Plans for Preston student block on notorious New Friargate Club site scaled back

The new application follows an unsuccessful one earlier this year for a building of up to seven storeys.

Now the planners have returned with a new-look scheme standing just four storeys tall and accommodating 142 students from the University of Central Lancashire instead of 152.

The previous plans were knocked back by the council because it was felt the building would have an “unacceptable overbearing impact” on surrounding properties, including nearby homes.

Developers Fort Group Ltd took the matter to appeal, but an independent inspector agreed with the city council and rejected the company’s claims saying the proposed building would be “inconguous.” Graeme Roberts ruled that although the building would be on comparable scale to others in the university campus it would “introduce a substantial structure into the modestly scaled surroundings of Maudland Bank.”

The new plans submitted show a building of just four storeys in height which the developers believe would create “little rick of overshadowing the neighbouring residential buildings.”

The New Friargate Club has stood empty since it ceased trading in 2015. It is now said to be in “an advanced state of disrepair.”

It moved to the site in the late 1980s from its original position in Friargate, opposite Roper Hall and is said to have had a “troubled history.”