A new settlement approach rather than urban sprawl development is the preferred long term plan for meeting local housing needs, the leader of Lichfield District Council has said.
Cabinet will meet tomorrow (7th December) to discuss the current Local Plan document proposals.
It outlines where more than 9,000 properties could be built over the next 20 years.
Lichfield Civic Society has previously called for housing needs to be met by singular settlements rather than expanding across multiple sites.
Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council, said he hoped that would be the approach going forward – but added that a suitable site for such a move was not currently available.
“A new settlement is absolutely my preferred approach.
“We have hinted at that in the Local Plan – in fact we’ve explicitly stated we want to look at new settlements moving forward.
“However, we currently don’t have a site that would take the volume of housing required to satisfy this Local Plan round.
“If this Local Plan goes through council and is found sound by the Planning Inspector, the first thing we’ll be doing is looking at the next one and looking at where are we going to locate a new settlement instead of urban sprawl.”
Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council
A spokesperson for Lichfield Civic Society said earlier this year that the current approach risked damaging the character of the district.
“We have consistently argued that the option of a new settlement in this general area should be looked at through the Local Plan reviews.
“The council just wants to add more housing to the edge of the city which undermines its historic character.”
Lichfield Civic Society spokesperson
