SP5: Providing transport and other infrastructure to support new development.

As far as I could tell there has been no proposed improvements to current infrastructure

No infrastructure improvements proposed

Consultation: Harborough Local Plan Proposed Submission

Thank you for consulting the Council on the Harborough Local Plan Submission consultation.

Please find the Council's comments set out below.

The District of Harborough is located within the Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area and as such Harborough District Council and Oadby and Wigston Borough Council have a duty to co-operate over the preparation of each other's Local Plan under the 'Duty to Co-operate'. Under the Duty to Cooperate, Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, Leicester City Council, Harborough District Council and Leicestershire County Council have produced a joint piece of evidence base relating to highway capacity and infrastructure. Through this work, it has been acknowledged by all parties that certain growth areas within Harborough District will impact the highway infrastructure within the Borough. There is an agreed approach for dealing with the impacts, which will be set out in a Joint Statement. The Borough Council advises that the Joint Statement is submitted to the Inspector once it has been agreed by all parties involved.

Paragraph 1.5.4 suggests that the Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan outlines the amount and location of future growth from 2031 to 2036 and will set out broad aspirations for growth up to 2050. This paragraph needs to ensure that the wording reflects the time periods of the Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan appropriately. The Strategic Growth Plan covers the period to 2050, however treats the period's pre 2031 and post 2031 very differently. Pre 2031, the housing and employment Objectively Assessed Needs for the Leicester and Leicestershire HMA, set out within the HEDNA, will be delivered through each of the local authorities individual Local Plan's. The Strategic Growth Plan therefore focuses on the period post 2031, for which it identifies a notional housing need.

The Harborough Local Plan Spatial Strategy makes provision for the development of a minimum of 12,800 new homes between 2011 and 2031. This is above the Objectively Assessed Need for the District of Harborough of 10,640 new homes over the same period, as identified in the Housing and Economic Needs Assessment. The Spatial Strategy also makes provision for upwards of 58 hectares of employment land between 2011 and 2031. It distributes housing and employment growth across the District, however identifies Market Harborough, Scraptoft, Lutterworth and Broughton Astley as key locations for growth. This is supplemented by more limited amounts of growth in the more rural parts of the District. Policy SS1 Spatial Strategy is consistent with the evidence base relating to the wider Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area and as such, is supported by Oadby and Wigston Borough Council.

The Local Plan also demonstrates Harborough District Council's commitment to meeting its requirements for housing, employment and other development and infrastructure. The Plan states that the Council will commence a partial or full review of the Local Plan no later than five years from the date of adoption, or earlier...where collaborative working with other planning authorities, including those within the Leicester & Leicestershire Housing Market Area (HMA), establishes objectively the need for further provision of housing and/or employment land within the Harborough District and there is insufficient flexibility already provided for within the Plan. The Harborough Plan also sets out that the District Council will commence a partial or full review of the Local Plan no later than five years from the date of adoption, or earlier...where the Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan sets out a scale and spatial distribution of development for Harborough District which is significantly different to that set out in the Local Plan and there is insufficient flexibility already provided for within the Plan.


Yours sincerely,