Leverhulme Estate to bring legal challenge over refusal of plans for 788 homes

The Leverhulme Estate is to mount a High Court challenge after having seven planning applications rejected by Wirral Council, with a planning inspector upholding these decisions.

Wirral refused eight planning applications from Leverhulme for 788 homes in all at various locations, citing damage to the green belt. One was not appealed.

Nigel McGurk, head of planning and development for Leverhulme, said: “Following careful consideration, Leverhulme has taken the decision to challenge various points of law relating to the decisions not to overturn the refusal by Wirral Council of seven separate planning applications

“The grounds for the legal challenge include the planning inspector’s failure to assess five-year housing land supply, the status of Wirral’s Local Plan and alleged prematurity argument relating to Leverhulme’s applications.

“We will pursue this legal challenge and, at the same time, continue to promote the Leverhulme Vision [the disputed applications] through the local plan process. There is an urgent need for the delivery of new affordable and family homes across Wirral and we believe this needs to be achieved in a viable and sustainable way.”

A Wirral spokesperson said: “The council has been named as a party in the application made by Leverhulme Estates against the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

“The council has submitted its response in support of the decision of the Secretary of State and the planning inspector and is now waiting to hear if a judge considers that the case should proceed to a full hearing.”

Viscount Leverhulme set up the Leverhulme Estate in the 19th century and it is best known for the Port Sunlight model village, though also owns land elsewhere in Merseyside and in Cheshire, Shropshire and Scotland.

It describes its purpose as being “to create environments where people can live happy, healthy and fulfilled lives”.

Mark Smulian