Story Homes has submitted plans for 187 homes on a 21-acre site off Warrington Road and Holcroft Road in Culcheth. This is the housebuilder’s first venture into Warrington, and it is certainly making an entrance rather than quietly testing the waters.
The site is allocated for up to 200 homes in Warrington’s draft local plan, which was due to be adopted early next year. The proposal includes 186 homes built and sold by Story Homes, plus one self-build plot. The mix ranges from one- to six-bedroom properties, including bungalows, apartments, semi-detached and detached houses.
Thirty per cent of the homes are earmarked as affordable, which is welcome news in a housing market that often treats the word “affordable” as a decorative flourish. The plans also include open space running through the development and a play area intended for both new and existing residents.
Siobhan Sweeny, land manager for Story Homes North West, said the application followed consultation with statutory consultees and the public. She said the scheme had been designed to reflect the local context and community feedback, with high-specification homes, flexible open-plan layouts and attractive street scenes.
That all sounds polished, and better-designed housing is preferable to a monotonous sea of identical boxes. However, the central local concern is not simply whether the homes look attractive on a brochure. It is whether Culcheth’s roads, schools, healthcare, drainage and other services can absorb this growth without residents being left with the bill and the bottlenecks.
One comment on the proposals, posted by Mark My Words on 24 November 2023, pointed out that around 100 more houses were also planned in Croft, roughly a mile away. The concern was blunt but fair: where is the additional infrastructure for nearly 300 new homes across these small villages? At present, the answer appears to be unclear, which is not exactly reassuring.
The application can be found on Warrington Council’s planning portal using reference number 2023/01264/HYB. Lichfields is advising Story Homes on planning.