Harborough district remains well protected from speculative housing development

At just over six years (6.17) the council has a housing land supply in excess of the five years required by government. This places the council in a strong position to refuse planning applications from developers for land that has not been allocated for housing by the council in its Local Plan.

National planning policy in England requires councils to have enough sites ready for development to meet their housing need for the next five years. If councils cannot demonstrate five-year supply, national planning policy takes precedence over local planning rules. If a site can be considered to deliver ‘sustainable development’ then planning permission should be granted, even if there is no support from the council for housing in that location or the site sits outside the Local Plan.

Cllr Galton, Cabinet lead for planning, said: “Having just over six years of housing land supply puts the Harborough District in a really strong position to refuse planning applications from developers for land that has not been allocated for housing. 

“A huge amount of work is taking place to develop a new Local Plan by June 2025 to make sure that the district is protected for years to come.”

The council has officially published the figure for future housing land supply to its website today, Friday 24 May 2024.