Wirral Council has also dropped the number of homes it plans to deliver by 4,500 which is being challenged by developers
Developers said large subsidies are needed to make areas in Seacombe and Birkenhead more viable. Photo of Miller’s Quay, one of the first Wirral Waters development in Seacombe(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Developers believe Wirral Council would need nearly £1bn to deliver its housing plans by 2040. It comes after Wirral Council dropped the number of new homes it hopes to build over the next two decades by more than 4,500 as it waits for a final decision on its draft Local Plan.
The draft Local Plan is a major policy document designed to outline both residential and economic development on the Wirral with no development on the green belt. It was submitted to the government for inspection in 2022 and underwent extensive hearings over several months in 2023.
Following these hearings, planning inspectors Tom Bristow and Mike Worden came back with some key changes to the plan before it could be considered for approval. They praised the council for “a positively prepared and justified approach” but the plan was unsound at that point in time.
Changes by the council were then put forward for public feedback. Inspectors will now take into account all of the comments received ahead of a final decision by the Planning Inspectorate which is expected to be made early this year in 2025.
As part of the many changes put forward, the council reduced the number of homes it plans to build in Birkenhead by 2,499 while targets for homes in other areas have also been reduced. In total, the minimum number of homes provided under the plan would drop from 16,322 to 11,814, a drop of 4,508 or nearly 28%.
Over the 18 years of the plan, this would be 656 homes a year which is nearly 1,000 homes below the government’s new housing target for Wirral. However in later years, the plan could see more than 1,000 homes built a year if regeneration makes areas like Birkenhead attractive for development.
Leverhulme Estates who have previously put forward plans to develop parts of Wirral’s green belt have endorsed other developers in challenging Wirral Council(Image: Leverhulme Estate)
The future of the plan remains in doubt as the UK Government plans to bring in a major overhaul of the planning system to encourage housing and economic development including reviewing plans if changes are too significant. The government said the changes are needed to tackle a housing crisis.
As part of this, the Wirral has seen the biggest increase in its targets across the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority going from 728 homes a year to 1,602 a year. This is an increase of 874 homes a year and more than double the previous target.
With these new targets, Wirral Council is coming under increasing pressure from developers who want to see areas of green belt released for development. A group of 12 developers calling themselves the Development Consortium has slammed the council dropping the number of homes it plans to build.
They argue the decrease, which is below a minimum requirement of 14,400 homes, is a massive change and makes the plan undeliverable. The developers also believe homes in some areas need £150,000 per home to be deliverable and “an overwhelming majority of the 11,814 supply remaining in the plan is wholly unviable and would require very substantial grant funding to come forward.”
The Hind Street Urban Village project which was recently given £51m of public funds has been singled out by rival developers as one of five expensive projects for Wirral Council to deliver(Image: Liverpool Echo)
According to their calculations, there are deficits of £964,000,000 to deliver new homes in five areas. These are Vittoria Studios at Wirral Waters, central Birkenhead, the Seaview Road car park in Liscard, the Hind Street Urban Village, and a former bio-diesel site in Bromborough.
In areas like Birkenhead and Seacombe, the council’s own estimates suggest £580,000,000 could be needed to deliver nearly 10,000 homes. The consortium are arguing the council “have failed to demonstrate that such an enormous level of necessary public subsidy is available.”
Developers also criticised the plan for only delivering 1,637 affordable homes. Inspectors previously said 705 affordable homes need to be delivered each year to address needs which equals to about 12,690 affordable homes by 2040.
Inspectors have been urged to reject the draft Local Plan as it “cannot be found sound on the basis of an evidential ‘leap of faith’ that unidentified and unidentifiable grants will come forward to remedy such massive development deficits.” They also accused the council of hiding past under-delivery of new housing and being “significantly out of step” with the current government.
When challenged about the viability of its plans in 2023, the council said it had successfully bid for public funding for developments at an average £23m a year over the last five years. Christopher Katkowski KC, the council’s lead legal representative said: “It is relevant to look at the council’s success in levering public funds in a reasonable amount of time. You’ve got all the figures for that and they’re very large sums of money in anyone’s book.”
Protestors and Conservative councillors at a rally over the Leverhulme planning applications on the green belt(Image: Edward Barnes)
However some changes have been welcomed. The NHS welcomed changes which will allow them to secure financial contributions towards new healthcare infrastructure as part of any future developments.
Groups in favour of green belt boundaries being maintained have continued to support the plan as well as members of the public who do not think green belt development is needed in Wirral. The Wirral Green Space Alliance said the changes were legally compliant and sound and called for the plan to be adopted as soon as possible “so that the benefits for Wirral can be realised.”
They support the council’s housing delivery figures arguing this “more than adequately caters for Wirral’s real housing need,” adding: “We also support the recognition that the figure is “a reflection of levels that are currently demonstrably deliverable or developable” with the expectation that further sources of supply will become available over time and as ‘Regeneration’ improves market confidence.”
They also argued Wirral had done exceptionally well at bringing empty homes back into use with around 250 a year over a decade. They criticised the inspectors’ request for empty homes being removed from the council’s supply figures, previously estimated to be 1,583 homes by 2040.