Previous plans to demolish Park House and replace it with apartments were rejected by the council in 2020 and 2021
Park House on Haigh Road in Waterloo(Image: LDRS)
A historic former hospital and 19th-century Victorian villa is set to be demolished after plans were approved to develop new homes for older people. Park House in Waterloo has been subject to a number of failed planning applications since the building was closed in 2015.
The property has previously been described as one of Waterloo’s “most beautiful buildings”, but it has fallen into decay and decline over recent years. Furthermore, a devastating fire in 2022 left much of the site completely destroyed.
Park House was built in 1878 as a home for a wealthy Liverpool corn merchant and his family. The house, in the quiet district of Waterloo Park, is set in two acres of peaceful gardens and has its own fishing lake.
Park House was later converted into a convalescence and nursing hospital, then a guest house, which was run by the Augustinian Sisters from 1902. Back in 2015, the trustees of that site carried out a review of its operations and decided to close and sell off the Haigh Road site.
Park House on Haigh Road in Waterloo(Image: LDRS)
At the time, the trustees said the property had become “increasingly untenable” for the resident Catholic sisters to manage, and the decision to cease operations was taken “with great reluctance.” The trustees said proceeds from the sale of the site would be used to support the wider vocational care of the Augustinian order.
The Liverpool ECHO reported on plans to demolish the former hospital in 2022 when plans to build 106 apartments were approved by Sefton Council’s planning committee.
In documents submitted to the local authority’s planning department, Park House, which is listed as a non-designated heritage asset, is described as having been “compromised” by “low quality” extensions and alterations.
Park House on Haigh Road in Waterloo(Image: LDRS)
In September 2022, the council issued an immediate Article 4 direction to remove the permitted development rights to demolish Park House. That order remained in force until March 2023.
In new plans submitted to the council’s online planning portal, the current applicant, Anchor Limited 2022, commissioned a “Dust Mitigation Statement” which outlines a commitment to carry out the demolition of Park House in compliance with “BS 6187:2011 Code of Practice” and ensure minimal environmental impacts.
Also loaded onto the portal was a Sefton Council “Approval Notice” stipulating the viability of the development – subject to conditions – and a timeframe for delivering the project “before 15th March 2028”.
Park House on Haigh Road in Waterloo(Image: LDRS)
A spokesperson for Anchor Limited 2022 said: “Anchor, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care for people in later life, has acquired the Park House site in Waterloo and intends to develop it to build more homes for social rent for older people.”