187,180 homes needed by 2050 – but where?
THE number 187,180 is giving council bosses across Leicestershire a big headache.
It is the number of new homes that need to be built across the city and the county by 2050, according to Government number crunchers who have been poring over population projections.
The figure was described as “eyewatering” by some senior politicians in the county and disputed by others who said it is impossible to plan so far into the future with any degree of accuracy.
But this is the future amount of housing Whitehall is working to, and therefore the one in the minds of planning officers across Leicestershire who have the responsibility of finding land on which to have them built.
The pressing question most people want answering is: Where will they all go?
Understandably, residents want to know how their town, village or neighbourhood will be affected by new housing and employment sites.
They want to know what it might mean for the schools near them, what pressure there might be on their nearest hospital or doctor and dental surgery, or simply whether the countryside near them will be swallowed up by development.
The question cannot be answered in full yet as not even the planners have resolved how the need will be met.
Also, as the strategic growth plan (SGP) – an overarching blueprint for development which Leicestershire’s councils are in the process of deciding whether to support – covers a period from 2011, a considerable number of the homes, maybe 30,000, will have already been built or given planning permission.
Nonetheless, the vast majority are still to come.
Small sites, some previously undeveloped and some brownfield, will become available for development.
They will chip away at the formidable total and make an important contribution to it.
But in order to meet the demand, councils are having to prepare for larger, strategic sites across the whole of the county.
Some have been written in to councils’ long-term planning strategies – local plans – which aim to best manage the impact of development on the environment, road and rail network and other services. What’s planned for Leicester? Notionally, Leicester needs to find land for 33,840 homes by 2031 and another 10,450 by 2050.
Planners have recognised it will be hard to accommodate such growth and it is acknowledged development will have to spill over its boundaries into neighbouring districts.
That said, Leicester City Council is working on promoting large housing schemes.
They include the £480 million, 3,000-home Ashton Green development near Beaumont Leys to the north west of the city, where building is under way.
There are long-term plans for a further 2,500 homes on former industrial land on the banks of the River Soar around Frog Island.
The council has earmarked 270 sites, including parks and sports grounds, for development and is looking for landowners to suggest others as it develops its local plan. The Charnwood situation
The borough is slated to accommodate 20,620 homes by 2031 and 18,890 in the following 20 years.
A large area on the north east edge of Leicester, near Thurmaston, is set to take 4,500, with 1,500 more just north of Birstall.
In the north of the borough land between Loughborough and Shepshed near the M1 will take 3,000 homes. In North West Leicestershire? This part of Leicestershire has taken a lot of housing and industrial development in recent years, placed to take advantage of its good transport connections to East Midlands Airport, the M1 and M42.
Some politicians now think it is time for eastern and southern Leicestershire to take up some more of the strain.
However North West still figures strongly in planners’ long-term thinking and nearly 20,000 homes are estimated to be needed by 2050.
A large chunk of land north of Coalville is earmarked as Leicestershire International Gateway.
Major road upgrades are proposed there, as well as 11,000 homes.
North West Leicestershire District Council’s Local Plan says land north of Grange Road, Hugglescote, should have 3,500 homes, with 895 south of Park Lane, Castle Donington, and 606 north of Ashby. Hinckley and Bosworth?
According to the revised SGP, the borough needs to find nearly 21,000 homes to 2050.
About 5,000 of those homes could be built along the “A5 Improvement Corridor”, along the road that marks the borough’s boundary with Warwickshire.
A proposed A46 Expressway would loop from Syston, round the east and south of Leicester, as a bypass for the city.
The road, which could cost about £1 billion, would join the M1 at a new junction between Leicester and Lutterworth before continuing on to the M69.
It is estimated 40,000 homes could be build along the new road, with some in the borough.
The borough council is reviewing its local plan, which could set out a preference for developing a village or small town to the west of Hinckley. Blaby’s future?
The SGP suggests Blaby needs to accommodate 7,400 homes to 2036 and 17,560 in the following 14 years.
At the moment, developers are building the 4,200-home Lubbesthorpe off the M1.
Blaby District Council is promoting another large standalone garden village development by the M1 to the west of Countesthorpe.
Overall, an area of 1,089 acres, largely farmland, has been earmarked for homes as well as four million square feet of warehousing, creating up to 5,000 jobs.
The community would have its own schools, healthcare and shops.
Planning permission has not yet been been granted for this development, which has been called Whetstone Pastures. Tough choices for Harborough
This area could potentially be impacted the most by the proposed A46 Expressway as it seeks to accommodate 27,000 homes by 2050.
Planners are leaning towards a 1,500-home development at Airfield Farm on the northern edge of Market Harborough and a strategic development of 1,200 homes north of Scraptoft that would involve relocating a golf course.
Earlier this year, Harborough District Council permitted a 600-home development on farmland at Overstone Park off Kettering Road.
Leicestershire County Council has entered the mix by proposing to sell 500 acres of land east of Lutterworth.
About 2,750 homes could be built on the greenfield site with industrial sites creating 2,500 jobs and County Hall stands to make £30 million. In Oadby and Wigston?
Like Leicester, the borough is not anticipated to be able to meet the demand for 7,000 homes by 2050.
This is because it is a small geographic area which will not be likely to provide large strategic development sites. A plan for Melton
The borough is expected to need to find land for 9,000 homes by 2050.
Developers have proposed a 3,000-home garden village on the site of the Six Hills Golf Course off the A46.
Council bosses are also looking at infill development on the edge of Melton itself when a £50 million bypass is built to ease the town’s traffic congestion.
The scheme will open up a number of potential housing and business sites around the town.
About 4,500 homes are set to be built by 2036, with 6,000 jobs created in the new industrial areas.