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previous Government also told council planners to earmark
land on the edge of existing towns for development.
The new regime says it will allow councils more freedom
in choosing housing locations.
Campaigners fighting
large developments on open countryside across Leicestershire
say they hope the new emphasis will lead to the schemes
being shelved, or scrapped.
Barkby and Barkby
Thorpe Parishes Action Group is against Charnwood Borough
Council's preferred option of putting 5,000 homes between
their villages and Thurmaston.
Group chairman
Owen Bentley said he was cautiously optimistic.
"What we
hope will happen is that our council will look again
and decide building a large new town for some 15,000
people is not as good an idea as piecemeal development
spread around, with different communities sharing the
burden," he said.
"We are
not against some limited development in the area but
it should not be on such a huge scale.
"The councils
are not exactly back to square one but they will have
to do a lot of rethinking."
Whitwick Action
Group is fighting North West Leicestershire District
Council's proposal that the greenfield separating it
from Coalville should be used for 2,500 homes.
Group spokesman
Sue Colledge said: "We have a glimmer of hope but
we will not be giving up the fight. We hope there will
be a massive reduction in the house building figures."
Campaigns have
also been waged against proposals for 3,500 homes next
to the M1 between Loughborough and Shepshed and at Leicester
Forest East where 4,500 homes could be built by the
M1.
The Government
has yet to officially change planning legislation but
council leaders in Leicestershire are preparing for
less binding guidance.
Councillor Mathew
Blain, planning spokesman for North West Leicestershire
District Council, said: "Of course, we will still
have to accommodate some house building but we hope
the figure will be smaller than the target (10,000)
handed to us."
Charnwood council
planning cabinet member David Slater said: "We
will have a system where the decisions will be made
from the bottom up, rather than imposed from above.
That is exactly the right way to do things."
County Council
leader David Parsons said: "Communities should
have much more say on what happens in their areas and
should not have housing targets imposed on them, so
I welcome the promised reform of the planning process."
A spokeswoman
for the Department of Communities and Local Government
said "The new Government is committed to giving
a greater say to people, communities and councils.
"This will
include abolishing regional strategies with their centrally
imposed housing targets, and ministers are currently
considering how best to achieve this."
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