Brakes on new Darwen housing estate (From Lancashire Telegraph)

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Brakes on new Darwen housing estate

9:34am Friday 4th July 2008

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By Nafeesa Shan »

BUILDING work on a 135-home housing development has ‘slowed down’ while bosses ‘assess the market’.

Liverpool-based McInerney Homes started construction on its Belgrave Mill development off Bolton Road, Darwen, in September 2006.

So far, 44 of the 135 homes set to be built on the site have been completed.

Bosses said they expected all the building work to be completed by 2009 and that they were ‘confident’ in the site.

Stephen Grant, sales director for McInerney Homes North West, said: “Last week we had three sales which was fantastic.

“Understandably the building work has slowed down as we assess the market.

“We are confident in the site and know it is going ahead.

"All the ground work has been has been completed.

"We will be putting the builders back in and we have moved a new sales office on to the site.”

McInerney was given planning permission for 79 two-bedroom apartments and 56 three-bedroom family homes.

They are being built on the site of the former Crown Wallcoverings factory, demolished in 2006 along with the landmark 200ft chimney.

The first show home was opened in October 2006 at a special ceremony with the mayor.

At present there are 19 of the homes up for sale, with prices ranging from £130,000 to £176,000.

The firm has launched a new marketing campaign which promotes the homes as ‘ideal pads for lads and girls’.

McInerney is offering a ‘lads’ pad’ with an LCD TV, games console, stereo, DVD player and Espresso machine.

And there’s a ‘girls’ pad’ which includes a karaoke machine, hair straighteners, foot spa, stereo and pink kitchen pack.

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Ex-Darrener, Lancashire says...
10:12am Fri 4 Jul 08

I am proud of my roots but is this really the way to attract people into Darwen? Besides the fact that differentiating between 'lads' and 'girls' by offering stereotypical gadgets is so sexist in this supposedly more enlightened age, why would either category choose to live at Belgrave unless they are from Darwen originally? No incomers are going to be bothered when they realise Manchester is reached either by a largely single-track unreliable rail 'service' or a rambling, dangerous road over the moors and through busy Bolton. Developers should be made to build some family homes to replace those knocked down at Redearth, not the 'pads' which are purely intended to make maximum profit for them because they can pack so many into a small space.

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Merlin The Voice of Reason, Ramsbottom says...
10:51am Fri 4 Jul 08

Ex-Darrener wrote:
I am proud of my roots but is this really the way to attract people into Darwen? Besides the fact that differentiating between 'lads' and 'girls' by offering stereotypical gadgets is so sexist in this supposedly more enlightened age, why would either category choose to live at Belgrave unless they are from Darwen originally? No incomers are going to be bothered when they realise Manchester is reached either by a largely single-track unreliable rail 'service' or a rambling, dangerous road over the moors and through busy Bolton. Developers should be made to build some family homes to replace those knocked down at Redearth, not the 'pads' which are purely intended to make maximum profit for them because they can pack so many into a small space.

This is an incredibly ill-thought-out response for the following reasons.

Firstly, the development is a mix of "pads", for singles wanting to buy something contemporary and stylish, and family homes and therefore has across the board appeal. This mix of properties is extremely common.

Secondly, there is a huge assumption made that all prospective purchasers of these properties will be working in Manchester. Yes, many people do commute into Manchester and indeed the rail service leavs much to be desired, but people do work elsewhere, Blackburn, Preston, Bolton, Chorley, Bury and the surrounding towns. I dare say that some indeed may actually work in Darwen itself.

Darwen needs to clear out as much of the poor run-down housing stock as it can (like the houses on Queen Street which have been boarded up), and make way for more modern housing to complement the higher quality terraced houses and bigger properties.

I welcome this development as it will bring in people with a few more quid in their pockets to spend locally. The prices by the way are very reasonable.

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MartonBlue, Darwen says...
12:01pm Fri 4 Jul 08

The problem with this development, is the price of the properties available, with the way the fuel prices and fares for public transport are going, people who do work in other places are going to cut down the distance between work & home. Afterall Darwen was attractive because of it's low prices, to the like of people who work in places like Manchester & Bolton to name a couple of places, but as I've said, with transport costs & the problems getting a mortgage, the market in reducing to the people who live in the Darwen area, & how many of the young people of Darwen are going to be able to afford these prices. People want a home not an expensive pad?
It may be a while before these homes are built & filled. People now need affordable homes not luxury pads?

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