Proposed Submission Draft Local Plan Sustainability Appraisal

Object

Representation ID: 14198

Received: 02/05/2025

Respondent: Colecar Strategic Land

Agent: Pegasus Group

The Local Plan Sustainability Appraisal assesses 3no. refined spatial options based on a refined medium growth that includes a 15% buffer but this does not apply to homes already built. The Sustainability Appraisal does not assess low or high growth scenarios of the refined
spatial options and so this should be undertaken to ensure the Sustainability Appraisal assesses all reasonable options appropriately.

Sustainability Appraisal
Chapter 5 of Sustainability Appraisal (SA) explains how the Council has considered six broad distribution options in November 2023 which led to 3 further refined options for the level and distribution of housing. The reasons for rejecting or selecting different options are not clearly
set out in the SA report.
The SA report refers to certain Council meetings, but case law determines that such reasons should be clearly set out within the SA document and there should not be a ‘paper chase’ to other documents, especially if they are not part of the Local Plan evidence published on the
Local Plan consultation website.
The reason for selecting or rejecting certain site and growth options relies on the fact that the Council has decided the level of development that should be accommodated in certain settlements .However, without a clear description of the process that led to the identification of levels of development in certain settlements, the growth and site selection process is
flawed and is not justified.
To positively plan for this, more homes will need to be distributed across the sustainable settlements particularly Large Villages and Kibworth.
As outlined above, the affordability in Harborough District and the ward of Kibworth is above the regional median affordability ratio. The amount of housing delivery in Kibworth has been limited since the allocations at Wistow Road and east of Warwick Road/Fleckney Road were
built out in 2020/21 and 2022/23, respectively. The Neighbourhood Plan has also only allocated 4no. sites with 20no. dwellings permitted on 2 of the sites so far and another 5no. dwellings allocated on the other 2no. sites. This has exacerbated the affordability within Kibworth.
In addition, demographically, there has been significant growth in the number of people aged 0 - 15 and 16- 64 in Kibworth. In order to retain people within these age groups and maintain sustainable demographic growth, appropriate housing supply must be provided for these
younger people. It is therefore considered that further housing should be directed towards Kibworth, and particularly smaller sites should be allocated such as our client’s site, which can deliver housing in the short term and would help to promote the development of a good
mix of sites within Kibworth.
Large Villages such as Kibworth will be a critical part of the development strategy alongside development in other sustainable locations in the District. New development in the Large Villages will complement the existing commitments identified through the adopted Local Plan.
The Large Village settlements are highly sustainable locations for growth, already benefiting from a range of services and facilities as identified in the Settlement Hierarchy Assessment. The scale of these settlements means that new homes can be within walking distance of
these services and facilities also benefitting from existing infrastructure. In turn new homes help to sustain services such as bus services, contributing to the continued sustainability of the settlement.
It will be important not to rely solely on large strategic sites and therefore development in the proposed Large Villages and other sustainable locations will be essential in combination with any strategic proposals.
The Council’s Settlement Profile (February 2025) identifies the settlement has a good range of services, facilities and shops including its one supermarket alongside Key and General Employment Areas. Kibworth is also served by a number of regular bus services including X3 and X7 to Market Harborough and Leicester, therefore residents can easily gain access to these services when required. In particular, our client’s site, Land North of Wentworth Close, Kibworth, is approximately 800m from the town centre and nearest bus stops served by the above- mentioned bus services.
The site is capable of delivering up to 65 dwellings. It is a logical and sustainable extension to the settlement limits and existing built- up area being bounded by built development to the north and southwest and other development to the south of the site.