The Wyre Borough Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on 1 September 2025, and members reviewed the Wyre Local Plan, and the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for 2025/26. The committee approved the creation of a Section 106 Funding: Implementation Task Group.

Wyre Local Plan Update

The committee received an update on the progress of the new Wyre Local Plan, which will guide future development and land use in the area for the next 15 years. The current Wyre Local Plan (2011-2031) was adopted in January 2023, and local plans are required to be reviewed every five years.

Fiona Riley, Planning Policy Manager, informed the committee that the council had formally started work on the new Local Plan in January 2022, with a scoping consultation to identify key issues and evidence needed. Further consultations were held in 2022 and 2023 to identify potential development sites, including sites for onshore wind energy, accommodation for travelling show people, and transit provision for gypsies and travellers.

A public consultation on the Issues and Options document was held in July 2024, which included:

• A summary of key evidence within the Spatial Portrait¹
• Key issues for the Local Plan to address
• A description of how the Borough will look in 2040, with Strategic Objectives
• Four broad spatial options for development distribution
• A range of economic, social, and environmental policies
• A long list of potential sites for allocation

The consultation identified land available for approximately 8,862 homes and 60 hectares of employment land across 56 sites. At the time, the estimated need was around 1,400 additional homes.

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)

The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published in December 2024, introducing changes with implications for the emerging Local Plan. Key changes include:

• Housing need: A new mandatory approach to calculating housing need, based on existing housing stock with a 0.8% annual increase. This results in a significantly higher housing need of 592 homes per annum for Wyre, compared to the previous 275 homes per annum.
• Green belt and grey belt: Councils must undertake green belt reviews and identify areas of 'grey belt'² within the green belt that could be used for development.

It is now estimated that around 6,000 additional homes may be needed in addition to existing site allocations.

Planning Reform

The government introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in March 2025, aiming to reform the planning system and accelerate housing delivery. The bill proposes a new style Local Plan with an ambitious 30-month timeframe and three new 'gateway' assessments. National Development Management Policies (NDMP) were also proposed to streamline planning and ensure consistency across England.

The government intended to implement the new plan-making system in Autumn 2025, following public consultation on draft regulations in Spring 2025.

Key Issues and Proposals

The government's proposed planning reforms continue to create uncertainty and delay the Local Plan's progress. Consultation on the draft NDMP was expected in Spring 2025 but has not yet occurred.

Despite the uncertainty, officers are progressing the Local Plan and working towards the next formal consultation stage, expected to be a Preferred Options document. This document will likely contain a draft development strategy, draft policies, and proposed development sites. A six-week public consultation is expected in Spring 2026.

Following the Preferred Options stage, a Publication document is expected in Autumn 2026, with submission to the government in early 2027, examination in public in Spring 2027, and adoption in late 2027.

The council does not expect to meet the transitional arrangements to submit its new Local Plan under the current plan making system, which must be submitted for examination no later than December 2026. The council now expects to transition to the new plan making system.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2025/26

The committee received an update on the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2025/26 from Jack Tickle, Democratic Services Officer.

Responses were provided to questions raised at the previous meeting, including:

• Information from the Housing Needs Assessment regarding the supply of affordable homes for larger families, which can be viewed in the Wyre Report Final May 2024.
• Confirmation that social value is included within the evaluation criteria for leisure centres, and that apprenticeships are mentioned within the question for leisure centres.
• Examples of newsletters used by the Housing Team to communicate potential funding opportunities.

Local Plan Update

At the previous meeting, members requested that an update on the Local Plan be added to the Work Programme 2025/26, and this was included in the agenda for this meeting.

Review of Wyre's Nighttime Economy

The Review of Wyre's Nighttime Economy agenda item was deferred until a later meeting to allow for a thorough report to be prepared. It has been suggested that the topic be moved to the January meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Addressing the Incidence of Fly Tipping Task Group Final Report

Following the previous meeting, the Chair wrote to the Leader of Wyre Council to ask why recommendation three of the Addressing the Incidence of Fly-Tipping Task Group was amended at Cabinet on 9 July 2025.

The response from the Leader was:

"We said we needed to make sure that any scale of fines and any imposition of the maximum fine wouldn't be overturned on appeal. Officers are looking at how other authorities do this and what policies etc would be needed to support it.

An appealed fine is no fine at all and that's not acceptable so we are accepting the recommendation once we have the evidence and information we need and if not, we will explain why."

Section 106 Funding: Implementation Task Group

The committee formally approved the creation of the Section 106 Funding: Implementation Task Group. A scoping document for this task group has been drafted.

The purpose of the task group is to investigate how Section 106 Funding³ is implemented within Wyre Council, and to establish whether improvements into how this funding is allocated could be recommended to Cabinet.

The aims of the review are:

1. To provide members with information on what Section 106 agreements and funding are, and how these are applicable within the context of Wyre Borough Council.
2. To gather evidence of how Section 106 funding is utilised by Wyre Borough Council from officers who specialise in Section 106 agreements and funding.
3. To potentially investigate how external organisations receive and utilise Section 106 Funding, such as Lancashire County Council and the National Health Service.
4. To interview key officers to help inform members understanding of Section 106 funding.
5. To consider whether any recommendations for improvements into how this funding is allocated could be put forward in the final report to Cabinet.