1.1 The Local Plan provides a framework to guide development in a co-ordinated and sustainable way, whilst protecting other areas from the effects of development. It also sets out policies to ensure that development is of high quality, is deliverable and provides necessary infrastructure.
1.2 The Borough of Fylde comprises the major coastal resort towns of Lytham and St Annes, the market town of Kirkham and its adjoining settlement Wesham, developed areas forming the outskirts of the adjoining Borough of Blackpool, the settlements of Freckleton and Warton, and an extensive sparsely-populated rural area.
1.3 The current Local Plan for Fylde is the Fylde Local Plan to 2032 (incorporating Partial Review), which was adopted in December 2021. This sets out through allocations and allowances to provide for a minimum of 7,275 homes and 60.6 ha of employment land over the plan period 2011-2032. It sets out a development strategy to deliver around 90% of homes and 59.6 ha of employment land at four strategic locations: Lytham and St Annes; the Fylde-Blackpool Periphery; Warton; and Kirkham and Wesham. It sets out policies to allocate sites for homes and employment uses. It provides policies to guide development of retail and leisure/tourism uses, policies to ensure provision of infrastructure including open space, to ensure protection from flood risk, and to ensure that valued sites are protected.
1.4 The National Planning Policy Framework (December 2024) (henceforth referred to as “the Framework”) requires policies to be reviewed at least every five years. The Local Plan was prepared under a previous version of the Framework, and some of the policies in the Framework have changed. Under the arrangements set out in paragraph 232, policies in the Local Plan are not rendered out-of-date by changes to the standard calculation method for housing need, providing that housing supply and delivery is maintained, for a period of five years from the adoption of the Local Plan. Accordingly, policies for the supply of housing will be out-of-date after December 2026. Therefore, there is a need for Fylde Council to fully review its Local Plan, or produce a new plan, by December 2026.
1.5 The Council has published its Local Development Scheme January 2025, setting out its timetable for the production of the new Local Plan. The Local Development Scheme proposed consultation under Regulation 18 in August-September 2025, consultation on the completed plan under Regulation 19 in May-June 2026, with submission of the plan to the Secretary of State in August 2026 followed by Examination in Public.
1.6 The new Local Plan will be required to cover a period of 15 years from adoption, in accordance with the Framework. Therefore, it is proposed that the new plan will be the Fylde Local Plan to 2042, ten years further than the current Local Plan.
1.7 The Local Development Scheme notes that notwithstanding the description as a new plan, it may be appropriate for the plan to take the form of a full review of existing policies with an extended time frame, rather than a new plan developed from scratch; and that this will be determined in the early stages of the plan-making process.
1.8 Accordingly, the overall form of the new plan is a matter considered within this Options, Issues, Vision and Scope document. For the purposes of this consultation, the title (and therefore subject matter) of the plan is to be The Fylde Local Plan to 2042.
1.9 The last Government introduced a new legislative framework for plan-making, through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023. This present Government is bringing this forward, to have effect for plans submitted for examination from 1st January 2027. Our new plan will be submitted for examination ahead of this date, and will therefore be produced and examined under the current primary legislation, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended), and the current regulations, the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended).
Q1. Do you agree that the Council should produce a new/amended Local Plan?
1.10 The existing Local Plan in its original form that was adopted in 2018 was developed as a new type of plan following previous change to legislation. This resulted in a simplified approach with significantly fewer policies that the previous Local Plan (from 2005). The Council considers that there may be significant benefits from continuity that would occur by the retention of many existing policies, where these remain supported by evidence. This could be achieved by producing a new plan through a review and update of the existing Local Plan.
1.11 The production of a new Local Plan through review and update of the existing plan would not take away the need to support policies with evidence. However, this could take the form of updates to work undertaken previously, saving time and allowing continuity of approach.
1.12 A review and update of the existing plan would involve planning to meet development needs up to 2042, 10 years beyond the end of the current plan. Therefore, the plan would be substantially changed from the existing plan, as it would include significant new land allocations, even if many of the other policies were not significantly altered.
1.13 By contrast, an entirely new plan could take a fresh approach. This could involve a completely new approach to the plan, an entirely new development strategy, and a new approach to policy-making. However, it would still have to plan for all of the development needs up to 2042, taking whatever new approach had been adopted, which would be likely to add complexity.
1.14 An entirely new plan could have additional requirements for evidence and justification which could lead to the plan-making process taking longer. This could mean that the new plan would have to be a new-style local plan under the new legislation. At present, there are still uncertainties as to how the new plan-making system will operate, which would result in risk of further delay.
1.15 In deciding which approach to take, the Council must consider the need to have a new Local Plan in place as soon as possible, in order that it carries sufficient weight to be used to make decisions once the current plan policies for the provision of housing become out-of-date in December 2026.
Q2. Do you think that the Council should produce:
- A reviewed Local Plan with additional allocations to extend to 2042?
- A completely new Local Plan with entirely new policies decided from scratch?
- Other (please state)?
