The thrills and spills of speedway and the excitement of the dogs are set to be replaced by the sounds of suburbia.
Housing and regeneration specialists Cheshire based Galliford Try Partnership have been granted unanimous planning permission for 141 homes at the former greyhound stadium on Thornton Road, Ellesmere Port.
The application follows Cheshire West and Chester Council naming the company as development partner for the former greyhound racing track in a £3.645m deal.
The plans outlined for the near 11 acre site will see the new homes, including 45 affordable rent dwellings, car parking and extensive landscaping. A replacement sports pitch will be provided nearby at Stanney Grange.
The 96 open market properties will be sold under Galliford Try’s ward winning Linden Homes banner.
The site was revamped only as recently as early 2013 courtesy of Liverpool-based entrepreneur Phillip Warren.
A total of £170,000 was invested in renovating the 2,000-capacity stadium, once home to the Ellesmere Port Gunners speedway squad and upgrading the track and facilities.
But the stadium, one of only nine independent tracks left in the country, stopped holding greyhound race meetings and closed in spring 2014. It has recently suffered vandalism councillors heard.
In collaboration with the stadium company the borough council sought bids from developers willing to provide homes on the site.
Galliford Try had offered an initial bid of £3,645,000 which had been agreed according to the Official Journal of the European Union.
The possibility of housing on the site was first discussed in 2008. Details released by the council pointed to the ‘excellent road links and close proximity to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet and the new Ellesmere Port Sports and Leisure Village’.
The stadium and adjacent land was described as being in a mainly residential area close to junctions 9 and 10 of the M53.
The council will take on the affordable homes paying £65,000 for each one bedroom apartment, £75,000 for each two-bed town house and £80,000 for each three-bed town house it was said at an earlier stage.
The proposals include one-bedroom apartments and two, three and four-bedroom houses.
Noise levels from the M53 will be acceptable according to environmental protection officers.
As part of negotiations with Sport England due to the loss of the former playing pitch on the stadium site, it has been agreed Linden Homes will make a financial contribution of at least £267,567.16 towards the replacement pitch.
Subject to a re-appraisal of the viability of the scheme after the development has commenced the developers will also pay £177,199.34 to provision at Wolverham Primary School and £107,567.16 towards improvements to existing pitches at Stanney Grange if viability has improved.
Objecting to the loss of the stadium, Mr Peter Zemroch of Starbeck Drive, Little Sutton argued: “Ellesmere Port stadium is a valuable sporting asset. Not only was it once the home of the Ellesmere Port Gunners speedway team, whose re-formation was blocked by the old Ellesmere Port & Neston council on noise grounds, it has also been the home of several semi-professional football clubs.
“These include Ellesmere Port Town FC, Ellesmere Port & Neston FC and even, for a time, Colwyn Bay FC when they were exiled from Wales.
“Indeed the stadium was built in the 1960s as an out-of-town replacement for the old York Road ground when that was lost to property developers.
“The resignation of Vauxhall Motors FC from Conference North in 2014 has left Ellesmere Port without a senior team in football, cricket, speedway or either code of rugby. The loss of Thornton Road would hinder the renaissance of semi-professional sport in the town for the foreseeable future.”
Principal planning officer Steve Lewis told the borough’s planning committee there was ‘little chance’ of the stadium being brought back into use.
Councillors expressed concern about the lack of changing accommodation or toilet facilities for the proposed replacement sports pitch but heard there was no requirement for these to be provided.
They were also told the development was already ‘marginal’ in terms of viability.
Permission was granted subject to agreement on details.
Darren Leary, development director at Galliford Try Partnerships, said: “Following a detailed planning process, we are delighted that Cheshire West and Chester Council has granted approval for the redevelopment of the Greyhound Stadium. This scheme is instrumental in the continued redevelopment and regeneration of Ellesmere Port and we look forward to progressing work on site imminently.”
Work is due to start in August.
