Unpicking the Central Lancashire Local Plan that will see 25,000 new homes built
PLUS: More information demanded on windfarm plans and Convention of the North comes to Preston
Hello and welcome to the midweek edition of The Lancashire Lead.
Today we report, in-depth, on plans for 25,000 new homes spread across Preston, South Ribble and Chorley.
The plan sees three local authorities work together to deliver a target in the way they deem makes sense to them, but could feasibly offer a preview of how devolution and local government organisation could come out of the wash next year.
Consultation on the plans begins this week so be sure to have your say if you have views on where the houses will be built.
Later this week, journalists from The Lancashire Lead and our other titles will be at Convention of the North at the University of Central Lancashire.
Big name politicians will be at the event - which is invite-only - and we expect there will be plenty to report on for Sunday’s edition.
Unpicking the Central Lancashire Local Plan that will see 25,000 new homes built in Preston, South Ribble and Chorley
By Jamie Lopez
More than 25,000 homes are to be built across Preston, South Ribble and Chorley under the latest plan for the Central Lancashire area.
By law, councils are required to publish a Local Plan outlining how many homes must be built over a period of at least 15 years and where this should and shouldn’t take place. In efforts to share resources and responsibility - and a sign of what could be to come post-devolution - the trio of local authorities have worked together to create a single, combined plan.
It is now consulting on those proposals, which cover until 2041, ahead of a submission this summer to an independent planning inspector for assessment and approval.
Local Plans are critical as they effectively establish the principle of housing in various locations, while protecting others from unwelcome development if the councils can prove it already has adequate space allocated.
In addition to existing development plans - the North West Preston and Bartle Strategic Location and the much contested Pickerings Farm in Penwortham - the draft Central Lancashire Local Plan identifies Fulwood Barracks and ‘Preston West’ as key strategic sites.
The Barracks are expected to be disposed of by the MoD by 2028 and will be converted into residential use with additional housing built on the surrounding land to create more than 300 homes.
Meanwhile, Preston West includes an area either side of the railway line on which the new Cottam Parkway railway station is due to be built, around Lea Road, and is earmarked for both housing and employment space. Around 450 homes are proposed within the 2041 timeline covered by the plan but could eventually include another 1,400.
In terms of the strategic sites already earmarked, the North West Preston and Bartle area - incorporating part of Cottam, along with Higher and Lower Bartle and Lightfoot Green - has been under development since the 2010s and around half of the total 5,300 homes are already complete, with another 2,767 earmarked within this plan.
Pickering’s Farm remains a source of huge contention in Penwortham, with South Ribble Borough Council having twice rejected planning applications to develop the land for more than 1,000 homes amid strong, local opposition to the plan.
The initial prospect of development was brought forward under South Ribble’s previous Conservative administration and the refusals by the Labour-led council were overturned by the Tory government last year.
With development now seemingly inevitable, Pickering’s Farm is set to be included on the next Local Plan with an estimated 1,350 homes incoming.
Despite the headline figures associated with the document - and any Local Plan - council bosses insist the area will not be overdeveloped.
In a joint foreword to the document, Preston City Council’s cabinet member for planning, Amber Afzal, South Ribble’s portfolio holder for planning, Ian Watkinson, and Chorley Council leader Alistair Bradley say that the blueprint will “enable sustainable growth in Central Lancashire, generating the jobs and homes we need to support our economy and communities, whilst also ensuring we protect and enhance our unique local characteristics and the natural environment”.
They continue: “[It] will encourage sustainable, managed growth, whilst protecting and enhancing our green spaces and access to open countryside, enhancing Central Lancashire’s character as a place with ‘room to breathe’.”
The document has been in the works for six years but the timing of the agreement is crucial as it means Preston, South Ribble and Chorley are now exempt from the higher housing tallies for local authority areas that ministers laid out earlier this year.
In the small print of its planning reforms to boost the supply of new homes nationwide, the government said places about to reach the point in the local plan development process that Central Lancashire has now arrived at would be held only to deliver 80 percent of the newly-set minimum annual housing totals for their area.
The full increase would have resulted in Preston’s previous minimum new housing target more than doubling each year and South Ribble’s nearly trebling. Chorley’s figure was to have increased by just 11 percent, but from a high benchmark which it was already struggling to meet.
The collaboration also means that Preston and South Ribble have been able to take on some of Chorley’s allocation and therefore prevented the development of greenbelt land in the latter authority.
Following the consultation, the Local Plan will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate along with a copy of all the representations received. A Local Plan Examination will then take place and the Planning Inspectorate will determine if the Local Plan is sound and can be adopted.
