Lying to the east of the city centre and bounded by Lancaster Canal, regeneration of the Canal Quarter area is critical to enhancing Lancaster’s role as a commercial and cultural centre.  Land and buildings within the 6.5 ha area will be redeveloped for a mix of uses, including housing, commercial, enhanced cultural and leisure opportunities that will complement the wider centre and provide for sustainable and balanced place-making.   

In order to bring forward successful regeneration challenges to overcome include:

• Securing the future of Important historic buildings and the heritage interest
• Addressing areas of dereliction and contamination
• Ensuring quality design to high environmental standards  
• Overcoming traffic impacts and deciding the future of the extensive and well utilised car parking provision.
• Connectivity with the existing city centre
• Relatively low and depressed commercial/residential property values with rising construction costs
• Fragmented site ownership.    

After decades of failed attempts to bring the area into better and more productive use, we are taking a fresh approach to progressing future development across the site.   The council has committed to work within some fundamental principles to underpin the regeneration approach.  These include having less reliance of the development of retail space, finding new uses for historic buildings and ensuring better community involvement. The decision was taken to provide a firm foundation, informed by community aspirations and views, for all future regeneration proposals private or public bodies with interests across the site.

• The council adopted the Canal Quarter Strategic Regeneration Framework (CQSRF) in 2021, adopted as a formal Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).   The role of an SPD is to help developers shape and make successful planning applications. SPDs should relate to specific sites or specific planning issues.
• The Masterplan to transform the derelict Canal Quarter area of Lancaster in a "vibrant district which is welcoming and inclusive has been formally adopted by Lancaster City Council in July 2023. The aim of the masterplan is to bring back in use many of Lancaster's important buildings and derelict sites to create a vibrant, sustainable, and active place which is integrated with the city centre and the Lancaster Canal.