More than two dozen extra homes are to be built on a housing estate in rural Preston after revised plans were drawn up to reduce the size of the properties. Planning permission was granted for 55 dwellings on land south of Bartle Lane and west of Sandy Lane, in Lower Bartle, in November 2022.
The houses were to form the first phase of a 195-home development on the wider site. The scheme was put forward by developer Hollins Homes, which went into administration last summer. Under the originally-approved blueprint for the plot, around half of the properties were to boast four or five bedrooms.
However, a recent meeting of Preston City Council’s planning committee heard that the phase one portion of the site had since been sold to Gleeson Homes, whose vision for the estate was to focus on “smaller, entry-level” houses. A report presented to committee members stated that the reduction in the footprint of the homes allowed for their overall number to be increased to 80 within the same space.
The amended scheme will feature 30 two-bed houses – five times as many as initially proposed – and almost double the number of three-bedroomed properties, at 43. There will be just seven four-bed homes, compared to the 20 originally envisaged, while seven previously-planned five-bed houses have been scrapped altogether. All of the house types will also now be of Gleeson Homes’ own design.
Thirty percent of the properties will fall into the ‘affordable homes’ category, meaning the number of discounted dwellings will increase from 16 under the original plans to 24. According to the committee report, four of the houses will be available for social rent – the least expensive rental option – eight for affordable rent and the remaining 12 for other forms of “low cost” housing.
The committee’s approval granted full permission for phase one and outline permission for the rest of the site, as was the case back in 2022.
Once again, land will be reserved to the south of a series of power lines running through the area – and handed over to the city council for just £1 – for one of the new metropolitan parks planned for North West Preston. A previously proposed play area within phase one will also remain.
The green light for the project was given by members on the basis that an agreement is entered into confirming a £665,000 contribution from the developer towards the cost of secondary school places generated by the estate – as requested by Lancashire County Council – along with £620,000 towards the bill for the new East-West Link Road servicing the area.
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