St Helens Borough Local Plan

St Helens Borough must have a Local Plan to show the vision for future development in our borough. Every area in England and Wales should have an up-to-date Local Plan in place and review it at least every five years.

It gives local residents some certainty about our development plans and future use of land in the borough. It shows where development is planned, and therefore where resources and possible additional infrastructure such as roads, or new schools, are needed to support it.

It prevents decisions being made on developments which may not be in the best interests of our local community, but most importantly it sets out our ambitions to create jobs, build homes, shape infrastructure investments, create and protect our open green spaces and develops our town and district centres.

What stage are we at?

On Tuesday 12 July 2022, the St Helens Borough Local Plan was officially adopted with approval by members at a meeting of the Full Council.

The plan includes the Main Modifications recommended by independent Planning Inspectors who, with the inclusion of these modifications, consider the plan 'sound' in accordance with national policy. 

You can read the St Helens Borough Local Plan in full, the accompanying Policies Map and an updated version of the Executive Summary, as well as finding answers to frequently asked questions.

We've also published our Adoption Statement and SEA Statement, which you can download at the foot of the page.

And watch our explainer video about the Local Plan below.

What has happened previously?

We carried out extensive consultation with residents, local communities, businesses and other stakeholders. This involved three public consultations, including: an initial consultation on the scope of the plan in 2016; the Preferred Options version of the plan in 2016/17, and the Submission Draft version of the plan in 2019.

We received nearly 6,000 responses from the Preferred Options version. We listened to what you told us and used your comments to produce the Submission Draft version of the plan.

At a meeting on Wednesday 23 September 2020, Cabinet approved a decision to submit the Local Plan, supporting documents and comments. On Thursday 29 October 2020, the council submitted the Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate for independent examination. Two Planning Inspectors were appointed to undertake an Examination of the St Helens Borough Local Plan 2020-2035 Submission Draft, and a series of public hearing sessions were held in May and June 2021.

In May 2022, the council received the Inspectors' Final Report on the Local Plan and the final schedule of Main Modifications, which you can download below.