Fight against new houses
AN outcry has greeted plans to build homes in the grounds of a house which was given to a World War I hero.
Wirral Council is due to consider the application to build five large detached homes in the extensive gardens of Gourley Grange in West Kirby.
The house was named after Cyril Gourley, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his conspicuous bravery on a battlefield in France.
A 90-name petition and 11 letters of objection have already been received by council planning chiefs to the scheme by Morris Homes.
The objectors claim the development would cause an increase in traffic on an access road and pose an unacceptable risk to pupils going to and from Calday Grange Grammar School and its swimming pool.
Coun Geoffrey Watt, whose Royden ward includes Gourley Grange, said: "Everyone is absolutely up in arms about it.
"Cyril Gourley was presented with this house and garden by the people of Hoylake and West Kirby in recognition of his war service, and it was intended to be a special place.
"Everyone says that the access road, which has been used by generations of schoolchildren, is insufficient for the amount of traffic the new homes will generate."
Protesters are also unhappy over the loss of 20 trees, which would be cut down to make way for the development.
Colin Walker, Wirral Council's head of development control, said a lot of time had been spent in negotiating a scheme that was acceptable to planners.
"There are trees on the site which are protected, but we have been working towards making sure the impact is minimised so that trees which are affected are replaced." he said.
"Although 20 will be felled, these are minor or in poor condition, and will be replaced by 40 under the re-planting scheme."
Mr Walker added that the house iss not a listed building, nor is it in a conservation area.
The application is due to come before members of Wirral's planning committee on July 25.
No one from Morris Homes, based at Newton-le-Willows, was available for comment.
Cyril Gourley, who died in 1982 at the age of 89, won Britain's highest award for valour while serving as a sergeant in the Royal Field Artillery at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.
Sgt Gourley, who was in command of a section of howitzers, managed to hold an artillery position almost single-handed for a whole day, even though the enemy was advancing in force.
He had earlier been decorated with the Military Medal for gallantry in extinguishing a fire caused by an enemy shell in a munitions dump at Ypres.
The son of a Liverpool businessman, he was educated at Calday Grange Grammar School and graduated at Liverpool University with a degree in commercial science.
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