Lichfield District 2050 strategy

We will be the place where people across the UK aspire to live

Confident communities are places that are inclusive, resilient, and self-assured, where people take pride in their living environment, respecting and supporting one another regardless of background. A confident community is a cohesive, healthy, safe, prosperous, and happy place. It collectively tackles disadvantage, exclusion and powerlessness and strives to provide a high quality of life for everyone that lives there, across all age ranges.

We want people to be more confident about, take more pride in and ownership of the future of Lichfield District. We want to increase the sense of belonging we know already exists and for everyone to be more able to express their views and contribute.

We understand that people want a clean, safe, and healthy environment, with appropriate employment opportunities close to home and good quality, sustainable, affordable housing, in the right places, that help them to be healthy and independent for longer.  Good quality housing is a key priority for residents, ensuring there is a range of housing options and tenure to suit changing needs.

They want to live in a Burntwood or Lichfield with vibrant cultural, tourism and leisure options, and in rural communities that retain and celebrate their historic characteristics and are connected by decent public transport options. They want to be supported and empowered by a compassionate and caring public sector when they need it.

We also know building confident communities requires community action and active community and voluntary groups, that the arts and cultural sector has a key role to play and that a willingness to work together, with the public sector, will support our residents to thrive and increase wellbeing and a sense of aspiration.

By 2050 we will be a district where:

• Regeneration in Lichfield city centre and Burntwood has had a positive impact on residents across the district
• Housing growth has been controlled, easing pressure on our existing towns and villages by building new homes in the right places, with critical roads, utilities, schools, and health infrastructure delivered first, not last
• Housing inequalities have been challenged and options that meet everyone’s needs, for now and the future are available
• New housing permitted is designed in a way that compliments and enhances our district, whilst also protecting and recovering our environment
• People are empowered to influence and control the decisions that matter to them, across all age ranges
• Decision-making and funding are delegated to local communities to unlock community power
• Our communities are connected to support a sense of belonging, through influencing transport authorities and providers, and through the introduction of alternative modes of transport
• Wellbeing and community cohesion is consistently prioritised in all our activities, working effectively with leisure and cultural venues to do so
• A vibrant local voluntary and community sector is supported and invested in

Key milestones - by 2028 we will:

• Champion an ‘infrastructure first’ approach to growth and development across the district, working with partners to make sure the right infrastructure is in place to support our communities
• Have in place arrangements with the voluntary and community sector to provide better signposting to community support, ensuring we aren’t duplicating effort
• Implement an effective Design Code, developed with residents, ensuring that housing developments in the district meet residents’ expectations on design, quality, and sustainability
• Complete the city centre regeneration of Lichfield on the Birmingham Road Site
• Bring back into use more of the 500 empty properties in our district, for the benefit of families and communities
• Have worked with private rental landlords and registered social landlords to increase the supply of safer, healthier, and affordable rental properties
• Achieve 40% affordable housing on council owned sites and encourage developers to strive for the same target. The Birmingham Road Site will act as an exemplar site for good quality affordable housing
• Adopt a new Local Plan – to deliver much-needed housing within the district including the consideration of a new urban settlement, to assist in alleviating existing pressures within our main towns and village areas.

Key milestones - by 2038 we will:

• Be working towards the delivery of an ambitious new Local Plan
• Fully embed locality working across the district and devolved maximum powers to our locality partnerships. Influenced our partners to also devolve powers and funding
• Have delivered the regeneration of Burntwood, through a new town centre
• Regularly exceed our affordable homes target.