Planning approval for apartment conversion of derelict town centre building

Stockport Council’s Planning & Highways Regulation Committee has granted planning permission a 14-apartment mixed-use scheme on a derelict former nightclub building.

The Committee gave the green light to developers, Stockport Vikings Luxury Properties, to demolish parts of the building and add a five-storey extension to the property to bring the site back into use as 14 apartments and two ground floor retail units on Mersey Square, with plans drawn up by Stockport-based Buju Architects.

The building’s existing frontage on Wellington Road South would be retained, although plans would remove access from the existing entrance at this level. The property dates back to at least 1830 as a public house and coaching inn alongside the newly built bridge over the River Mersey, which dates to 1824.

The latest planning application for the building is the third to be granted for a residential conversion for the building, which has largely lain empty for ten years after having been occupied by a nightclub and ground floor retailer. Previous applications were granted in 2016 and 2018, however, work on the property did not start causing permissions to lapse. Planning officers cited the logistical issues of developing at the property’s location on an island between Wellington Road South, Daw Bank and Mersey Square as part of reasons for the challenges in seeing the building brought back into use.

During discussion of the plans on 6th July, councillors on Stockport’s Planning & Highways Regulation Committee expressed concerns over the plans, particularly the lack of balconies (removed from the 2018 designs for the property), as well as the overall small size of the flats, which comprise a mix of nine one-bedroom and five two-bedroom apartments. Despite this, councillors saw no reason to deny planning consent, particularly in light of previous successful applications and the possibility of further dereliction to the nearly 200-year-old building.

Should the development progress to construction, it will join a host of other town centre apartment schemes moving forward in the area. A major build-to-rent scheme is already underway on the opposite side of the A6 at Stockport Interchange, bringing nearly 200 high-quality apartments to the town centre, with plans also afoot for another large residential tower to be built on the site of The George pub, on the corner of Wellington Road and Heaton Lane. Further to the West, more than 4,000 new homes and 1 million sq ft of commercial space in a 130-acre area is being brought forward as part of the town centre’s £1 billion regeneration, spearheaded by Stockport’s Mayoral Development Corporation.