THE controversial plan for 550 flats and a 160-bed hotel in four tower blocks – one of which would be 25-storeys high – in Warrington town centre has been deferred.
Members of the borough council’s development management committee put off a decision after several councillors expressed concern about a tower block nearly three times as high as Warrington’s tallest existing residential building – the nine-storey Kingsway House at Latchford.
Warrington Borough Council officers recommended the outline scheme on land at the junction of Winwick Street and Tanners Lane be approved.
The committee’s acting chairman, Cllr Joan Grime, said there was also concern that the proposals involved only 10 per cent “affordable homes” rather than the normal 20 per cent.
Offices and retail space were also part of the scheme, together with parking for 200 cars.
A report to the committee said the proposed development would make efficient use of a previously developed site within the town centre for a mixture of uses which were appropriate in the town centre.
It would also make a contribution to the supply of dwellings within the borough.
Most of the 1.2 hectares site is currently used for car parking but there is also a car wash and a retail unit. It is owned by the council.
The committee approved a second application for the continued use of the site for parking for another four years.
Pictured: a model of how the scheme would look from Winwick Street
