Welcome to the Spatial Planning page where you can find out all about the Spatial Development Strategy, our latest engagements and key projects.
“We are working hard to make sure that the Liverpool City Region is the best possible place to live, work, invest in and visit.
In spite of the challenges we are all facing as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, we are still working hard to make sure that the Liverpool City Region is the best possible place to live, work, invest in and visit.
As part of that work we are creating a Spatial Development Strategy that will help shape our city region for the next 15 years.
When I first ran to be Mayor, it was because I was excited by the potential for more decisions to be taken locally and for local people to have a much bigger say about the future of their communities.
With ‘LCR Listens: Our Places’, we’re putting local people’s views front and centre when it comes to developing the region’s policies. Your views will help us make important decisions about the future of everything from jobs and transport, to health and housing right the way across our region”.
Steve Rotheram
Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor
If you wish to stay updated on future spatial planning engagements please use the button below to join our mailing list.
SIGN UP HERE“Our Spatial Development Strategy gives us the opportunity to demonstrate devolution in action.
“It will help set out how our city region develops over the next 15 years and will have an impact of many aspects of our lives.
“Our job is to improve the lives of the 1.6 million people of the Liverpool City Region and, by listening to what people tell us is important to them, we are determined to develop a Spatial Development Strategy that makes a crucial contribution to that improvement.”
Cllr Graham Morgan,
Portfolio Holder for Housing and Spatial Framework
The SDS is a statutory planning document that will set out for the development and use of land for the next 15 years. This means that when it is published, it will form part of the ‘development plan’ for the six City Region local authorities alongside their own Local Plans and Neighbourhood Plans. SDS policies, when finalised, will therefore be considered when determining planning applications across the City Region.
In line with legislation, the SDS will need to have regard to:
The SDS will only deal with planning matters that are of strategic importance to the Liverpool City Region. Therefore, its policies will be ‘high level’ with more detailed planning policies contained in the Local Plans prepared by the six local authorities, reflecting their local circumstances. Planning matters we can consider include housing, health and wellbeing, transport, the economy, the environment, air quality and connectivity for example.
Paul Monaghan is an internationally acclaimed architect. His visions, channelled through his studio’s creative intelligence, are focused on redefining the built environment in both the UK and abroad. His key projects in the workplace, arts, education, residential and masterplanning sectors have all been recognised by numerous national and international awards including the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize for Burntwood School.
Since November 2018 Paul is Liverpool City Region’s first Design Champion. Appointed by Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, Paul’s role as a Design Champion is to promote good design and kick start a conversation about the importance of design throughout the area. The latest initiative is the Found Spaces programme that is led by Paul.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FOUND SPACESThe Liverpool City Region Brownfield Land Register provides up to date and consistent information on available Brownfield Land sites across the Six Local Authorities.
Brownfield Land is classified as sites that have previously been developed upon.
The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 requires each Local Authority to prepare, maintain and publish an up to date register to demonstrate land that is appropriate for development. The requirement for a Liverpool City Region Brownfield Land Register is also established as part of our Devolution Deal to help inform residential and commercial delivery of sites across the city region and will inform funding opportunities including the Liverpool City Region Brownfield Land Fund.
At current, the Liverpool City Region Brownfield Land Register demonstrates the following delivery opportunities;
429 number of Brownfield Land sites across the LCR
Potential to deliver nearly 30,000 units across the LCR in future years if land is developed
556 hectares of land
The SDS will also be underpinned by a range of evidence to support our proposed policies. It will also be assessed to ensure it helps achieve sustainable development and that any impacts on health, equality and important areas for nature conservation are fully considered. Additionally, a Social Value Evaluation will be carried out to ensure wider community benefits are achieved.
The Liverpool City Region Town House Design competition was held as part of the inaugural Liverpool Architecture Festival and attracted 52 entries.
The competition – to find a realistic design for an energy-efficient, post Covid family home that could be taken forward as a deliverable scheme – was open to international architects and students.
The judging panel was led by Stirling Prize-winning architect and Liverpool City Region design champion Paul Monaghan, with Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud and the government’s chief planning officer Joanna Averley also numbered among the judges. Completing the judging panel were Plus Dane’s former chief executive Barbara Spicer; James Soane, director of Project Orange Architecture; Hazel Rounding, director of Shedkm and Lifa Zvimbande, regional director of RIBA North West.
First prize went to Studio MUTT in collaboration with Solidspace for their Back to Life design, a “classic interpretation of the terrace house and mews”.
WATCH A VIDEO OF THE DESIGN ENTRIESPreparation of the SDS is in progress. So far, this has included two stages of informal public engagement to help set the scope of the strategy.
Our Places Stage 1 (Oct 2019 – Jan 2020) [link to Commonplace] helped us understand what you think the key planning challenges facing the city region are and gave valuable feedback on the opportunities we should take to address them.
Our Places Stage 2 (Nov 2020 – Feb 2021) [link to Commonplace] helped us formulate a long-term vision and set overarching objectives for the strategy to achieve. It also provided views on some initial suggested policy approaches.
We would like to thank everybody who participated in this consultation for their valuable input. Over the next few months, the Spatial Planning team will be using the feedback from the consultation to help shape and progress the SDS ahead of our next round of public consultation.
Building on the feedback we received from:
This page summarises the engagement events and forums as part of our consultations.
FIND OUT MORE
Planning Awards 2020 Winner (Sept 2020)
RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence (April 2021) – LCR Listens: Our Places – LCR SDS – Non-statutory engagement – finalist
RTPI Awards Excellence in Planning for the Natural Environment (April 20201) – Liverpool City Region Natural Capital submitted by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority – finalist
FIND OUT MOREIf you would like to learn more about our skills and apprenticeships policy or are looking for guidance and procedures to get involved with our skills and apprenticeships schemes then please visit our policy documents page. Our policy documents offer detailed information on the various policies.
