I know many people have questions and concerns about the proposed development near Norton-Juxta-Twycross. As do I, let me explain...
Last year the Government cut housebuilding requirements in Leicester City by -31%, while massively increasing targets in rural areas like Hinckley and Bosworth and North West Leicestershire by 59% and 74%, respectively.
Under the previous Government, I fought hard and successfully, at the national level for developers to prioritise brown field sites and cities, such as Leicester, rather than the green fields where we grow our food.
Labour has reversed this and, once again, it is our community that will bear the brunt.
And now, people across our community are rightly pointing out that forcing the housing needs of the city onto rural areas is grossly unfair.
One of the issues most frequently raised with me is local planning - yet it is the Liberal Democrat-run Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council that has failed for 6 years to put in place an up-to-date Local Plan, a Labour Government that decides the targets, and a Reform-led County Council that has spent more time on Cabinet reshuffles than setting out a vision for infrastructure.
I’m as frustrated as everyone in our area, but Councils work independently of MPs, and I simply don’t have authority over them.
There is broad agreement across the country that we need more homes, but they must be the right houses in the right places. This project, which spans over 1,700 acres of farmland in an area where the rural roads will struggle to support a development of this size, is a clear example of why I called on the previous Government to prioritise housebuilding in areas where the roads, rail and services already exist.
I urge everyone across Hinckley and Bosworth to take part in the consultation on the draft Local Plan – which is putting forward this 10,000-home development to be built over 40-years, with around 2,700 homes completed by 2045.
Please do take part in the draft Local Plan consultation... this is your chance to have your say on housebuilding in Hinckley and Bosworth for the next decade and beyond: Regulation 18 Local Plan Consultation 2025 | Regulation 18 Consultation 2025 | Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council
