Residents in the North West of Preston are being asked to give their views on where 4,000 new homes could be built.
AdvertisementPreston City Council’s masterplan for the Cottam, Lea and Fulwood area has been unveiled – and could create an entirely new suburb of the city.
Huge swathes of greenfields would be built on to house the region’s growing population, with a new link road to the M55 – called the Western Preston Distributor – and a new secondary school.
However, the short-notice release of the masterplan document and consultation meeting – with little fanfare compared to the new city centre plan – has left local councillors concerned.
Lea councillor Julie Buttle said: “4000 new homes in North West Preston is one of the biggest investment and development opportunities to come to Preston for some considerable time and it is imperative that local Councillors and in particular the executive member for planning are kept informed on any progress so that we can encourage residents to participate and ensure their concerns about traffic, supporting infrastructure and phasing are respected and understood.
“Consequently I was surprised and disappointed that details of the final consultation event were added to the City Council website without any accompanying publicity and even now, less than a week before the event, notification has not been sent to City Councillors.
“There has been considerable slippage with the timing of this consultation and I have to question how much involvement the exec member has had on its production.
“At present all we have is a drawing showing the approximate location of the roads and some of the infrastructure. I trust the event on Wednesday will have considerably more information in relation to the phasing of how this area will be built, the supporting service infrastructure, types of employment uses, design of new homes etc. etc.
“Development on this scale has the potential to have a serious impact on the existing and surrounding community and this may be your only opportunity to influence how the development takes shape.”
Residents are being asked to attend a consultation drop-in session at Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Club on Lightfoot Lane on Wednesday 13 November from 11am to 8pm to give their views and comments.
The city council have commissioned planning consultants to come up with a masterplan for the area – as housing developers continue to log requests for new developments.
Assistant director of planning at the city council Chris Hayward said: “The consultation is on the draft masterplan for North West Preston and it is important that we get as many views as possible.
“Feedback received will allow the final masterplan document to reflect the needs of the area, in light of the growing demand for new homes there.”
You can view the only part of the masterplan released in the document below:
What’s your view on development in North West Preston? Do you support? Do you not? Let us know in the comments below