City now 18,000 homes short of government’s housing targets

NEW INCREASED REQUIREMENTS HIGHLIGHTING ‘UNMET NEEDS’

We can’t just keep doing what we’ve done – 2,000 houses on the edge of Blaby, 2,000 here, wherever it might be

THE government has increased the requirement for housing development in the country’s 20 biggest cities, including Leicester.

The new targets set out in Westminster mean councils across Leicestershire will have to help the city find room for 2,341 new homes within the greater Leicester area every year between now and 2036.

This is a 35 per cent increase on the plans previously in place.

In total, this adds another 10,000 homes to the original target or about an additional 600 homes a year, according to the report set out to Leicestershire County Council’s scrutiny commission.

As the original development plans were already 8,000 homes short before the change in legislation, Leicester city is a long way from meeting these targets.

The new requirements are only for the 20 biggest cities and towns in England, of which Leicester is the 12th largest.

This means the requirements in the districts remain largely the same.

However, prior to the changes, Leicestershire County Council was looking at whether they could meet the shortfall in provision by encouraging extra development throughout Leicestershire as a whole. So, it remains unclear how this might impact the county as a whole.

Simon Galton, councillor for Launde division, in the Harborough district, said at the meeting: “For all but one of those cities, it would be impossible for them to accommodate that growth because of the constraints those cities have.

“We’ve gone in full circle because there’s still going to be an impact on the districts in terms of having to take this uplift.

“We can’t just keep doing what we’ve done in the past – 2,000 houses on the edge of Blaby, 2,000 houses here, wherever it might be. We can’t just keep on bolting and adding on and on to those communities, particularly those communities on the edge of Leicester.”

The council report also highlighted the additional challenges this will bring in terms of transport, education and meeting public needs. They said, in the current economy, finding the necessary funding “continues to be a challenge and is of critical importance”.

Rob Thornhill, joint strategic planning manager for Leicester and Leicestershire, said: “With the 35 per cent uplift in Leicester, what we’ve got is an immediate unmet need issue. So, it’s not simply reviewing the strategic growth plan, it’s how do we deal with Leicester’s unmet need now. In some respects, that can’t be reliant on a long term, very large strategic site, heavy infrastructure focus. The need in Leicester and Leicestershire is much higher than the growth plan plans for, so I appreciate the figures seem daunting to people, but they’re now much higher so the challenge is only going to get bigger, not smaller.” The council also stressed the importance of balancing development with its goal to be carbon zero by 2030. It added it is committed to providing “affordable and quality homes” alongside their efforts to fight climate change.