Modern new home for more than 100 Preston Bus vehicles is given the green light

Members of Preston City Council’s planning committee have given the go-ahead to the redevelopment of the travel firm’s Deepdale Road depot, which will continue to house and maintain its 120-strong fleet.

A cluster of what councillors were told were ageing and crumbling industrial workshops, of various different designs, will be demolished to make way for a single new building - which city planning officers concluded will improve the appearance of the site.

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The imposing Victorian building at the front of the plot, fronting onto Deepdale Road itself, will be retained, but will no longer host the Preston Bus offices, which will be incorporated into the new development.

The company said that its current office facilities were “expensive to heat and not considered sustainable”. The future use of what the firm describes as the “ornate” building will be decided at a later date as part of a separate planning application.

Planning committee member Jennifer Mein said she would welcome seeing that property “sprucing up” - although she was advised by officers that no condition requiring such work to be carried out could be attached to the permission for the new depot.

“It is a beautiful frontage…[and] I’m hoping that whilst they are constructing this new building, they might pay attention to that as well,” she said.

Preston Bus says that up to 28 new jobs could be created as a result of the redevelopment and Cllr Mein praised the firm for agreeing to contribute towards the monitoring of an employment and skills plan, which is in the process of being drawn up, as required as part of the planning approval.

The new building will be of a “utilitarian” design, but the planning application states that “care has been taken to ensure [it] sits [well] within its location and appears attractive”. To that end, the lower portion of the facility will be brick built, with “modern and attractive” upper cladding.

Councillors were also told that nearby residential properties would not experience any more noise from the operation of the depot than they currently do.

There will be space for 128 buses within the new development and 79 car parking spaces. The existing access point from Deepdale Road will remain, but will be reconfigured to include a pedestrian "refuge", while a one-way system will operate within the main part of the site.

Planning committee member - and the city council’s cabinet member for planning and regulation - David Borrow said that the site had been “in need of redevelopment” for some time and he welcomed the fact that Preston Bus had opted to remain at the location rather than move elsewhere in the city.