Runcorn & Widnes Weekly News

Supported living flats plan for pub

- BY OLIVER CLAY

BLUEPRINTS have been filed to demolish a former Runcorn pub and build assisted-living flats.

If approved, Hindle Property Investment­s will have permission to bulldoze The Croft on Halton Lodge Avenue and install a block of one-bed 15 apartments, featuring a staff room, communal space, bike and car parking, and bin storage.

A design statement submitted with the plans said the building would be leased to Hilldale Housing Associatio­n to provide ‘high quality supported living’ for residents with learning disabiliti­es and mental health conditions.

Some will have autism or physical disabiliti­es.

The statement said each flat will have a bedroom, bathroom, living area and kitchen.

It will also have internal and external communal areas for residents to socialise.

The report’s authors, Martin Planning Ltd, said at least one member of staff would be on site at all times, increasing as required.

The staffroom would have sleeping accommodat­ion and a bathroom, it said.

The Weekly News featured The Croft in an article in October 2018 about Runcorn’s many vacant ‘ghost pubs’.

A Taxpayers’ Alliance investigat­ion in 2015

● revealed that Halton Council owned the freeholds on three Runcorn pubs: The Old Transporte­r in The Brow – now vacant, The Fiddlers Three in Castlefiel­ds, which is still open, and The Croft, which has been shut for years and whose freehold the council put up for sale in 2016.

A council spokesman said at the time that the local authority had inherited the freeholds from the Runcorn Developmen­t

Corporatio­n.

In recent years the grounds of the vacant pub have become a magnet for large amounts of litter.

Public consultati­on is open until October 31, with Halton Borough Council aiming to decide the matter by around January 8.

To comment, visit any Halton Direct Link office or visit the council’s online planning portal and search for reference 19/00506/FUL.

 ??  ?? The Croft pub could be bulldozed to make way for 15 apartments
The Croft pub could be bulldozed to make way for 15 apartments

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