Planning & Housing Strategy
9th October 2025
Update from Lancaster City Council
Local Plan Review – Scoping and Early Participation
As you may be aware, the City Council embarked on the review of their Local Plan and earlier in 2025, published a new timetable for its preparation under the newly emerging plan-making system. The first stage of this new process is called ‘Scoping and Early Participation’. This stage allows the Council to explore the broad scope of the Review, including what issues it should focus on, and allows interested parties to comment on that scope. It also provides the Council with further opportunities to promote their work on the local plan and the importance of participation throughout its process, ensuring it is shaped by the local community and all interested parties.
We have been at this stage before, in 2024 we consulted with you between February and September on a range of matters which discussed the broad scope of the new Plan and the key issues which it should address. All the comments which were provided during the 2024 Scoping and Issues & Opportunities Stage remain valid and will help to inform the Council’s next steps in preparing the Local Plan. If you have yet to participate in providing feedback on the future scope of the Local Plan, revisiting this stage gives you the chance to do so and we would welcome your comments.
You can view details of how you can get involved in the process both in terms of the Scoping and Early Participation Stage but also more specifically as work on the Local Plan progresses on the ‘Local Plan Hub’ on the Council website. Our Scoping and Early Participation Stage will last for 4 months, concluding on Monday 26 January 2026.
Local Plan Initiation Document (LPID) To aid your understanding of the forthcoming Local Plan and to capture some of the findings from previous consultations the Council have prepared a Local Plan Initiation Document (LPID). This sets out the Council’s current understanding of the scope of the Plan, the evidence required, the key stakeholders to engage with and some of the risks associated with plan making. The LPID can be viewed on the Local Plan Hub.
Please take a look at our Local Plan Hub >>>>>>>> Local Plan Supporting Evidence
We continue to collect evidence (information) to support the new Local Plan. You can view the latest evidence completed on our Local Plan Hub.
Morecambe Bay Visitor Survey
Lancaster City Council, Westmorland and Furness Council and Wyre Borough Council have recently commissioned Morecambe Bay Partnership to undertake visitor surveys across several locations around Morecambe Bay. Morecambe Bay is the largest intertidal area in the UK and is of international importance for the wildlife and habitats it supports, including breeding and overwintering water birds which can be susceptible to disturbance. One of the main sources of disturbance comes through increased recreational use. This is noted to be a key issue for Morecambe Bay with recreational pressure regularly highlighted as one of the main factors threatening this important protected environment. To better understand this the three authorities, require evidence to understand where visitors are coming from and the purpose of their visit. This work will be used to support the preparation of their Local Plans with the work being used to better understand how far people travel and the impact that new residential development may have on the Bay based on its distance from designated sites. The need to understand this is essential to the preparation of the Local Plan and will be a key source of information informing each Local Plan’s Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA).
The surveys, which will be undertaken face to face by Footprint Ecology, will be undertaken during two periods in October/November 2025 and January/February 2026.
Local Plan Call for Sites The Call for Sites process remains open. This process allows for landowners and interested parties to nominate land to be assessed by the Council for its suitability for development. Information on sites which have been submitted to the process so far can be viewed on the Local Plan Hub. Importantly no decisions have yet been made by the Council over the suitability of these sites for development and conclusions will only be reached on these matters as the Local Plan evolves. The council is still encouraging sites to be submitted to this process for land across the district. That also now includes land within the Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape which, under the new plan making system, will also need to be considered as part of this Local Plan Review. Call for Local Green Spaces Many thanks for all the nominations we have received for the Local Green Spaces. Later this year the Council will be putting together a Nomination Panel and will be assessing any nominated sites to consider whether they meet the Government’s definition of Local Green Spaces found in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Panel will be using the methodology which can be found on the Council’s website. No formal decisions will be announced on the designation of Local Green Spaces until the publication of the Draft Local Plan in early 2027. Housing Land Supply Statement
The Council has recently updated its housing land supply position. This looks at where future housing land is expected to be delivered over the next five years to meet the governments target for housing in the District. The Government require each local authority to be able to demonstrate that enough housing will be delivered in their area to provide five years of their housing requirement, for Lancaster District this is 3,135 houses.
