More than 180,000 new homes are needed in county by 2050
MORE than 180,000 new homes will need to be built across Leicestershire by 2050 to meet future housing demand, officials have suggested.
Councils across the county are beginning the process of trying to work out where Leicestershire’s growing population will live in coming decades.
To do this, Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and the seven district authorities have drawn up a draft proposal called the strategic growth plan, or SGP.
The recently-published plan says some 96,580 homes are needed by 2031, and goes on to estimate a further 90,500 will then need to be built by 2050.
The figures cover a period beginning in 2011, so a proportion of those homes have already been built.
However, specific locations for the vast majority of them still have to be found and approved by councils.
Between now and Christmas, all the councils will decide whether they want to approve the SGP for what is certain to be a contentious public consultation in January.
The strategy is underpinned by a plan for an A46 expressway - a new bypass for Leicester sweeping round the east and south of the city as part of a major route designed to connect the South West of England to the Lincolnshire coast.
The road would extend from a new or improved junction on the M69, and continue to the south and east of Leicester, with a new junction on the M1 (J20a) before rejoining the existing A46 near Syston.
It is intended to relieve pressure on the existing A46 to the north of the city and the M1, but is certainly going to need huge amounts of Government cash.
Planners say the road would be built in the 2030s and create a corridor through Harborough, Blaby and Hinckley districts, in which 40,000 homes could be accommodated.
Consultants have been employed to find a detailed route for the road and work out exactly how much it would cost.
Some local politicians have however cast doubt on whether the expressway is ever likely to be built given the huge cost involved and anticipated opposition from communities along the route.
Conservative Harborough MP Neil O’Brien said: “The county do not have anything like the funds to pursue an outer ring road, which, if it were ever to happen, would certainly be very many years from now.
“As we move towards a consultation on the growth plan I will be asking the same questions my constituents ask.
“How do alternative transport options compare, in terms of their cost effectiveness?
“How might things like park and ride, better public transport or even trams reduce rush hour congestion in and out of the city, compared to an outer ring road?”
“In terms of planning for housing in the 2030s, what do different options look like?
“Shouldn’t we focus more on regenerating post-industrial brownfield land and run-down parts of the county?
“To help the environment, can we get more built in the city itself to reduce sprawl, pollution and long commutes?
“Shouldn’t the housing needs of the city be met in the city through regeneration of derelict or under-used sites?”
Councillor Simon Galton represents the Launde Division at County Hall and leads the opposition group there.
He also has concerns about the housing figures and transport proposals set out.
He said: “The plan invites every council in Leicestershire to sign up to a development strategy which seeks to predict in 2017 how many houses and employment sites will be needed in 20 - 30 years time - the world will be a very different place by then.
“I previously described the housing numbers as eye watering and now they are in the public domain people will be able to judge for themselves but I think they are staggering.
“They will no doubt make a lot of developers and landowners happy but for residents in the areas expected to take this growth it will cause huge concern and uncertainty.”
He added: “Sadly this is car dependent strategy which relies on the Government funding and building an expressway around the south and east of Leicester which planners claim would “open up the area for development.
“At this stage it is a concept which has no status and is a long way from being a done deal.
“Many people will question why prominent local politicians have already signed up to this road without any assessment of its environmental impact on the historic landscape of rural high Leicestershire.”
He added: “Evidence from organisations such as Campaign for the protection of Rural England (CPRE) suggest that new roads fill up quickly and that in the end you can’t build your way out of congestion.
“Furthermore there is a real concern that housing developments served off the road will become dormitory commuter villages where the vast majority of people commute by car.”
Coun Galton warned: “Under these proposals, Harborough district would be required to take an unprecedented level of growth bigger than anything experienced before.
“The current Local Plan proposes around 550 houses per year but under the proposals in the growth plan this would increase to 944 from 2036.
“There were 33,000 houses in the district in 2011 and when added together the figures in the Local Plan and the Strategic Growth Plan are getting towards 30,000 new houses.
“This would mean the size of the district nearly doubling in the period up to 2050.
“Regardless of the proposed new road Harborough simply doesn’t have the infrastructure to cope with this level of growth and many people will feel the distribution of housing in the plan is inherently unfair.”
Leicestershire CPRE chairman Richard Windley said the housing figures set out in the draft SGA were inflated.
He said: “We just do not agree with the numbers and we will be looking to challenge how they were calculated.
“Beyond that we will be doing our very best to ensure brownfield sites are used to limit building in the open countryside.
“This expressway is in my view a thinly veiled attempt just to open up land to build 40,000 houses.”
North West Leicestershire District Council leader Richard Blunt said there were positive elements to the plan and outlined the benefits of the A46 expressway.
He said: “We need it to relieve the pressure on the M1 northbound.
“For years that pressure has been dumped on Junctions 22, 23 28 and so on and it can’t continue.
“The road could get built. We have seen that if the Government wants something it is prepared to throw money at it - HS2 being the prime example.
“There will be concerns about the levels of new housing but we have already had a lot of house building in North West Leicestershire and it has driven the economy.
“A lot of people recognise that house building is what is keeping us out of recession.
“The quality of the house building is very good.”
The draft SGP assumes that Leicester City and Oadby and Wigston Borough councils will be unable to meet their housing needs targets because they do not have the necessary land, so other councils will have to take their share.
The SGP says: “In line with the strategy set out in the plan, we propose that ther eshould be a shift in the focus of development from small- and medium-sized sites to strategic locations.”