'Pepper affordable homes through site' - Build for 45 houses in Barton looks set to be blocked

The proposals from Wainhomes show that 16 of the houses, which would be affordable, would be boxed off into one corner of the site.

The development, planned for land off Garstang Road and south of Station Lane, already has the green light for the principle of building but details of the scheme are yet to be approved.

Planners at the city council have advised councillors to block the application given that “the proposed affordable housing would not be sufficiently dispersed across the site or integrated within the market housing”.

They added: “The proposed development would not therefore contribute to the provision of mixed communities or the minimisation of social exclusion.”

Members of Barton Parish Council had also raised concerns about the prospective housing scheme.

Responding to a consultation the council said: “Affordable housing provision should be pepper potted through the site, not grouped together in the corners of the site.

"The affordable properties are the only ones not to be afforded front gardens.

"They should be afforded the same amount of open space to the front as the detached properties, and should be designed for families.”

Planners at the city council also urged elected members of the city authority to reject the application over the positioning and layout of the plot.

They said: “The proposed development would fail to provide a good standard of amenity for future occupiers within the site and within neighbouring development.”