District council working hard to protect communities through new Local Plan

The impact of this for Harborough District Council is that the council can now continue with its plan-making under the old system which reduces the requirement from 723 houses a year, to 657 houses a year, and when you take off housing sites that have already been permitted this will mean approximately 380 houses on new sites per year.

This means that the number of houses required to 2041 is approximately 1,800 houses fewer than it would be under the new NPPF.

Cllr Phil Knowles, Leader of the Council commented: “I am delighted with this announcement as it proves that the approach the council has taken has been the correct one for our communities. We have been proved right, and I am so pleased we held firm in the face of persistent criticism from some quarters.

“We have invested significant resources to get the job done against significant challenge, but we firmly believe we have done the right thing for the district by sticking to our plan. If we had allowed our process to be de-railed, we would be having to plan for approximately 1,800 more houses under the new methodology and would risk having no plan in place and be open to years of unwanted speculative development in places our parishes and residents do not want."

Cllr Simon Galton, Portfolio Holder for Planning said: “We will now be moving our Cabinet and Council meetings from early January to late February/early March which is where we will be considering recommending going to Statutory Consultation. This extra time is very welcome, and we will use it to engage further, listen more and refine our plans. Our draft local plan will now be published in mid-February 2025.”