The proposed development would be in a Primarily Industrial Area, would not act as a catalyst for the comprehensive redevelopment of the area for industrial or business purposes and could potentially prejudice the long term development of adjoining land primarily for business or industrial uses, contrary to saved Policy E1 (Primarily Industrial Areas) of the Liverpool Unitary Development Plan.

The proposed retail units have not been justified, having regard to the requirements of saved Policy S12 (Out-of-Centre Retailing) in the Liverpool Unitary Development Plan and NPPF paragraph 24 in that the applicant has not demonstrated any justification for siting town-centre uses in an out-of-centre location or provided adequate justification for dismissing sequentially preferable sites.

The proposed development would include habitable rooms on the southern side of the building whose windows would be compromised by existing structures and changes in land levels and with a poor outlook over neighbouring land; and habitable rooms on the fourth floor that would be lit solely by overhead rooflights and would therefore offer no outlook for future residents. Such proposals would provide a poor standard of amenity of the future occupants of the development, contrary to saved Policy H5 (New Residential Development) of the Liverpool Unitary Development Plan.

The proposed development fails to provide a high quality design and would be detrimental to visual amenity for the following reasons: (i) the built form, scale and massing of the buildings would not respect the context of the application site or the character of the surrounding area, the overall development would sit in isolation and have a poor physical relationship with surrounding land, and the design does not adequately account for changes in site levels; (ii) the proposed building would be lacking in articulation on its east elevation and the ground floor elevation would bear no relationship to the upper floors in terms of fenestration or architectural detailing; (iii) the proposed building represents an over-development of the available site area which results in insufficient car or cycle parking provision, soft landscaping, facilities for refuse storage and useable private amenity space for future occupiers of the units; and would thus be contrary to good urban design practice as set out in NPPF and contrary to saved Policy HD18 (General Design Requirements) of the Liverpool Unitary Development Plan.

Based on the drawings and information submitted, the application fails to demonstrate that adequate provision can be made for on-site storage of waste arising from the retail units in addition to the residential accommodation. This could result in the improper disposal of waste, or refuse being left on street. Such actions would be detrimental to residential and pedestrian amenity and safety, contrary to saved Policy EP9 (Waste Storage) of the Liverpool Unitary Development Plan.