Lancaster City Council has published its most comprehensive assessment of housing opportunities ever undertaken across the district, initially identifying over 500 potential sites but narrowing those to just over 100.
Together, it's estimated they have the potential to accommodate nearly 7000 dwellings that could be built over the next 15 years in the area, as part of national and regional planning policy initiatives..
The Council says that almost all of these sites are in accordance with the council’s policy of urban concentration, which seeks to direct 90% of future housing developments to the main urban areas of Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham and Carnforth. The report itself indicates that of the brownfield and greenfield sites identified, approximately 4,458 dwellings could be provided on brownfield sites between 2009 and 2024, whilst the suitable identified Greenfield sites could provide a total of approximately 2,537 dwellings. A further 3,827 dwellings could also be provided on three Greenfield sites -- Whinney Carr, Grab Lane and land off Bailrigg Lane, Lancaster -- although they would not be developed until post 2024.
(When Winney Carr was proposed as a potential site for housing a frew years back there was considerable opposition which successfully put paid to the scheme at the time).
Brownfield sites identified that could see development soonest include the Canal Corridor scheme proposed by Centros, offering some 179 homes, Kingsway (100, already being built), the controversial Halton Mills (176), the former Pontins site already in development (250 - almost 40 homes have already been built) and a number of smaller schemes schemes such as the former British Waterways building on Aldcliffe Road and the former St. George Church in Willow Lane, Lancaster.
Green field sites under consideration in the report include Litteldale Avenue, Heysham, land by Hest Bank's Coastal Road (offering some 75 homes), with the biggest greenfield site for early consideration at Moss Gate, Heysham, which was approved back in 2007.
The report, available online (PDF format), is just one piece of a much wider evidence base which the council must consider when planning for the future of the district.
The council commissioned consultants Atkins Limited in conjunction with Lambert Smith Hampton to assist it in identifying and assessing future housing opportunities across the district. The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment investigated potential housing sites examining their suitability, achievability and availability for housing.
The first stage of the process involved identifying potential housing sites, identified through a variety of sources including a successful ‘Call for Sites’ exercise in the summer of 2008. Over 500 potential housing sites were identified. In line with the council’s approved methodology sites located in the Green Belt, areas of highest risk of flooding and sites covered by national designations were removed from the assessment and mall sites below four dwellings and 0.15 hectares were also excluded.
The remaining sites were then assessed in detail by the consultants, who amongst other things, considered whether sites were situated in suitable locations for housing having regard to service provision, neighbouring land uses and environmental and physical conditions; whether sites could be considered available examining access and ownership issues and, finally, whether sites could be considered achievable taking into account the costs involved in bringing the site forward for development.
Having completed the assessment it is now for the council to determine how to take the findings of the report forward in terms of the future allocation of sites and determination of planning applications.
The Council is keen to stress the report is just one piece of a much wider evidence base which they must consider when planning for the future of the district. Identification or exclusion in this report does not mean that sites will or will not be developed; the report is an evidence base document which must be read alongside other evidence base documents.
The completion of the assessment however means that the council can now start preparation of its Land Use Allocations Development Plan Document which will allocate and protect land for particular uses. A timetable outlining the production of this document will be available shortly.
• The final report, which follows several months of surveying and assessment, is available to view at www.lancaster.gov.uk/SHLAA.
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