Harborough district’s new housing number increases yet again following update to mandatory Government targets


The Government has updated mandatory targets published and brought into effect this week.
The targets have changed since its announcement in July to create 1.5 million additional new homes across the country over the next five years.
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Hide AdWhile most Leicestershire areas saw targets fall slightly compared to those published in the summer, Harborough district’s annual new homes target has increased by around 220 homes, from 510 to 706 earlier this year – and now to 723. But, the district is currently beating those expectations, with an average of 891 homes built yearly between the start of the 2021 and end of 2024 financial years.
The district agreed last year to take on a portion of Leicester’s housing target that the city could not accommodate.
MP Neil O’Brien, who led a campaign to fight the move, called the latest increase unfair, especially since Leicester received the biggest reduction, from 2,435 to 1,557 new homes.
Oadby and Wigston, also part of his constituency, will see its targets double from 198 homes a year to 382 homes, an increase of 93 per cent, and seven homes fewer than its previously expected target.
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Hide AdHe said: “The massive increase in Harborough and Oadby and Wigston’s housing targets are very concerning and unfair. Our area has already been doing more than its fair share in terms of housing, delivering sustainable growth while protecting the unique character of our villages and towns.”
He suggested urban regeneration – a planning approach which addresses social and economic issues – was the way forward and said cities like Leicester suffered from overcrowding and had a greater housing need.
Councils have 12 weeks to set out timetables for updating their Local Plans – documents which set out where new building projects can take place in an areas – in line with new targets. For those, like Leicester, which are already in the process of updating their plans, the Government will give them three months in which to move forward with those, but said there will be conditions in place to “catch those which significantly undershoot the new targets”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said home-ownership was a distant reality for young people and said urgent action was needed to tackle the housing crisis.
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Hide AdHe added: “Our Plan for Change will put builders not blockers first, overhaul the broken planning system and put roofs over the heads of working families and drive the growth that will put more money in people’s pockets. We’re taking immediate action to make the dream of home-ownership a reality through delivering 1.5 million homes by the next parliament and rebuilding Britain to deliver for working people.”
Councils will also be called on to review their greenbelts – countryside which separates residential areas from each other to maintain distinct town, village and city boundaries – to meet targets by identifying lower quality “grey belt” land that could be built on. The framework defines the grey belt for the first time as green belt land that “does not strongly contribute to green belt purposes”.