Local Plan for 6,000+ Homes Moves Closer to Government Submission

A blueprint setting out where development will take place across Harborough over the next 15 years has moved a step closer to submission to government.

Harborough District Council’s Cabinet has endorsed the new Local Plan, which identifies preferred sites for nearly 6,500 new homes, along with employment land, new schools, health services, retail and community infrastructure.

The document will now go before the full council later this month.

Harborough District Council’s Cabinet has endorsed the new Local Plan  pic: Stop The New Town

Around 80 campaigners attended last night’s Cabinet meeting to oppose plans for a new settlement of up to 4,000 homes on land at Stretton Hall, north of Great Glen and east of Oadby.

The site, covering around 931 acres, is being promoted by Urban & Civic and Homes England.

Campaign group Stop The New Town says the scale of development would have a major impact on roads, infrastructure and the surrounding countryside.

Over 2,300 objections to the site’s inclusion in the plan was submitted during consultation.

The plan also includes more than 1,400 homes north of Market Harborough and sites in Kibworth, Great Glen, Lutterworth, Great Bowden, Husbands Bosworth and Fleckney, among others.

The strategy aims to deliver 657 homes per year until 2036 and just over 530 annually until 2041.

If approved by full council, the plan will be submitted for independent examination by a Planning Inspector, who will assess whether it is legally compliant and “sound” before it can be formally adopted.

Cllr Phil Knowles, leader of the council, spoke to HFM after the meeting: