Leyland's £38m town centre transformation gets underway

Site investigation work is taking place on the Ecroyd Street Car Park and in surrounding areas.

It is all part of the transformation of the town which is taking place after South Ribble Borough Council’s successful bid for cash from the government’s Towns Fund back in 2021. That secured £25m for the proposed revamp, with the authority providing the remainder of the cash to deliver the scheme in full.

The project will see:

***the creation of a new market square and a refurbishment of the market itself;

***a radical redesign of its main shopping street, Hough Lane, by introducing ‘shared space’ similar to that on Preston’s Fishergate;

***and the construction of a business and skills hub to be known as BASE2.

Once the first phase of the site investigation is completed, the next stage will be the demolition of the former NFM Iddons factory, which will make way for BASE2, as well as residential developments and a new car park.

Charles Hadcock, chair of Leyland Town Deal Board said of the latest developments: “It is great to see the Leyland Town Deal moving forward with work already started on this phase to prepare the site and the demolition work to follow on very soon afterwards.”

South Ribble Borough Council leader Paul Foster added: “I am really pleased to see this scheme moving to the next stage. The Town Deal funding is a great opportunity to bring much needed investment to Leyland town centre and progress on the scheme brings the prospect of improved economic benefits closer to reality.”

The six planning applications connected with the scheme were all approved earlier this year.

William Baldwin, director of Sutcliffe Projects Limited, which is undertaking the latest works, said of his firm’s involvement: “The Leyland Town deal aims to support business growth, the regeneration of the local town centre, and improvements in infrastructure - pillars we are immensely proud to align ourselves with at Sutcliffe.

“For that reason, we are very proud to have carried out the site investigation work on this project, in what will be a groundbreaking deal for the local area.”