Restoring Preston Basin
The Restoring Preston Basin campaign proposes the restoration of the 300 feet (91 metre) long Preston Basin of the Lancaster Canal, repurposing the site of the 19th century basin as a 21st century multi-purpose amenity, recreational and biodiverse space.
In April 2024, the campaign partnered with Create Streets, a design practice, town-builder and think tank, to demonstrate what a repurposed Preston Basin could look like, complementing the indicative plans for the 'University Walk' quadrant of the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework: www.investprestoncity.com/Key-projects-strategies-and-plans/Preston-City-Centre/Preston-Station-Quarter-Project. The Create Streets proposals are displayed here:
Where is Preston Basin?
Preston Basin currently lies beneath the car park of the Aldi supermarket and the Corporation Street Retail Park at the junction of Ringway and Corporation Street, part of the framework’s University Walk district. A Google Street View of the current site can be found here: https://goo.gl/maps/DQ2nW5jHJxDfuWgz7.
A comparison of Preston Basin photographed near the end of the 19th century, to the same site in 2022. Both views look east. The latter photograph, taken in the car park of the Corporation Street Retail Park, is taken in a spot just beyond the bargee woman.
Why repurpose Preston Basin?
Waterways and green space are increasingly recognised as focal points for development, living, recreation and the environment, key to mitigating climate change and for supporting physical and mental wellbeing. Restoring Preston Basin could help create a blue-green corridor linking the University Walk district with the centre of Preston and the planned Station East and County Hill quadrants.
Repurposing a lost canal basin once key to Preston's early growth would mimic similar, recent developments across the UK and abroad, where restored waterways and blue-green infrastructure have helped deliver social, economic and environmental benefits including new public space creation, increasing the viability of adjacent sites for development and providing biodiverse habitats.
The Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework which was launched in March 2022 has outlined a number of objectives for the area, including to improve the public realm, create new open spaces, reuse heritage assets and develop a network of green infrastructure. Restoring Preston Basin could help deliver this aspiration by repurposing a 19th century basin for a 21st century multi-purpose amenity, recreational and biodiverse space.
The official indicative plans for University Walk can be viewed in the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Proposals by Quadrant to Delivering the Vision from page 67 of the PDF onwards.
Further options for restoration:
Option 1.
Preston Basin could be restored as a green, open space largely without water. The Thames Barrier Park in Silvertown, London opened in 2000 and features a sunken, waterless 'green dock' which creates its own sheltered micro-climate. The park acted as a catalyst for private sector investment and regeneration in the surrounding area.
The recently refurbished Murrays’ Mills development in Ancoats, Manchester incorporates the central canal basin which was infilled leaving only the top, coping stones visible. The basin now forms the centrepiece of a hard and soft landscaped courtyard.
For further information on these two and six other projects that have inspired the campaign, see: Similar Restoration Projects.
Above: Thames Barrier Park, London Below: Murrays' Mills preserved arch shaped courtyard basin, Manchester
Option 2.
A conventional restoration with the washwalls restored, forming a biodiverse, blue-green habitat and amenity space, components of an increasing number of canal and waterway restoration projects. The basin could form the centrepiece to the public realm improvements outlined in the framework, with a new public square flanking the restored Preston Basin with south-facing terraced seating alongside the north side of the basin, which could host outdoor events. The basin’s relatively short 300 ft (91 m) length and isolation from the main Lancaster Canal mean the basin would not be feasible for navigation.
A biodiverse, floating habitat recently transformed the Bridgewater Hall Basin in central Manchester in 2017, an isolated, 550 ft length of the Lancaster Canal in Whittle-le-Woods was restored in 1993 in shallow water as part of a nature and heritage trail while a length of restored canal helped kick-start the growing mixed use Middlewood Locks development in Salford.
For further information on these two and six other projects that have inspired the campaign, see: Similar Restoration Projects.
Above: Bridgewater Hall Basin, Manchester Below: Middlewood Locks, Salford
Option 3.
