'It'll be a challenge:' hundreds of extra houses to be built in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre by order of the government

The town’s minimum annual housebuilding target will almost quadruple to 585 from just 147 under the previous system.

While some parts of Lancashire are in line for a larger percentage hike than Blackpool, the extra 438 dwellings being demanded of the resort is the biggest increase by volume in the county.

Council leader Lynn Williams described the new target as “challenging” and said the limited land available in the town meant “innovative” ways of delivering the new homes would be required.

Elsewhere, Wyre’s yearly new housing tally will more than double to 582 - an additional 302 properties.

However, Fylde has been handed one of the lowest increases by both number and proportion - an additional 153 homes, taking the borough’s annual minimum to 410, an increase of 60 percent.

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The new housing totals in all three council areas across the Fylde coast are several dozen lower than those initially suggested in a consultation into the proposals launched in the summer.

Housebuilding targets were briefly scrapped by the last Conservative government 12 months ago, which made them only advisory. The mandatory minimums that have now been brought in by Labour are the basis of the party’s push to build 1.5 million homes nationwide over the next five years.

Cllr Williams said Blackpool Council “welcome[s] the government’s plan to tackle the housing crisis the country is facing and we share their vision”.

She added: “It will take some time to digest the plan, analyse what it means for Blackpool and calculate how the challenging target can be achieved. To be able to successfully tackle our local housing need, we will require grant support for social housing and we welcome the ongoing dialogue with government to explore innovative solutions to addressing Blackpool’s challenges.

“There is a significant need for affordable homes in Blackpool. Our town is intensely urban and compact with very limited land available for development and this is why one of our key priorities is regenerating and improving existing neighbourhoods and creating aspirational and high quality homes.

“To help in delivering new homes, we welcome the government’s commitment to the provision of additional resource to support councils in the delivery of their local plans and the increase in planning fees and officers to improve capacity in development management teams in determining planning applications.”

Fylde and Wyre councils were also approached for comment.

WHERE HAVE THE NUMBERS COME FROM - AND WHAT DO THEY MEAN FOR THE GREENBELT?

The new, so-called ‘standard method’ used by the government to calculate housing need targets equates to 0.8 percent of an area’s existing housing stock, adjusted by a formula designed to deal with local affordability issues.

Across Lancashire, the change means the county’s collective minimum annual housebuilding target has gone from fewer than 2,900 properties to just over 6,500 - a 128 percent increase.

The wider reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will also allow for development on what has been dubbed ‘grey belt’ - land within the greenbelt which has been previously built upon and which does not "strongly contribute” to the latter’s core purposes.

Meanwhile, building on other areas of greenbelt land will not be considered inappropriate if there is “a demonstrable unmet need for the type of development proposed” for the location. Nevertheless, the NPPF maintains that councils should give “substantial weight” to any harm caused to the greenbelt – as a reason to refuse a proposal – when they are considering planning applications.

If local authorities decide to release areas of greenbelt for housebuilding as part of their long-term local plans, at least half of the resultant developments should be made up of properties that fall into the discounted ‘affordable homes’ category.

However, a developer will be exempt from that requirement if it can show that fulfilling it would make their scheme financially unviable – the same caveat that applies to existing locally-set affordable housing criteria on new estates.

Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Angela Rayner said of the planning overhaul her department has instituted: “From day one I have been open and honest about the scale of the housing crisis we have inherited. This mission-led government will not shy away from taking the bold and decisive action needed to fix it for good.

“We cannot shirk responsibility and leave over a million families on housing waiting lists and a generation locked out of home ownership. Our Plan for Change means overhauling planning to make the dream of a secure home a reality for working people.”