Wirral Metropolitan College is planning to cash in on the sale of the Carlett Park complex in Eastham to boost facilities at their Conway Park and Twelve Quays complexes.

A planning application for demolition of the existing buildings at Carlett Park to make way for 55 new homes, will be studied by Wirral planning committee next Tuesday.

Councillors have been told that funding received from the land sale will be “One hundred per cent reinvested into refurbishing the college’s remaining educational facilities and improving their educational offer, to the benefit of the Wirral community.”

A detailed appraisal,undertaken on behalf of the college, indicated that at least £2.5m was needed to achieve their aims for the two remaining campuses.

Officers revealed in their report to committee that options for funding refurbishment works were limited following significant reductions in public funding.

The option of securing finance loans would place a considerable financial burden on the college that would expose them to a level of long term financial risk.

The college is the biggest further education establishment in Wirral with more than 16,000 students enrolling each year.

An Ofsted report some years ago assessed the Metropolitan College’s performance as “satisfactory.”

Carlett Park scored poorly and Wirral Met concluded that to achieve “outstanding status” they had to move away from poorly-configured accommodation that was no longer “fit for purpose.”

The proposed development, which lies within the Green Belt, will provide a mix of new homes with a proportion of affordable housing.

A grade II listed building from 1887 – the Chapel of the Good shepherd – and an attractive green space with mature trees will be retained as part of the proposals.

A small number of Eastham residents oppose the scheme claiming, among other things, that noise from construction traffic and machinery would be “extremely disruptive;” the development would be add to already serious traffic and parking problems in the area and that the new homes would deprive them of summer sunshine in their back gardens.

Planner have recommended approval for the housing scheme.