Plans to turn Preston's Dryden Mill site into flats approved

Plans to built flats on the former Dryden Mill site in Preston city centre have been approved by councillors.

The site, currently an open air car park and previously home to an indoor car boot sale, will feature two buildings up to 16 storeys high.

The development of 469 flats is part of plans to transform the Stoneygate area of the city into an "urban village".

Alban Cassidy, the agent for the application, said the building would be a "landmark" in the Stoneygate area.

Mr Cassidy told a Preston City Council's planning committee the development at the corner of Queen Street and Manchester Road would be a "focal point".

"The development will make a statement that this is truly the entrance to a distinctive, characterful, sustainable, vibrant [and] successful urban village," he said.

David Borrow, cabinet member for planning and regulation, said the proposal for the site reflected a wider shift in the plans to offer '"good quality accommodation" for people to live and work the city centre.

The development will feature 261 one-bedroom, 204 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom apartments, 94 car parking spaces and three ground floor retail units.

A landscaped courtyard area will also be created between the two main buildings, with a pedestrian route from Grimshaw Street to Manchester Road.

The long-term plans will see the development of the 38-hectare site from the heart of the city centre around St John's Minister, out towards the Queens Retail Park in the east and Cardinal Newman College in the south - and an area to the south east of the bus station.

Up to 1,600 homes could ultimately be built, along with new commercial properties.

In October 2021, the authority rejected a bid to create a temporary storage facility, which included installing almost 200 shipping containers, on the Dryden Mill plot as a stop-gap until its redevelopment for housing.

The old buildings on the site were cleared early last year.

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