Opposition to playing fields housing plan gathers pace

The World reported recently how Miller Homes had launched consultation with locals about plans to build up to 120 new properties on playing fields off Prescot Road.

The plans - which have not yet been submitted - would include a new housing estate, five-a-side and seven-a-side pitches and play area.

Councillors in both the Hough Green ward - where the fields are located - and the neighbouring Highfield ward, launched two petitions in opposition. They have now attracted a combined total of more than a thousand signatures in three weeks.

Hough Green councillor Kevan Wainwright, said: “This is about future generations as well as the current generation.

“We've had a great response from local residents who feel that Hough Green is in danger of becoming a ‘concrete jungle’.”

He added: "Whilst we believe affordable housing is much needed, there are already enough sites within the borough that can meet the needs better than land which is designated as green space and sports use."

One of the signatories to the petition, posted: "There simply isn’t the infrastructure to support so many extra houses. Some football pitches and a playground isn’t going to give us doctors and dentists surgeries to treat all these extra people, or schools to send all their kids to."

Miller Homes has already received planning permission for more than 500 properties in Widnes on land that was earmarked by the council for housing in its Delivery and Allocations Local Plan (DALP), a document which outlines the borough’s planning priorities up until 2037.

But the land off Prescot Road is not slated for housing, but sporting/recreational green space. Miller has been reportedly eyeing the current site for more than two years, with Cllr Harris having declared the fields to be 'sacrosanct' back in 2021.

Miller Homes did not respond to a request for comment.

The petitions can be found here and here.