Fields in part of Leicestershire could take thousands of new homes says Government

Fields in part of Leicestershire could take thousands of new homes says Government

The site was listed as one of three areas 'which have the potential to unlock more than 10,000 new homes when completed'

Leicester Mercury Report
Some 4,000 homes could be built in the earmarked Leicestershire area

Fields in part of Leicestershire being targeted by politicians for housing could take thousands of new homes, LeicestershireLive can reveal. The Labour Government announced last week that it was setting up a taskforce to "expedite" the building of new residential properties across the country.

Stretton Hall, near Great Glen, in Harborough district, was listed as one of three areas in England "which have the potential to unlock more than 10,000 new homes when completed", alongside Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community, in Essex, and Biggleswade Garden Community, in central Bedfordshire. The Leicestershire site is owned by the government.

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The phrasing of the announcement has led some people to speculate that the three would take 10,000 each. To help clarify the issue, LeicestershireLive asked the Government how many homes it was considering for Stretton Hall. A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the local site had "the potential to deliver up to 4,000 new homes".

We also asked what powers the new taskforce would have, and whether it would be able to override local decision making on planning applications. In response to our questions, a Government spokesman said: "This is all about the accelerator working with councils and house builders closely and knocking heads together, getting everyone around the table to try and help identify some of the barriers and issues.

"It's not about overriding local democracy or local community consent or anything like that. It's about offering our support if they've got issues with planning capacity or if there are civic issues in planning that's holding up the site. It's about the accelerator stepping in and providing the support where it can."

Regardless of who owns the site, any planning application for Stretton Hall is still expected to need to go through the normal planning process, as things stand. p:nth-of-type(8)","hideOnSensitiveArticle":true,"relativePos":"after","name":"taboolaMidArticle","selector":"taboola-mid-article-thumbnails","targetType":"mix","placement":"Mid Article Thumbnails","type":"taboolaDesktopMidArticleThumbnails"}" data-taboola-placeholder="" data-response-start="1128.3999996185303" data-type="taboola" data-response-end="57061">

Harborough District Council told LeicestershireLive it had had "no conversations about a new town in this location", adding that it, too, was still trying to understand the impacts of the Government's announcement.

The local authority is currently preparing a new local plan – a legal document which sets out where developments can take place in an area to protect communities from unplanned building. Stretton Hall Farm is being considered for development as part of that process, but "no decision has been made" on whether it will ultimately be built on, a council spokesman said. Council documents note, however, that the site is "capable of accommodating more than 1,500 homes".

A draft local plan, when ready, will be considered by the council and will undergo a public consultation before it is adopted.

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