New pictures reveal artist's impressions for Botany Bay canal mill

This is how the developers behind Botany Bay's ambitious makeover plans envisage it will look once completed.
New pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal millNew pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal mill
New pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal mill

The canal side mill in Chorley, just off the M61 motorway at junction eight, will get a dramatic facelift if proposals for the site are given the green light.

Developers hope to bring a brand new luxury shopping village showcasing leading fashion brands to a plot by the mill.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Planning consultants hope the site will become a Lancashire version of the Bicester Village outlet mall in Oxfordshire, which has become the second most visited location in the UK by Chinese tourists, after Buckingham Palace, attracting 6.3m shoppers a year.

New pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal millNew pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal mill
New pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal mill

Now landowners FI Real Estate Management have released new artist’s impressions of what Botany Bay and the adjacent shopping village could look like is plans are approved.

They also confirmed that they were looking to submit their proposals to town planners at Chorley Council in the coming months.

A spokesman said: “We are making good progress at the final detail stage with planners and consultees.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’re looking to present our plans to committee in the next few months.”

New pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal millNew pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal mill
New pictures reveal designs for Botany Bay canal mill

Plans for the scheme include pockets of land to be used for housing, leisure and an employment park.

It means that 19th-century Botany Bay mill, which will be retained in the development, will get a makeover as part of the wider development project.

Initial plans, announced in last summer, suggest that part of the residential site in Great Knowley owned by Drinkwater and Williamson will hold up to 100 homes with another residential plot owned by Landowners FI Real Estate Management bringing up to 188 homes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Homes covering 11.9 hectares would include a mix of detached, semi-detached, mews and apartments with between two and five bedrooms.

Meanwhile the 6.8-hectare parcel of land in Gale Moss will be used as an employment area, namely for industry, storage and distribution companies.

The area where Botany Bay stands, and land to the east side of the canal, has long been earmarked for development under the Chorley Local Plan.

The Botany Bay roundabout will be the main access route to the development with another access junction to the residential area.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Meanwhile the 8.7-hectare luxury shopping village would have about 70 units centred around a pedestrian street with a backdrop of cafes and restaurants making the most of the canal setting.

At a consultation on the plans last year those in support of the plans told the Guardian the land needed to be put to good use as long as the inevitable increase in traffic was managed well.

But critics raised doubts over whether Chorley could attract such high-end tenants.

Traders in the centre of Chorley, on the other side of the motorway, expressed support for the development overall but were wary of it diverting trade from shops in the centre.

Botany Bay lies between the A59 and M62, the key arteries of England’s Northern Powerhouse.

Related topics: