Golf course housing plans unveiled in Preston

Plans have been unveiled for the latest wave of new housing to be built on the former Ingol Golf Course in Preston – which would add more than 100 homes to the site than were originally envisaged for it.

Anwyl Homes wants to create 164 homes on the one-time sports plot off Tanterton Hall Lane.

When outline planning permission was controversially granted for the redevelopment of the course in 2017, up to 450 dwellings were to be permitted.

At that time, the site was also to house a proposed new first-team training facility for Preston North End.  However, the plan was never realised and the club purchased Wigan Athletic’s training ground in Euxton in 2020.

So far, Preston City Council has approved 402 new homes for the site – some of which have already been built, with others under construction.   If Anwyl’s proposals are also given the green light, it will take the tally of new dwellings to 567.

The outline 2017 planning permission has long since expired and the parcel of land now being eyed by the housebuilder was never developed – meaning the latest housing bid has been submitted as a standalone, full application.

In documents submitted to town hall planners, the firm stresses that “the principle of residential development” has already been established by the previous permissions.

The company adds that the construction of several other estates on the site has “already fundamentally changed the way in which the location is appreciated” – and says that in pre-application discussions with the city council, the authority acknowledged the “material consideration” of the previous approvals it has granted in the location.

Anwyl is pledging that 50 of its proposed dwellings – in its two and three-bedroomed ranges – will fall into the discounted ‘affordable homes’ category.   The remainder – which will have between three and five bedrooms – will be for sale on the open market.

The developer says that while vegetation on the site will be ”retained where possible”, some trees – mostly those in poor condition or of low value – will have to be removed.   However, a raft of new planting is proposed within the development.

The site will also feature so-called ‘pocket parks’ and other areas of public open space, variously including wildflower meadows, ornamental trees and shrubs and benches.

Ingol Golf Course and Squash Club opened in 1981, before closing in 2010.  After a three-year hiatus, the golf course began operating again, but closed after the redevelopment plans were passed in 2017.