Published: Tuesday, 26th March 2019
The 20-year plan to deliver the homes, jobs, transport infrastructure and community facilities Warrington needs has been approved for consultation.
Warrington’s ‘Proposed Submission Version’, or draft, Local Plan was given the go-ahead at the meeting of the Full Council yesterday (25 March), paving the way to an eight-week period of public consultation, which will begin on Monday 15 April.
The consultation period will give everyone in Warrington the opportunity to have their say on the plan, by completing an online response form, or by attending the public consultation events – details of which will be released in the near future.
Warrington Borough Council Leader, Cllr Russ Bowden, said: “Our Local Plan will be hugely influential in shaping Warrington’s future. Everyone who lives and works here will be affected by the Plan and what it sets out to achieve – which is a more prosperous future for our borough.
“Now Full Council has given the go-ahead to consult on our draft Local Plan, we can begin the next important stage of the process, which is talking and listening to the people of Warrington.
“The consultation period officially begins on 15 April, but we want to provide people with as much information as possible before then. The draft Plan is available to view on the Council’s website, right now. We will also be writing to households in the borough with full details of the consultation, and the public events we will be holding.”
Drawn up in accordance with Government planning guidance, and informed by feedback from the public, the draft plan sets out the legal planning framework for the borough’s development over the next two decades.
It aims to deliver 18,900 new homes (or 945 per year), until 2037. It also aims to support Warrington’s ongoing economic growth by making 362 hectares of employment land available.
The minimum number of new homes set by the Government exceeds the amount of urban and brownfield land available in Warrington. The plan, therefore, proposes unlocking some areas of Green Belt land for development to provide more homes and employment land.
Detailed work carried out by the Council has found that it is possible to deliver approximately 14,000 new homes and 111 hectares of employment in existing urban areas. This means that the remainder of land for housing and employment would need to be released from the Green Belt.
The draft Local Plan will ensure that the infrastructure required to support Warrington’s growth will be appropriately phased with new development.
For more information, and to read the draft Local Plan, please visit warrington.gov.uk/localplan
