College sports hall in Preston to make way for flats

Plans to replace a disused college sports hall with a block of apartments will go before a virtual council meeting tomorrow, 16 years after the idea was first suggested.
The former Newman College sports hall has been unused for more than a decade.The former Newman College sports hall has been unused for more than a decade.
The former Newman College sports hall has been unused for more than a decade.

The on-off scheme to demolish the former Cardinal Newman gym in Garden Street, Preston and build flats has been recommended for approval by planning officers, despite more than 40 objections from locals.

The revised development, applied for by Mustak Bhailok of Northern Estates, will see the 40-year-old old sports hall flattened and a 47 apartment block up to seven storeys high built in its place.

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Previous schemes for the site dating back to 2004 have been for between 30 and 65 flats, up to nine storeys tall.

In a report to the planning committee, which meets online on tomorrow, the sports hall, which has been empty for more than a decade, is described as a “a bland windowless and featureless building that possesses no architectural interest and makes no positive contribution” to the Winckley Square Conservation Area.

“The removal of the sports hall will in itself have a positive impact, given the current building’s lack of character and uncompromising appearance.”

Letters of objections from 41 people cite traffic and parking issues, the building’s height and scale and claim it

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will have an overbearing impact and will not be in keeping with the character of the Conservation Area.

The plan is the latest in a long list of applications to create apartments under the council’s City Living project, designed to attract more people to live in the centre of

Preston.

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