A BLOCK of offices in Grappenhall are to be demolished after planning chiefs at the council have given an application the green light.

Warrington Borough Council's planning bosses have nodded through the plans that will see the office block - which has stood since 1978 - demolished in favour of a housing development.

Now that the plans have been approved, the office block on Knutsford Road - formerly home to Cruden - will be razed to the ground in order to construct 10 new homes.

Two of the homes will be considered 'affordable housing.'

The office block fell into disuse in the summer of 2020, in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Planning documents suggest that eight of the homes will have four bedrooms, with the two 'affordable' homes having three bedrooms.

In order to accommodate the new development, plans show that 26 on-site parking spaces are to be axed, taking the total down from 57 spaces to 31.

However, in order to hit biodiversity targets and ensure the project does not have a detrimental impact on the environment, the development will bring a 'positive increase' in greenspace and a 'positive reduction' in built areas on the site.

This application is the latest in a long line of planned developments for the area.

In 2017 plans were submitted to demolish parts of the site in order to build housing, but the plans were withdrawn the following year.

There was an application in 2020 to demolish one of the properties on the current site in order to build a two-bedroom home, but this was rejected by the local planning authority the same year.

Warrington Guardian: An artist's impression of what the housing could look likeAn artist's impression of what the housing could look like (Image: Supplied)

The developers say that they are guided by the following principles:

  • Create a high quality, attractive contemporary designed residential infill;
  • Sensitive to adjacent uses and complementary to the existing residential neighbourhood;
  • Offering a mix of housing types and tenures; 
  • Respecting the landscape character setting of the locality and retaining key assets with enhanced reinforcement (e.g. hedgerows, trees and valued habitats) to be integrated into the layout which will ensure a green landscape-led design; 
  • A development that will respect the identity of this part of Warrington and responds positively to the climate change agenda by promoting green buildings and maximising energy efficiency; 
  • Whilst minimising impact upon the openness of the greenbelt.

This application was submitted to Warrington Borough Council in October 2022.

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