Approval floated for 251 Wyre homes, food hall

After years of back-and-forths with the local authority, J Chippendale, Story Homes, and Jones Homes’ plans for a neighbourhood in Garstang could be approved next week. Also on the docket: the transformation of the old Poulton-Le-Fylde police station into a food hall.

Both applications are set to be debated during Wyre Council’s planning committee meeting on Wednesday. Here’s a little bit more about each.

Land west of the A6

• Application reference number: 20/00340/RELMAJ
• Planning officer recommendation: Approve

This project has been a journey for the housebuilders, who first applied for outline permission in 2014 for up to 270 homes, 11.5 acres of employment land, a convenience store, and a coffee shop on the 41-acre triangular site in Garstang.

Planning permission was gained at appeal in 2017. A reserved matters application – the one being evaluated at the upcoming planning committee meeting – was submitted in 2020. Story, Jones, and J Chippendale have subsequently met with Wyre’s planning team to discuss the application. By the Wyre planning officer’s admission, the scheme has been “amended several times”.

Those amendments have been to the satisfaction of the officer, who recommended approval.

The application now seeks to build 251 homes, a 2,900 sq ft convenience store, and a 2,500 sq ft coffee shop.

Of 251 homes, 50 are to have either one or two bedrooms. Then 80 will have three bedrooms and 121 will have four. The houses will be a mixture of terraced residences, semi-detached, and detached.

Also proposed: two office blocks and 14 light industrial units, with Orbit Developments drawing up the design for this part of the project.

Roughly 10 acres of green infrastructure, including a playground, is included in the landscape proposals by TPM Landscape.

In order to facilitate access to the development, the developers are hoping to create three vehicle access points on Nateby Crossing Lane and two on the A6.

The project team has changed as time has progressed, but those who have worked on the scheme include RGP Architects, Woodcroft Design, Roman Summer, PWA Planning, TPM Landscape, RG Parkins & Partners, and Martin Environmental.

Stanton Andrews Architects designed the police station-to-food hall conversion. Credit: via planning documents

Bobby’s Yard

• Application reference number: 23/00231/FUL
• Planning officer recommendation: Approve

The proposal from BY1 should be an easy win – it’s a resubmission of an application that was approved in 2020. The reason it is returning to committee is that a technical start did not happen in the required timeframe, so the permission ran out.

Under the plans, designed by Stanton Andrews Architects, the former police station would receive a rear extension and external seating. The total external area for the scheme is 8,900 sq ft.

The police station was decommissioned in 2018 and has been vacant since. BY1 is set on keeping several of its historic elements, including the archway entrance and cast iron gate. One of the cells will also be kept as a visitor attraction, according to the planning statement by Smith & Love.

The extension would be two storeys and include the food stalls, dining area, toilets, a staff room, and an office.

In addition to Stanton Andrews and Smith & Love, the project team includes site investigator Sub Surface, bat expert Dave Anderson, odour consultant Miller Goodall, heritage adviser Gary Miller, drainage engineer Reford, transport expert VTC Consultants, RED Acoustics, and Nexus Heritage.