Chorley apartment block approved

An apartment block that will tower above Chorley town centre is set to be built on the site of the borough’s former magistrates’ court.

Members of Chorley Council’s planning committee gave the go-ahead to the modern, 11-storey development – in spite of mixed views about whether its 42-metre height made it too tall for its surroundings.

A majority ultimately backed the blueprint – with one councillor, Russ Green, claiming that it would mark Chorley out as “a vibrant, modern and exciting town that’s willing to do something new”.

The building will, according to planning officers, “challenge the prominence” of the clock tower on the town hall, on the opposite side of St. Thomas’s Square.  It will also dwarf the police station whose immediate neighbour it will become.

The block – which will include balconies, a roof garden, two ‘penthouse’ levels and a basement – will contain a total of 52 apartments and, on the ground floor, three retail units.   It will also feature planting at all levels in order to give it a distinctive appearance and boost the biodiversity of the area.

The magistrates’ court, built in 1968, has lain unused since it was closed in 2019 and will be demolished to make way for the new development.

Council planning officer Iain Crossland told the meeting at which the application was approved that the building would not be harmful to the character of the area – and its visual impact had been assessed as not being “overly obtrusive” because of the “limited viewpoints that would be affected”.

The setting of the Grade II*-listed Church of St Laurence was not considered to be harmed by the plans, since that building was “best appreciated from off Park Road”, according to a report by Mr. Crossland.

Nevertheless, committee member – and planning cabinet member – Alistair Morwood wrestled with whether the scale was ”a little bit excessive”.

“It’s a big jump from what’s the norm in Chorley – it will be a shock if we approve it,”  Cllr Morwood said.

“The whole character of the townscape will change without a doubt.  It would be visible from pretty much anywhere within the town of Chorley, which may or may not be a good thing.”

However, his colleague Chris Snow said the building would be “a statement” of confidence in the town.

“No-one would bat an eyelid at something like [this] at the edge of Manchetser or Salford city centres, but this is Chorley.   This will be the highest point [in] Chorley…[but]. I quite like the aesthetics of the building,” Cllr Snow said.

The proposal – by Walker and Williams Ltd. – attracted four public objections, with concerns raised including the building’s height and the potential for it to affect any future redevelopment of the police station.

Local resident Susan Ackroyd told the committee that “contemporary architecture can be a complementary addition to an area,”, but asked: “Why does it need to be [so] high?”

Dan Hughes, the agent for the application, said the firm behind it had worked with the council to refine and redesign its proposals for around three years.

However, he added that a reduction in storeys was “not viable” – and warned that the scheme on the table was “the only real option for the site”.

Mr. Hughes said the new block would contribute to the regeneration of the town centre and provide “a high-quality…landmark building”.

It is claimed that the design of the new building ” takes inspiration” from its neighbours – the ‘brutalist style’ police station and the ‘Italianate’ town hall, by incorporating the concrete frame of the former and the buff colouring of the latter.

Deputy planning committee chair Alex Hilton said that while the proposal was “not the norm at the moment” in Chorley, “the town needs to evolve – and this may be the first step forward to be able to do that”.

The applicant successfully argued that the development would not be financially viable if, as local planning policy usually requires, 30 percent of the apartments had to be offered at a discounted rate in order to fall into the ‘affordable homes’ category.   For that reason, all of the properties will instead be sold or rented at full market value.