The city council approved plans to extend and amend the planning permission for the former Victorian asylum site in early February. This has enabled the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA), which owns the site, to get government funding to start demolition works.
There has been a 15-year planning battle over the redevelopment of the 147-acre site. In total, 650 new homes will be built in four phases over the next 10 to 12 years. Taylor Wimpey is expected to begin construction of the first phase of 150 homes later this year.
The HCA is investing £4.2m of public land infrastructure funding to clear most of the old hospital buildings to make way for new housing to go up. The HCA plans to retain only the listed church on the site, the sports club facilities and five standalone character buildings known as the ‘villas’.
Whittingham Hospital is one of 11 HCA sites that will contribute to the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal agreed with the government last year. The initiative plans to build more than 17,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
HCA head for Lancashire and Cumbria, Marie Hodgson, said: “We’re using significant government funding to unlock the hospital site, which will lead to hundreds of new homes being developed in the next few years. The redevelopment of the site will contribute towards the wider housing and economic goals of the City Deal through the delivery of crucial infrastructure that will benefit residents and workers and support the growth of the Preston local economy.”
The HCA acquired Whittingham Hospital from the NHS in 2005. At its peak, the hospital was one of the biggest asylums in the country, housing around 3,500 psychiatric patients.
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