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3.5 The Report to committee did seek to diminish the apparent benefits by drawing attention to the extent to which there would the need for 'new build' elements of the scheme. However whilst there would undoubtedly be new build as a component part of the building, Mr Kelsall's evidence is compelling, namely that there is an insignificant loss from the most significant elements of the building. When taken together with the fact that the aim is to substantially recreate the internal plan based upon the good fortune of the 1995 survey as well as the fact that the chimney stacks and stairs are also preserved means that the extent of the survival of Sandown Hall is both extensive. Indeed it would seem that there may be more of Sandown Hall than there was of Hill House or Hanson House, whose resurrection the Local Planning Authority supported.
3.6 Moreover the proposed development is not just a proposal to rebuild the façades but to recreate the interior plan, as well as the relationship to outbuildings and external context that had been lost in Wavertree decades ago.
3.7 Thus even if it was concluded that a nationwide search of sites would result in a 'better' site that does not diminish those powerful material considerations. The extent to which the proposal is supported both locally and nationally is testament to the importance placed upon the issue from a wide range of bodies from national down to local bodies in both Liverpool and Macclesfield Borough.
4. The Appropriateness of the Site/Viability
4.1 Other than the use of local stone Sandown Hall was not constructed to reflect the local vernacular of South West Lancashire in the early nineteenth century. Rather it was probably designed (in the view of Mr Kelsall) from a pattern book as a deliberately free standing building in the style of a Greek Revival Villa. It was one of a number of such houses built at the time of the Industrial Revolution in the rural area within easy reach of smaller settlements but more particularly of northern industrial Cities.
4.2 The Local Planning Authority have always accepted that it is appropriate for the project to be economic and therefore to be located in an area where there are comparatively high land values. The rationale is simple - there is no evidence that any organisation or individual exists who is prepared to re-construct Sandown Hall at a loss. That is different from the notion of an exceptional isolated residential development per se - which does not have the additional costs that accompany a project of this nature. It is therefore not correct to suggest (however mischievously) that such a test would preclude 'country house' developments outside of property hot spots.
4.3 As to other criteria, the Local Planning Authority have always accepted that there is a need for significant areas of land to achieve an appropriate setting which simply could not occur in the urban area.
4.4 It is also accepted that it is desirable to locate the house within the same region as it was originally, and also that it would be desirable to try to identify a site which is not protected by green belt policy. However, as is presumably recognised by the Local Planning Authority in its questions based upon the proximity of the site to Manchester and Nether Alderley, it is desirable to seek to broadly reflect the relationship of the house to its original proximity to Wavertree and Liverpool.
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