Councillors approve £80m Cottam Hall scheme

PRESTON City Council’s planning committee has approved Cottam Hall Properties’ application for its £80m mixed-use regeneration scheme at a former Brickworks to the north of the city.

The committee unanimously voted in favour of the scheme at a meeting last Friday, subject to a series of ecological and land remediation issues which will mean the project is unlikely to start on site for “a couple of years”, according to director Ian Rankin.

The company gained outline planning approval for a 47,000 sq ft Tesco supermarket and filling station, 45,000 sq ft of offices, more than 200 homes, and restaurants/pubs set around a marina and nature reserve.

Rankin said it was “very satisfying” to gain the full support of the committee given the lengthy process in bringing the site to market. The application process began two years ago, but the developer has owned the site for 13 years.

“It’s good to see that everybody’s really pushing for it.”

He said the firm was “reasonably confident” of finding occupiers for the offices and has at least six months to gauge interest from the market before remediation work starts on site next year.

“It’s a very promising site in terms of its architectural aspects.”

Around 30 metres of the site is bounded by a canal and Rankin said that he believed the waterfront aspect would make it the most attractive area for proposed apartments, despite the demand for apartments elsewhere in Preston dwindling.

“We will have to see what people think will work,” he said. “It would be a nice setting for people who are retired and want to downsize, and I’m sure that busy young people would be attracted to the site as well.”