CLOSE to 800 new homes could be built in Carnforth by 2031 under major plans to be discussed next week.

According to the draft blueprint for the future prosperity of Lancaster and surrounding towns and villages, 13,500 new homes are needed in the next 15 years - equivalent to 675 per year.

For the many residents who were concerned by plans to build on the GB4 green belt fields between Bolton-le-Sands and Slyne-with-Hest, there will be relief that the proposal has been dropped from the weighty, 321-page document to be discussed at Morecambe Town Hall on Wednesday, December 14 at 6pm.

However, Lancaster City Council is proposing to release green belt land near Carnforth for around 500 new homes. The undulating fields south of Windermere Road, around one kilometre from the town centre, have been part of the North Lancashire green belt since 1991. The council says the land is needed for housing because of constraints elsewhere such as flood risks, the M6 and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The draft development strategy, which sets out to identify land where 13,500 new homes and potentially 9,500 new jobs can be created across the Lancaster district also includes plans for:

- 250 new homes to help 'kick-start' the regeneration of brown field land at Lundsfield Quarry, Carnforth - currently home to a canal marina and a defunct concrete works

- up to 40 new homes at the vacant, former Thomas Graveson site, Warton Road, Carnforth, close to the River Keer

- an unspecified number of new homes on land off Fleet Lane/Melling Road, at Hornby, in the Forest of Bowland AONB

- and redevelopment of the former TDG depot at Warton Road, Carnforth, for jobs, recreation and housing.

At Wednesday's full council meeting, councillors will be asked to move forward to a public consultation, to take place between January 27 and March 24 next year.

The development plan document will then be revised again before coming back to the council in late 2017, prior to final approval by the Government.