Preston Basin could provide the ‘footprint’ of a retention or detention basin used in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) to attenuate rainwater runoff while simultaneously landscaped for a blue-green biodiverse space. Mimicking natural processes and the hydrological cycle - a Nature-based Solution (NBS) - SuDs deliver multiple benefits based on four pillars, these being:
1. Water quantity - managing and attenuating rainwater runoff;
2. Water quality - preventing pollution through biodiversity;
3. Amenity - providing wider benefits such as public realm improvements and
4. Biodiversity - providing valuable urban habitats for wildlife and biodiversity.
Depending on the wider drainage requirements of the area, the site of the basin could be fully or partly adapted for use either as a retention or detention basin. A retention basin usually has a permanent pool of shallow water which rises after heavy rainfall providing temporary storage. They work in a similar manner to natural wetlands via natural processes that help remove pollutants and control water quality and water quantity. A detention basin is normally dry and will fill with water for a few hours after heavy rain or a storm, reducing peak flows and the risk of flooding. Both types of basin can be landscaped and provide multiple uses such as amenity and open spaces, improvements to the public realm and biodiverse habitats.
Retention and detention basins require earth sides and bases to function properly, therefore some of the washwall blocks forming the sides of the basin would need to be removed. Coping stones could be left in situ to mark the former basin.
SuDS are increasingly incorporated into residential, commercial and mixed use schemes throughout the UK and abroad. They are underscored in the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework Spatial Framework and Design Principles guidance on page 49 of the PDF as a response to Preston City Council declaration of a climate emergency in April 2019. See the links in 'Useful links' below for more information on SuDS.
For further information on this project and seven other projects that have inspired the campaign, see: Similar Restoration Projects.
Above: Tanner Springs Park, Portland, Oregon Below: How Tanner Springs Park acts as a Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS).
What remains of Preston Basin today?
Most of Preston Basin lies beneath the car park of the Corporation Street Retail Park which includes an Aldi supermarket on the corner of Corporation Street and Ringway (see comparative images and maps above). The basin was filled in from the late 1930s for railway sidings serving coal yards and a car showroom for Barton Townley which straddled the site of the former basin. The car showroom was last used by Dutton-Forshaw which itself was demolished in the late 1980s for the construction of the Corporation Street Retail Park, part of the A59 Ringway Penwortham Bypass works. Where the stone canal walls have not been disturbed by foundation works of subsequent building works, they are likely to be lying largely intact a few feet beneath the ground buried in situ. See also History of Preston Basin, Gallery and Lancaster Canal and Tramroad today.
How would restoring Preston Basin affect the developments outlined in the framework?
The Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework was launched in March 2022 by Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council and the University of Central Lancashire. The framework envisages four districts or quadrants centred on Preston railway station, these are: Station Quarter East, Station Quarter West, County Hill and University Walk. The site of Preston Basin lies within the University Walk quadrant. The Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Proposals by Quadrant to Delivering the Vision outlines the conceptual vision for the University Walk quadrant from page 67 of the PDF.
To mitigate indicative development proposed in the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework on the site of Preston Basin, neighbouring sites could be increased in density and cantilevered development and buildings bridging the canal could be considered too - the original basin featured warehouses at the eastern end bridging the canal to allow barges to load and unload goods directly above them (see also History of Preston Basin and Gallery).
Adjacent to the site of Preston Basin, the 'Proposed green infrastructure network' found on page 48 of the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Spatial Framework and Design Principles (see plan left/above) show two open, green spaces immediately north of the site of Preston Basin, including one positioned around a new public square forming a quadrangle. These two open spaces could be repositioned and reconfigured to the site of Preston Basin to minimise loss to any potential development proposed here.
The Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Spatial Framework and Design Principles document on page 46 highlights the areas immediately north of Preston Basin and Heatley Place to the south west with the potential for height increases, see the 'Guidance on Building Heights' plan left/above.
To the south-west, the proposed triangular ‘Heatley Place’ site bordered by Ringway, Corporation Street, Falkland Street and the West Coast Mainline railway is ideally suited for denser and taller buildings given that they would not overshadow any immediate neighbours, and act as ‘gateway’ buildings by the approach to Preston railway station and along Ringway.
The Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Proposals by Quadrant to Delivering the Vision document states on page 67 the framework is 'an illustrative vision of how the redevelopment of University Walk could be realised.'
