Furious councillors are seeing red over plans to bulldoze a former sports and social club and build up to 119 new homes.

The World reported recently how developer Bellway wanted to flatten Moorfield Sports and Social Club in Widnes. It would pave the way to either build 119 new properties, or 75 new homes and retain a sports field.  The company has now said it will consult with local sports clubs to pursue the second option first, but that if this is not possible, will move ahead with building on the entire site.

The club on Moorfield Road closed last August and was bought by the developer two months later. In a message to local residents, Halton View Ward councillors Rob Polhill, Louise Nolan and Tom McInerney, said "Building on these fields would take away a much needed sports facility, not just for Halton View but the whole town and denies our young people of the future access to sport.”

They said they have teamed up with the Halton View Residents group and Cllr Andrea Wall to oppose the application.

They added: “Building more houses in this location would cause congestion on an already congested Moorfield Road.

"It is an unacceptable loss of designated green space, will increase pollution and overwhelm our already stretched local services."

A spokesman for Bellway said the club's previous owners had attempted to gift the site for local sports clubs but that the plan was rejected by Halton Borough Council due to the 'ongoing running costs'.

The spokesman said: “Following consultation with Cheshire Police, we have applied for the demolition of the buildings on site due to ongoing vandalism and anti-social behaviour which is placing pressure on police resources locally.”

The spokesman said its plans were in the early stages but that it would be meeting with local sports clubs to share proposals to build homes on part of the site, which would enable it to fund new changing rooms and the construction of new sports pitches, which it said would be gifted to the club.

If the proposal was not accepted by local sports clubs, Bellway said it would apply to build homes on the whole site and make a ‘substantial contribution’ to the council to support playing fields elsewhere in Halton.

The demolition work could start as soon as November 3 and would take up to three weeks to complete.