Harborough District Council says it is between a 'rock and a hard place' on taking unmet housing from Leicester

Harborough District Council says it is stuck between ‘a rock and a hard place’ on taking unmet housing from Leicester.

The authority says no decision has yet been taken on whether to take properties from the city, which could increase local house building targets by a quarter.

But if the council gives plans the green light at a meeting tonight (Monday) it could see up to 2,000 extra homes built in Harborough after Leicester said it was unable to place them.

Cabinet’s planning lead Cllr Simon Galton said: “Harborough District Council is between a rock and a hard place. Without an up-to-date local plan which allocates sufficient sites for housing, the district is in danger of speculative planning applications it would not be able to resist.

“Harborough is part of the Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area (HMA) and government requires all housing needs, wherever it comes from in the HMA, to be met.

“The previous minister was responsible for planning and increased Leicester’s housing numbers by a massive 35 per cent.

“A planning consultant described the intervention as ‘bonkers’. This uplift is the primary reason why Leicester cannot accommodate its housing need.”

Harborough District Council says the seven authorities in Leicestershire are bound by the duty to co-operate and if it does not sign the statement of common ground, it will be unlikely to get the next local plan adopted.

Cllr Galton added: “The council would be sent back to the beginning of the process, as has happened to a number across the country. We cannot afford this delay because if we do not submit the local plan by June 2025, there will be a significant delay while a new planning system is brought into effect.”

The housing requirement in Harborough has been set by government at 557 properties. But Cllr Galton says over the past two years 2,036 have been built.

He added: “We are trying to understand what can be done to ensure the council does not over-provide by such a large amount in the future.

“There is no desire to accept any more housing than government requires but there are significant risks and consequences of not co-operating with neighbouring councils that cannot meet their needs.

“This does not mean that we are merely accepting the position. We will consider any new evidence that emerges and continue to urge Leicester City Council to find more land to meet its housing requirement. This would enable Harborough’s numbers to be reduced.”

But Harborough MP Neil O’Brien, who has been calling on the authority to scrap their plans to sign the statement of common ground, says the authority is wrong and needs to rethink accepting extra homes.

He said: “It is all so amateurish - they are going to massively increase housebuilding in the district for no good reason. The duty to cooperate doesn't require Harborough to take any particular number of homes, and it is being abolished.

“The council have no good explanation of why they want to submit their plan before it is abolished. The requirements would allow the council to submit its next local plan update in summer 2026, a long time after the duty is gone.

“They haven't even made an attempt to get the massive increase reduced, or get the city to take more homes. Leicester were trying to dump their housing onto us before their own need was revised up, and the amount of overspill they now want to dump on their neighbours is bigger than the upward revision.

“The leadership of Harborough are acting as messenger boys for the mayor of Leicester rather than arguing back.

“What is the point of them being in office if they just rubber stamp what other people want, rather than fighting for what Harborough residents want?"