Despite numerous planning approvals, construction on thousands of new apartments in Preston remains stalled.
Work has yet to begin on around 1,800 new-build apartments given the green light in Preston over the last five years. Analysis by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) can reveal that of the 13 medium-to-high-rise residential blocks approved by Preston City Council’s planning committee since 2020, only one has seen residents move in. A second appears close to completion, but construction is yet to start on the 11 others.
Two of the earmarked plots, however, have been cleared of buildings that stood there previously. It means that only around a tenth of the more than 2,000 apartments given the go-ahead as part of major developments proposed for Preston since the start of the decade have been completed. Several ambitious schemes in the city centre are amongst those yet to get off the drawing board in spite of planning permission having been granted for them. They include a distinctive ‘sloping’ tower block approved for a site on Church Row back in May 2020, which would have risen as high as 21 storeys. The triangular effect building was to feature 80 apartments – but, almost five years on, the derelict commercial units occupying the plot remain standing and the three-year, time-limited permission would now appear to have lapsed. Elsewhere, the near 300-apartment “PR1” development – a proposal for four blocks, ranging between seven and 16 storeys in height – is still just a vision in CGI, more than four years after it was approved. The site – a surface car park at the corner of Avenham Street and Syke Street – remains largely unchanged, except for the dismantling of a small hut in November 2023. For planning purposes, that minimal move counted as a work having begun – and so prevented planning permission lapsing after three years, as would otherwise have been the cas
HOUSING CONSTRUCTION PLANNING APPROVALS PRESTON CITY DEVELOPMENT
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