came under fire from 27 neighbours as well as West Kirby councillor Jenny Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe main concerns raised included overlooking and privacy with the extension described as \u201coverbearing and dominating\u201d and a balcony they claimed towered over its neighbours.<\/p>\n
At the planning committee meeting, two neighbours spoke against the plans. They argued it would cause lasting harm to neighbours, arguing the wrong house had been bought.<\/p>\n
One neighbour said it had been \u201cthe most stressful nine months for us\u201d as they had battled against the plans, adding: \u201cIt will rob us of light and loom over our heads when we are outside.\u201d He claimed that \u201cwhenever we go outside we will wonder who is looking down on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cllr Johnson urged councillors to refuse the plans but if they were to approve it, they should make sure the balcony couldn\u2019t be extended further. She told the committee: \u201cThis is one of the worst cases I have come across in my time as a councillor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Challenging these claims was Emma Breen, speaking on behalf of the applicant. She said it was a household application for a family home that would allow multiple generations to live together and allow a family member to be cared for.<\/p>\n
She argued each house in the area was different. Responding to claims the balcony would be used for parties, she said: \u201cThis is a personal, household development. The balcony for example was never meant for parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a way for the applicant and her mother, who is no longer able to travel, to enjoy a quiet moment together while overlooking the water. In truth, the revised balcony is now so reduced that accommodating this would be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also claimed that some neighbours had been approached directly to support objections. She argued the process must \u201cremain fair and impartial when essential care needs are at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following a debate, committee chair Cllr Stuart Kelly said there was no doubt the type of application before them was difficult, adding: \u201cIt isn\u2019t about ‘there can\u2019t be any views into any neighbouring properties in an urban area’. That would be ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt\u2019s whether it is to an unacceptable degree. At my house, if I look out of my rear bedroom windows, I have got a fairly clear view of most of my neighbour\u2019s gardens as it stands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councillors voted to unanimously approve the application with a condition including restricting the size of the balcony. In the same meeting, a seven-bed house of multiple occupation was also refused on Serpentine Road in Liscard following a number of concerns raised by local councillor Graeme Cooper.<\/p>\n
Councillors from all parties criticised the fact changes had been made to the building to accommodate seven bedrooms and called for standards to be maintained. Cllr Paul Stuart said: \u201cThis can only be described as trying to pile them in and pack them as high as possible to get as much out of a smaller space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People had claimed the plans were “overbearing and dominating”Beacon Drive in Newton, Wirral(Image: Google Maps) A row over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,285,16,15,8881,9313],"class_list":{"0":"post-162507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wirral","16":"tag-wirral-council"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114635558382198260","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Beacon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Beacon-Drive-in-Newton.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
Beacon Drive in Newton, Wirral(Image: Google Maps)<\/p>\n