New Local Plan - progress so far

The Draft North West Leicestershire Local Plan: Additional Proposed Housing and Employment Allocations public Consultation - 21 March to 2 May 2025

We are currently consulting on a number of additional housing and employment sites. The consultation document and information about how to respond to the consultation is on our New Local Plan webpage. 

2025 Call for Sites: General Needs Employment and Lorry Parking

The Draft North West Leicestershire Local Plan: Additional Proposed Housing and Employment Allocations for Consultation document (March 2025) identifies that there could be a shortfall of general needs employment land during the plan period (up to 2042).

We would like to hear from you if you own or control land which may be suitable for general employment purposes or that may be suitable for lorry parking.

For more information and to submit a site please use the form on our Submit a Site webpage.

Draft Local Plan Consultation – 5 February to 17 March 2024

We consulted on our new Local Plan from 5 February to 17 March 2024. Set out below are the responses we received, the consultation documents and background information.

Consultation Responses

We received 639 responses to this consultation which we've published in a series of PDF documents. We have redacted personal information and any text considered inappropriate for publication (e.g. offensive langauge). 

In addition to the consultation responses, a 175-signature petition was received objecting to the proposed housing allocation at Broom Leys Farm, Coalville (site C46).

How to view the responses

We have created indexes to help you search for a response or respondent. The Full Respondent Index contains the name of every respondent and their response number. We have also created individual indexes for each of the three consultation documents so you can see who commented on which aspects of each document. 

• Full Respondent Index (PDF Document, 0.19 Mb)
• Proposed Policies Index (PDF Document, 0.43 Mb)
• Proposed Housing and Employment Allocations Index (PDF Document, 0.31 Mb)
• Proposed Limits to Development Index (PDF Document, 0.13 Mb)

Due to the number and length of the responses we have had to publish them in a number of separate PDFs. Once you have the response number of the representation you want to view (see above Indexes), open the relevant PDF and use the 'bookmark' (right hand menu bar) or 'table of contents' (top left hand corner) features to navigate to it.

• Draft Local Plan Consultation Responses 1-100 (PDF Document, 27.58 Mb)
• Draft Local Plan Consultation Responses 101-200 (PDF Document, 204.36 Mb)
• Draft Local Plan Consultation Responses 201-300 (PDF Document, 172.74 Mb)
• Draft Local Plan Consultation Responses 301-407 (PDF Document, 57.19 Mb)
• Draft Local Plan Consultation Responses 408-653 (online responses) (PDF Document, 0.63 Mb)
• Draft Local Plan Consultation Responses 654-656 (PDF Document, 11.56 Mb)

Please note: There are a number of gaps in the numbering which are mainly due to us amalamating responses from the same respondents.

Consultation Documents 

There were three consultation documents:

• Proposed Policies (PDF Document, 9.24 Mb)
• Proposed Housing and Employment Allocations (PDF Document, 6.12 Mb)
• Proposed Limits to Development Review (PDF Document, 20.02 Mb)

We also published draft Policies Map which shows the policies and proposals in map form.

• Draft District Wide Policies Map (PDF Document, 3.43 Mb)
• Draft Inset Policies Maps (PDF Document, 10.69 Mb)
• Map showing areas potentially suitable for small scale wind energy (PDF Document, 7.44 Mb)
• Map showing areas potentially suitable for medium/large wind energy (PDF Document, 7.46 Mb)

Background information

If you would like a short explanation of what a Local Plan is and how it is prepared, watch this 3 minute video prepared by The Planning Inspectorate. We also prepared some Frequently Asked Questions.

You might also wish to look at these New Homes Fact Sheets prepared by Homes England which provide some useful context on why new homes are needed and how they are planned for.

In support of the Proposed Policies document, we prepared a range of Topic Papers:

• Employment Topic Paper (PDF Document, 2.75 Mb)
• Houses in Multiple Occupation Topic Paper (PDF Document, 0.23 Mb)
• Housing Types Topic Paper (PDF Document, 0.47 Mb) 
• Space Standards Topic Paper (PDF Document, 0.54 Mb)
• Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Topic Paper (PDF Document, 0.36 Mb)
• Town Centre Review Topic Paper (PDF Document, 3.08 Mb)

In support of the Proposed Housing and Employment Allocations document, we published the following in the Site Assessment section of our Evidence Base page.

