
But Prescot North councillor Frances Wynn said she thought it was a case of “overdevelopment” given the large number of houses already being built in Prescot.
Green councillor Cath Golding also objected to the plans, saying: “With the amount of housebuilding that’s been done and will be done, we shouldn’t have an acute shortage of social housing but it’s not being implemented with those developments.”
Large developers avoiding requirements to build affordable housing by claiming it is not financially viable has been a bone of contention in the planning committee for several years.
A number of significant planning applications, including in the proposed Halsnead Garden Village and East of Halewood developments, have been approved without the requirement for 25% affordable housing included in council policies for viability reasons.
The plans for Ash Grove were approved on Thursday with 13 Labour councillors voting in favour and five councillors against.
Those opposing included two Greens, one Liberal Democrat, on Halewood Independent and a single Labour councillor.
