Plans are in for another 1,800 new homes to north of Preston

Builders are hoping to bring up to 1,100 houses between Bartle Lane and Lea Lane, just south of the M55.

The scheme, being brought forward by developers DPP Planning, will see the houses split between three parcels of land.

Meanwhile proposals for another 280 dwellings are also lodged with Preston City Council for land off Riversway and west of Dodney Drive in Lea.

Another 440 homes are also due to be built on the former Ingol golf course as part of a bigger development for a new training complex for Preston North End.

Construction was due to start in October last year but a spokesman from the architects undertaking the work, Frank Whittle Partnership, confirmed that as yet no work had taken place.

The controversial housing development will fund the building of a new training ground for PNE.

It was given the green light by planners in August 2017 after it had initial plans were originally rejected.

Councillors say the fresh plans for homes in Bartle Lane, if passed, will be a blight on the lives of the people who live in the area because of the lack of infrastructure.

Preston City Councillor Daniel Dewhurst, who represents Lea and Cottam, said: “Residents living in Lea, Cottam, and Ingol have already carried the burden of Preston’s ambitious housing programme for a considerable period of time, with no light at the end of the tunnel.

“Following these new planning proposals, residents are now faced with the further prospect of inquietude, as Preston Council grapples with developers’ ignorance toward planning conditions and a noticeable lack of infrastructure.

“Many residents will struggle to see any benefits to further development when traffic calming, schools, shops, and other local amenities have fallen by the wayside and have not been followed through in previous applications.

“It is clear that by building for the sake of building, with no consideration for the adequacy of infrastructure, the council will make it much more difficult for residents to go about their daily lives.”

Cottam parish Coun Ken Brizland said: “Lot of these new developments are quite often not necessarily to our advantage and are creating traffic problems.”

Builders say that residents of the new houses, if granted planning permission, will be served by part of a major new link road between the M55, the A583 Riversway and the A5085 Blackpool Road in Lea.

Lancashire County Council is currently buying up land to deliver the link road, called the Preston Western Distributor (PWDR).

Simon Morgan, a Woodplumpton parish councillor, said: “The amount of green field being lost is unacceptable. There’s far too many brown field sites that we could wholly regenerate but we’re not. The government refuses to listen. They won’t listen to us about the phasing of it either. Why can’t we have the infrastructure first?

“The PWDR hasn’t even been started yet but yet they’ve completed the Broughton bypass and there’s land in between the bypass and Old Garstang Road. Why don’t they build houses there where they already have the infrastructure?”

A new primary school is also part of the plans submitted by DPP Planning as part of the new 1,100-strong housing estate.

Planning documents state: “It is planned to provide for up to 1,100 homes in mix predominantly of two, three and four-bedroomed houses, with some apartment units too.

“It is assumed for initial planning that a primary school may be required on-site as part of a phased development and provision of a local village centre to provide limited convenience retail, services and community facilities.

“On-site public open space and playing fields will be provided in accordance with normal policy requirements as a basis for development of the masterplan.”

However Coun Morgan is sceptical as to whether the plans for the primary school will ever see the light of day.

“They say they will do things and then they change their minds,” he said.

The 46-hectare site earmarked for the 1,100 houses at the moment is agricultural land and has a series of hedges, a watercourse, pond and wetlands known as the Bartle wetlands.

Developers are seeking scoping opinion from Preston City Council for the 280 and 1,100 houses to request an Environmental Impact Assessment.