Harborough District Council set to publish draft Local Plan next month following initial delay

The plan will go out for an 8-week consultation.

Harborough District Council has says it’s on track to publish its draft Local Plan - which allocates provisional sites to deliver increased housing targets - next month.

The authority also announced it plans to extend its public consultation on the draft plan beyond the six-week statutory minimum to an eight-week period to give residents, businesses and local groups more time to read and respond to the draft plan. The Government announced its response to the recent National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation, after proposed changes to housing targets earlier in the year, before Christmas.

However, as Harborough District Council was at an advanced stage with its draft Local Plan, the council continued with its plan-making under the old NPPF and previous housing numbers.

The draft plan follows a decision to take on Leicester’s unmet housing in December 2023.

The authority originally planned to publish the draft, it has been working on for the past year, in early January.

But now it has confirmed the document will go to Cabinet on February 20 and, subject to approval, it will go to council on March 3.

If council agree, the draft Local Plan will then move to an eight-week public consultation in March 2025.

Cllr Galton, Cabinet lead for planning, said: “While the amount of new housing to build in the district has increased due to the changes made by Government, the new draft local plan has managed to accommodate over 80 per cent of the new annual requirements and therefore can progress under the Government’s current framework and housing targets under transitional arrangements.”