MORE than 5,500 new homes will be built in the Ribble Valley over the next five years after a controversial housing plan was given the green light by the government, it has been revealed.

The council’s ‘Core Strategy’, which will dictate how many houses can be built in the borough, was examined by planning inspector Simon Berkeley at the council chambers in Clitheroe earlier this year.

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It was found to be ‘sound’, and could be adopted in the near future, the council said yesterday.

Council leader Stuart Hirst said: “It has been a long journey, but the final Core Strategy is here.

“Its approval is a significant achievement that will bring much-needed coherence and certainty to planning policy in Ribble Valley.

“The process has been protracted, difficult, and subject to opposition and objection throughout, but it gives the borough a clear planning vision for the foreseeable future.

“The council is among a small number of local authorities in the UK that have successfully adopted a Core Strategy, and I would like to express my thanks to councillors and officers for their efforts in reaching this milestone achievement.”

The strategy will set out development in the borough until 2028, including how many new houses the area needs and where they might be built.

Following January’s hearings, the inspector, Mr Berkeley, asked for further consideration of housing levels, how houses were distributed and the treatment of villages.

As a result, Modifications were made to the strategy and opened for public consultation.

Now The inspector has concluded that the strategy with the modifications now provides “an appropriate basis for the planning of the borough”.

Chairman of the Save Whalley Village Action Group, Nick Walker, said it was “about time” the strategy was approved, but stopped short of saying it was a victory for residents against developers.

He said: “The new housing figure will be around 6,000, which is the government’s target, but this should stop it going above that.

“We have got a rural valley here that’s going to get 6,000 houses, whereas places like Hyndburn and Pendle are only going to get 3,000.

“Developers have been pushing to get their way, and the reason is they get more profit building here than they do in Burnley, for example. That’s what it’s all about.”

“The developers have had far too much sway in getting the council to go from 3,000 to 6,000.”

Planning chairman, Councillor Terry Hill, said the new core strategy would protect against developers who, without a Core Strategy in place, could appeal planning refusals citing the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

He said the Core Strategy states 280 new homes can be built every year for the next 20 years.

He said: “If you have not got an approved Core Strategy, then the NPPF applies and that says quite categorically that developments have to be approved.

“There’s an assumption that things will be approved whereas now we have a Core Strategy which has detailed policies in it, and now we can judge all applications against those policies.”

He continued: “Only 20 per cent of councils have this up to now and it will give us some control over over developments in the borough.

“And it will give residents protection against over-zealous developers who only interest is their own self-interest.”