Preston bedsit plan blocked

Wednesday, 13 August 2025 13:39

By Paul Faulkner

Plans to turn a vacant office building in Preston city centre into dozens of bedsits have been blocked – amid fears the location would prove too noisy for future residents.

Preston City Council has rejected a proposal to convert the property, on Church Street, into a 30-bed house in multiple occupation (HMO).

The blueprint would have seen the two-storey premises – known as Premier House – repurposed to provide the new accommodation, along with what was described as a “high end” cafe-cum-resturant. A single office unit was also to have been retained.

The eatery is classed as ‘permitted development’, meaning planning approval is not required – and so that element of the scheme could be implemented in isolation, in spite of the HMO itself being refused.

The application – by Castle Homes Estates – stated that the building had been left disused after a “reluctant and slow” return to office working after Covid restrictions were lifted.

While town hall planners accepted that the city centre site was a “sustainable” one for the proposed single-room residential accommodation – in terms of transport links and amenities – they concluded its central location was also the reason why the development could not be allowed to go ahead.

It was noted that the area was subject to “significant noise and disturbance in the evenings and into the early hours”, which it was assessed would have “an unacceptable adverse impact” upon those who would be living in the converted building.

A report explaining the refusal of the application cited “associated noise emanating from either neighbouring commercial properties, such as public houses, restaurants and takeaways – with late-night opening hours – together with noise emanating from movements of the general public”.

It added that the movement of residents within the building itself – in view of their number – could mean that the occupants also disturbed each other.