It includes a number of Development Objectives which include: '3. Improvements to the public realm of Corporation Street to create an attractive setting.' and '4. Improvements to the wider public realm including enhanced pedestrian priority and new open spaces to create a campus environment.'
The Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Spatial Framework and Design Principles details new and improved public spaces on page 45 and a network of Green Infrastructure on page 48 (see plan left/above), whereby 'New public and private open spaces provide opportunities for larger concentrations of green infrastructure forming nodal points between green corridors.'
Restoring Preston Basin could help achieve this, particularly by forming a node between the proposed tree-lined corridors created along Corporation Street and the new pedestrian and cycle path between Ringway, Corporation Street and South Ribble via Preston railway station and Avenham and Miller Parks.
The indicative proposals will likely take many years to be realised. This provides sufficient opportunity to consider the restoration of the Preston Basin and at the very least, safeguard its alignment within the development site.
The Restoring Preston Basin campaign also recognises the current University of Central Lancashire Masterplan Framework which was released on 19 November 2015 (see plan left/above). While the site of Preston Basin does not lie directly in the masterplan's boundaries, its location between UCLan and the centre of Preston means its restoration could complement some of the objectives of the university's masterplan framework, including to 'Reinforce connections with the city centre to encourage wider regeneration opportunities' and to 'Improve and extend the public realm to support campus activities and reinforce connectivity and legibility of pedestrian and cycle routes' (page 5).
Within the university masterplan, the alignment of the former Lancaster Canal is envisaged to be repurposed in two locations, as a linear park between Fylde Road and Maudland Road along with a section of former Preston and Longridge Railway, and Wharf Square, a green space planned for the site of the current Wharf Building north of Marsh Lane.
How would Preston Basin improve access and movement?
The site of Preston Basin is a short distance from Fishergate and Preston railway station via Corporation Street and Charnley Street and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) campus. Restoring the basin as an attractive amenity space would help encourage walking and cycling, improving the permeability of the site particularly between Fishergate and the centre of Preston, and the UCLan campus.
Preston Basin is located by existing, under-construction and planned active travel links - cycle paths and walking routes - outlined in the framework. These include east along Ringway and Friargate, and southwards to South Ribble via Butler Street and Preston railway station and Avenham and Miller Parks, outlined in the Transport, Movement and Connectivity section of the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Spatial Framework and Design Principles from page 50 of the PDF.
How would restoring Preston Basin contribute to the framework's sustainability objectives?
The Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework - Spatial Framework and Design Principles document outlines a number of sustainability objectives and aspirations on page 49 of the PDF. Restoring Preston Basin could help achieve the following sustainability objectives and aspirations:
‘Adaptive Re-use
Development proposals must consider the retention and reuse of existing buildings that could make a positive contribution to the regeneration of the area, prioritising the sensitive retrofitting and reuse of heritage assets.
Ecology
Opportunities to support ecology and improve the natural environment through biodiversity net-gain include the incorporation of features that are beneficial to wildlife such as bat roosts or bird boxes to green and blue infrastructure from green walls and roofs to new open spaces. Existing trees should be retained wherever possible and the area enhanced with new tree planting.
Water
New developments are encouraged to deploy sustainable drainage systems for surface water. Innovative ways to manage rainwater within an urban environment include swales, green roofs and permeable surfaces.
Health and Well-being
New development should support healthy lives and the formation of sustainable habits beginning with the internal design and siting of individual buildings through to the overall pattern of development, including easy access to open green space, places that encourage active play and social interaction and good access to local services and facilities, all of which should be accessible by walking, cycling and public transport.’
Could Preston Basin be linked to the Lancaster Canal?
This scheme does not propose the restoration of the Lancaster Canal’s ‘lost mile’ from its current terminus at Ashton Basin and Aqueduct Street to Preston Basin. This alignment falls outside of the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework and certain sections have been built on since the canal’s closure and infilling. To the north of the former basin, the alignment of the Lancaster Canal has been built over by two wings and an annex building of Brunel Court (formerly Ladywell House) on Ladywell Street, and car parking for the Preston International Hotel on Marsh Lane.
However, the restoration of the relatively short Preston Basin could help spur interest to restore further sections of the Lancaster Canal’s ‘lost mile’ incrementally. For a present-day route description, see the Lancaster Canal & Tramroad today.
