Wain Homes seeks full permission in Preston

A reserved matters application has been lodged for 104 homes at Cardwell Farm in Barton, the second and final phase of a development that has been in the works since 2019.

Wain Homes is working with Emery Planning on the project, for which outline permission was secured in 2023 for the housing and a community building.

This represents phase two of the Barton project, Wain already being on site with a 47-home first phase.

Wain Homes’ professional team also includes architect MCK Associates, Hepworth Acoustics, SCP, TBA and Iain Tavendale.

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Five miles north of Preston city centre, the site sits adjacent to the Barton settlement boundary and is bounded  by existing residential properties on the A6 Garstang Road and phase one, along with open fields.

The site would be accessed through the phase one development and the A6. Thirty six affordable homes are proposed, representing 35% of the whole.

Proposals for the site were initially put forward in 2019, and on being resubmitted in 2020 were refused outline permission by Preston City Council, on the grounds of loss of open countryside.

Wain Homes successfully appealed, and in February 2022, the local authority “reluctantly withdrew” its challenge to the Planning Inspectorate’s decision.

Preston had been embroiled in a series of planning wrangles around that time, with around 700 rural homes denied following recalibration of housing targets and supply calculations.

With the principle of development established, Wain Homes then submitted fresh plans for the Barton site later in 2022.

Now, with phase one under way, plans for phase two have been coming together. Plans for the community building are included in this submission, including a multi-use sports hall and changing facilities – however this part of the development may not be a done deal.

According to Emery’s planning statement, “we have been in discussions with the parish council separately about providing an alternative community facility in lieu of the community building.

“It is understood that there is a general preference for a MUGA (multi-use games area) type facility as part of a package of measures aimed at securing similar planning gain for the community. This is something that our client is willing to pursue, and the detail is being reviewed as to the specific form that this will take.”

Emery added that “these discussions will continue and this alternative provision will be pursued separately through the planning process once the details have been agreed with the parish council as appropriate”.

The phase two proposals can be seen on Preston’s planning portal with the reference 06/2025/0315.