FAQs

• include land for housing and employment development
• ensure an appropriate range of house types 
• support the economy and create employment opportunities
• identify necessary infrastructure improvements to support the development proposed
• safeguard heritage, culture, recreation and environmental assets

• encouraging economic growth by identifying enough land for new businesses
• improving the quality and quantity of parks and play space
• improving access to local services

A central part of the Local Plan is setting out how many new homes are needed and exactly where they should be built. 

Put simply, if you live, work or visit Harborough District, the Local Plan is relevant to you.

The Local Plan guides where and how changes to our towns, villages and countryside may happen over the next 15-20 years. This means that the Local Plan is likely to impact you at some point in the future. For example, over the next 15 years you or a family member may need to buy or rent a house in the area. You may work locally or want to set up a business here. You may simply want to be able to shop locally or make sure that our landscape, wildlife and cultural heritage is protected.

Changes which might affect you now or in the future include:

• the building of new homes; offices; industrial units and shops
• the creation of new jobs
• the provision of community facilities
• the location of our parks and play spaces
• routes for walking and cycling paths

The Local Plan also identifies the places and features which are important to us because of what they look like, their history or the sense of place or tranquillity they provide us.

This is the first stage of public consultation for the preparation of the new Local Plan for Harborough district. It seeks views on a range of planning issues and assesses options for future development of the county.

The new Local Plan will set out the strategy for the amount, location and design of new development. At the same time, the plan is an opportunity to progress our ambitions and aspirations on matters such as climate change, meeting affordable housing needs and promoting biodiversity.

Can I submit a site for development?

Landowners, developers and other interested parties have been able to suggest sites for possible development through the Call for Sites in 2021. However, we will also accept site submissions throughout the Issues and Options consultation stage. If you would like to submit a site please note that we are only accepting new site submissions – it is not necessary to submit sites which were assessed in 2021/22.

Visit our Call for Sites page for more information.

That’s what we need to decide. This initial stage of the plan-making process does not identify sites for development, but it does propose options for the distribution of development around the district, as well as options for the scale of development needed. Following on from the Issues and Options stage, the Regulation 19 stage will see us publish a draft version of the Local Plan which indicates the preferred option for growth, supported by evidence.

As our population continues to grow, we need to build more houses of different sizes to meet the varied needs of local people. National Government has committed to building 300,000 houses each year and has a prescribed methodology for calculating a minimum target for the number of houses each local authority in England has to provide land for.

Our housing need continues to grow as a result of smaller households, an ageing population (which reduces the turnover of available homes), inward migration, and local population growth.

No. The Government has said very clearly that housing is fundamental to revitalising the economy, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. National Planning Policy requires councils to support economic growth and productivity and to meet the assessed housing requirements of their local area.

If we do not plan to meet Harborough district’s employment and housing requirements, we will lose significant control over where development might go and our ability to optimise the delivery of new infrastructure will be reduced.

If we don’t allocate enough land for the number of houses that the national formula requires us to build, the Local Plan would be found 'Unsound' when examined by the Independent Inspector. 

In addition, the absence of an up-to-date Local Plan would lead to the pressure to allow development on sites that are not allocated for development in a Local or Neighbourhood Plan.  Even if we refused planning permission, there is a high likelihood that developers would win planning appeals because we would not have enough sites to meet our housing need.

Yes – absolutely. The next public consultation stage in the Local Plan process will be a public consultation on a draft version of the Local Plan (known as the ‘Regulation 19’ stage) which will include “preferred” sites for allocation.

The Local Plan cannot directly supply jobs. However, it can make land available for new uses that generate employment, protect existing employment sites and support business development.

It's a legal requirement that all Local Plans be scrutinised through environmental reports, called the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA). These reports consider the plan’s impact on our environment, wildlife, people and the economy. They also set out how any negative impacts will be addressed.

Both the SA and HRA Scoping Reports are available for comment alongside the Issues and Options consultation document.

In 2021, we formally acknowledged the climate crisis and set out a series of actions which we are taking to make sure Council activities are net-zero by the year 2050. The Local Plan is an opportunity to roll out measures aimed at carbon reduction, while making sure the county is resilient to the effects of climate change. This will support our wider climate crisis goals.

The Local Plan is not just about new homes and jobs. We also need infrastructure including schools, healthcare, public transport, roads, utilities, parks and leisure facilities. These are all important to support growth. The plan will set out clearly what infrastructure provision is needed when new homes and businesses are being built.

Development will be carefully controlled to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is provided. This is most likely to be possible when larger numbers of homes are being built together, as these infrastructure requirements can be planned and delivered as part of the overall development.

We are currently preparing an Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP). This will include an assessment of the current provision within the area and, over time, will be extended to provide a fuller assessment of the infrastructure needed to support the development suggested. The IDP will make certain that infrastructure requirements are fully considered in preparing the Local Plan. It will also ensure all the necessary infrastructure providers are involved in the plan making process.

We fully support Neighbourhood Plans.

This includes existing and proposed development allocations in Neighbourhood Plans. Made Neighbourhood Plans and those which are approved before the Local Plan is in place will continue to carry full weight in decision making. However, where a Neighbourhood Plan conflicts with the Local Plan, the most recently adopted plan will take precedence – whether that is the Local Plan or a Neighbourhood Plan.

Our new Local Plan webpage has more detailed information about the Local Plan process and each of the various stages we will go through:  New Local Plan | New Local Plan | Harborough District Council

This will be kept updated and will include links to evidence reports, consultation feedback and the consultation documents. This information is to help you make informed choices and provide relevant comments.

If you have any questions that are not covered by the information on our website, we ask that you email them to: planningpolicy@harborough.gov.uk

In line with our governance processes, councillors are engaged throughout Local Plan preparation and will have the final say on whether to adopt the plan.