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Plans to restore a Grade II-listed Victorian villa in Bromborough and build homes in its grounds have been unanimously approved by Wirral Council's planning committee.
Kinders, on Allport Road, will be converted into 10 apartments as part of a scheme for 23 homes in total, the Wirral Globe reports. The plans include already available access for cars through the road, widened to 5.5 metres and expanded parking at the front of the site.
The approval covers full planning permission and listed building consent, subject to a Section 106 legal agreement. That agreement ties the restoration of the villa to the building of the new homes.
The plans include:
- 10 apartments in the villa, keeping its entrance hall, staircase and main rooms.
- two homes in the old stable block, with its cobbled yard reinstated.
- 10 new family houses, each with three or more bedrooms, in the former paddock beyond the tree line. Eight will be detached, and two semi-detached.
- one new home to replace a cottage that had fallen beyond repair.
Original windows, doors and timber tracery will be refurbished, the stucco walls repaired with lime paint, and the Welsh slate roof and chimneys restored. Later office partitions will come out. The stables will also be restored, according to reports with the application.
Furthermore, each new property will have solar panels, and the scheme includes a wildlife pound to encourage local ecology.
33 Mature trees on the site are protected by a Tree Preservation Order.
Andrew McLaughlin, managing director of developer RAM Properties, told the Globe: "Now, three years on and after many obstacles, this decision will enable a Grade II listed building to be restored back to its original use and bring much needed, quality new homes to the area."
Antony O'Toole, director of SHACK Architecture, called the building "vacant" at the meeting. He added that the new houses secure the future of a villa that would otherwise remain in "decline".
As we reported before the meeting, the scheme includes no affordable housing.
Work can start once the legal agreement is signed.
