Residential development policy in West Lancashire
Latest news: new policy guidance note now
available
In June 2008, we published an interim housing policy
guidance note, setting out how Policy DE1 (often referred to
as 'the moratorium') will be treated in the light of the new
regional and national policy.
· View or
download the Interim Housing Policy note
Background to West Lancashire housing
policy
From 2002 until now, West Lancashire District Council has had a
very restrictive residential development policy in place. It was
first introduced as Supplementary Planning Guidance, and now forms
Policy DE1 of the West Lancashire
Replacement
Local Plan.
The reason for the restrictions was the fact that a significant
proportion of our housing targets (set in Regional Planning
Guidance for the North West 2003 and the Joint Lancashire Structure
Plan) had been developed or had received planning permission
relatively early in the Structure Plan period. Also, at a Regional
level, the policy approach was to constrain development in certain
areas in order to "kick start" redevelopment in other areas where
the housing market had collapsed, e.g. inner city areas.
More recently, national and regional policy has been issued setting
out a new approach to housing provision, and which will result in
higher housing targets for the district. A new regional plan -
the Regional
Spatial Strategy for the North West, or RSS - is nearing
completion. Once adopted, this revised RSS will set the new housing
requirements for West Lancashire.
Current position
We have prepared an interim policy guidance note setting out how
our residential development policy works in the light of the
changes at regional and national level. This note was
approved by Members and published in June 2008.
· View or download
the Interim Housing Policy note
We are also preparing a statement of housing land supply as
at 1 April 2008. This will be shortly be posted on the
website.
· View more information about housing land
supply
What happens next?
We are currently preparing our Local Development
Framework (LDF). As we work on our Core Strategy and Site
Allocations documents, we will take full account of new and
emerging national and regional policy, and will consult on options
for future residential development policy in West Lancashire.
The Council is currently carrying out a joint study (with Sefton,
Knowsley and Halton Borough Councils) as part of the background
work for our LDF. The study will look to identify how much
housing land is available or suitable for housing in the future. To
find out more, please visit our Strategic Housing Land Availability
Assessment web page.
Contact us
For more information on the above, please contact:
Ian Gill, LDF Project Manager
Tel: 01695 585 192
Stephen Benge, Principal Planning Officer
Tel: 01695 585 274
Email address: ldf@westlancsdc.gov.uk