Message from Neil O'Brien MP

Stop the new town

Many thanks to all those who attended the recent public meeting I hosted along with Alicia Kearns MP to oppose government plans for a new town in our area. Over 200 people came along to learn about what the government and local council has planned for house building locally. For those who couldn't make it, the meeting was recorded, and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKggii-JpCk

I thought I would send an update email to explain what will happen next in our campaign to stop the new town. The next major milestone will be the publication of the draft Local Plan on 19th December 2024. This leaves the councillors with extremely limited time to digest thousands of pages of detailed reports in the week before Christmas. We won't know exact details until then, but the Council has been looking at several sites for future housing development for months. Despite this they have repeatedly refused my request to be open and transparent and publish the sites where they are looking to build houses.

However, what we do know is that the government wants to build thousands of houses at Stretton Hall, which it says can accommodate up to 4,000 houses. To put that into context, that is similar in size to Lutterworth. We also know (thanks to earlier maps published on the Council's website three years ago) that they are also considering a number of sites adjoining the Stretton Hall site, including areas around Little Stretton, Stoughton, Houghton on the Hill, Bushby and Thurnby. The totality of these sites could be huge, and the Council has hinted on more than one occasion that they favour this part of the Harborough District for large housing growth: recently referring to it as 'a vibrant neighbourhood on the edge of Oadby'.

When the draft Local Plan has been published, there will be a special meeting of the Council's cabinet on 6th January 2025, at 6.30pm, taking place at the Symington Building in Market Harborough. They are largely expected to approve the Plan, which will then go to a meeting of the full council on 16th January, at 6.30pm also at the Symington Building. In recent media coverage, it has been stated that the Cabinet hopes that councillors will simply 'rubber stamp' the draft Local Plan. This is a worrying proposition, that something so important will be simply rubber stamped by councillors.

What can you do?

I don't want councillors to rubber stamp this. They were elected to represent their residents, including on issues such as this. Please email your local councillor to tell them your views – it's important that they know that you don't want this to be rubber stamped. You can find your councillor(s) and their contact details here: https://www.harborough.gov.uk/mycouncillor

Other ways you can help:

• Attend the meetings on 6th and 16th January. There is no need to register, both are public meetings and it's important that councillors understand the strength of feeling on this. There is a public gallery for the public to sit in to watch the meetings.
• Ask a question at the meeting on 16th January. Members of the public can submit and ask a question at the meeting. The council is forced to answer the question in the meeting. To request to ask a question, people can email: democraticservices@harborough.gov.uk. If you need help drafting a question, do reply to this email.

Many thanks for your help in stopping a new town here.

Best wishes,

Neil O'Brien MP