• Site assessment methodology – this explains the process we have followed to select sites to include in the new Local Plan
• Sustainability Appraisal – this is a high-level comparative assessment of the sustainability credentials of the potential sites.
• Site proformas – these provide summary information about each potential site.
• Site assessments – these are the detailed assessments.

Here are the exhibition panels we prepared.

• Exhibition Introduction Panel (PDF Document, 1.29 Mb)
• Exhibition Panels for Coalville and Ellistown (PDF Document, 9.34 Mb)
• Exhibition Panel for Castle Donington (PDF Document, 2.29 Mb)
• Exhibition Panels for Ibstock, Kegworth and J11 M42 near Measham (PDF Document, 3.84 Mb)
• Exhibition Panels for Appleby Magna, Donisthorpe, Heather, Moira, Oakthorpe and Ravenstone (PDF Document, 5.91 Mb)
• Exhibition Panels for the new settlement and land south of East Midlands Airport (PDF Document, 3.33 Mb)

Development Strategy Options and Policy Options - January to March 2022

This consultation ran between 17 January and 14 March 2022. The Development Strategy Options and Policy Options consultation described a number of key issues that the Local Plan Review must address, including options for how housing and employment development might be distributed across the district, as well as more specific policy topics such as how we might help to address climate change issues. 

• Local Plan Review Consultation Document (PDF Document, 0.87 Mb). 
  
• Sustainability Appraisal of the Spatial Options

Development Strategy and Policy Options Consultation Responses 

Altogether there were 414 responses to the consultation (there was one duplicate response that was recorded under number 319 which has been removed).

Due to the volume of response we have published them in a number of PDF documents and one spreadsheet. The responses that came in via CitizenSpace are on the spreadsheet.

How to view the responses

There is an index of representations that details the representation number of each responder. The index can be used to search for a response and then using the relevant respondent number you can access the full response in the relevant PDF/spreadsheet.

Once you’ve opened the relevant PDF you can use the 'contents' or 'menu' icon (in the top left corner) and the 'document outline' icon to navigate to the response you wish to view.

Index of Representations (Excel Spreadsheet, 0.1 Mb)

Consultation Responses 1-100 (PDF Document, 36.54 Mb)

Consultation Responses 101-200 (PDF Document, 96.12 Mb)

Consultation Responses 201-317 (PDF Document, 132.67 Mb)

Consultation Responses 318-396 (Excel Spreadsheet, 0.1 Mb)

Consultation Responses 397-415 (Including additional responses 324 and 325) (PDF Document, 15.54 Mb)

Please note:

There are two representors that responded via citizenspace and also completed a consultation response form and therefore there is a response on both the spreadsheet and in the PDF document for respondent numbers 324 and 325.

Please note there were two responses numbered 185 and 187 that, when checked, were illegible. We have given these respondants the opportunity to resubmit their representations.

Emerging Options Consultation - November 2018 to January 2019

Between 12 November 2018 and 11 January 2019, we undertook consultation on Emerging Options which could be included in our Local Plan Review.   

Consultation document: Emerging Options Consultation Document (PDF Document, 0.58 Mb)

Summary of responses: Emerging Options - Summary of Responses (PDF Document, 1 Mb)

Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Consultation - September to October 2018

Between 3 September and 15 October we consulted on our Local Plan Review Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report.  This provides detailed baseline information on the environmental, social and economic characteristics of the plan area, including the likely evolution of the baseline position which would occur without the plan. 

Various Consultations - June to August 2018

Between 25 June 2018 and 28 August 2018 we undertook consultation on the following issues:

Revised Statement of Community Involvement – We sought views on changes proposed to our 2015 SCI mainly to take account of changes introduced in the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment Call for Sites – We undertook a call for sites which could potentially be included in a revision of our SHELAA.

Gypsy and Traveller Site Allocations DPD Call for Sites – We undertook a call for sites which are potentially suitable for use by Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople.

Local Green Space Nomination - A consultation to identify suitable sites to be designated as Local Green Spaces across North West Leicestershire.

Issues Consultation - February 2018

We started the Local Plan Review by undertaking a Local Plan Partial Review - Issues Consultation (PDF Document, 0.27 Mb) between February and April 2018.

A summary of the responses received during the consultation, and officer responses to them, were reported to the Local Plan Committee on 22 June 2018.