Rutland Council say it's been challenging to find the right place for housing developments
It comes as an examination of the local plan is starting this week
Rutland County Council are telling us what challenges they're facing with the county's new housing target more than doubled from 123 to 266 per year.
The plan for how Rutland will develop over the next two decades will be examined by a planning inspector this week.
It's not easy to find the right place
Over the course of a six-day hearing, inspector Katie Price will take representations from members of the public, developers, Rutland County Council and interested parties about the submitted Local Plan and hear arguments about what elements if any need to be changed.
The plan sets out where homes will be built, where business sites will be situated and how much public infrastructure, such as doctors surgeries, are needed between now and 2041.
Matters the inspector has indicated will be discussed include the St George’s Barracks site and the large site at Woolfox, which could see as many as 4,000 homes built.
Paul Browne, from the Rutland County Council, said:
"Every development site will have impacts on people that's inevitable."
"It's getting the right sites where the infrastructure is and where it doesn't cause undue problems."
"It's not easy to find the right place. It's not easy to find the right place for us let alone our residents and we will try our best to channel it to what we consider the least obtrusive places."
"Some businesses object because they often want to maximise the density and make larger homes when really what we want are more practical affordable homes."
It's getting the right sites where the infrastructure is
The hearing will start on Wednesday 9th September at the council’s headquarters in Oakham and continue throughout that week and three days of the following week.
But as with all things Local Plan in Rutland, the matter is likely not going to be straight forward.
Rutland County Council had to withdraw its plan in the final stages back in 2021 after a debacle which saw it refuse to accept an almost £30m government grant to support building a new garden community at St George’s Barracks.
It then started the current one, which has been consulted on and was submitted to the secretary of state in February, but due to new planning changes being introduced by the Labour government, the authority’s plan will be out of date before any adoption, and so a new one has been started.
Labour has a target to build an extra 1.5 million homes across the country and Rutland has had its new homes target more than doubled from 123 to 266 per year.
In order to have enough building sites available the council put out a call for landowners to suggest sites in May.
After hearing evidence from the interested parties the inspector will issue her report. The authority can then decide whether it wants to formally adopt the plan, which usually involves a vote by the full council.