Published Friday 12 July 2024 at 11:55
Residents are being asked to have their say on two potential options for a proposed development of a major housing site in North East Blackburn.
The land has already been identified for up to 1,500 new homes in Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Local Plan – a blueprint for how the borough will be developed between now and 2037.
After extensive preliminary works by Stantec, a draft masterplan is now being developed which will help set out how the site could look.
To help shape the masterplan, residents are now being asked for their views on two early options which offer differing proposals for the number of houses, the roads required, green spaces and a proposed community hub too.
The feedback will help shape the draft masterplan that’s expected to be ready for wider consultation later in the year.
Growth Director at Blackburn with Darwen Council, Simon Jones, said:
This week we’ve heard a lot in the news about the importance of house building for growth.
We’re leading the charge on that here in Blackburn with Darwen and can see how the new homes are helping change the lives of our residents.
As a borough, we’re in a strong position too as we have an agreed Local Plan that sets out a blueprint for future development.
It’s been painstakingly developed by experts who really know the borough and what’s needed, and it’s been thoroughly reviewed by a Government Planning Inspector too.
The Local Plan has helped us identify how many new homes we’ll need in the future as well as the required infrastructure, including for business growth to help support jobs and our local economy.
For the land in North East Blackburn, a huge amount of work has been going on behind the scenes to see how that 100-hectare site could be developed over the next two decades or so.
We’re now at a stage of being able to work with Stantec on a draft masterplan – putting two options to residents in the area and asking them to have their say.
Full details of the two options can be viewed at:
www.blackburn.gov.uk/NEBlackburn
On that page, residents can also find out more about the masterplan – the work that has already been undertaken, the opportunities and constraints of the site, site plans and more.
There’s an online survey too for interested parties to submit their feedback.
Information boards are also available to view at Blackburn Market.
The boards will be there until July 25th.
And a drop-in session is being held later in the month – on Thursday, July 25th – at St Gabriel’s Church in Church Walk.
There, visitors can speak to the people leading on the draft masterplan and Council officers between 3pm and 7:30pm. There’ll be a chance to submit comments at the event too.
Simon added:
As ever, our focus is on getting this right and we want to hear from residents living in the area and businesses too.
We’ve tried to make it really easy for people to take part in the consultation – whether that be online or in-person.
We want to listen to what they have to say and use that to help inform a draft masterplan that we’re hoping to share for wider consultation later in the year.
This is potentially a huge development – it could be the biggest in Blackburn with Darwen – and it’s incredibly important to us that residents take this opportunity to help shape the future of it.
Find out more at: www.blackburn.gov.uk/NEBlackburn