ST Helens Council has bolstered its brownfield register following a statutory review.

In 2017, the government’s housing white paper, ‘Fixing our Broken Housing Market’, put forward a range of measures to increase the number of houses built across the country.

One of the measures subsequently introduced was a requirement for local authorities to publish a register of brownfield land suitable for housing.

The existing St Helens brownfield land register was published following cabinet approval in December 2017.

READ > Local Plan reveals proposed changes to green belt

A delegated decision has now been taken by the council to approve the St Helens brownfield register review 2018 and to make it available for public inspection.

Following the review, 108 sites are now included on the register – up from 98 sites last time around.

The council says the re-use of brownfield land is a “key priority” of the council as reflected in the submission draft St Helens Local Plan.

“This proposes a balanced growth strategy within which the re-use of brownfield land would make a major contribution to meeting the borough’s needs for housing development, supplemented by release of some greenfield sites,” the council says.

While the sites on the new register cover a smaller combined area than those on the 2017 register, the total capacity (6,028 homes) is 210 higher than the previous total.

The council says this is because some new sites have been added that have a higher assumed development density than sites that have been removed.

A total of 12 new sites have been added to the register, which the council says could collectively deliver around 132 new homes.

Two sites, land at Lea Green Colliery and Lowfield Lane Industrial Estate in Thatto Heath and Saxon Court in Windle, have been removed as they have both been fully built out.

No sites have been removed because they cannot be developed.

READ > Brownfield housing approach outlined by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

By Kenny LomasLocal Democracy Reporter

The council says it is intended to combine St Helens’ brownfield register with the five other authorities within the city region.

“At the Liverpool City Region level, it is intended to combine the latest reviews of the individual brownfield registers for the six constituent authorities into a single list,” the council says.

“This will update an existing combined list for the city region and act as a valuable information source, for example to support planning and investment decisions.”