Affordable housing estate coming to part of Preston set for £20m transformation
A former foodbank in Preston, which was once a district housing office, is set to become a mini-estate of affordable homes.
Social housing provider Community Gateway Association (CGA) has been given the green light to flatten its one-time base on Langden Drive in Moor Nook and replace it with half a dozen new dwellings.
The single-storey facility – which most recently operated as the Purple Pantry, providing food for struggling households – will be levelled to make way for two rows of two-bedroomed terraces.
The site lies within a part of the city that will receive £20m over the next decade under the government’s Pride In Place fund.
The money can be used for community-led projects such as reviving high streets, restoring parks and breathing new life into pubs, leisure centres and community halls.
The areas were identified, in part, by how they scored on the Community Needs Index (CNI), which aims to delve deeper into a place’s problems than traditional measures of deprivation alone.
Preston City Council planners gave the green light to the redevelopment of the CGA plot after concluding that the new-builds would not have “any unacceptable adverse impacts” on the surrounding area.
In its blueprint for the redundant site, CGA had said the housing scheme – which will feature off-street parking – was ”a great opportunity to enhance and improve this area of Preston”.