Cottam Parkway on track after Lancashire approval 

Plans for a new railway station to serve Preston’s main strategic housing growth area have taken a big step forward, however, construction might not begin for up to five years. 

Lancashire County Council this week approved plans for Cottam Parkway, which will be built on a 36-acre site north-west of Preston city centre. 

Under the conditions of the approval, work must start on site within five years, two years longer than the standard timeframes usually attached to planning conditions. 

The county council needs the extra time to complete the land assembly process, possibly through the use of compulsory purchase powers. 

The thinking behind the station is to give around 12,000 homes in areas including Cottam, Lea, and Ingol, five-minute journeys into the city centre and 20 minutes to Blackpool. 

The scheme will feature a 2,292 sq ft station building, a forecourt, two platforms, a footbridge over the railway line, a 234-space park and ride facility, and associated infrastructure on land off Lea Lane and Sidgreaves Lane. 

Also contained within the proposals is a 1km road linking the station to the Preston West Distributor – which itself connects to the M55. 

Along with areas like Bartle, where housing linked to the new distributor road is in the works, Cottam is where many of the major housing projects in Preston are being delivered. 

Homes England has a 1,100-home masterplan, within which David Wilson Homes put forward a 210-home fifth phase last summer. 

Barratt, Story Homes, and Morris Homes were allocated phases one to three, with Rowland Homes acquiring the land last year to deliver the 138-home phase four. 

Countryside has consent for the sixth phase, while outside of the HE masterplan, BXB won consent in March 2021 for a mixed-use scheme including a district centre at the former Cottam Brickworks.