County council officers deem Harborough's housing plans 'premature and unsound'

The proposed Local Plan, put forward by Harborough District Council (HDC), looks at where housing will go between the years 2020 to 2041. It will replace the current plan which looked at housing over the 2011 to 2031 period.

The draft plan takes into account the district’s requirement to build 657 homes per year between 2020 and 2036 in the district, and 534 homes per year between 2036 and 2041 – that is compared to 557 homes a year under the 2019 Local Plan. The proposals also map out ‘key development sites’ across the district, including 4,000 homes on land South of Gartree Road, while 30 per cent of all future housing must be set aside for “affordable” housing under the plan.

However, concerns have been raised by Leicestershire County Council officers, with a number of “substantive issues” regarding, transport, education provision, and health infrastructure raised in relation to the plan.

A council officer said: “At the moment, a lot of development is being progressed around the A6, and we don’t feel that Harborough has the evidence base to back this up, and we don’t have the confidence in the plan that has a mechanism in place which will deliver the infrastructure required. So we do feel that at this time, the plan is perhaps a little premature, and it’s unsound”.

The officer even believed the issues were linked to a reported “rush” to get the Local Plan approved under the existing planning system. A second officer was also concerned about the effects of high numbers of housing in the Harborough area.

They said: “We’re now at a stage where the kind of cumulative impacts of growth are being felt by residents already, and we want to have a really clear plan for making sure we understand what those impacts will be and how we will mitigate them.

“We do also understand that the sort of planning for the level of housing that planning authorities are doing is a challenge, but I think the key thing is to make sure we understand what those impacts will be and that we have a plan for them. And we are getting to the stage where there are no really easy places to put substantial amounts of development […], and I don’t feel we would be doing our job as highway authority if we were not to point out the challenges at this stage.”

Speaking previously, a HDC spokesperson said the changes in Market Harborough and near Leicester and Oadby would “provide diverse housing” as well as job opportunities and “improved healthcare, education and recreation services”.

They said: “The district’s unique market towns and expanded employment hubs in Lutterworth, Market Harborough and near Oadby will boost the economy, with Magna Park continuing as a key logistics hub. The plan aims to create well-designed communities where families can live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives.”

The district council says the Local Plan must be introduced, with the spokesperson saying: “If the council does not prepare a new Local Plan now, it will need to plan for an additional 2,000 homes than is currently the case because the government has increased national housing targets and at a further cost estimated at over £2 million”.

The draft Harborough Local Plan is currently subject to an eight-week public consultation, which runs until 9am on Tuesday, May 6. People can have their say by searching ‘Consultation’ and ‘Planning Policy Consultations’ on the HDC website.