AMENDED plans for a wholesale refurbishment of a social club to help secure its long-term future have been unanimously approved by the council’s planning committee.

The proposals for Greenalls Social Club, off Alder Hey Road in Eccleston, were sent to the local authority earlier this year.

Initial plans had already been granted permission in 2020 for partial demolition of the club and the creation of a rear extension and parking spaces.

Outline permission has also granted to two applications for the creation of 13 homes in total at the site.

The new amended application was submitted by the club seeking full planning permission for the works on the social club, and for 27 parking spaces, after the Covid pandemic resulted in spiralling costs for the initially proposed refurbishment scheme.

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In a town hall hearing earlier this month, planning officer Daley Parsonage told the committee: “There have been two previous consents specifically for the social club to extend the building and this is a third scheme that the club want to do on the site instead of these two”.

He said “the car parking is now going to be to the rear of the site which is accessed via Alder Hey Road.”

The proposed elevation “is relatively similar to how it is at the moment, in terms of just improving the aesthetics of the front of it”.

He added the “design of the extension is considered to improve the external appearance of the building” and that proposals are considered to “have an acceptable impact on residential amenity”.

Greenalls committee member Kevin Wellens addressed councillors about the amended renovation plans.

He said: “There’s been a social club on that site for the best part of 90 years. Unfortunately now it’s old, costly to run, poor in appearance both inside and out.

“All those issues affect its ongoing viability. We’ve heard about the proposed housing development, the proceeds of that are what fund the refurbishment.

“Unfortunately we wouldn’t be here but for the pandemic, but post-pandemic the cost of what we originally proposed doubled overnight so we had to go back to the drawing board.”  

Mr Wellens added: “We believe this proposal develops the club and the surrounding land in a way that is a benefit to local community both in terms of an amenity in terms of high quality and the general appearance of the local environment.

“A lot of the cost savings come about because there’s far less demolition, so there’s a small amount of demolition, a rebuilding of the parts that have been taken away but what we have is an extensive refurbishment inside and out of the club itself, new car park to the rear and also an improvement in the appearance.”

He added that the “quality amenity in the car park is not something we have had in the past and that plans would mean “the current car park which will be well-lit” and “will take traffic off the road.”

Committee members voted unanimously in favour of the proposed refurbishment.