Harborough District Council defends new Local Plan consultation process as MP brands it a 'sham'


Harborough District Council is working on the draft plan after it agreed to take on some of Leicester’s unmet housing – increasing Harborough’s target by around a quarter.
Since then, the new Labour Government has announced an increase to national housing delivery targets.
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Hide AdMr O’Brien, who campaigned heavily against the move, has argued the consultation taken prior to the decision consisted of just 0.1 per cent of district residents, after new figures showed 101 residents responded out of a population of over 97,000.
He said: “Complaints have been raised about the recent consultation in which the public was supposed to be given a proper say in what they wanted to see in the next Local Plan.
“These latest figures, quietly released by the council, show that only 101 members of the public responded to the consultation, a measly 0.1 per cent of the population of the district. This is hardly democratic.”
He added residents complained in-person information events had been complicated to understand, and expressed concern over the new government’s increased housing targets and its potential plan for homes on land near Great Glen.
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Hide AdHe added: “I am calling for the council to take stock and rerun the public consultation when things have become clearer. This will allow many more people to have their say on the next Local Plan and enable the council to learn from its previous mistakes. The last consultation was a sham; the council should do this again with all information made available to residents.”
But district council leader Phil Knowles says the MP’s request is ‘another attempt to disrupt the Plan’s progression’. He has defended the authority’s decision and consultation process.
He said: “This is another attempt to disrupt the progression of the new Local Plan for the Harborough district.
“As I have said before, preparation of a new Local Plan is essential to safeguard the district from future speculative development proposals and housing growth in potentially unsustainable locations.
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Hide Ad“Full public consultation on the first stage of the Local Plan, which set out options for the overall approach to the plan, was undertaken early in 2024 and there were multiple opportunities for the public to come to events and talk to planning officers to further understand proposals.”
He pointed out an online consultation ran the entire time, with paper copies available. He argued five in-person events were ‘well received’ and said the response rate was higher than during the same stage for the current Local Plan, with 238 responses ‘from individuals, parish councils and other groups’ received in total.
He said comments would be considered on the draft Local Plan when it is published for public consultation in early 2025, adding: “I would be grateful if officers could now be given the time and space to focus on the important process of gathering the technical information needed to produce the draft plan.”
He added he was pushing for a discussion with ministers on the issues arising from government’s revision of the National Planning Policy Framework.
He further stressed the government had not announced a new settlement at Stretton Hall but gave the site as a ‘possible example’ to support delivery of more new homes.