Planning approval for 54-home retirement scheme

Stockport Council has granted planning permission for a 54-home retirement community to be built of the site of Trinity Methodist Church in Davenport.

Specialist retirement property developers, McCarthy Stone, submitted plans for the scheme in June, proposing 32 one-bedroom and 22 two-bedroom apartments for the site off Bramhall Lane. Occupiers of the three-storey building will benefit from a 24-hour emergency-call service, landscaped gardens around the site that will retain the majority of existing trees, and easy access to local shops and public transport connections.

Plans for the scheme were approved unanimously by councillors during a meeting of Stockport Council’s Stepping Hill Area Committee on 28th November 2023. Planning officers recommended approval for the scheme, citing the undersupply of housing in the borough for older residents, particularly given the sustainability accessibility of the location. In their planning submission, developers also argued that retirement properties also help to free up larger family homes as occupiers are more able to downsize.

The approval for the development in Davenport follows recent recognition by consumer magazine, Which?, that named Stockport among the best places in the UK for older people to spend their retirement.

McCarthy Stone were advised in their planning submission by The Planning Bureau, TPM Landscape, Keen Consultants, Transport Planning York, and E3P.