Go-ahead expected for 250-apartments scheme

Plans to build two eight-storey blocks housing more than 250 apartments in Liverpool are set to be approved.Barings and Glenbrook are behind the 257-apartments scheme for land adjacent to The Keel, Kings Parade/Half Tide Wharf, Queens Dock.Planning permission for residential development on the site in the form of two linear blocks was granted previously.An associated application in the form of a non-material amendment to the scheme was subsequently granted.However, the applicant did not implement the permission and it expired three years later. The scheme proposed within the current application is very similar in form to that approved.Of the apartments, 206 would be one-bed and the other 51 will be two-bed.Also included would be communal ground floor residential facilities, 74 surface car parking spaces, 12 wheelchair accessible, and 96 secure cycle parking spaces and resident’s external amenity spaces.Planning officials have now drafted a report which recommends the proposals are approved subject to a legal agreement.The report said: “The proposal would be complimentary to neighbouring land uses and provide good quality accommodation and residents’ facilities, all of which would enhance the established residential offer at ‘The Keel’ and contribute towards a balanced living community. “The increased site activity would also assist in creating a more vibrant, attractive and inviting local environment.”It added: “The proposed buildings are of an appropriate scale and massing that will strengthen the urban form of the dockland landscape, without unduly reducing openness or dominating surrounding water spaces. “The contemporary architectural approach retains an ancillary dockside building typology and would provide two aesthetically pleasing buildings considered worthy of this prominent waterfront location, in keeping with their historic surroundings. The proposed buildings would preserve the historic character and setting various historic, listed and landmark buildings.”Liverpool City Council’s planning committee will consider the application at a meeting on Tuesday 9 November.