A PUBLIC inquiry into the soundness of a council's plans to zone land for thousands of homes in the South Lakes will resume this summer.

Government planning inspector Simon Berkeley will reconvene hearings into South Lakeland District Council's land allocations development document at Kendal Town Hall from June 11.

The inquiry originally started in October but was brought to an abrupt halt the following month after SLDC requested the hearing was suspended so it could investigate the issues which had been raised.

One of those issues was evidence from Cumbria County Council, which suggested proposals in the document would require a further two primary schools to be built in Kendal alone.

A revised plan was published by the council on April 8, with comments from the public forwarded to Mr Berkeley to consider.

SLDC said the plan, once adopted, would allocate land for new housing and employment and protect green spaces and green gaps from development in South Lakeland.

It identifies areas which could potentially accommodate 6,000 homes in the district by 2025.

An SLDC spokesman said: "South Lakeland faces increasing pressure for homes for all sectors of the community including young people, families and those with special housing needs such as the growing elderly population.

"More than 3,000 households are either homeless or in unsuitable housing and the area needs 400 new properties to be built each year to cope with current and future need.

"The district also needs sites for new employment development to deliver economic growth."

SLDC development strategy group manager Dan Hudson added: "Identifying sites for affordable homes and economic development is a key priority for the council.

"We need to attract high quality jobs to provide employment for young people and encourage development of suitable housing for all sections of the community.”

The revised document, or Schedule of Proposed Main Modifications, and all supporting documents is available to view and download from the SLDC website at www.southlakeland.gov.uk

The documents are also available to look at during normal opening hours at South Lakeland House in Kendal, Ulverston Town Hall and libraries in Arnside, Grange-over-Sands, Kendal, Kirkby Lonsdale, Milnthorpe and Ulverston.