On 16 March 2026, Harborough District Council voted by just 17 to 15 to submit its Local Plan for independent examination. That vote was the end of one stage and the beginning of the most important one.
The Planning Inspectorate is independent of the Council. Its job is to test whether the plan is legally sound - against four strict national criteria. We believe it fails on all four. But making that case professionally requires a specialist planning barrister and expert witnesses. And that requires funding.
Our first target: £50,000 - to instruct the barrister and begin preparation. Our full target: £100,000 - to fund the complete legal team through the hearings.
To put the cost in context, for a barrister to simply attend a three hour meeting can cost between £5000 to £10,000. A full Inspectorate examination runs to weeks of preparation and multiple hearing days.
Without equivalent professional representation, we enter the most critical stage of this fight at a serious disadvantage.
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Why the plan is seriously flawed:
— Leicestershire County Council's own Head of Planning formally declared the plan "premature" and "unsound" at Cabinet in March 2025 - on the record
— The Council's own financial viability report classifies the Gartree Road site as "marginally viable"
— The A46 Expressway the plan depended on was cancelled in 2020 - the plan has never been updated - The Local Transport Authority has stated in writing that the plan fails the NPPF soundness tests on transport
— 358 hectares of irreplaceable farmland would be permanently lost
— Great Glen flooded severely in January 2025 - no guaranteed funded flood mitigation exists in the plan
STNT has submitted a comprehensive formal objection covering all four soundness tests.
The legal case against the plan is strong.
What we now need is the professional team to present it.
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Harborough District Council’s new Local Plan is still waiting to go to the Planning Inspectorate.
In the meantime, because there is no adopted plan and no 5-year land supply, developers have been handed a “free-for-all.”
The problem is the same every time:
The only way to have your say on these developments is to register on the Harborough Planning Portal.
Once registered, you can:
🚩180 Homes - Land Opposite Leicester Grammar School, Great Glen
ref 25/01564/OUT
You can still add comments on this application on the Harborough Portal.
🚩450 Homes - Land Between Leicester Grammar School and Great Glen
ref 25/01467/OUT
You can still add comments on this application on the Harborough Portal.
STNT prepared a comprehensive representation submission which we submitted in the public consultation.
We had 2370 signatories - including county councillors and local councillors - attached to our submission, showing overwhelming opposition to these proposals. It was previously agreed with HDC that each person would be counted individually.
You can read our submission document here.
You
Our representation demonstrated that the plan fails to meet the four legal tests required for the plan to be approved by the planning inspectorate.
That it is:
a) positively prepared,
b) justified,
c) effective and
d) consistent with national policy.
And we have suggested reasonable alternatives.
✅ Sign up to our mailing list to receive updates on what is happening.
✅ Spread the word — encourage others to join our list and raise awareness.
✅ Please donate if you can — we need to hire planning professionals and legal representation NOW to prepare the case to speak at the planning inspectorate. If we are to be able to do this, we need funding.
Harborough Council's local plan documentation is extensive - well over 1000 pages.
You can download all the details here:
HDC Local Plan Documents
Kibworth
Great Glen, Stretton Hall & Newton Harcourt
You might think Harborough’s Local Plan doesn’t affect you — but if you live in Oadby, the proposed development at Stretton Hall will have direct consequences for your community.
Here is why Oadby residents should be deeply concerned about this plan.
1) It Will Worsen Traffic Across Oadby
Thousands of new homes on the Stretton Hall site would bring a massive increase in vehicles using:
These are roads you use every day — and they’re already under pressure. Congestion, air pollution, and road safety issues will all increase if this plan goes ahead.
Much of the proposed development lies within or near the Washbrook floodplain.
Your home, your insurance, and your safety could be affected — even if you're not next to the site.
Oadby & Wigston Borough Council has increased housing targets and must now build 382 homes per year, up from 240.
Oadby doesn’t have space to meet this - and when it can’t, the ‘overflow’ will be passed to Harborough, making large-scale developments like Stretton Hall even more likely.
If we don’t stop this now, even more greenfield sites around Oadby could be next.
The plan is now with the Planning Inspectorate, where it will be tested against strict national criteria.