Formal planning applications – dealing with the detail and any local objections to particular schemes – are still required for each development at the time it is brought forward, with permission still having to be granted by the relevant local council. However, the established acceptability of building new housing on those sites gives them a strong start.
It is understood the new plan will not be affected by the forthcoming local government shake-up in Lancashire which will see Preston, Chorley and South Ribble councils abolished and subsumed into larger replacement authorities. However, it could make the development of a future local plan for Central Lancashire more difficult depending on which council areas are ultimately merged.
Selling its advantages, the Central Lancashire Local Plan attempts to map out a vision for the sub-region to be somewhere people want to “live, visit, work and invest”.
It adds: “Our heritage assets will be conserved and our natural environment will be protected and enhanced for its intrinsic value whilst providing opportunities for recreation and leisure. Throughout Central Lancashire, people’s health and wellbeing will be enhanced through the creation of well-designed developments, delivering homes, jobs and prosperity.”
Non-strategic sites listed for housing development
Preston
Former Whittingham Hospital – 477
Former Horrocks Mill, Queen Street – 380
Avenham Street Car Park – 294
Land off Riversway & West of Dodney Drive Lea – 280
Land at Cottam Hall – 211
Corner of Manchester Road & Church Street – 167
Grimshaw Street/ Queen Street – 146
Cardwell Farm, Garstang Road – 151
Land off Ribbleton Hall Drive – 97
The former Sumners pub, 195 Watling Street Road – 77
Former St Joseph’s Orphanage, Theatre Street – 67
Former Gasworks, Ribbleton Lane – 59
115, Church Street – 57
Land at Eastway – 56
Former Perrys Car Showroom, 63-83 Blackpool Road – 55
Mount Street/ Garden Street – 47
Land North of Tom Benson Way – 45
Heather Moor, Cumeragh Lane – 41
Lancashire Fire and Rescue HQ, Garstang Road – 40
Gorlands, Whittingham Road – 32
Former Tulketh High School, Tag Lane – 30
37-41, Church Street – 29
Former Byron Hotel, Grimshaw Street – 28
Tulketh Crescent – 24
Moor Park Depot, Moor Park Avenue – 17
The Larches, Larches Lane – 15
Bretherens Meeting Room – 12
25&27, Whittingham Lane and land to the rear of 25-31, Whittingham Lane, Broughton – 8
50, Lancaster Road – 5
10-12, Lancaster Road – 5
South Ribble
Emnie Lane, Leyland – 500
Apsley House, Farington – 435
Chapel Lane, Longton – 270
South of Factory Lane and East of the West Coast Main Line, Lower Penwortham – 250
Church Lane, Farington – 200
Liverpool Road, Hutton – 120
Branch Road, Mellor Brook – 120
Daub Hall Lane, Coupe Green – 80
South of Liverpool Old Road, Much Hoole – 60
Kellet Lane, Bamber Bridge – 60
South of Factory Lane/ Land off the Cawsey – 60
Brownedge Rd / Railway Sidings, Bamber Bridge – 60
South of Bannister Lane, Farington Moss – 40
Gas Holders Site (land off Wateringpool Lane), Lostock Hall – 25
Golden Hill School, Leyland Lane, Leyland – 20
Windmill Hotel site, Preston New Rd, Mellor Brook – 10
Brambles Rest Home, Park Avenue, New Longton – 10
Land adjacent to The Fields, Long Moss Lane, New Longton – 8
Rear of 96-100, Marsh Lane – 5
Chorley
Land to the East of Wigan Road, Clayton-le Woods – 332
West of M61 – Town Lane, Whittle-le-Woods – 289
Great Knowley, Chorley – 246
Land 120m south west of 21, Lower Burgh Way, Chorley – 201
Little Knowley Farm, Chorley – 150
Land South East Belmont Road/Abbey Grove, Adlington – 137
Land adjacent to Blainscough Hall, Blainscough Lane, Coppull – 118
Charter Lane, Charnock Richard – 117
Land adjoining Cuerden Residential Park, Nell Lane, Clayton-le-Woods – 115
West of M61 – Land adjacent to Delph Way, Whittle-le-Woods – 102
Pear Tree Lane, Euxton – 100
Land north of Bonds Lane, Adlington – 92
Hill Top Farm, Whittle-le-Woods – 75
North of Hewlett Avenue, Coppull – 67
Land at Tincklers Lane, Eccleston – 66
Bengal Street Depot, Chorley – 62
Land off Gorsey Lane, Mawdesley – 55
West of M61 – Land North of Hill Top Farm, Whittle-le-Woods – 55
Land to the east of New Street, Mawdesley – 41
Babylon Lane, Adlington – 40
Land off Blackburn Road, Wheelton – 40
Eaves Green, off Lower Burgh Way, Chorley – 29
Land South of South Road, Bretherton – 26
Land at Carrington Road, Adlington – 24
Cabbage Hall Fields, Chorley – 17
Land off Westhoughton Road, Adlington – 17
Brookfields, Chancery Road, Chorley – 16
East of Tincklers Lane, Eccleston – 15
Land at Drinkwater Farm, Windsor Drive, Brinscall – 12
Mountain Road, Coppull – 12
East of New Street, Mawdesley – 11
Orchard Heys Farm, Coppull – 10
Land at Millbrook Close/Victoria Street, Wheelton – 9
Crow Nest Cottage, Mawdesley – 8
Rear of New Street, Mawdesley – 7
Blackburn Road, Wheelton – 6
Land to the rear of 62-66 Moor Road, Croston – 2
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Windfarm plans under microscope over potential impact on residents
By Paul Faulkner
The body that will assess plans for a windfarm off the Fylde coast has demanded more details about the impact the development could have on residents and the environment.
