THIRTEEN nearby residents have lodged objections to plans to demolish the disused Sportsman’s Arms pub at Penketh and build affordable homes on the site.
The scheme, which is due to come before Warrington Borough Council’s development management committee next Wednesday, envisages 16 dwellings – 10 sem-detached houses, five terraced houses and one detached house.
Warrington Borough Council Officers are recommending the plans be approved.
An earlier scheme, involving six houses but retaining the pub, was approved in 2019 but never proceeded with.
In 2016 a scheme to demolish the pub and build a food store on the site was refused. The same year, an application for the pub to be declared a community asset was approved.
The Sportsman’s Arms has not traded for some years and the site has been fenced off.
Objectors claim Penketh does not need more houses, that the local infrastructure is already under immense pressure and there is a lack of proposed parking.
They also argue that the development would mean the loss of a historic pub, a loss of wildlife habitat, including bats, and that the houses would not be genuinely affordable.
But planning officers say the proposal would deliver 16 affordable homes in a sustainable position.
The development would include an amenity garden and, although the pub is considered a non-designated heritage asset – dating from the mid-19th century – it is not listed. It has been closed since 2017 and there are other pubs nearby that can cater for local need.
It was not considered the proposals would have an unacceptable impact on nearby houses.
