Aerial view of the Cottam Hall area

Homes as part of the Cottam Hall Brickworks development have been approved, one of the first schemes in the North West Preston Masterplan.

Cottam Waterside as the houses have been dubbed will see a mixture of two, three, four and five bedroom homes built overlooking the Canal.

Land to the south of Cottam Way and north of the Lancaster Canal has seen Story Homes granted permission for 238 homes.

Work on the scheme is due to begin in the Autumn, as soon as ecological works have taken place to catch and relocate Great Crested Newts who live in the area into two new specially constructed ponds.

Story Homes’ chief executive Steve Errington said: “We are delighted to be delivering our first scheme in Preston at Cottam Hall.

“We believe the Story Homes offer is different to that of other developers currently active in the area and we believe our product will be something new, but also very much be in keeping with the Preston market. We are also keen to promote the local job and supply chain opportunities which will be created as a result of this development.”

Cottam Hall is one of 11 development sites owned by the Homes and Communities Agency which is being released for housing as part of the City Deal – a £484 million investment in new roads and infrastructure in Preston and South Ribble.

The Story Homes development is the second site at Cottam being developed as Barratt Homes remain on track to finish 104 new homes.

Cottam Green is the Barratt Homes development Pic: Paul Melling

Stuart Sage, from the Homes and Communities Agency, said: “At Cottam we developed a really good working relationship with Barratt and more recently we’ve been working closely with Story Homes, who are an important partner of the HCA.

“Story Homes are already on site at Lancaster Moor, another key HCA-owned site and the development there is proving popular, so it will great to see them replicate that success for the next phase of the Cottam masterplan.”

Keeping the momentum

Preston City Council recently adopted a new local plan outlining how thousands of new homes will be delivered in the North West of the city in the next ten years.

Councillor Peter Rankin, leader of Preston City Council, said: “Preston is a great place to live and work, which is why more and more people are choosing to live in Preston.

“Through City Deal we can keep up with demand and allow the city to grow and develop. We can now unlock Preston’s true potential and put in place the necessary infrastructure for the homes, offices and communities of the future. We really welcome this investment and new development by Story Homes which is one of the first significant housing developments to be realised by the City Deal. Momentum is building and it’s an exciting time for Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire.”

Part of the deal with Story Homes will see a new park and multi-use games area created in Cottam, along with £328,000 being spent on improving and joining up the southern side of the Lancaster Canal towpath.

Jim Carter, chair of the City Deal and board member for the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, said: “Our City Deal will create thousands of new jobs over the next few years, growing the local economy by over £1bn and making it an even better place to live.

“Alongside these new jobs, we’ll need to make sure that new homes are built to meet future needs This development at Cottam Waterside will help us to realise our economic vision for Central Lancashire. As well as creating jobs, new roads and new homes, City Deal is also about developing our communities. The delivery of new community infrastructure will be important part of the success of Cottam.”

Do you live in the area? What do you think of the Cottam plans? Let us know in the comments below