Proposals for 2,000 new homes in Penwortham now have a new name.

What was known as Pickering’s Farm is now The Lanes scheme.

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Developers Taylor Wimpey and Homes England, the government’s housing delivery organisation, say the name has changed to reflect the fact ‘rural lanes’ in the development area will remain.

The site, off Penwortham Way, has Bee Lane, Moss Lane and Lords Lane running through it.

A new masterplan for the development is due to be published in March following a second public consultation.

Proposals for the site are now due to be designed around these existing roads and keeping their current shape and layout.

Included in the development will be new cycle routes, primary school, shops, health facilities and a community centre.

Planning applications are due in the Spring for the site and will include detail about the layout of the Cross-Borough Link Road.

Read more: Work continues on link road between Penwortham and Walton-le-Dale

Senior strategic land and planning manager for Taylor Wimpey Kate McClean said: “The Lanes presents us with a unique opportunity to work with the rural character of the site to create one of the most attractive developments in the County when complete. Place making has been a key
driver for us in the development of our Masterplan, which will be publicly available shortly.

“We have undertaken one of the most extensive public consultations to date ahead of finalising the Masterplan and have benefited significantly from ongoing conversations with representatives at Town, Borough and County level.

“Myself and our Masterplanner have also spent lots of time working with existing local residents to ensure this is a proposal that works for them too. We look forward to continuing this engagement as our proposals progress.”

Campaigners say the area cannot cope with 2,000 new homes and it risks ‘merging Penwortham and Lostock Hall’ together.

What campaigners have to say

The Keep Bee Lane Rural campaign group have expressed their concerns.

Graham Eastham said on behalf of the campaign group: “We are extremely disappointed but hardly surprised that Taylor Wimpey and Homes England have made the decision to submit a revised Masterplan without any further public involvement. Throughout the masterplan process to date they have both given lip-service to any real local consultation.

“Interesting to note the development name has now been changed from ‘Pickering’s Farm’ to ‘The Lanes.’ With over 1000 detailed objections received by the planning authority against the Pickering’s Farm Development the name had become a toxic brand for them.

“This announcement confirms the housing total is now 2000 and not the original 1350.

“Without sight of the revised Masterplan and now being excluded from the process it is difficult to comment further but we are keen to see how they intend to solve the conundrum of keeping the proposed 4000 new cars from using the lanes to exit the site onto Leyland Road and Lostock Hall?

“With so much development now occurring around the Preston area the internet is full of protest sites and the move against continued development without proper infrastructure seems to be gathering momentum. People are under no illusion that this current Klondike rush for new build houses is purely driven by the Government help-to-buy scheme that has proved so popular with middle income property investors. As occurred with the 2009 diesel scrappage scheme, the short term financial ‘shot in the arm for industry’ is outweighed by the long term negative impact on
health and the environment.”

A hot political topic

Last week, Blog Preston reported how the Labour group in South Ribble had come out in opposition to the development.

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Taylor Wimpey, in information released about the name change, points out the land has been identified for development for more than 40 years and was part of the South Ribble Borough Council Local Plan.

Read more: Call for development sites across Preston and South Ribble

The Plan was adopted in 2015 and councillors of all political colours on the council at the time voted in support of the plan.

What do you think about the development? Let us know in the comments below