Green Belt Still Up for Grabs by St Helens Council
The second draft of the Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF) has just been released for public consultation. The LDF is the Councils next generation of local planning documentation that provides planning guidance for all forms of development in the St Helens Borough. In spite of significant objections from the community the document still proposes to remove massive areas of land from the Green on approval of planning permission for a Rail Freight Terminal at the site.
What’s changed in the Latest LDF?The previous version of the LDF was very much structured around the Astrals planning application (on hold since around September 2009). Astral’s application proposed building on both the East and West sides of the M6. The land to the East was in the main made up of the site of the former colliery. This area, of almost an equal size to the West, was never part of the former colliery and is currently Grade 2 agricultural land, with beautiful clear views to Winter Hill. The land was earmarked by Astral for additional warehouses and a container depot. The previous draft of the LDF therefore proposed removing both the land to the East and West of the M6, strangely enough almost to an exact boundary match as that proposed by Astral! The latest LDF recognises the qualities and value the land to the East, in no small part due to the excellent response and correspondence that many of you submitted last time around. The latest LDF now proposes not to initially remove land to the East from the ‘proposals map’ unless ‘exceptional circumstances’ can be demonstrated. The document does, however, persist with removing land from the West on the proposals map. This approach is consistent with a potential two phase planning application. The first phase would be to apply for land to the West, and the second phase for land to the East. 
The LDF appears to be ambiguous in its conclusion. Policy CAS 3.2 finishes by stating that ‘exceptional circumstances’ can already be demonstrated? This may be a ploy to leave the door open for Astal’s current plan, in case Astral do not wish to pursue a two phase approach. What Can You Do?PAG would encourage you to comment on the latest LDF. The Council have stated that they will only consider views on the changes made to the LDF since the previous draft. Hopefully you have enough information now to comment. You have until 5pm Wednesday 24th March 2010 to get your views to the Council. The links to the actual documents and response form can be found below.
Link to revised Core Strategy and Background Papers - click here There is also a revised Parkside Background Paper which supports LDF policy CAS 3.2. This document has been significantly revised over the previous background paper to align with the West/East – Phase1/Phase2 approach outlined earlier. The proposals map has not been made available yet, nor the Local Traffic Plan. Both of these are referred to in the LDF.
PAG will be making a detailed response in due course. Further supporting information and pro-forma will be posted here in the next few days. Thank you for all your help so far, it is making a difference, and it will make our community a better place to live in the future.
Quiz Night 19th March 2010 Our next fundraising event will be on Friday 19th March at Winwick Leisure Centre commencing at 7.30pm. If you haven’t got a team don’t worry, there will be plenty of chance to join up with friends or maybe even meet a few new ones! So why not come along and support us. Tickets can be obtained by emailing
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Still Not too Late to ObjectThere is still time to object to the Astral proposal. You can find all the information you need on the menu item 'How to Object' on our home page. We have also included a leaflet you can pass on to your neighbors and friends to remind them! | 
