Homes to be built on former factory site

More than 270 homes will be built on the site by Factory Lane

A major housing development first mooted more than 15 years ago is finally set to get off the drawing board.

More than 270 homes will be built across the Penwortham Mills site near Preston, which was previously occupied by a factory belonging to the surgical lint manufacturer Vernon Carus.

The plot – part of which became home to a new Lidl store in February – has been eyed for a residential estate since the late 2000s, shortly after the firm relocated.

Several proposals have been approved since then, but none has ever come to fruition, with the land having also changed hands on numerous occasions.

In April, the site was acquired by the construction firm Persimmon Homes, which told a meeting of South Ribble Borough Council's planning committee it was eager to bring the blueprint to life.

It needed approval to tweak the design of the properties being built, to replace those approved under the most recent permission granted in 2022 to what was then the Trafford Housing Trust, later to become part of the L&Q Group.

Rachel Graham, senior land and planning manager for Persimmon in Lancashire, said the revised range for the first phase of the "stalled" estate reflected "the already approved arrangement as closely as possible".

The council's planning manager, Catherine Thomas, told members there was "hardly any difference at all" in the overall shape of the initial phase.

'Affordable homes'

The changes – which were approved without debate – relate to 49 of the homes within the first tranche of the development, for which full planning permission has already been granted.

They will be made up of detached, semi-detached and terrace styles – and work on them is now expected to begin in the coming months.

A similar revision will later be submitted for the remaining 68 properties within that phase.

The second and third phases only have outline permission currently granted for them. This means applications for the details of house designs would have been required in future regardless of the change of ownership of the site – and Persimmon says they will come forward in due course.

However, the firm is planning to build only 274 dwellings in all on Penwortham Mills – fewer than the up to 301 proposed in the application by Trafford Housing Group.

Twenty-five homes are already approved for a neighbouring site where the Sumpter Horse pub stood until its demolition in January.

Within the Penwortham Mills plot, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands 83 of the properties will be discounted "affordable homes".