Council Sells Land Set For Controversial Redevelopment

Harborough District Council has sold land set for a controversial redevelopment in Market Harborough.

The sale to Platform Housing Group means the housing association now owns the whole of the site at the Naseby Square elderly persons’ complex ,on the Southern Estate.

Plans to bulldoze bungalows and flats, to make way for 38 new homes, remain, although will be revised, with the scheme providing 100%  per cent affordable housing – a mix of rental and shared ownership properties.

Campaigners against the plan say it will wreck the existing community and would be ‘over-development’ of the area, off Stuart Road.

The Council had intended to redevelop the land itself, but is refocusing its priorities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cllr James Hallam, Harborough District Council’s Cabinet lead for strategic asset management, said: “It is really positive that this site will provide so many affordable homes to assist those on the housing waiting list and also help those trying to get on the property ladder.”

The redevelopment is planned for a former garage site that was owned by the Council, along with land owned by Platform Housing Group, which says it it will continue its ongoing programme of consultation with customers at the Naseby Square complex.

A new planning application,  identical to the previous one, but with 100 per cent affordable housing, will now be submitted.

It is not known when it will be considered by councillors.

Bangalows would be demolished if the plan goes ahead