Cllr. Maggie Wright raised the following question to Cllr. Mike Shirley, Planning and Strategic Growth Portfolio Holder.

“Within my ward of Fosse Normanton, the village of Huncote is classed as a “medium sized” village within our Local Plan. This classification of villages exceeded their minimum numbers by 319 in March 2024.  The combined housing figure was set between 2006 to 2029, so the figures, acknowledging minimum and not capped, have been exceeded in advance. There are now 1,575 properties within the village of Huncote. Last year the planning committee passed three significant planning application relating to this parish. This has resulted in an extra 345 dwellings. With another application for 47 residential dwellings in the pipeline plus those listed in the 2020 Call for Sites.  With such a low land supply figure for the district it is highly likely these additional Call for Sites will also be included. The New Local Plan cannot therefore be termed as “the cavalry coming over the hill to save us”, with a solution. Already the village has taken 25% additional properties (if 47 passed), but the sustainability and facilities in the village have not changed. Indeed, in some villages we are losing community facilities due to the closure of community buildings.  Already these opportunistic developments have resulted in “bolted” on and not shaped developments. This is against the principal criteria of the NPPF which is sustainability. If action is not taken soon our rural villages will merge into each other and lose their individual identity. This loss cannot be justified by the veiled threat that the district will be put in special planning measures if development is refused. Once our countryside is gone it is gone for ever leaving no legacy for future generations.”

In light of the above could the portfolio holder clarify the following: 

“When does the applied “Tilted Balance” factor for determining current planning permissions, swing back in favour of communities?“

“What is the Council doing to support communities across the district who are experiencing large percentage increases to their settlement numbers, (several developments coming online at the same time making small villages construction sites for several years)?”

Cllr. Mike Shirley, Planning and Strategic Growth Portfolio Holder responded:

A)   “The Tilted balanced can be engaged by a number of factors,  

·         a lack of 5 year housing supply, 

·         a lack of delivery over the recent past approved sites 

·         Plan policies in an adopted plan being demonstrably out of date. 

The granting of planning permission for a notable number of speculative sites may give the Council a 5 year housing land supply in the relatively near term but the tilted balance could still be engaged by developers as a result of a lack of recent housing delivery.  The Adoption by Council of a new local plan is the remedy which will give communities the power to resist inappropriate or excessive development. 

B)   When considering sites for the emerging Local Plan our Development Strategy team take into account the scale or size of the village within the settlement hierarchy, together with the range of services and facilities it has including its connectivity and public transport links.  However, with the significant housing requirement we have, most settlements are needing to contribute to housing growth. Where villages are subject to speculative applications which will come forward in the near term the appropriateness of further growth will be carefully considered by the Council to ensure excessive growth does not take place which undermines the sustainability or integrity of those villages.”

Cllr. Maggie Wright asked the following supplementary question:

“What is this Council doing specifically from a practical initiatives point of view to help small village communities cope with the cumulative impact of three to four major developments taking place at the same time, increasing their settlements, in my case by over 25%.”

The Planning and Strategic Growth Group Manager responded:

“We are providing a Statement of Common Ground and intend to publish a Local Plan Regulation 19 in April 2026, this is the best protection for our residents. We are also looking at community groups however we can only engage with developers as much as developers allow, we cannot force developers to engage with local communities. We do however ensure that all developers have environmental management plans and construction management plans in place as required by legislation.”