Our February Trades Council meeting finalised our “response” to the consultation being conducted by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council on its “Local Plan”.
The Local Plan will, when adopted:
> Provide the strategy for the use of land and buildings up to 2037;
> Set out where future homes, employment areas and services such as shops and community facilities should be located;
> Set out how the historic and natural environments should be conserved and enhanced; and
> Guide decisions on planning applications.
So it is a sort of template against which economic development and housing plans, in particular, will be assessed in the medium term.
The Trades Council saw the consultation as less of a technical exercise, and more an opportunity to lobby the Borough Council on some key socio-economic issues. Points we have raised include:
> Criticism of the Borough Council’s “strategic definition” of Darwen as a “Market Town”:
> Advocation of the restoration and development of India Mill, Blackburn, as a “Catapult Centre”:
> Advocation of the development of the Blackburn town centre site comprising the redundant Thwaites brewery and surrounds as a potential employment site:
> Questioning the extent to which the Housing needs analysis sufficiently responded to issues such as the quality of local housing stock, the need for publicly provided rented accommodation and the need for apartment accommodation for single males.
You access a full copy of our response here: