AN ASSOCIATION led by the nephew of war poet Wilfred Owen said plans to build on a field regarded as a memorial to Birkenhead men who died in WWI was “ill-considered”.
The Wilfred Owen Society (WOA) also fears Tranmere Rovers’ proposals could prove to be a precedent for future planning applications elsewhere relating to war memorials.
The proposals by Tranmere to use Ingleborough Fields for housing and develop Woodchurch Leisure Centre as a team and community facility has split the local community.
Supporters of the team generally welcomed the plans, which could see major investment in training at the club and community sports facilities for local people improved.
But others are alarmed at the effect on an area they see as a memorial to old boys of Birkenhead Institute – including Wilfred Owen – who died in the Great War.
Tranmere acquired the Ingleborough Road site, formerly Birkenhead Institute school playing fields, in 1994.
It includes a plaque in memory of the 88 Institute old boys killed during World War I, and trees planted in memory of each one.
Tranmere Rovers Supporters Trust has formally backed the plan to build 100 homes on the six acres.
It is linked to a scheme to redevelop facilities at the Woodchurch Leisure Centre for use by the club and community.
Some 2,500 fans are members of the trust, which said the twin project would benefit the community with new sports and leisure facilities, as well as helping the club reduce its debt burden.
Under the proposals, the WWI memorial would be moved to a “landscaped area” at the southern entrance to the housing estate.
The WOA, whose president is Wilfred Owen’s nephew, Peter Owen, said in its response to the planning application it “does not give adequate consideration to the war memorial status of this site, or to the question of how best to sustain the memory of the old boys of the Birkenhead Institute”.
The WOA added: “The Wilfred Owen Association request that an attempt be made to identify and preserve the trees planted in memory of the Birkenhead Institute old boys killed in the First World War, and that full consideration be given to the fact that the playing fields and pavilion have a commemorative purpose.
“The application in its present form seems ill-considered. It identifies only the tablet on the pavilion as the war memorial – without regard to the trees, or to the field itself – and the simplistic solution offered is that in moving the tablet the whole memorial has been moved.
“We, the Wilfred Owen Association, are asking the planners to go back to the drawing board and to think of a way of sympathetically sustaining the memory of the old boys.
“This is an important case since, whatever is decided, it may act as a precedent for future planning applications relating to war memorial sites.”
A spokeswoman for Wirral Council said the authority had asked the applicants for further details about the proposals, including more information about the “heritage aspects”.
Tranmere Rovers has so far declined to comment on aspects of the scheme ahead of it being heard by the planning committee.
