Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Lincolnshire council consults on three brownfield LDOs

04 Aug 2015, 11:32 am

North East Lincolnshire Council is consulting on three local development orders (LDOs) that could allow more than 300 homes to be built without individual planning permissions at brownfield sites in Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

The Council has said it hopes the introduction of LDOs, granting automatic planning permission for proposals meeting set guidelines, will encourage the development of the sites, each of which has been vacant for several years.

The former Western School site in Grimsby was declared surplus to requirements by the Council two years ago and is considered suitable for around 120 new homes, but the Council has been unsuccessful at finding a prospective developer. The Council has said a proposed LDO for the site is intended to make it more attractive to developers, who will be required to deliver "high-quality residential development" including a contribution toward the local supply of affordable housing.

A second site in Grimsby is expected to deliver between 160 and 180 homes, according to the Council. Demolition and remediation of the former Birdseye site, which is in private ownership, took place after planning permission was granted for up to 176 homes in 2006. However, development stalled following the UK recession and the Council has said it hopes an LDO for the site will encourage the land owner to continue with the redevelopment or to dispose of the site to a third party.

The site of a former bingo hall near Cleethorpes railway station also has extant planning permission for homes, following approval for a 35-unit development in 2006. A third LDO is intended to influence the private land owner of the site to commence development of this site or assist the owner with the sale of the site for development.

Planning expert Emma O'Gorman of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com said: "It will be interesting to see if the Council’s use of the LDO process to incentivise development, both in terms of existing owners and prospective developers, will have the desired effect. However, whether the historic failure of these sites to come forward is down to uncertainty and the perceived slowness of the planning process, or due to site specific constraints, only time will tell."

The Council was awarded government grants towards the delivery of LDOs for the sites following an invitation for bids last year. The consultation of each LDO closes on 20 August.