Wirral housing Local Plan revealed - says greenbelt protected

Massive plans which should see well over 10,000 homes built in Wirral have been produced.

Wirral Council's Local Plan, which covers housing plans, as well as the infrastructure behind them from now until 2037, revealed plans which will transform Birkenhead and see development focused on brownfield sites in the east of the borough, with the greenbelt protected.

The homes plan includes the huge Wirral Waters project, a series of schemes which will see up to 13,000 homes built over the next 25 years along the Birkenhead docklands.

It also includes plans for around 1,000 homes at a new Hind Street Urban Village near Birkenhead town centre, as well as many other projects in Birkenhead and developments in Liscard and Leasowe.

The Local Plan said 835 homes per year need to be delivered in Wirral, or 13,360 over the period of this plan.

However, the council must identify more than this amount as some sites may not come forward at the pace expected.

The document read: "This Local Plan therefore makes provision for the delivery of almost 18,000 dwellings."

Residents are now able to have their say on the plan before it goes to the government for approval and it will be debated at next week's meeting of the council's most important cross-party committee, called Policy and Resources.

The plan protects the green belt, with all of the developments focused on brownfield land.

One part of the plan seeks to completely change Wirral's biggest town, with the "comprehensive regeneration of Birkenhead as a low-carbon sustainable waterfront garden 'city'."

The Local Plan is closely related to the recently approved framework for Birkenhead's development between now and 2040, which looked at the plan for 1,000 homes near the town centre among many other proposals.

The regeneration plan said the Hind Street Urban Village will be a "market changing" plan creating a low-carbon urban village of up to 1,000 homes.

It will see the two flyovers currently splitting up the site removed and could even see a new school built.

Efforts to make the town more green will also be made, with plans to create a park along the disused railway running through Birkenhead, called Dock Branch Park, which Wirral Council believes will be completed by the end of 2024.

On this plan, the document read: "[Dock Branch Park] will see the creation of a beautiful new linear park and active travel corridor along the disused Dock Branch Railway, one of the earliest railways in the country.

"It will bring to life a neglected gem of Birkenhead's heritage and link three key development areas: Wirral Waters, the Town Centre and Hind Street Urban Village."

Among the infrastructure set to support the building of thousands of homes in years to come is a plan to create more jobs and a greener environment, but making it easier to get around the borough is also a priority for the council.

On this, the Local Plan looks to develop active travel networks for walking and cycling which will help people access jobs and leisure facilities across Wirral and a new mass transit system within Birkenhead connecting new neighbourhoods with one another and existing key locations.