Campaigners against housing developments in part of Leicestershire walk in protest
The Stop the New Town group was set up in the wake of proposals on Harborough District’s Local Plan which could see thousands of homes built in their area.
Campaigners have marched across fields near Great Glen in Leicestershire this week to protest plans for hundreds of new homes in the area.
The Stop the New Town group warn that local roads and services would be overwhelmed adding that it'll damage the countryside to build here.
Though the council are yet to make a decision, it is said this opportunity would bring diverse housing and new jobs.
Those who participated in the protests call it a “tsunami of speculative developments” and the group has been set up in the wake of proposals on Harborough District’s Local Plan for 2020-2041 which could see thousands of homes built in their area.
The group said Great Glen was “a village already stretched to breaking point” with another 600+ homes earmarked for the edge of the village.
A spokesperson for The Stop the New Town said: “This is not growth, it’s unmanaged sprawl. These proposals would overwhelm roads, drainage systems, and health services, while permanently damaging the countryside”
The Local Plan looks at where housing will go in the district, with a number of sites eyed up for future development, but The Stop the New Town is opposed to the plans.
Harborough District Council, which must adopt a Local Plan, is required to build 657 homes per year between 2020 and 2036 in the district and 534 homes per year between 2036 and 2041.
Key sites included in the Local Plan are those for 4,000 homes on land South of Gartree Road, but The Stop the New Town claims the proposals would “obliterate the countryside” in the area. The group took to the fields earmarked for development earlier this month in a show of protest at the “extensive housing” proposed in the Local Plan.
The walk, aiming to raise greater awareness of the campaign, took in a 1.5 mile route across the open countryside. The group said they walked “en masse, visibly and peacefully to demonstrate the wide-spread opposition to the destruction of further Leicestershire countryside”.
One of the people who participated in the walk said they did not realise such a large area is being considered for building “as we don’t usually walk these fields.”
The Stop the New Town said: “According to the census, Great Glen’s population has already risen from less than 3,000 to 4,000 plus between 2001 and 2021. If the new developments proceed, the village will officially surpass the 5,000-population threshold, yet without any accompanying improved infrastructure or amenities, reclassified as a “small town” by the Office for National Statistics.
The campaign group added: ”There is no justification for concreting over precious green fields, a situation being replicated across the country, noting – CPRE, the Countryside Charity said: “England has space for 1.2 million homes on previously developed land.”
During Harborough District Council's consultation on the Local Plan, a petition raised by The Stop the New Town gained over 2,300 signatures.
No firm decision on the plan has yet been made by the council, but speaking previously, a Harborough District Council spokesperson said the proposals for Market Harborough and near Leicester and Oadby would “provide diverse housing” as well as job opportunities and “improved healthcare, education and recreation services”.
The Local Plan is currently under review by Harborough District Council.
The council’s website notes the “Secretary of State will appoint an independent Planning Inspector to examine the Local Plan. This will include hearing sessions (open to the public) for the Inspector to hear evidence, expected mid-2026”.