A new apartment block in Stockport could 'exclude' disabled people, a councillor has warned, because of a lack of accessible parking.

Plans to turn the historic Stockport Probation Centre building into 45 new homes was given the green light on 15 August, in a scheme designed to bring the empty site back into use and boost housing availability in the town centre.

The plan aims to keep the main part of the probation centre, which dates back to 1900, but demolish more recent aspects of the site to be replaced by a new building. No parking spaces are included in the 'car free' design, apart from two disabled bays and one loading bay.

The council's highway engineer stated in a report that the site is "well-served by public transport", and argued that those who rely on a car "wouldn't choose to live in the development."

But Cllr Anna Charles-Jones said disabled people face being excluded from the apartments over the lack of accessible parking spaces, and that the advice from council officers was "really concerning."

A CGI image of plans to build 45 new apartments in the former Stockport Probation Centre (Image - Ashurst Communications)

"Given that the parking provision for disabled people is supposed to be one accessible space per ten dwellings, and this is a block of 45 with two spaces, I find that really concerning for a council that has supposedly adopted the social model of disability," she added.

"To a disabled person like myself, that reads as you don't have a choice to live here."

She said that the location of the new apartments, next to Disability Stockport's offices, would mean disabled parking spaces in the area are going to be "full an awful lot of the time, which makes this development even less accessible."

Cllr Mark Jones, chair of the planning committee, agreed there are "viability issues" with the development, but argued that it is "likely to be the best we can get for this particular site."

Despite the concerns, the application was approved by the committee.

Speaking about the plan's approval, Nick Carter, development director at Britannia Group, said: "We are thrilled our plans for the former Probation Centre have been approved and we look forward to bringing new homes to Stockport's thriving town centre."

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