Planning bosses at Liverpool council are being advised to back proposals to demolish part of the former Holly Lodge school site to make way for new housing.

A report prepared for the city council’s planning committee recommends the scheme for 51 new houses on the site be approved.

The former Holly Ledge Girl’s College in West Derby also includes two Grade II listed buildings which had been incorporated into the former school, and which are to be converted into new homes.

When the plans were first revealed in June they had been met with anger from local residents who said the school had historical significance.

At the time Terry Hutchinson Powell said the building, which was built by one of his ancestors Edward Hutchinson, should be saved.

He said: “There are proposals to demolish Holly Lodge and replace it with a new-build development. This shouldn’t happen, we think this building has historic value to the city of Liverpool.”

A report prepared by Liverpool council planning officers said Holly Lodge was built as a large detached house on Queens Drive around 1828, and was purchased by Liverpool Education Committee in 1912 and opened for education in 1922.

The school originally occupied only Holly Lodge along with the use of the large playing field to the rear but more school buildings were later built on the site of garden buildings.

Both listed buildings Fremont and Sandheys were constructed between 1833-36 and added to the National Heritage List for England in 1975 and 1985 respectively.

While Fremont and Sandheys, will be converted to provide seven new homes which will retain some of the buildings’ original features, Holly Lodge will be knocked down after an inspection by English Heritage concluded it had been too heavily modernised and had lost too many original features to be considered historically significant.

The plans to be considered by councillors when they meet at Liverpool town hall next Tuesday seek permission to demolish Holly Lodge and build 51 new houses ranging from two to five bedrooms on the site, plus an access road, and to alter both Fremont and Sandheys villas into several smaller two storey houses.

Letters of objection submitted to the planning committee call for the Holly Lodge building to be retained and converted into flats or a hotel, as well as raising concerns about increased traffic on Mill Lane which is described as “already a hugely dangerous and over congested road”.

The West Derby Society has also raised concerns about traffic and objected to the demolition of Holly Lodge saying the “the historic former merchant’s house is in excellent condition and could be easily converted into modern residences”.

The Society said: “The building has long associations not only with the city but thousands of past pupils.”

However, the report says the council’s highways manager has made no objection to the scheme.