PLANS for 12 new luxury flats have been pushed back following a “cock up” by Wirral Council.

A bid for a “landmark residential development” off Grange Road, West Kirby, had been put forward by Prospect Capital UK. The application would have seen the former Combermere School knocked down and the new building constructed in its place overlooking the Dee estuary.

However, at a planning meeting on February 8, West Kirby councillor Jeff Green pointed out the council’s planning website still said people could offer their views on the application up until February 17. Council officers said the consultation deadline had been extended due to a mistake.

It was therefore agreed to postpone a decision until March.

Several concerns were raised by objectors over the development’s size and scale but representatives for Prospect Capital said the building was actually lower than the chimneys on the current building and set further back from the road. The area’s good transport connections, close proximity to the town centre, and new housing was also touted as reasons to support the development.

A Victorian building currently exists on the site but would be knocked down if the development goes ahead. It was built in 1897 by a shipowner before temporarily becoming the school in the 1950s and 60s.

Chair Stuart Kelly said: “Clearly it’s not satisfactory in the slightest. Clearly it’s not satisfactory for the applicant or the objector who’s attended and indeed the ward councillor.”

He added: “You’re not going to be inconvenienced any more by sloppy IT in this council and we’ve said before about this website again and again that it’s rubbish and it’s about time we started to do something about it as a council.”

Cllr Kelly called for the developers of the website to come before the committee “in front of us to explain why it’s so crap,” adding those who attended had “our sincere apologies for the cock up.” A barn conversion in Meols was also approved at the same meeting.