Further sites along the alignment of the canal will likely be redeveloped in the long-term future, and sections of restored canal or safeguarded canal alignment could become integral to each redevelopment site. In the interim, it could be possible to create a foot and cycle way from Preston Basin to the current terminus at Aqueduct Street and Ashton Basin via improved signage and wayfinding.
How much would the restoration of Preston Basin cost?
At present the campaign is non-technical in nature and the costs of each option is unknown. It is hoped that as the campaign progresses more technical plans for the restoration could be created including the estimated costs. See also About & Contact.
How large was Preston Basin?
The basin was 300 ft (91.4 m) in length and approximately 60 ft (18.3 m) wide leaving the Lancaster Canal at an almost perpendicular angle in an easterly direction. The campaign proposes its restoration along with its junction with a short section of the Lancaster Canal northwards, approximately 161 ft (49 m) in length and 50 ft (15.2 m) wide. The campaign does not propose the reconstruction of the three canal warehouses that stood at the head of the basin or the short section of canal that was straddled by the central canal warehouse.
What role did Preston Basin play in Preston’s development?
The opening of Preston Basin, and the meeting of the Lancaster Canal and its tramroad at the basin was critical for Preston’s rapid development and population growth from the early 1800s, reshaping the town which had previously been confined to a street pattern dating back to the medieval period. Preston Basin, together with the Lancaster Canal and the tramroad, was the key driver behind the formation of an artery of mills, factories, foundries, and communities adjacent to the canal and basin. In the first half of the 1800s, an adjacent Packet House covering a smaller basin was the embarkation point for packet boat passengers, considered the premier mode of transport between Preston, Lancaster and Kendal at the time.
Restoring and repurposing the lost basin for contemporary uses, Preston Basin could play a key role in promoting Preston’s heritage, helping to tell the stories of Prestonians and Lancastrians who worked on and depended upon the basin, canal and tramroad. For a more detailed history of Preston Basin, and the Lancaster Canal and tramroad here please see History of Preston Basin, Gallery and the Lancaster Canal & Tramroad today.
Who supports the Restoring Preston Basin campaign?
The campaign is supported by the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) and the Canal & River Trust. For further information, please see Supporters under About & Contact.
Who are Create Streets?
Create Streets is a design practice, town-builder and think tank. Established in 2012, Create Streets lead research, master-planning, design coding and community co-design to help develop and steward beautiful, sustainable and popular ‘gentle density’ places. Find out more about their work, projects and research at: www.createstreets.com, www.facebook.com/createstreets, https://x.com/createstreets, and www.instagram.com/createstreets.
How can I contact and where can I find out more about the Restoring Preston Basin campaign?
Please see About & Contact.
Useful links:
History of Preston Basin:
For a historic overview of Preston Basin, the Lancaster Canal and the adjoining tramroad, please see History of Preston Basin, Gallery and Lancaster Canal and Tramroad today.
Compare historic maps of the area with present day satellite imagery:
OS 25 inch to 1 mile scale, published in 1912: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=53.75991&lon=-2.70776&layers=168&b=1
Use the blue circle transparency function to overlay present day satellite imagery over the site or Side by Side function.
