AN APPLICATION to build 18 new homes on the eastern edge of Barrow has been submitted to the borough council.

The project would feature a mixture of three- to five-bedroom properties and a 'minimum' of 48 parking spaces.

The properties would be constructed on land off Leece Lane, around 150m west of its junction with Holbeck Park Avenue. Two would be classified as affordable.

The Mail: The proposed layoutThe proposed layout (Image: Barrow council planning portal)

"The land at present is vacant, open fields," says a design and access statement submitted in support of the application.

"Care [has been] taken over existing features such as the difference in levels, the hedgerows, and the surrounding nearby properties etc.

"However, based upon the principle already around the site, it would be at a density similar to that already surrounding the site, which is well established."

The statement says the development delivers 'design quality' and 'adopts design cues and materials appropriate to the area'.

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The 6,300 sq metre plot is located between two existing properties – a bungalow to the east, and a house to the west. 

The development would primarily comprise 2.5-storey properties. 

The design and access statement says all the properties would benefit from on-site parking.

It says vehicle parking would be provided courtesy of 'integral garaging, detached garages, attached garages or parking spaces'.

"The entrance to the site will be principally off the newly formed roadway and footpath junction that joins Leece Lane, and will therefore be off an adopted road, and will have some highway improvements incorporated into the scheme by extending the existing footpath to connect to the new site entrance," it says. 

The statement says the application, submitted by Mulberry Homes Ltd, would provide 'much-needed housing for local families' and 'growth for the community'.

"The site is readily available and would sit seamlessly into the surrounding area and would merely become an extension of what is already there," it says.

"The presumption of the National Planning Policy Framework is in favour of sustainable development, which should be seen as a shining light when running through plan-making and decision-taking."