Housing planned for old youth centre site
PLANS have been lodged for a housing development to be built in Runcorn on the site of a youth centre that was destroyed by a fire.
The application for 48 homes on the site of the former The Lord Taverners Woodside Youth Club on Palacefields Avenue was submitted to Halton Borough Council.
The youth centre was ravaged by a fire on July 4, 2018, with Cheshire Constabulary at the time saying they believed the centre was targeted deliberately.
New plans submitted on behalf of Mersey Regeneration could see a total of 40 semi-detached and terraced houses and eight one-bed cottage apartments built on the site.
The proposal states that the housing will be “100 per cent affordable” which is geared towards meeting local needs, with recreational open space set to be included.
The design and access statement reads: “The houses to be delivered will be well-designed, incorporating internal and external spaces that are geared towards the comfort, wellbeing and safety of the occupiers.
“The scale and form of the houses and apartments resonates with the suburban character of the surrounding neighbourhood but the selection of materials and the detailing on the elevations is better conceived and so the new homes will enhanced the overall quality of the housing in this part of Runcorn.
The statement added that sustainable building methods will be deployed, with “good standards” of insulation and air tightness.
It added: “This is important as there is an imperative for modern methods of construction to reduce energy consumption through the lifetime of a dwelling.”
No one was harmed during the fire in 2018, but expensive office equipment was destroyed, with piles of burned rubble left at the site to rot.
In the period following the fire, locals said the destroyed building was being targeted by vandals in small scale arson attacks that had caused further damage.