Lancaster R&D building set for approval
An 87,000 sq ft research & development facility at Lancaster University is set to be approved when Lancaster City Council’s planning committee meets on Monday 6 February, with a Mulbury housing site and a student accommodation scheme also recommended for approval.
The site, off the A6 on agricultural land towards the boundary of the university’s Bailrigg campus, is identified in the Lancaster Local Plan for inward investment and high quality economic development.
A hybrid application for 365,840 sq ft of business park development was given outline consent in 2009, and this reserved matters application refers to the first phase of that.
The building will be 122m long, and five storeys at its highest point. It is billed in John McAslan & Partners’ design & access statement as Health Innovation Development. CBRE is also working with the university on the project.
Also recommended for reserved matters approval is the proposal by Mulbury Homes and Regenda to build 30 houses at the TNT garage site in Caton, on the edge of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The three-acre site is currently vacant.
The 25 houses classed as open-market will include four bedrooms, with three different designs proposed – the affordable housing element will come with two three-bedroom and three two-bedroom homes. Two access roads will be built.
A student accommodation scheme comprising two blocks has been proposed by David Hall of local consultancy DH Planning Solutions, acting for William Mason. The two four-storey blocks will offer 28 six-bed clusters of accommodation for students at a vacant site on the A6, close to the Bailrigg science campus.
