Work on what has been dubbed one of Preston’s “poshest” new housing estates could start as soon as next month – more than three years after councillors first gave it the go-ahead.
Preston City Council has been told that the firm behind the luxury, gated development on the former Harris Orphanage site in Fulwood intends to “commence” the project in “February/March”.
However, Eden Grove Investment Properties Ltd. has nevertheless requested further time to get going in order to ensure that permission for a key aspect of the 28-dwelling scheme does not lapse and that the works can begin “in a timely manner”.
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Twenty-eight homes are planned for the Grade II-listed Harris Park plot, off Garstang Road – made up of the conversion of existing buildings, some of which are also Grade II-listed, and the creation of more than a dozen new ones.
The developer last month came to an agreement with the city authority to overcome what it said had become a barrier to delivering the high-end housing vision.
Eden Grove had successfully argued before the council’s planning committee back in 2022 that it would not be financially viable for 30 percent of the new homes to be offered at discounted ‘affordable’ rates – as is usually required by local planning policy – nor for it to help fund the creation of the new school places that would be needed as a result of the additional housing.
However, the council insisted that a ‘viability review’ be carried out at a later date to determine whether the development was proving more profitable than initially predicted – and so whether financial contributions could be made to the building of affordable housing elsewhere in the city, as well as to education provision.
At the time, then planning committee member Cllr David Borrow told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it seemed “wrong” that what was likely to “end up being one of the poshest developments in the city” had not made an affordable housing contribution.
But a meeting of the planning committee last month heard that the “uncertainty” created by the review requirement – which could have generated a bill of up to £750k – was deterring potential investors.
Committee members agreed to a compromise that will see the developer pay a flat £250k sum – split equally between creating affordable housing on another site and funding new school places – regardless of the future level of profitability.
The request for a deal had been made with the deadline looming for the expiry of so-called ‘listed building consent’ for the conversion of the Grade II-listed properties, which was formally granted in March 2023, following the committee’s original decision four months earlier.
Now, Eden Grove has submitted a fresh application to ask for an extension of “the period of time for commencement of works” beyond the otherwise hard cut-off date of 20th March.
The separate overall planning permission does not expire until March 2027, as that was not officially granted until March 2024, because it had to be rubber-stamped by the government.
A letter from the agent for the application, Alban Cassidy, states that the 2027 date is expected to be “ample time” to prepare for the development and to fulfil the conditions the council has demanded be discharged before work can begin.
Plans for the creation of nine apartments within the Clayton Hall building on the site – which formed part of the original vision – have since been dropped.
The Harris Orphanage opened in 1888 and cared for more than 2,200 youngsters over the course of the 94 years which it operated. Preston Polytechnic and its successor, the University of Central Lancashire, occupied the site for 24 years before disposing of it in 2006.
Harris Park plans in full
***Fourteen new dwellings on the western parcel of the site, the former cricket field.
***Two new dwellings on the eastern parcel, the former orphanage.
***Conversion of the Harris Conference Centre to three townhouses.
***Conversion and refurbishment of Pond House, Glen Rosa, Oak House, Yew Tree, Chestnuts, Poplars, Holly House, Laurels and The Lodge from offices to nine dwellings.
***Extensions and alterations to the following existing buildings on the site:
The Lodge – a single-storey, flat roof extension on the southern elevation measuring 6m by 3m, constructed from brick;
Pond House – a two-storey extension on the western elevation, measuring 7m by 15m, following the demolition of the existing extension, and a single-storey extension on the southern side elevation,measuring 6m by 5m, both constructed from brick and slate;
Glen Rosa – a single and two-storey extension on the western and northern elevations, measuring 11m by 10m, constructed from brick, stone and slate;
Chestnuts – removal of an existing attached outhouse and wall, not original to the property;
Chapel, School and Masters House (former Harris Conference Centre) – removal of an existing conservatory to the west elevation, not original to the property.
***No external changes are proposed to Oak House, Poplars, Holly House or Laurels.
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