Local Development Orders

LANCASHIRE ADVANCED ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING (SAMLESBURY) ENTERPRISE ZONE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ORDER

In 2011 land at BAE Samlesbury and Warton sites was designated as Lancashire’s first Enterprise Zone (EZ). In order to support the development of the sites a simplified planning regime in the form of a Local Development Order (LDO) and accompanying Masterplan was adopted for each.

The LDO has to date facilitated delivery of the original Master Plan, with much of the basic infrastructure (e.g. main highway improvements, archaeology, ecological mitigation measure, drainage etc) having already been completed.  There remains however capacity for continued development of existing and new parcels of land within the EZ boundary.  As the 2014 LDO expired in early 2024, it has been necessary to revise and update the LDO and Masterplan documents to reflect the current situation and the objectives for the EZ going forward,

The LDO, Masterplan and subsequent revisions result from a collaborative relationship between Lancashire County, Ribble Valley and South Ribble Councils.  The County Council as lead developer and landlord of the site remains responsible for the development and delivery of the site alongside all related commercial matters.  The County Council will also continue to assess each proposed development to ensure that the displacement of existing Lancashire based companies does not occur and that any development is genuine growth in, and support to, the Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing (AEM), science and technology and cyber sectors.

2024 LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ORDER

As the Lancashire Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing (Samlesbury) EZ site lies within Ribble Valley and South Ribble Borough Council areas, both Councils adopted separate but identical new LDOs (version 3) in Autumn 2024 along with a Masterplan, following public consultation in Summer 2024.  For Ribble Valley, the adoption date was 8th October 2024.  These documents have a lifetime of 10 years.

The new LDO and revised Masterplan should enable build out on the EZ site to be completed.  The updated Masterplan vision is focused on transformational growth in the Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing (AEM), Sci-tech and Cyber sectors, with potential for further associated technology spin-out businesses, new business starts and small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The new LDO automatically grants planning permission for these uses subject to satisfying relevant conditions, including the need to submit a 'fast-track' prior notification application to the respective local planning authority (either Ribble Valley or South Ribble), which is a continuation of the provisions made under the 2014 LDO.

KEY DOCUMENTS

Local Development Order 3 (2024) (Samlesbury Site)

Masterplan

Supporting Transport Assessment

Ribble Valley Planning & Development Committee 19 Sep 24 - LDO & Masterplan Consultation Report

Ribble Valley Full Council 8 Oct 24 - Minutes confirming adoption

PRIOR NOTIFICATION APPLICATIONS RECEIVED TO DATE

Applications for development within the Samlesbury Enterprise Zone site submitted to date under the prior notification procedure can be viewed using the planning application search facility on the Council’s website.

The relevant application numbers for Prior Notifications of development under LDO2 (2014 – February 2024) are as follows:

The relevant application numbers for Prior Notifications of development under LDO3 (October 2024-2024) are as follows: