420 homes planned for Camelot site
PLANS have been submitted for 420 homes at the former Camelot theme park at Charnock Richard, near Chorley.
The 140-acre site is owned by Carlisle-based builder Story Construction which acquired the land in 2009 when the previous park owner, Prime Resorts, went into receivership.
Knights Leisure, which started running Camelot in 2009, closed the park at the end of the 2012 season and said it would not be reopening after a period of poor trading caused by bad weather, the Jubilee and the Olympics.
Story said it was proposing a “high quality design that will be closely integrated with the landscape and will open up the countryside for the first time”.
Dan Barton, development planner for Story Homes, said: “The former Camelot theme had suffered from substantial underinvestment over a number of years before it no longer became viable as a tourist attraction. If the site is not developed it will be left vacant.
“We want to create a really high quality new housing development that will provide more than 100 much-needed affordable homes for local people and create a number of jobs during the construction period.”
The company has been advised by the Manchester office of planning consultant Barton Willmore. Partner Dan Mitchell said: “This is an important opportunity to make best use of what would otherwise be a vacant, derelict brownfield site where there are clearly no other suitable uses. We know there is a lot of demand, both for market and affordable housing, in the area.”
