Cuerden site: Retail and housing plan near motorways given go-ahead

An artist's impression of the site in Cuerden

Plans for a development near a motorway junction, which could include 116 homes and retail units, have been approved.

A leisure centre and shops could also be built on the Cuerden site, which lies near to where the M65 meets the M6 in South Ribble, Lancashire.

Lancashire County Council said the development would "deliver major economic outcomes" for the county.

The future of the area has been uncertain, especially after a plan for an IKEA store collapsed in 2018.

Councillor Aidy Riggott, Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for economic development, said the site was "regionally significant" and "vital to the place-shaping agenda".

"Higher skilled jobs with competitive salaries will boost employment growth and create a quality place to work, live and visit, making a real difference to the lives and wellbeing of people in Lancashire," he added.

'Blank spaces'

The council said up to 5,600 full-time jobs could be created on completion, potentially in seven years, and about 2,400 temporary jobs could be available during construction.

The application was brought jointly by the county council itself and Maple Grove Developments Limited.

Lancashire County Council's development control committee voted in favour of the new Lancashire Central blueprint, but was told there were still "large blank spaces" in the vision.

Planning officers said that the lack of specifics was normal at the outset of such a major project.

Meanwhile, a representative of property developer Brookhouse Group Ltd, which owns part of the site that was not in the county council's control, wrote to the authority a day before the meeting to urge councillors to defer the decision.

The two parties are in a legal dispute over the way the council selected its development partner Maple Grove for the Cuerden project.

Council planners noted the design of the Lancashire Central proposal "still maintains the opportunity to link through to the wider site at a later date".

A proposal to defer the decision until more information was forthcoming, particularly regarding environmental issues, was defeated only by the casting vote of the chair.

Paul Newton, the agent for the application, described the project as "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver a dynamic, sustainable, best-in-class development that will generate significant economic, social and environmental benefits".