Harborough District Council has voted by a narrow margin to endorse the Strategic Growth Plan. This would see a massive increase in housing numbers over the plan period 2031 – 2050 (16,000 of which 6,000 would be to meet the needs of Leicester City). The plan has been approved by all the councils in Leicestershire […]

The loss of local control over planning decisions is there for all to see. Drive anywhere in Harborough District and you will pass a building site. Planning permission has been granted for over 900 houses in Thurnby, Bushby and Scraptoft and a further 140 are being built up the road in Houghton. It is against […]

Over 100 people responded to the consultation on the future status of Scraptoft Nature Reserve with the vast majority opposed to the de-declaration of the site. All consultation responses on the Local Plan have been published on Harborough District Council’s website. The Draft Local Plan proposes a Strategic Development Area (SDA) of 1,200 houses on Scraptoft […]

On 24th Nov Leicestershire County council’s Cabinet considered it formal response to the draft Harborough Local Plan. Below is the submission I made setting out the concerns about the traffic impacts of the proposed SDA at Scraptoft. The proposed Strategic Development Area at Scraptoft relies heavily on improving and upgrading Keyham Lane West to serve […]

Come along to a drop-in event taking place this Saturday 7th Oct 2017, 9.30am – 2.30pm at the White House pub, Scraptoft Lane, Scraptoft, LE7 9SE. The Local Plan has reached an important stage and Harborough District Council is inviting representations from the public until 3rd November 2017. Two key areas of housing (strategic development […]

With less than one week left to respond, we want to make sure local residents are aware of a really important public consultation taking place which will influence where thousands of new houses will be built in Harborough District. The Harborough District Council Local Plan document looks at nine different ways new housing could be […]

Control over planning decisions in Harborough District has reached a crisis point after shock new figures show that 700 houses will have to be built each year if the Council is to meet its new 5 year housing target. The news came after the Conservatives on the Council’s Executive Committee agreed to sign a Memorandum […]

Simon Galton has published a list of sites put forward to Harborough District Council to be protected as Green Space. The National Planning Policy Framework specifes that local communities through Local Plans and Neighbourhood Plans should be able to identify green areas of particular importance to them for special protection. This is the list of […]

A Government appointed Inspector has rejected 4 out 5 planning appeals by developers and landowners and upheld the decision taken by Harborough District Council’s Planning Committee to refuse planning permission for a total of 325 houses.  The sites where planning permission has been refused are: Coles Nursery – 175 dwellings, East of Station Lane, Scraptoft […]

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the Government’s planning polices for England and reduces more than 1000 pages of guidance and requirements on Councils to just over 50 pages. This key document is now a “material consideration” when dealing with planning applications and preparing local plans. Since the draft NPPF was published in […]