The Planning Inspectorate will ultimately recommend to the government whether or not to approve the installation of the transmission infrastructure required for the ‘Morgan and Morecambe’ offshore wind projects.
It has now given the firms behind the scheme just over a month to respond to concerns raised by several organisations and provide more information ahead of a formal examination of the proposals.
The plans revolve around the construction of two separate windfarms in the Irish Sea, which would require major on-shore underground cabling operations across the Fylde – including the creation of two substations, south of Kirkham and west of Newton-with-Scales – and onwards, beneath the River Ribble, to Penwortham, where the electricity generated by the turbines would be fed into the national grid.
The Planning Inspectorate has written to the Morgan and Morecambe team to request responses to several representations it has received about the projects.
Amongst them are queries about the construction timetable and the possibility there could be a four-year gap between the completion of the first scheme and the start of work on the second.
In its representation, Fylde Council expressed concern – amongst many other issues – about the potential for “multiple repeat phases of construction”; specifically, the implications for noise, air quality, agricultural land, traffic and human health.
The authority said the environmental statement accompanying the plans was largely based on “one concurrent phase of development” which did not consider the effect of various impacts being experienced over “ a much greater period of time”. The issue was also highlighted by Natural England and the Marine Management Organisation.
The Inspectorate’s lead member for the windfarms examination, David Cliff, has asked for “further explanation of and justification for” the reliance on the all-in-one development scenario – and assessments of the potential cumulative impact from “sequential” developments, up to four years apart.
Natural England also claimed a number of assessments undertaken for the application were either “not sufficiently robust” – or that further information or surveys were required. The possible effects on the Ribble and Alt Estuaries Special Protection Area and the Fylde Marine Conservation Zone were two of the issues highlighted by the government’s advisory body on the environment.
Mr. Cliff said the details sought by Natural England – and also the Marine Management Organisation – should be provided or “robust information be submitted in its place” to inform the Inspectorate’s consideration of environmental and habitat matters.
Meanwhile, responses have also been ordered to address safety concerns raised by Blackpool Airport and BAE Systems regarding the effects of the windfarm works on their operations – in BAE’s case, at Warton Aerodrome – including the potential increased risk of bird strikes.
Morgan and Morecambe have been given a deadline of 21st March to respond to the requests made in the Planning Inspectorate letter, dated 14th February. If they are unable to do so, they should instead set out “the earliest reasonable timeframe for producing the information”.
The examination period, when it begins, could last up to six months. No date has yet been set for that part of the process, but Mr. Cliff said the representations received pointed to “numerous unresolved issues” – and so encouraged “continued dialogue between the applicants and interested parties”.
“This would help to progress matters of disagreement, to allow for the necessary information to be provided for an effective examination and to allow for the most efficient use of [the] statutory examination period,” he wrote.
Morgan and Morecambe say the two windfarms are expected to make “a key contribution” to the UK’s target of generating 50GW of power from offshore wind by 2030 – and have the potential to produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of around two million homes.
News in headlines 🗞️
Primary school in Haslingden earns glowing Ofsted report for 'nurturing young citizens' (LancsLive)
Leyland store sold after 66 years of family ownership (Lancashire Telegraph)
Buildings in Darwen given go ahead for demolition in major revamp of historic venue (LancsLive)
Uncertainty over Las Iguanas coming to Preston’s Animate (Blog Preston)
Hospital trust failed to report 10,000 patient harm incidents to regulator, Ida Lock inquest hears (LancsLive)
Thank you for reading the newsletter. We will write to you again on Sunday. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Luke, Jamie, Ed, Sophie and the team.