Plans for 95 new homes on edge of Broughton rejected again

Councillors have kicked out plans for a new housing estate in the Preston countryside – for exactly the same reason it was first rejected more than six years ago.

The 95-home development was proposed for a plot of land off Garstang Road, on the edge of Broughton.

Preston City Council’s planning committee refused permission for the scheme after being told by town hall officers that it would lead to the “unplanned expansion of a rural village” – the same conclusion that was reached in April 2019 after Gladman Developments Limited put forward a similar blueprint the previous year.

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Members also heard that it was not the type of development that would be permitted in the “open countryside” under local planning policy.

In a last-minute change to its initial stance, the constructor agreed to meet a request from Lancashire County Council for a financial contribution towards the cost of the 28 extra primary school places it was estimated would be generated by the new housing.   That would have amounted to £572k for a permanent expansion to an existing school or schools, or £683k as a payment towards any newly-built facility.

However, the shift made no difference to the overall recommendation from city council planning officials that the proposal should be dismissed.

The applicant had also said it would meet the local planning obligation for 35 percent of the homes on the rural estate to be offered as discounted ‘affordable housing’.

But Broughton Parish Council chair Pat Hastings told the committee that the 4.33-hectare development – to the east of Garstang Road and bounded by the Broughton bypass to the north – did not offer “any community facilities or any other infrastructure for the village”.

No representatives spoke on behalf of Gladman and committee members dismissed the application – which had attracted objections from 31 households – with little debate.

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