Where an authority is unable to do this, they are expected to grant planning permission for more housing unless there are clear reasons not to. The latest information on housing permissions granted and completed in the District over the last 12 months is now available to view on the Local Plan Hub. The interactive map has been produced to show where the Council anticipates new housing to be delivered over the next five years. Using this information the City Council, like many areas across the Country, has reported that it is unable to demonstrate that enough sites exist across the District to deliver the 3,135 dwellings required. The data reports a 2.8 year supply, which while an improvement from the 2 years reported last year is still below the 5 years which the Government require. The Council must therefore continue to positively encourage those sites which genuinely offer sustainable opportunities to meet the future housing needs of the District. You can view the information on the Council website: Evidence, monitoring and information – Lancaster City Council Updated Planning Guidance The Council have updated a number of pieces of guidance. Work has been completed on an update to the Shopfronts and Advertisements Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), providing guidance and direction on the provision of these types of development in sensitive historic town centres. This update replaces the original SPD published in 2016.
The Council have also published an updated informal advice note in regard to standards and contributions towards public open space provision from new development. The new note reflects the most up-to-date evidence on this matter, informed by the publication of Lancaster’s Open Space Study in March 2025. The note includes new calculations for both on-site and off-site provision for public open space. This replaces the information on these issues in Appendix D of the Development Management Development Planning Document (DPD) and the guidance set out in the Planning Advisory Note.
Both documents are now available on the Council website: Local Plan, Planning Library & Strategies – Lancaster City Council Neighbourhood Plan Update Halton-with-Aughton Parish Council have successfully steered their Neighbourhood Plan through the Examination Stage with the receipt of the Examiners Report in August. The details of the report can be read here: Neighbourhood planning – Lancaster City Council. The Parish Council have indicated their wish to progress the Plan to its referendum stage which will take place later in the year. Should over 51% of the Parish wish to see the Plan adopted then it will be presented to the City Council for adoption in due course. Scotforth Parish Council have submitted their final version of the Scotforth Neighbourhood Plan which will now be subject to Public Consultation under Regulation 16 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. The City Council is inviting responses on the Plan which consider whether its content and direction reflect the basic conditions of plan making. Consultation on the Plan will run for a 7 week period until Monday 17 November 2025. More details, including the Plan itself, are available here: Neighbourhood planning – Lancaster City Council. . Conservation Area Appraisals
The Council continue to work on updating and expanding their suite of Conservation Area Appraisals which set out a range of information, including what gives an area its special historic character and the risks to that character, as well as reviewing the boundaries.
Consultation on the draft appraisals for Over Kellet, Whittington and Yealand Conyers & Redmayne took place throughout the spring and summer, and these have now been formally adopted by Cabinet, with the recommended boundary changes being implemented. Changes to these boundaries, and the rationale for such changes, have been clearly explained within the Conservation Area Appraisals.
The consultation on the draft appraisal for Heysham has just closed and comments are currently being considered. Further consultation will take place for Williamson Park and Greaves Road Conservation Areas.
Find out more on the Council website: Conservation areas – Lancaster City Council. Arnside & Silverdale National Landscape The draft Arnside & Silverdale Management Plan for 2026-2031 is open for public consultation and the National Landscape Unit would like to hear your views on the plan during the consultation period running to the 17th October 2025. Details on how to respond are included in the plan.
AONB Development Plan Document (DPD) Monitoring Report A joint monitoring report for the AONB DPD has been prepared by Lancaster City Council and Westmorland and Furness Council. The joint report tells you of progress and success in implementing specific policies in the DPD for the period between 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2024.
Renewal to Regulation 7 Direction under the Town and County (Control of Advertisement)
On the 1st September 2021 the City Council established a Direction under Regulation 7 of the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007 to remove deemed consent for ‘To Let’ boards on residential properties within Schedule 3, Part 1, Class 3 A (an advertisement relating to the sale or letting, for residential, agricultural, industrial or commercial use or for development for such use, of the land or premises on which it is displayed). The Direction has been effective in successfully managing ‘To Let’ boards but it must be renewed every 5 years. Therefore, the Council will proceed with the statutory process and submit a proposal to the Secretary of State requesting that a Direction under Regulation 7 is renewed. Further details to follow: Designations and constraints – Lancaster City Council.
For those who are involved in the development of residential development in Lancaster District
Please be aware that since the adoption of the Lancaster City Council Local Plan (climate emergency) in January 2025, any planning applications for residential development within the Lancaster District area will now be required to use the method outlined in our Carbon Calculator for the calculation of carbon reductions over the 2013 Part L Building Regulations (as required by planning policy DM30a). The Carbon Calculator has been developed to assist with calculating reduction figures to make the application process in relation to Policy DM30a of the Local Plan as simple as possible. You can view more here: Local Plan Part Two: Development Management (climate emergency review) DPD – Lancaster City Council
Posted by: Claire Muir
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