After the agenda for the Planning Committee was published, an extra petition (in support) of the planning application for a fire station in Saughall Massie has been received by Wirral Council of 27 signatures.
I include scans of the late list for the last Planning Committee meeting that also includes extra information on APP/17/00126 (which was refused) and APP/17/00401 (which was approved).
Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agreed at its meeting on the 22nd June 2017 to visit the site on the 18th July 2017. The Planning Committee will leave Wallasey Town Hall at 10.00 am and the site visit is expected to start on site approximately around 10.15 am (or possibly a bit later depending on traffic). The planning application is expected to be decided at a public meeting of the Planning Committee starting at 6.00 pm on the 20th July 2017 in the Civic Hall at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED.
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13 councillors on Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agree to site visit over controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application (APP/17/00306)
13 councillors on Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agree to site visit over controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application (APP/17/00306)
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ED – updated 26.6.17 to include time of site visit
Prior to Wirral Council’s Planning Committee meeting starting yesterday evening, the sprung floor bounced as over a hundred people came through the doors into the Civic Hall at Wallasey Town Hall.
Most were there to see what would happen to planning application
APP/17/00306 (which was an amended planning application following the refusal of application APP/16/00985). Application APP/17/00306 was a revised planning application for a new fire station in Saughall Massie on greenbelt land owned by Wirral Council.
Those present patiently sat through the Chair’s regular speech about procedure, followed by approval of the minutes of the last Planning Committee meeting and a request for any declarations of interest to be made.
Finally, nearly three minutes into the meeting came the moment many were waiting for.
Councillor David Elderton (Conservative spokesperson) pictured above requested that the Planning Committee agree a site visit for planning application APP/17/00306 before a decision was made on it.
He explained that the layout and size had changed since the previous application.
The Planning Committee agreed for a site visit to be held on the 18th July 2017 starting at some point after 10.15 am (the minibus is scheduled to leave Wallasey Town Hall at around 10.00 am).
So what is a site visit?
It’s an opportunity for the Planning Committee to visit the site and see for themselves the site that the planning application is about.
Below is what happened at the site visit for the previous planning application (that was refused) that is related to this one held on the same site on the 13th December 2016.
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A time of day for the site visit has not yet been finalised now been given as 10.30 am, but Wirral Council will request that the applicant Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service “peg out” the proposed outline of the building and site.
The planning application is then expected to be determined at a Planning Committee meeting scheduled to start at 6.00 pm on the 20th July 2017 in the Civic Hall at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED.
Related to this matter, ward councillor Councillor Blakeley has also proposed a notice of motion on the green belt that will be discussed at the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on the 5th July 2017 in Committee Room 1 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED starting at 6.00 pm. His notice of motion calls upon Wirral Council to “confirm its unconditional guarantee to protect Wirral’s green belt and further resolves that it will not release or allow Council owned green belt land to be developed under any circumstances.”
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Wirral Council planning officer decides environmental impact assessment not required for controversial Saughall Massie greenbelt fire station planning application
Wirral Council planning officer decides environmental impact assessment not required for controversial Saughall Massie greenbelt fire station planning application
The Saughall Massie fire station saga, already as long as Beowulf but with less dragons, reached another stage in the planning decision-making process this week.
No date has been set for a Planning Committee decision on the revised linked planning application (after the first one was refused last year), but a decision is expected on this revised planning application by mid-September 2017.
The nearby Girtrell Court site received permission for demolition in late April 2017. The Girtrell Court site nearby (although it does not have main road access) is roughly the same size as land Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority want in the greenbelt for their new fire station.
Applications for planning permission in the greenbelt can be refused if other suitable alternative brownfield sites are available.
One of the justifications for a new fire station in Saughall Massie is the proposed Hoylake Golf Resort.
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EXCLUSIVE: When did Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service request a new screening opinion for controversial Saughall Massie greenbelt fire station?
EXCLUSIVE: When did Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service request a new screening opinion for controversial Saughall Massie greenbelt fire station?
Last week Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service applied to Wirral Council for a screening opinion for land off Saughall Massie Road it wants for a new fire station.
Screening opinions do not go through the normal planning application process as there is a legal requirement that they area dealt within weeks. In response to a screening opinion request last year Wirral Council deemed the greenbelt location was not “environmentally sensitive”.
Although plans for a fire station are opposed by the local Conservative ward councillors in Moreton West and Saughall Massie ward, Wirral Council’s Leader Cllr Phil Davies has made his support for a fire station at this greenbelt location public.
Cllr Phil Davies represents Birkenhead and Tranmere ward. In 2015, the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority chose to transfer land to Wirral Council valued at £250,000 to £325,000 for a nominal sum for a youth club called the Hive Youth Zone. The Hive is expected to become operational later this year in a marginal Green/Labour seat.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s former Deputy Chief Executive Kieran Timmins previously offered Wirral Council the land for the Hive Youth Zone in Birkenhead a land swap for the land the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service wanted (then in Greasby). Although this offer was not taken up.
Following public opposition at Greasby the land (owned by Wirral Council) was withdrawn by Wirral Council. A planning application just before Christmas for the land at Saughall Massie was turned down by a 7:6 vote of councillors.
If a planning application for a new fire station at Saughall Massie is approved, Wirral Council look set to gain an estimated £300,000 windfall from the sale of the land. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service have received a £1.5 million grant from the government towards the costs of the fire station merger proposals on the Wirral.
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Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service recommend councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority appeal refusal of planning permission for Saughall Massie Fire Station to Planning Inspectorate
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service recommend councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority appeal refusal of planning permission for Saughall Massie Fire Station to Planning Inspectorate
The report to councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority criticises what ward councillor Councillor Chris Blakeley said at the Planning Committee meeting last month. The criticism relates to remarks the councillor made at the meeting about Upton Fire Station being a “fall-back” position, comments about the impact of a new fire station at Saughall Massie would have both on Arrowe Park Hospital and also what Cllr Blakleley stated about response times.
If the recommendation is approved by councillors on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority the costs of producing the documentation for a revised planning application are estimated in the report as “in the region of £56,000” (which would include a detailed lighting impact assessment). The costs of legal advice, preparation and representation for an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate are estimated to cost between £36,500 and £49,000.
The item is the last item on the agenda (item 9) and is expected to be held in public starting at 1.00 pm on the 26th January 2017 in the Liverpool Suite, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Bridle Rd, Bootle, L30 4YD.
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