MP Neil O’Brien has described both Harborough and Oadby & Wigston Council’s recent Local Plan public consultations as ‘woefully inadequate’ and has called on both authorities to rerun the process.
In Oadby and Wigston, the Council is currently creating its next Local Plan, a lengthy document that guides where future development will be built in the borough. As part of this, the Council agreed to sign the Statement of Common Ground, which would see Oadby & Wigston accept additional houses from neighbouring Leicester. Since then, the new Labour Government has further increased the Council’s housing delivery target, even announcing that a new settlement will be built at Stretton Hall between Oadby and Great Glen.
In a recent revelation, the Council disclosed that only around 200 responses had been received during the public consultation out of a population of over 57,000.
In Harborough, councillors voted last year to approve a process that would see the Plan prepared in less than 18 months. In doing so, the Council agreed to sign the Statement of Common Ground, which would see Harborough accept thousands of additional homes from Leicester. Since then, the new Labour Government has further increased the Council’s housing delivery target, even going so far as to announce that a new settlement will be built at Stretton Hall between Great Glen and Oadby.
In this latest development, the Council stated that only 101 members of the public in the district responded to the public consultation out of a total population of over 97,000. Parish councils in the area have also complained about how the Council has consulted with the public.
Neil said: “These latest figures, quietly released by the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, show that only around 200 residents and organisations responded to the consultation, a measly 0.3% of the borough's population. This is hardly democratic. Only three in every thousand residents have replied, with most of the population unaware it was going on. The situation is worse in Harborough, with just 101 responses from 1% of the population.
“Then there are complaints about how the consultation was run. As part of the consultation, in-person events were held where information about the Local Plan was supposed to be available to the public in an accessible, easy-to-understand format. However, I have heard complaints from several parish councils about how important paper documents were forgotten and left behind in the Council offices. They were also disappointed that the information presented at these events was complicated to understand. Despite earlier assurances that councillors from the Council’s leadership team would attend events, only one did so.
“However, since this consultation was run, a lot has changed. We have had a new Labour government that has massively increased Oadby & Wigston’s housing target. In a recent government press release, they announced that a new town would be built at Stretton Hall. Nobody knows how this will affect the next Local Plan, not least the officials at the Council, who I am sure are desperately seeking answers from their counterparts in government.
“I am calling for the Council to take stock and rerun the public consultation when things have become clearer. This will allow many more people to have their say on the next Local Plan. The last consultation was woefully inadequate, and it should be run again.”
