Local Plan moving towards a preferred option

Four development options have been assessed by Harborough District Council, from which one preferred option will be selected.

A number of background studies have been carried out to assess the potential suitability of each option and drawn together to form an overall ‘Options Assessment’.

The Options Assessment will be presented to the Local Plan Advisory Panel for consideration on Monday 19 September 2016.

On the basis of the Options Assessment, council officers will recommend that Option 6 is the most appropriate for the district and should form the preferred option. This option includes a large development to the east of Lutterworth and the M1 including housing, employment areas, local shops and open space. This will help to meet the Harborough district’s long-term housing need as identified in background studies carried out in preparation for the Local Plan.

Officers will also recommend that a ‘reserve site’ is identified in the Local Plan to the north of Scraptoft. This site would only be developed if it was necessary to help meet housing need from other councils within Leicestershire.

In addition, the Local Plan will identify other housing sites in Market Harborough and other suitable locations for future development within the district.  

Local communities will also have the opportunity to identify further sites they would like to see developed, to meet additional development need set out in the Local plan, through the preparation of Neighbourhood Plans.

No decisions will be made by the Local Plan Advisory Panel. The preferred option, the inclusion of a ‘reserve site’ and the list of other smaller housing sites, will be considered by Harborough District Council’s Executive committee on 10 October 2016.

A draft version of the full Local Plan – incorporating the preferred option details – will then go to Full Council on 12 December 2016.

Harborough District Council’s new Local Plan will set out planning policies in the district up to 2031. It will make sure development meets strategic priorities in terms of housing, employment, community facilities, transport and other infrastructure needed to support development.

The public will have an opportunity to make formal representations on the Local Plan, early in the new year, before it is submitted to the Government for examination in 2017.

Read the full agenda and associated reports on the council's website here