A disused office building in Preston city centre is to be demolished after becoming a target for antisocial behaviour.
Lanson House, on Mount Street, will be flattened after the green light was given by Preston City Council planning officials.
Multiple windows have been smashed on the heavily vandalised 1990s-built property, while some of the security hoardings surrounding the three-storey structure are covered in graffiti.
Read more: Empty office building at Fishergate Court to be converted into holiday flats
The firm behind the demolition proposal claimed levelling the site would also unlock the long-awaited construction of an apartment block on a neighbouring plot of land – more than five years after that scheme was given the go-ahead.
A blueprint for the development of 47 flats – within a building between four and seven storeys high – was approved for the corner of Mount Street and Garden Street in July 2020.
That plan required the demolition of another vacant property – a sports hall which had stood empty for more than a decade and which had also been blighted by antisocial behaviour.
The facility was subsequently flattened, but the land left behind remains empty and overgrown – with no sign of the apartments.
1618 Architects, the applicant for the Lanson House demolition and the agent for the apartment proposal given the go-ahead 2020, said in documents submitted in support of the more recent project that it would “allow an application for both the Lanson House site and the adjacent land immediately to the south to be progressed”.
That suggests a fresh vision for the apartments – if only in terms of their exact positioning or surrounds – could follow.
According to a demolition method statement, the site “would be left in a clean and tidy state” after being cleared.
City planners were told that the occupiers of nearby properties were “happy for [Lanson House] to be demolished as there has been lots of vandalism in the area”.
Planning officers noted that the “gap” that would be created in the Winckley Square Conservation Area as a result of the clearance “would have a negative impact on its character and appearance”, meaning that redevelopment of the site was “encouraged”.
It was concluded that some “low-level” – but “less than substantial” – harm would be caused to the conservation location, but that this was outweighed by the potential to bring a derelict plot back into use.
Support Blog Preston: Keep our community reporting going and view the website without any adverts too. Sign up for a membership today.
Stay updated: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to you phone and inbox.
Read more: See the latest Preston news and headlines
