COUNCILLORS have approved plans for a seven-storey building comprising 26 apartments.

An application for the land, on Winwick Street, came before the development management committee at its meeting on Thursday.

The proposals include the development of the building comprising the residential apartments, and 342 sq m ground floor commercial floorspace, together with an amenity garden, cycle and bin storage and other associated works.

As recommended, the committee approved the application, subject to conditions and a Section 106 agreement.

But, in the event that the Section 106 legal agreement remains unsigned six months after this resolution, that the application is reviewed by the development manager and if ‘no meaningful progress’ is being made to sign an agreed Section 106 agreement then delegated authority is given to the development manager to refuse the application in the absence of an agreed Section 106 agreement, without which the development will be ‘unacceptable in planning terms’.

Committee member Cllr Judith Wheeler asked a question in relation to the ground floor commercial floorspace and highlighted that ‘we’ve got a few developments where this has been included’.

"The concern is we build like this, with the commercial space underneath, and it doesn’t get taken,” she said.

"You know, all over town there are empty units – whether they’re older buildings or newer buildings – and my worry is that by having that as part of, I’ve not got a problem with the housing, it’s a problem with the commercial units and whether we’re creating, sort of, these dotted white elephants that are never going to be utilised, and what the views are on that really?"

She was told that ‘this is within the parameters of the town centre’ in the Local Plan, so on that basis the ‘principle of commercial’ within this location is ‘acceptable’ – but whether it is let ‘is a separate matter, that’s a commercial undertaking’.

Furthermore, she was told that her point around ‘future-proofing such schemes and whether there’s a need to look at this more holistically’ was understood, and that the point could be taken back to the town centre strategy group and raised.

A report to the committee highlighted that the application was approved subject to conditions and a Section 106 agreement in November 2022.

“The adoption of the Warrington Local Plan on 4th December 2023 means that there are some material changes to the assessment of the proposals and that the conditions and S106 attached to the permission will need to be updated,” it said.

“All applications must be determined in accordance with the Local Plan unless other material considerations indicate otherwise.”

Furthermore, the report said the application site is located in the Winwick Street conservation area and is classed as an area of ‘archaeological potential’.

It said: “The application proposes the erection of a seven-storey residential block comprising of 26 units. This would be made up of 10 one-bed units and 16 two-bed units.

“At ground floor, this is proposed to be used as Class E commercial floor space up to 342 sqm.”