Councillors have agreed to proactively work with other Leicestershire districts, the City Council and County Council on the distribution of new homes and employment land from Leicester.

Like all other councils, Blaby District Council is required to identify land for new homes and employment sites. The Council is set targets by the Government based on various factors such as population growth.

Under national planning law, Blaby District is required to look at taking on a share of unmet housing from Leicester, which does not have enough land to meet its growth targets. The Council is legally obliged to co-operate with other districts to meet this need.

To fulfil this requirement, the Leicester and Leicestershire Statement of Common Ground has been produced to distribute this unmet need of housing and employment land. At the Full Council meeting on 19 July, Councillors approved the intention to be the first council to sign the Statement of Common Ground.

The signed document increases Blaby District’s annual housing need for 2020-2036 from 346 homes to 687 homes per year. No additional employment land has been allocated to the area.

A comprehensive method to distribute the unmet need has been used to calculate the 346-home figure. The Housing and Economic Needs Assessment (HENA) looks at each council’s relationship with Leicester City, the balance of jobs and homes in each authority area and the ability for each area to deliver the additional allocation.

Signing the Statement of Common Ground will also help to protect the integrity of Blaby District Council’s Local Plan. Not undertaking proactive work could see any Local Plan fail at examination which may make the Council more vulnerable to speculative and unwanted planning applications.

More information about the Statement of Common Ground can be found on the dedicated website at https://www.llstrategicgrowthplan.org.uk/.