New homes and a shop are to be built in the historic grounds of a listed former school in Preston.
Permission has been granted for the development within the gardens of the property long known as Larches House, in Ashton-on-Ribble.
The 19th-century, Grade II-listed building – recently renamed Sapphire House after being converted into offices and flats – will now be joined by 17 houses and two apartments above a small retail unit. The houses will largely be terrace properties, along with a pair of semi-detached dwellings.
Preston City Council planning officers gave the green light to the scheme, off Larches Lane, after councillors on the authority’s planning committee rejected a slightly larger proposal in December 2023.
That blueprint – for 24 homes and a shop – was refused on the basis that it would damage the setting of Larches House, which operated as a special school between 1954 and 2017, having been a private dwelling for more than 100 years after it was built in 1838.
However, town hall planners concluded that their concerns had been addressed in the revised vision for the development.
Mick Patel, whose firm – Sapphire Construction Solutions Ltd. – is behind the project, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it was the only the start of his plans for the seven-acre site.
He said he is already preparing a planning application for “probably another 30 or 40 houses” elsewhere on the plot, which he purchased in 2020. In the meantime, work is already getting under way on the now approved scheme, 30 percent of which will be offered as discounted “affordable homes” for rent or sale.
Six public objections were raised to the plans – including over the loss of four trees from the plot and another from the boundary, plus concern over the impact of the new properties on Larches House itself. However, none of the statutory consultees asked for their opinion have any outstanding opposition.
In a report outlining their reasons for accepting the smaller-scale development, planning chiefs said the reduction in the area to be built upon would “preserve the setting of the listed building”.
They added that the removal of proposed new homes directly to the south of Larches House would ensure “unrestricted” views of and from the building would remain.
Meanwhile, it was concluded that the gardens – which are not themselves listed, but have the status of an unregistered historic designated landscape – would be exposed to a low level of “less than substantial impact”, which would be outweighed by their ongoing maintenance post-development.
Although almost two thirds of the application site is classed as ‘green infrastructure’, the site’s close proximity to Ashton Park means there will be no demand for the applicant to provide compensation for the loss. Twenty-four new trees will be planted as part of the scheme.
The principle of developing what is deemed an urban area was also considered acceptable.
Meanwhile, 40 car parking spaces will be provided for the residential dwellings and four for the shop.
While welcoming the granting of permission, Mr. Patel said the wheels of the planning system move too slowly – and the conditions placed on developers like him would ultimately smother the government’s housebuilding ambitions.
“People are desperate for homes, but bureaucracy means they will never hit their new housing targets,” he said.
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