St Helens Local Plan approved
The Merseyside council has signed off its growth and development strategy for the borough in the years leading up to and beyond 2037 – including the release of Green Belt land.
Prior to its approval, the St Helens Local Plan was examined by the planning inspectorate, who noted that the local authority was “constrained by Green Belt”. According to the inspector’s calculation, 65% of St Helens borough is designated as Green Belt.
In order to meet housing needs and create opportunities for sustainable regeneration, the inspector agreed that Green Belt land did need to be released.
Under the approved local plan, St Helens is aiming to build a minimum of 10,206 homes by 2037, which equates to 486 a year.
In order to accomplish this, the plan has opted to release from the Green Belt six sites with a total capacity of 2,114 homes. These sites are described in the local plan as
- Land south of Billinge Road, east of Garswood Road and west of Smock Lane in Garswood
- Land at Florida Farm, Slag Lane in Blackbrook
- Land bounded by Reginald Road, Bold Road, Travers Entry, Gorsey Lane, and Crawford Street in Bold
- Land south of Gartons Lane and former St Theresa’s Social Club off Gartons Lane in Bold
- Land west of the A49 Mill Lane and to the east of the West Coast Mainline railway line in Newton-le-Willows
- Land south of Higher Lane and east of Rookery Lane in Rainford
Despite the Green Belt release, the local plan says that brownfield development will continue to be a key priority when looking at housing plans.
To help provide more employment sites, the local plan includes the allocation of 526 acres for this kind of development. Of those 526 acres, the vast majority comprise Green Belt release
The sites to be released for industrial use are described in the local plan as
- Omega South Western Extension, 77 acres of land north of Finches Plantation in Bold
- 5 acres of land south of Penny Lane in Haydock
- 19 acres of land west of Haydock Industrial Estate in Haydock
- 51 acres of land west of Millfield Lane, south of Liverpool Road and north of Clipsley Brook in Haydock
- 160 acres for Parkside East in Newton-le-Willows
- 197 acres for Parkside West in Newton-le-Willows
St Helens needs to make better use of land adjacent to the M62 in the same way Warrington has benefited for so many years building logistics facilities, no use standing back while your neighbour takes advantage.
By Anonymous
Omega West is in St Helens……
By Anonymous
No leisure, or recreational plans, lacking in basic services, poor public transport, a dying ( or dead) town centre. No proper social housing plan just expensive houses for commuters from out of town. This will kill the town completely, but we will have a box park next to a rat infested canal and plenty of bars to drown our sorrows in.
By Anonymous
Re @Anonymous, Omega West is actually in St Helens and the local plan approval has taken Parkside out of greenbelt, which means that the scheme is able to push ahead, I understand. These, along with the council’s work in the town centre and at Earlstown, suggests to me that this is a council which is getting its act together.
By Sceptical