Alternatively an earlier OS map at a larger 1:1,056 scale, published in 1849: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.3&lat=53.75958&lon=-2.70738&layers=117746212&b=1
The benefits of canals and waterways, produced by the Canal & River Trust:
Happiness available on your doorstep:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/happiness-available-on-your-doorstep
Nine ways canals can fight climate change:
The value of having a view to a canal, published by the LSE Business Review:
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2019/04/09/the-value-of-having-a-view-to-a-canal/
'Waterways for Today: Explore the Benefits of the Waterways', produced by the Inland Waterways Association:
Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS):
Ever wondered where the rain goes? Sustainable drainage animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMq6FYiF1mo
www.susdrain.org/delivering-suds/using-suds/background/sustainable-drainage.html
https://content.tfl.gov.uk/sustainable-urban-drainage-november-2016.pdf
https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/media/5457/suds-design-and-adoption-guide.pdf
Planning policy, documents and frameworks relevant to the site of Preston Basin and its possible restoration:
The site of Preston Basin is covered or influenced by five principal planning documents, these are:
‘Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework’ adopted in August 2022: https://investprestoncity.uk/article/3616/Preston-Station-Quarter-Project
‘Preston City Centre Plan: An Area Action Plan to 2026’ adopted in June 2016: https://www.preston.gov.uk/article/1195/Preston-City-Centre-Plan
‘Preston Local Plan 2012-26’ adopted on 2 July 2015: https://www.preston.gov.uk/article/1050/Preston-s-Local-Plan
‘Central Lancashire Adopted Core Strategy Local Development Framework’ adopted in July 2012: https://centrallocalplan.lancashire.gov.uk/documents/
'University of Central Lancashire Masterplan Framework' dated 19 November 2015: https://uclanmasterplan.co.uk/wp_content/uploads/2017/04/uclan_masterplan_report_web.pdf or https://uclanmasterplan.co.uk/
All five documents cover a wide range of development and planning issues and cross-cutting themes. The following sections should be read in the context of the restoration of Preston Basin:
From page 49: ‘Sustainability’ including sections on Adaptive Re-use, Ecology, Transport, Water, Health & Well-being:
From page 66: ‘University Walk’ and from page 86: ‘Intended Outcomes’
From page 19: ‘Harnessing the Value of Heritage’ and from page 50, ‘Creating a Sense of Place’: https://www.preston.gov.uk/media/978/An-area-action-plan-to-2026-part-1/pdf/Adopted-Preston-City-Centre-Plan-June-2016-Part1.pdf
From page 91: ‘Corporation Street Opportunity Area’:
From page 104: ‘The Historic Environment’:
https://www.preston.gov.uk/media/1952/Preston-s-Local-Plan/pdf/Preston-Local-Plan-2012-2026-_(8).pdf
From page 102: ‘Policy 16: Heritage Assets’:
The 'National Planning Policy Framework' adopted July 2021:
The current National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was released in July 2021, replacing an earlier version published in February 2019. The framework establishes ‘the Government's planning policies for England and how these should be applied. It provides a framework within which locally-prepared plans for housing and other development can be produced.’ The framework can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework--2
Particularly relevant to the possible restoration of Preston Basin are the following sections:
130. Planning policies and decisions should ensure that developments:
c) are sympathetic to local character and history, including the surrounding built environment and landscape setting, while not preventing or discouraging appropriate innovation or change (such as increased densities);
Section 14: 14. Meeting the challenge of climate change, flooding and coastal change. Planning for climate change
153. Plans should take a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change, taking into account the long-term implications for flood risk, coastal change, water supply, biodiversity and landscapes, and the risk of overheating from rising temperatures
169. Major developments should incorporate sustainable drainage systems unless there is clear evidence that this would be inappropriate. The systems used should:
a) take account of advice from the lead local flood authority;
b) have appropriate proposed minimum operational standards;
c) have maintenance arrangements in place to ensure an acceptable standard of operation for the lifetime of the development; and
d) where possible, provide multifunctional benefits.
15. Conserving and enhancing the natural environment
179. To protect and enhance biodiversity and geodiversity, plans should:
b) promote the conservation, restoration and enhancement of priority habitats, ecological networks and the protection and recovery of priority species; and identify and pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gains for biodiversity.
16. Conserving and enhancing the historic environment
190. Plans should set out a positive strategy for the conservation and enjoyment of the historic environment, including heritage assets most at risk through neglect, decay or other threats. This strategy should take into account:
a) the desirability of sustaining and enhancing the significance of heritage assets, and putting them to viable uses consistent with their conservation;
b) the wider social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits that conservation of the historic environment can bring;
c) the desirability of new development making a positive contribution to local character and distinctiveness; and
d) opportunities to draw on the contribution made by the historic environment to the character of a place.
192. Local planning authorities should maintain or have access to a historic environment record. This should contain up-to-date evidence about the historic environment in their area and be used to:
a) assess the significance of heritage assets and the contribution they make to their environment; and
b) predict the likelihood that currently unidentified heritage assets, particularly sites of historic and archaeological interest, will be discovered in the future.
Preston City Council Climate Change Action:
https://www.preston.gov.uk/climatechange
Lancashire County Council climate change strategy: