CONTROVERSIAL plans which could create 5,200 new homes across South Lakeland look set to be formally adopted next week.

A meeting of the full council on Tuesday (December 17) is expected to agree that SLDC accepts the finished local plan.

The plan outlines where homes and businesses of the future can go and will be used a point of reference for SLDC’s planning committee.

It means as many as 400 new homes a year could be built between now and 2025 - with 35 per cent having to be affordable.

It has been welcomed by housing campaigners and developers as being essential for the area’s  economic and social future.

But residents groups fear precious green spaces being lost and warn that the district does not have the jobs or infrastructure to support it.

The plan was found ‘sound’ by a government-appointed planning inspector but objectors say their concerns have gone unheeded.

If the council chamber accepts the plan, residents opposed to the adoption of the plans, will have six weeks to launch a legal challenge.

In papers before councillors, the planning inspector has outlined a number of modifications including a separate development plan to cover development in the protected Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Beauty, and the creation of a plan for gypsies and travellers.

The report said: “South Lakeland is the first council in Cumbria and one of four in the north of England to have progressed a land allocations document to the point of adoption. The challenge now is to deliver.”