Acting on behalf of the owner, Cass Associates has submitted an outline planning application for up to 19 dwellings on the former Garden Hey Nurseries near Saughall Massie.

The application site, which sits within the Wirral Green Belt, is the former Garden Hey Nurseries which was a popular market nursery and café in the 1990s before closing its doors due to competition from larger garden centres and supermarkets. The site has since been used for storage and car repairs. It currently comprises numerous derelict buildings, former customer car park and large areas of hard-standing.

The scheme represents appropriate development in the Green Belt as it is the redevelopment of a previously developed (brownfield) site. Although only in outline at this stage, the site will incorporate habitats for local wildlife and extensive areas of open space.

Development of the site will provide much needed housing in a sustainable location and also provide areas of open space for public enjoyment on what residents currently describe as a derelict eyesore.

Darren Muir, Planner at Cass Associates, said:

“Redevelopment of previously developed land is vital to help protect Wirral’s green space.  This is an ideal site for SME house-builders and is a welcome development for a site that has been derelict and deteriorating for a number of years.”

Wirral currently has an out of date Local Plan and insufficient land to meet their housing targets. As such they are undertaking a Development Options Review with an aim to present a Draft Local Plan by December 2018.

Heavily constrained by Green Belt and under increasing pressure to deliver sites for housing, Wirral Council support the redevelopment of brownfield land.

The delivery of up to 19 homes on the former Garden Hey Nursery site will help protect the Wirral countryside from the development of greenfield sites.

The application can be followed here.