New warehouses would see industrial park creep closer to village on outskirts of Preston

A developer is looking to build 11 warehouses and other buildings on the greenfield site at Roman Road Farm to the east of Longridge Road.

And Henry Boot Barnfield Ltd has asked the city council if it needs to submit an environmental impact assessment for the site before it draws up a planning application.

If approved, the project would extend the Roman Way Industrial Estate to the north, taking it to within 400 yards of homes in Grimsargh.

Access to the site would be via Roman Way off Longridge Road, which already serves around 60 out-of-town businesses

The site of the proposed extension includes a number of agricultural fields with hedgerows.

A report to Preston Council says the planned industrial units would be for general industrial use, storage and distribution and offices.

"The site is bordered to the north by Three Mile Cross Farm and to the northeast by Fell View Farm which contains a ground-mounted solar farm," says the report.

"To the southwest of the site is Red Scar and Tun Brook Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)."

Despite being farm fields, the land is designated on the Preston Local Plan as an employment site protected for business, general industrial or storage and distribution use.

The developer is planning to build the warehouses towards the north of the site, with smaller units nearer to the access road. Around 15 acres of the land will be set aside for "biodiversity and wildlife" to act as a buffer between the development and Tun Brook.

Roman Road Farm and its outbuildings would be demolished to make way for the industrial units.

The report adds: "The development must take account of its impact on hedgerows and ponds which, if lost, could lead to a moderate adverse ecological impact at the regional level.

"The unmitigated loss of multiple mature trees could cause a minor negative ecological impact at a local level.

"The development on site would lead to the loss of bat roosting sites in the absence of compensation, as well as to great crested newts, habitat bird species and potentially badgers and other small mammals at the construction phase of development.

"Appropriate construction measures will be taken to ensure an impacts are managed."

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