Grand design plan for Wirral jewel

Jul 5 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

NEW designs for a controversial apartments development in Wirral’s “jewel”, Port Sunlight, have been unveiled.

Developers went back to the drawing board to redesign the apartment block on Wharf Street which in its original form had been described as “industrial”.

Architect Mike Paddock helped bring together the company behind the development, Seddon Homes, and local residents who had objected vociferously to the original scheme.

He said: “The previous applica-tion was approved in 1998 and when Seddon bought it they could have gone ahead and built it up. I introduced them to the local residents in a meeting at my offices in Port Sunlight.”

He said they told Seddon’s representatives they would be “really disappointed” if the firm went ahead with the plans.

The original planning applica-tion for 38 apartments in an industrial style has now been extended to 48 two bedroom apartments – but in the “village vernacular” with gabled, tiled and pitched roofs, porches, bay windows and chimneys in the three storey block.

The new style, more in keeping with the historic village built by William Hesketh Lever for work-ers in his soap factory in 1888, is more expensive, hence the increase in the number of apart-ments in the design.

Mr Paddock’s firm, Paddock Johnson Associates, has been involved with the development on that site for 10 years. It has been passed on to succes-sive owners because of its knowledge of the area and the plan.

He said: “When we took it on the only building on the site was an old bike shed and garaging.

“Local resi-dents now sup-port it because it reflects the design vernacular of Port Sunlight.”

Lionel Bolland, chief executive of Port Sunlight Trust which oversees the management of the village, said he was delighted at the new look for the apartments.

He said the inquiry into a mas-sive development on the village site in 2005 had “barred the whole notion of modern quasi-industrial design” for the area.

Mr Bolland said Seddon still had planning permission dating from before that inquiry “but that was equally unacceptable because of the alien style”.

He said: “The problem we had was trying to persuade Seddon not to build that out. We appealed to their better nature – and we have a nice outcome.”

Ryan Watson, development manager of Seddon Homes said residents had asked them to reconsider the design and they held public consultation sessions at the Port Sunlight Trust head-quarters recently.

He said: “We hope the planning application will be well received by residents and the council.”