Stock take of land shouldn’t be a worry
That’s the message from Fylde Borough Council after some residents expressed concerns about a report being prepared that looks in to the availability of land for future housing development.
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At a recent committee meeting, the progress of the Fylde Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) was reported on and described the work that is currently being carried out to prepare a list of sites that may be suitable for future housing development. The process involves compiling a long list of all the possible opportunities and then narrowing the list down by assessing whether the sites are suitable for housing, and if they are, whether the house building industry could deliver houses on them in future years.
However, some residents at the meeting mistakenly concluded that all the sites on the long list discussed are being promoted for development and this has caused some concern. The Council is now reassuring those residents that this is not the case. In fact, the SHLAA is purely a technical exercise to list all potential sites, assess how many dwellings could be built on them in theory and identify if they might come forward for development at some future date.
Councillor Trevor Fiddler, Cabinet Member for Planning Development, said: “We are at an early stage in the SHLAA and now that we have identified a long list of potential sites within towns and villages there is still much to be done before the assessment is finished. The list of potential sites will be reduced significantly during the next stages of the assessment. The list currently includes two parts: firstly, a list of sites that have been previously developed within towns and villages; and, secondly, sites on the edge of existing settlements that have not previously been built upon. When we know how many dwellings could be built on the previously developed sites, this will inform how much land might be needed outside of our existing settlement boundaries.”
The process of agreeing sites for future housing will be undertaken by Councillors when the SHLAA is complete and will include various rounds of full public consultation.
The SHLAA is a ‘living document’ and will be updated as new information becomes available at least once every year in December.
Councillor Fiddler added: “I can understand how residents could jump to the conclusion that this report could see new developments popping up in their area but this is simply not the case. Whilst the SHLAA is an important piece of the evidence base needed to inform future plan and decision making, it does not in itself have any bearing as to whether a site should be allocated for future housing development or whether future planning permission could be granted.
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