Sefton Council's cabinet will next week be asked to approve the next stage of its Sefton 2030 housing programme, enabling partner The Sovini Group to start feasibility work on three potential development sites: the former Ainsdale Hope School, the Professional Development Centre in Formby, and the former TT Cables/Peoples site in Bootle.

If agreed, Sovini would undertake surveys and explore initial design options to determine how the land could best meet local needs. Around 230 properties with a mix of tenures are envisaged across the sites.

The Council and The Sovini Group formalised the Sefton 2030 partnership in March, pledging to deliver 1,000 new social and affordable homes for local people by the end of the decade by pooling council-owned land with Sovini's development pipeline.

The TT Cables/Peoples site is already on the Council's disposal pathway, while Ainsdale Hope School and the Formby Professional Development Centre have been identified as surplus to operational requirements. Proposals for the Formby site include working with Ravenmeols Community Centre to ensure continued local community facilities. All three sites have long been earmarked for housing in Sefton's Local Plan, adopted in 2017.

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No final decisions on disposal or construction would be taken at this stage. Any scheme would need planning permission and a return to Cabinet for full approval. Residents and community stakeholders would be consulted on each site, and potential impacts on local infrastructure and services would be assessed through the planning process.

Cllr Phil Hart, Sefton Council's Cabinet Member with responsibility for housing, said: "Everyone deserves a safe, good-quality home. It's key to a safe, happy and fulfilling life. Sefton 2030 is about making that a reality in our borough.

"By working in collaboration with The Sovini Group, we can bring forward currently unused sites that have been earmarked for disposal and turn them into the right mix of over 200 new homes for local people.

"This is an important step; we are still at an early stage, and nothing will happen at these sites without further approval of detailed plans by the Council. These plans will include, in relation to the Formby development, a commitment to ensuring new facilities for the Ravenmeols Community Centre."

Sefton 2030 aims to create places and communities by ensuring new homes meet a broad range of needs, including families, older and younger residents, and people currently living in temporary accommodation. The programme will deliver a high-quality mix of housing, from social rent allocated via Property Pool Plus to routes into home ownership, to help foster safer, healthier and better-connected neighbourhoods.