A FORMER care home will be bulldozed and replaced by 11 new houses after councillors voted to accept the plans.

Helena Partnerships will build the new homes on the Victoria Avenue site in Moss Bank which has stood empty for two years.

At a St Helens Town Hall planning meeting councillors voted in favour by a majority eight to two.

However there had been 26 letters of objection and several neighbours from Moss Bank attended the meeting.

Solicitor Jack Rostron who spoke on behalf of the residents said that while people did not object to the re-development of the site they had concerns over “overcrowding”.

He said: “People object to the nature of the lay out. There will also be no privacy as it is an extremely high density residential development.

“This is not good modern civic design in my opinion. To reduce it by two units would make a much better living accommodation.

“It’s not a case of ‘not in my back yard’. We would like Helena to give a bit more thought to the residents.”

Bill Lacey, director of development at Helena, explained to the committee that if it the plan was refused or delayed vital grants would be lost within the borough.

He stressed: “The Homes and Communities Agency will lose confidence in Helena to develop homes. This is an element of Helena’s Moss Bank Regeneration project.

“Reducing the number of units would not be financially viable. And it was the council who approached us about developing the site.”

The two councillors who voted against the plans in their current form were Paul Lynch from Moss Bank and Allan Jones from Rainford.