City Council opens Liverpool housing debate

Liverpool City Council has identified a preliminary list of more than 1,200 sites that could potentially deliver nearly 35,000 new homes over the next 15 years, and is inviting local people to have their say.

A new report, titled the Liverpool Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment, has identified potential sites across the city to start a conversation about the long-term supply of new housing in Liverpool up to 2028.

Cllr Malcolm Kennedy, Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for regeneration, said: "This is an important piece of work and provides us with a starting point from which to define a framework for the future delivery of thousands of new homes for our city.

"It will be important evidence for our new local plan to deliver the housing, business, industrial units and infrastructure the city needs over the next 15 years.

"Not all of these sites are going to be allocated or developed – nor necessarily will they be developed in the way indicated in the report – but it's a starter list of the sites that we think have potential for housing development.

"It also begins the process of assessing whether sites are suitable, in policy and physical terms, and the important question of whether they are likely to be viable as development opportunities.

"In addition, we want to improve the diversity and range of housing on offer in the city, and bring forward sites which will deliver high value executive homes – and we will be looking for additional sites in this respect as we move forward.

"This list seeks to show what sites were capable of being delivered at the baseline date of last April, in 2012."

The council is inviting comments from local people and will provide an opportunity for individuals, communities, land owners and businesses to feed into the council's local plan process.

Cllr Kennedy confirmed that later in the year there will be opportunities for the public and developers to suggest additional sites, including sites which have been put forward since 2012, not just for housing, but for jobs, shops and other uses.

The assessment is required under national planning guidance to help support the production of local plans and it aims to identify as many potential sites as possible.

The city's new local plan is scheduled for production over the next two years, and will be used to inform the allocation of specific sites for housing development.

The SHLAA update is at draft stage and the City Council is now inviting comments on it.

It summarises the city's position as it stood on 1 April 2012. It will be updated annually as new sites are identified, or existing ones are developed or otherwise removed from consideration.

• You can see the report, and make comments, on the council website.