New homes to be built on Unilever site pay tribute to tennis player

Anwyl Homes has planning consent for 127 new homes on part of the company's Port Sunlight Research & Development site on Quarry Road East after completing a deal to buy almost nine acres of its land.

Work has started on the housing development, which will be named Lottie Gardens in tribute to Wirral-born Wimbledon champion Lottie Dod. 

The site will feature a wide mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom homes, including 25 affordable properties to meet what an Anwyl spokesperson described as 'strong demand locally for high quality, energy efficient homes'.

All homes will have private gardens and off-road parking. Anwyl hopes to launch sales at the site in spring / summer 2025.

Bebington-born sportswoman Dod (1871 -1960) was a celebrated five-time Wimbledon tennis champion, Olympic silver medal-winning archer and national golf champion.

A housing development in tribute to Wirral Wimbledon tennis champion Lottie Dod is to be built on land formerly owned by Unilever in Port Sunlight (Image: Wirral Council)

She began playing tennis at age 11 and won the Wimbledon Championships for the first time when she was only 15, in the summer of 1887; defeating the defending champion Blanche Bingley 6-2, 6-0.

Apart from entering women's tournaments, Dod sometimes also played and won matches against men, on one occasion defeating star players Ernest Renshaw and George Hillyard, who was the husband of Blanche Bingley, when doubling with Herbert Baddeley.

Dod was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983.

Her sporting successes were not confined to tennis. She won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship, played twice for the England women's national field hockey team, which she helped found, and won a silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in archery.

Her interests also included figure-skating, tobogganing on the Cresta Run, mountaineering and curling.

Other achievements included helping to establish a ladies' golf club at Moreton in 1894, and during the first world war, receiving a service medal from the Red Cross for serving more than 1,000 hours as a nurse.

Phil Dolan, chief operating officer for Anwyl Homes, said: "We're excited to bring forward this brownfield site for redevelopment to provide much-needed market and affordable homes in a sustainable location.

"We've carefully designed our homes to ensure they are in keeping with the character of the surrounding community, while boasting high levels of energy efficiency, with top specification insulation and solar panels.

"We'll also be retaining the woodland on site and creating a new footpath link to St Andrews Road."

As part of the planning agreement, the council is set to benefit from around £677,000 of contributions, including more than £330,000 to enhance public open space and play provision in the neighbourhood. The majority of the circa £330,000 will go towards upgrades at the nearby Mayer Park play area including biodiversity enhancements and tree planting.

Funds from Anwyl will also be directed by Wirral Council towards improvements at Dibbins Hey play area.

Almost £150,000 will be used to improve playing pitches and facilities at Higher Bebington Playing Fields, while around £35,000 will be spent on upgrades at Bebington Oval Leisure Centre.

Other contributions include £60,000 to upgrade a subway and £50,000 towards new traffic signals.

Headquartered in Ewloe, Flintshire, Anwyl Homes has built homes across Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

The venture in Bebington is the developer’s first project in Wirral to deliver private sale homes.