Local Plan Preferred Option

Following consultation on the Preferred Options in May 2011, the Council have listened to your comments and made some changes to the document. The Local Plan Preferred Option now includes an updated version of the draft policies provided in the last paper, as well as site allocations and further policies for Development Management. These will help assess planning applications and detail allocations for specific types of development.

The key changes to the document are:

A higher housing target of 4,650 new homes (was 4,500) and fewer homes in Skelmersdale
A lower target of 75 hectares (was 87 ha) for employment land
A Strategic Development Site at Yew Tree Farm, Burscough
Site allocations for housing, employment and mixed-use developments
Development Management policies
A new and more robust 'Plan B' for housing development, including Green Belt sites

Consultation on the Local Plan Preferred Options document ran from 5 January-17 February 2012. You can view the comment we received by following the links below. A Feedback Report summarising the results will be published here in the future.

View the comments received

View the comments we received on the Local Plan Preferred Options through the portal (external link)

View the Local Plan Preferred Option documents

View the Local Plan Preferred Options document (external link)
Download the Local Plan Preferred Options document (Adobe PDF format, 3.5mb)

A special cover was placed on the Champion newspaper on 4 January and distributed to local households, to summarise the policies and provide more information.

Download a copy of the newspaper wrap (Adobe PDF format, 1.9mb)

To make sure the Preferred Options we're proposing are fair to people and the environment, we have to prepare a series of assessments examining our policies against issues including sustainability, habitats, equalities and health. There are also a series of technical papers and evidence papers to explain the reasoning and evidence behind the policies.

View Preferred Options supporting documents

The Core Strategy Preferred Options Feedback Report summarises the comments received during the last consultation exercise, and shows the Council's response to each comment. It has been used to inform the development of the Local Plan Preferred Options document.