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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.
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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 case.
An 11-storey tower planned for a site on Tithebarn Street, opposite the bus station – which is currently occupied by a block of shops and a roof car park – is also yet to get off the ground, after being given the go-ahead in July 2022. The scheme suffered more than a year’s delay as a result of a wrangle over the timing of an assessment of its future profitability which will be used to determine whether the developer has to make a financial contribution to the creation of affordable housing elsewhere in the city. Like several other developments approved in the city centre in recent years, the applicant had been exempted from delivering any discounted homes as part of the project itself, after successfully arguing it would render their plans financially unviable.
Meanwhile, the future of an approved 469 apartments eyed for the former Dryden Mill site, in the Stoneygate area of the city, remains uncertain after development specialists Belgravia walked away from the 16-storey project earlier this year. That came 18 months after committee members gave it the thumbs up. The site, with planning permission attached, has since been put back on the market.
The sole finished development of the 13 analysed by the LDRS is The Exchange – a seven-to-16-storey scheme at the junction of Pole Street and Percy Street in the city centre. Its 200 apartments, which were granted permission in March 2021, were ready for occupation just over two years later after completion by The Heaton Group.
The City Studios scheme – a 128-dwelling development alongside the former Unicorn pub on North Street – has also been built, but is yet to welcome residents. It was approved in March 2020 and councillors later gave the nod to an extra seven serviced apartments being added to the 121 originally planned. As well as the three-to-five-storey newly-built block, part of the pub itself has also been converted to provide five flats.
The LDRS estimates that 2,117 apartments within new-build medium-to-high-rise blocks were approved by Preston City Council’s planning committee between January 2020 and June 2024 – but substantial work is yet to start on 1,789 of them.
The total number of approvals cannot be exact, because a development of 380 properties on the former Horrocks Mill site – granted permission in outline form 12 months ago – does not specify the split between how many flats and houses it will contain. However, as the plans state that there will be eight apartment blocks – some up to 10 storeys high – a conservative estimate of 250 has been made for the number of flats proposed.
Preston City Council drew up its “city living strategy” in the 2010s in an attempt to kickstart the housing-led regeneration of previously developed – so-called “brownfield” – sites in and around the city centre.
Nick Thompson, director of development consultancy Hive Land and Planning – which worked with the local authority on the strategy – said of the apartment completion figures gathered by the LDRS: “In 2024, there were two significant ‘residential-led’ planning approvals within Preston city centre. These are the Park Hotel plans by the Heaton Group and the Horrocks Mill development by Onward Homes.
“Collectively, these involve the development of over 700 new homes and have been planned with a strong emphasis on design. Successful delivery of the two projects would make a huge contribution to the ongoing regeneration of the city centre, alongside the major investments under way within the civic and retail quarters.
“Preston’s city-living market has demonstrated its credentials with some good quality projects being delivered over recent years – and there is a feeling from the development sector that there is much more to come.”
Preston City Council was also approached for comment.
High rises on hold
These are the 11 medium-to-high-rise apartment developments approved by Preston City Council’s planning committee between January 2020 and June 2024 which have yet to be completed or even substantially started (the applicants or agents for each project were approached for comment):
5, Church Row, city centre (approved May 2020) – construction not started, site not cleared of derelict units: 21-storey ‘sloping’ block, containing 80 apartments.
Former St. Joseph’s Orphanage, Mount Street (approved May 2020) – construction not started; some site clearance, more due early 2025 after three fires at the location in as many years: three apartment blocks, totalling 50 flats, as part of wider development which includes 17 townhouses.
Former sports hall, 10-16, Garden Street, city centre (approved July 2020) – construction not started, site cleared: nine-storey block, containing 47 apartments.
Land off Maritime Way, Preston docks (approved July 2020, further details approved August 2023) – construction not started: four-to-eight-storey block – the tallest at the docks – containing 40 apartments.
‘PR1’ development, car park at junction of Avenham Street and Syke Street, city centre (approved November 2020) – construction not started, minor site preparation work carried out in November 2023): four blocks, ranging from seven to 16 storeys high, containing 294 one and two-bedroomed apartments.
77, Tithebarn Street, city centre (approved July 2022) – construction not started, site not cleared of retail units and roof car park: 11-storey block, containing 124 apartments.
Former Dryden Mill, land bounded by Manchester Road/Queen Street/Grimshaw Street, edge of city centre (approved March 2023) – construction not started on site, which is currently a car park: two buildings, featuring a total of six blocks, up to 16 storeys in height, and containing 469 apartments.
Junction of Moor Lane and Walker Street, university quarter (approved July 2023) – construction not started, site cleared: part-19 and part-five-storey hexagonal-shaped building, containing 120 apartments. Originally proposed for rent only, but switched to open market sale after council approval in December 2023.
Mount Street, to the rear of 33-34, Winckley Square, city centre (approved September 2023) – construction not started: five-to-seven storey block, containing 35 apartments.
Former Horrocks Mill, Queen Street, [adjacent to Cotton Court Business Centre], edge of city centre (approved December 2023) – construction not started: eight apartment blocks, ranging from two to 10 storeys in height, containing an as-yet-unspecified number of flats as part of a border 380-dwelling development.
127-131, Church Street [bound by Manchester Road and Shepherd Street], city centre (approved June 2024) – construction not started, site not cleared of retail units: part-four and part-19-storey block and a separate 11-storey building, containing a total of 280 apartments. Promise of ‘new Winckley Square’ area of open space within the development.
Developments delivered
These two schemes have been fully or largely completed:
‘City Studios’, alongside former Unicorn pub, North Road (approved March 2020) – largely built, but unoccupied: three-to-five storey block, containing 128 serviced apartments.
The Exchange (originally known as Bhailok Court), Pole Street/Percy Street, city centre (approved March 2021) – completed and occupied: seven-to-16-storey block, containing 200 apartments.
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