Agenda item

The Cabinet considered a joint report of the Director of Growth, Environment and Transport and the Director of Children and Family Services regarding Oadby and Wigston Borough Council’s Local Plan and setting out the proposed responses to the Borough Council’s Regulation 19 consultation and its declared unmet housing need. Copies of the report and a supplementary paper, both marked “Agenda item 6”, are filed with these minutes.

Dr. Bloxham CC noted the complexity of Local Plan issues (several of which were under development in the County) and said that the Council would continue to work with partners to agree the best approach to addressing the declaration of an unmet housing need.

RESOLVED:

a)    That the proposed timetable for the progression of the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council (OWBC) Local Plan be noted;

b)    That the declaration of an unmet housing need by OWBC be noted;

c)    That the County Council’s formal response to the OWBC’s Local Plan Regulation 19 consultation, set out in paragraphs 33 to 60 and the Appendix to the report be approved, noting in particular:

i)      That the County Council is considering the draft Local Plan as presented to it, and it considers that it is for OWBC to demonstrate to the Inspector(s) at the Plan’s Examination in Public why the Local Plan has been positively prepared in respect of the local housing need requirement (LHN), i.e. that the OWBC will need to demonstrate that there is a substantive evidence base to justify its conclusion that OWBC is unable to meet its LHN as calculated by the national standard method, based solely on highway reasons;

ii)     That the County Council has no fundamental issue with the Local Plan’s Spatial Strategy, but as the Local Transport Authority (LTA) it considers that the transport evidence presented by the OWBC is not sufficiently granular in detail to be able to conclude that the OWBC’s highway network would be severely congested if the area delivered housing over the Local Plan period equivalent to that calculated by the standard method;

iii)   The County Council’s formal position on the matter of the OWBC’s declaration of an unmet housing need, set out in paragraphs 46 to 57 of the report;

d)    The Director of Growth, Environment and Transport, following consultation with the relevant Cabinet Lead Members, be authorised to work with OWBC and other partners within the Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area to seek to agree to the most appropriate approach to addressing the OWBC’s declaration of an unmet housing need and work through any substantive issues to resolution, to demonstrate effective and on-going joint working.

REASONS FOR DECISION:

The County Council’s response sets out the key comments for consideration by OWBC in progressing its new Local Plan, seeking to influence the content of the Local Plan in the interests of local communities, including ensuring that the Local Plan provides an as robust as possible policy platform for securing the provision of the infrastructure and services that are required to supports its successful delivery.

On 25 March 2026, new regulations came into force, which meant that the Duty to Co-operate would no longer apply to new, or emerging Local Plans. Notwithstanding this change, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (December 2024) still requires “maintaining effective co-operation” across administrative boundaries (paragraphs 26-29). Inspectors are expected to continue to examine plans in line with these policies.

The County Council is considering the draft Local Plan as presented to it. It does not intend to do any work of its own to demonstrate whether and if more than 240 homes per annum could be provided for and neither is it raising this as a matter in its proposed consultation response. Nevertheless, it is important that OWBC and other partners understand the County Council’s position on this matter, in order to facilitate effective and ongoing joint working.