It proved to be third time unlucky for a controversial student housing plan near Toxteth as it was formally rejected by Liverpool Council.
The local authority’s planning committee has confirmed that proposals for more than 180 student bedrooms and 105 apartments on Falkner Street cannot go ahead after it ratified its previous decision to knock back a plan heard in March. The scheme was up before the committee for a third time having initially been discussed in December 2019.
During a planning meeting almost two months ago, councillors went against the council planning officers’ recommendation to approve the plans by Falkner Street Developments to build on the site of a former church and probation centre in L8. Despite the plans being recommended for approval, Cllr Joe Hanson said the application should be refused based on the lack of parking, and the detrimental effect on residential amenity.
READ MORE: Teen who kicked pensioner into the Mersey wanted by police
As a result, a further report was drafted to review and formalise the rejection today. Alastair Shepherd, planning agent speaking on behalf of the applicant, told councillors that the plans represented a “really good, well thought out scheme” and would fit in with existing developments in the area.
Mr Shepherd added that it was a “sustainable” location, “more so than others” in the area. The site on Falkner Street occupies two buildings which would have been demolished; a former probation centre built in the 1990s, and a former church built in the early 2000s, together with surface car parking.
The probation centre’s services were transferred to another location while the church was closed in 2014 - 12 years after it opened. Planning approval had previously been secured at the site in December 2019 subject to a section 106 agreement being entered into.
Pat Harvey, of L8 Matters Community Land Trust, offered a rebuttal of the plans for the committee to consider, and said the concerns of residents had not changed, there is “sufficient” student accommodation in the city already and campaigners were “dismayed” that the scheme had been recommended for approval once again. She added that the area is "slowly being gentrified to the detriment of the community" and hundreds of residents had signed a petition opposing the scheme.
Princes Park ward member Cllr Lucille Harvey questioned how a new development such as the one put forward would tackle anti-social behaviour in the area. Summing up the application, council officer Fergal McEvoy said a number of options had been considered, including consultation with social landlords but none had been interested.
Cllr Hanson said he hadn’t heard anything that had dissuaded him from his original decision to call for a rejection of the plans. Moving they be scrapped, chair Cllr Tony Concepcion said he and the committee did recognise the concerns of residents and said the plans had been put forward for approval as the site had remained vacant for some time.
Cllr Concepcion’s confirmation of the final rejection was met with rapturous applause from campaigners in the public benches at Liverpool Town Hall.
Property developers Legacie Developments had hoped a “new vision” for the site may have won over the committee, having said they would take on the site subject to approval being granted as the current owner had “no interest” going forward.
