Preston refuses 111-house project for the third time

The city council refused to budge on farm owner Andy Bradshaw’s scheme, which sits on 15 acres of open countryside.

The site’s location on designated open countryside off Whittingham Lane in Broughton is the key point of contention.

This new application for outline approval attempted to ease the council’s fears about developing on the land. Consultant Emery Planning argued that the site was landlocked by other developments and the M6 motorway. Therefore, the planning consultant said, the land served no use as open countryside.

However, the council opted to go with its planning officer’s recommendation for refusal, saying on 5 August that regardless, the land was not allocated for housing.

This latest denial is part of the project’s ongoing saga. It initially had been granted consent at a meeting in 2019, because at the time Preston was unable to show it had five years’ worth of land to meet future housing needs. Because of that, the council was accepting applications for developments on land that was not designated for housing.

However, when Preston’s minimum annual housing requirement was recalculated later that year, it no longer had an issue around the lack of residential land. Because of that recalculation, the council opted to re-examine the application, which was still in negotiations regarding section 106 agreements. The proposal was subsequently denied.

In November 2020, Bradshaw tried again to get approval – only to lose once more. An appeal is slated to be heard on that decision this September.

The 111-house development is the second phase of a nearby scheme known as Broughton Park. The first phase of that project is under construction courtesy of Stewart Milne Homes. That company is already committed to building the second phase if approval is ever granted.