PROPOSALS to build homes in place of an artificial pitch in Whitecross have been refused planning permission.

Five three-bedroom townhouses would have been built on the astroturf pitch site on Green Street, on land behind the former Bank Quay Sports and Social Club.

The proposal would have seen the partial demolition of a building fronting onto Green Street in order to allow access to the development, which would have included 13 car parking spaces.

But the three-storey homes were refused planning permission by Warrington Borough Council on Friday, October 19, due to highways concerns and a lack of detail on noise levels for potential residents.

Warrington Borough Council’s refused said: “The proposed new access would have limited highway visibility onto Green Street, and so would result in a severe safety concern – impacting on the operation of the highway network in the vicinity.

“There would be limited or nil inter-visibility between pedestrians and emerging vehicles, and this would particularly jeopardise the safety of wheelchair and pushchair users.

“Insufficient information has been submitted to enable to local planning authority to confirm that the potential noise impacts on future occupiers of the proposed development would be acceptable, or that suitable mitigation could be designed or implemented.

“In the absence of this, it is consequently not possible to confirm that the proposal would be acceptable in terms of its noise effects on future occupiers nor on established nearby business operations.

The developer had previously withdrawn plans for a similar scheme in February, before resubmitting these latest proposals in August.