Railway site earmarked for 100 homes put up for sale in Bamber Bridge

Network Rail are looking to dispose of almost two hectares of derelict land in Brownedge Road, next to the Bamber Bridge FC stadium.

The land, which has been used for the repair and storage of trains, is on South Ribble Borough Council's Local Plan for up to 100 houses, although no current planning application has been made.

Development land

Agent Avison Young have not specifed a price for the site, but state it is: "an excellent opportunity to acquire development land in a highly accessible location in a sought after housing market location".

They add: "The site is owned freehold by Network Rail who have concluded it is surplus to their requirements and is therefore being offered to the market for sale by informal tender. The site is well suited to residential development, and, along with the smaller adjacent site situated to the west, is allocated in South Ribble's Local Plan for housing development."

Unused for 30 years

Network Rail announced its intention to dispose the land in documentation in October 2018, stating: "For the last 30 years the site has been unused for railway related use and is heavily overgrown with vegetation and tree cover.

"Part of the site was recently used on a temporary basis by the neighbouring landowner for the storage of reclaimed timber. This use has now ceased."

Road access

Although no plans are in place for housing, the same 2018 document states: "it is expected that the site will be accessed directly from Brownedge Road using the existing vehicular access. This will be subject to a highways assessment and full planning permission."

It adds: "The development will be of benefit to the local environment, community and economy. Temporary construction jobs will be created during the building works and there will be benefit to the local supply chain for materials needed to construct the houses.

"Environmental improvements will result from the development of this under-utilised area of land. The site itself is currently overgrown so development will improve the visual amenity of the local area. Network Rail currently has a target to bring forward unused and underutilised sites for residential development and this disposal will contribute towards the company target."

Network rail say there will be no direct rail benefits created by the disposal of the land, but disposal proceeds would be invested in the operational railway.