Apartment block to be built in conservation area

The new complex will be built on Fox Street in Preston

A six-storey apartment block is to be built in a city centre conservation area, despite concerns about its height.

Planners have given the go-ahead to the development on Fox Street in Preston, where it will replace an empty shop.

Preston City Council officers questioned its suitability for the Winckley Square Conservation Area but concluded the benefits outweighed any damage it would do to the historic location.

Blackburn-based Marana Developments said the proposal would bridge the height difference on the street between the former St Wilfrid's school building and the Premier Inn – helping to reduce the "stark contrast" that existed at present.

The firm said the apartments would also obscure "the ugly blank elevation" of the neighbouring hotel, which currently towered over the site, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The block will contain 19 flats, along with a new retail unit on the ground floor.

The plot is currently occupied by the now vacant Christian Resource Centre, which traded for more than four decades before its closure three years ago.

A report by Preston City Council planning officers said it would "deliver social and economic benefits" by providing new homes in an "accessible location" in the city centre to "meet the needs of present and future generations".