STNT is building the professional legal team needed to challenge it. If you live in Oadby and care about what happens on your doorstep, this is the moment to get behind that fight.
Please donate to the legal fund, and please share this page with your neighbours.
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Read O&W Council's explanation for why they are restarting the planning process.
Read O&W Council's position following the decision to restart the planning process.
O&W Council's most recent local development documentation.
Our representation was a comprehensive objection to the Local Plan - written in the language the Planning Inspectorate understands.
✅ It showed clearly show how the plan fails key legal tests.
✅ It explained why building at Great Glen and Stretton Hall is strategically flawed.
✅ It included realistic, better alternatives the council can adopt.
Our best chance to change this plan is when it goes to the Independent Planning Inspectorate.
To give our case real weight, we need as many people as possible to support it by submitting the same arguments.
Moving forwards, we need to stay strong and show that the community is against this development being imposed on us. Please join our list and we will keep you informed as the situation develops.
The more people support our objections, the harder it is to ignore.
There Are Better Alternatives
This development isn’t necessary — and it isn’t right.
There are more appropriate options across the region. Brownfield sites, including vacant and underused commercial spaces, offer real potential to meet housing needs without destroying our countryside with yet more urban sprawl.
Many of these sites exist in Leicester city, where the demand for affordable and social housing is actually highest. Building there would:
✅ Revitalise neglected urban areas
✅ Cut down on car dependency and energy use
✅ Support sustainability goals and climate targets
It would:
We need the council to rethink this plan — and that only happens if the Planning Inspectorate sees strong, united objections based on facts and planning law.
Help us push for a Local Plan that:
✅ Protects green spaces and the unique rural character of our communities
✅ Builds houses where jobs and infrastructure already exist
✅ Supports real housing needs
✅ Is financially viable
✅ Puts sustainability first
👉 Join the Mailing List to receive our researched objections document and add your voice to ours in this public consultation.
The proposals for the strategic site south of Gartree Road does not fulfil the four legal criteria, of a) positively prepared, b) justified, c) effective and d) consistent with national policy.
It is only by showing that the Stretton Hall site fails these specific criteria that we have a chance of stopping the proposals at the Independent Planning Inspectorate stage.
It would take traffic congestion on the A6 past breaking point, being a single carriageway road. There is no money to provide the necessary upgrades, or a bypass around Kibworth. The promised expressway to the east of Leicester, upon which this plan hinged, was cancelled in 2020. Leicestershire County Council has already described the plan as 'premature' and 'unsound' because of these factors.
Most importantly, when you do the sums, it does not add up. When the profit for the developer and all expenses are taken from the sale price of the properties, there is nothing left to provide the infrastructure.
It would undermine environmental commitments (supposedly championed by Harborough council) by increasing carbon emissions and reliance on cars.
Two existing strategic sites (Lutterworth East and Scraptoft North) are not performing already. These should be fixed before launching into a third strategic site.
It would destroy valuable and irreplaceable farmland, essential for UK food independence
The local area is does not have available jobs on this scale. This would forcing residents into expensive travel to find work in the city, in Market Harborough, or cross country to Lutterworth Magna Park. The road system cannot accommodate this increase in traffic.
Building on this land will drastically affect land drainage, and hence have a direct impact on flooding both in Oadby, and Great Glen, areas where this is already a serious problem.
Great Glen is a category 3 flood risk area.
Harborough council has provided a 16% buffer in their figures, but this is unnecessary. If the existing strategic sites are 'fixed' so they perform as they should, and the buffer is reduced, a new site is completely unnecessary.
Leicestershire County Council have flagged up the deep flaws in the Harborough Local Plan - citing transport and infrastructure - issues which residents can see all too clearly!
LCC Head of Planning & Development, Julie Thomas, stated that the HDC plan is "premature and unsound".
Check out this recording of their committee meeting of March 18th, between 54 minutes and 1 hour 12 minutes.
This campaign is organised by Stop The New Town (STNT) Action Group,
a non-political, volunteer-run, formally constituted community group.
STNT is a member of the Community Planning Alliance.
All donations received go directly into the STNT Action Group bank account.
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