A FORMER nursing home with grandstand views over the Royal Liverpool Golf Club could become Wirral’s latest boutique hotel.

Formerly a nursing home called Greenacre Court, the 17- bedroom building on Meols Drive has been empty for almost a decade.

But a planning application submitted to Wirral Council is seeking to transform the building into a hotel also offering luxury spa facilities – and views of one of the UK’s most famous golf clubs.

The application coincides with the announcement that the Royal Liverpool Golf Club will host the 2012 Ricoh Women’s British Open, the first time that the Club has hosted this prestigious Championship.

Part owner of the site, local estate agent Paul Lea, said local people wanted to see the house developed and used.

He said: “We have tried various residential schemes but they haven’t been acceptable. This has got the support of local residents and will be fantastic with the Women’s Open coming in 2012.”

In the run-up to the 2006 Open at Hoylake, there had been concerns that the building would ruin much of the preparations sprucing up the area for the thousands of visitors.

Known as the Paddock, and just a few doors away from the Royal Liverpool clubhouse, it had defied the property boom leading up to the Open and remained on the market.

At the time, property experts blamed the moratorium on new residential developments in West Wirral, which started in 2003 and limits the amount of development in the area.

The application is seeking a “change of use from residential care home to boutique hotel with spa, erection of a rear extension and associated car parking”.