TWO sites have been identified for future large-scale housing and business projects in Barrowford and Nelson.

Pendle Council has moved to update its core strategy document – which outlines the anticipated growth in housing and employment needs in the borough for the next 15 years – following a review.

A public consultation on the changes will take place in the New Year.

The council’s executive committee recommended the consultation to the full council at a meeting last week.

The two proposed sites are at Trough Laithe Farm, off Wheatley Lane Road, Barrowford, and Lomeshaye Industrial Estate, Nelson.

Neil Watson, the council’s planning manager, said Trough Laithe was the largest site in Pendle deemed suitable for future housing development.

He said: “As strategic sites have not been identified in the previous versions of the core strategy, it is necessary to give members of the public and key stakeholders a chance to comment.

“A public consultation would also provide the opportunity for people to suggest alternative sites that are considered to be deliverable over the first five years of the plan.”

The council’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment concluded that Trough Laith has the potential for a total of 481 houses, which would provide 17 per cent of the annual need for housing in the borough.

The proposals for Lomeshaye Industrial Estate could see it expand to the north and west after an Employment Land Review found that it was ‘based in a part of Pendle where a need for employment development has been identified’.

The executive has also decided against implementing a community infrastructure levy (CIL), which Mr Watson said would ‘discourage developers’.

He added: “We are recommending that we monitor market conditions to assess whether there is an appropriate time to introduce CIL in the future.”