Brown Edge Hotel, St Helens

This project secured planning permission from St Helens Borough Council, within the statutory eight-week determination period, for the erection of four terraced dwellings with associated parking and landscaping, alongside the reconfiguration of the public house car park and beer garden.

The proposed dwellings adopted a modern aesthetic, featuring buff multi-stock brick with red brick detailing and interlocking brown clay roof tiles. The choice of materials was intended to create a distinctive yet contextually appropriate appearance that complemented the surrounding streetscape.

Given the site’s proximity to the existing public house, measures were incorporated to protect residential amenity. These included a landscape buffer and acoustic fencing to reduce overlooking and noise from the beer garden. All homes were designed to benefit from good daylight levels and private amenity space, ensuring high-quality living conditions for future residents.

Parking arrangements were refined in collaboration with the Local Planning Authority and Highway Authority, including amendments to the layout and widening of bays. Although the scheme reduced the number of pub parking spaces, the Council accepted that the operator had confirmed sufficient on-site capacity and that unrestricted on-street parking was available. No highways objections were raised.

Biodiversity Net Gain was achieved through a detailed landscape plan prepared by Garden Angel, delivering an 11.12% net gain in habitat units. This included the planting of 17 new trees and areas of mixed native scrub, with the species mix endorsed by the Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service.