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West Lancashire District Council

Residential Development Policy Update

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  

Last updated: 9/8/2008

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West Lancashire District Council, 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk, West Lancashire L39 2DF
Tel: 01695 577177 | Email: customer.services@westlancsdc.gov.uk