Major step in meeting local housing needs

New figures, just published, show that a record 906 new homes were built across the Harborough District in the period 01 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. This is a significant boost towards meeting local housing needs.

In order to address national housing targets and ensure houses are built, the Government has made clear to local authorities the need to have a ‘five-year housing land supply’, which identifies sites that can be developed within a five-year period. The significant number of new homes built, as well as those with planning permission, have helped to achieve Harborough District Council’s ‘five-year housing land supply’ which now stands at 7.74 years.  

Without a strong ‘five-year housing supply’ such as this, the District would be at much higher risk of housing developments being imposed upon locations outside the sites agreed in approved statutory planning policy documents such as the Harborough Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans.

Councillor Phil King, Leader of Harborough District Council, said: “A huge amount of hard work has gone into achieving this figure. Having such a significant housing supply puts the Harborough district in a very strong position and gives us more control in helping make sure development happens in the most suitable locations.”

The Harborough Local Plan, adopted in 2019, sets a housing requirement of 557 properties per year. The high level of new home completions in the last 12 months contributes to the area’s improvement from a historical shortfall in supply and gives the local community more certainty that residential development is carefully planned and delivered in the right locations.

Evidence of any Covid-19 impacts on housing land supply will be regularly reviewed during the coming year and any changes reflected in the next housing land supply report.

View the latest 5 Year Housing Land Supply figures on the Council’s website.