The Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council Core Strategy, amongst other things, allocates housing building requirements to individual parish areas up to 2026. At present, Desford is not required to make any further contribution to Housing Development in that period.

However, that does not legally bar prospective developers from making applications on sites outside the already allocated areas, and, the present government’s approach is to say our 2026 allocation should be treated as a minimum target, not an absolute limit. If there is no major policy or development control problem with such an application, HBBC cannot refuse it simply on the grounds that the parish has already included the required number. Also, we are required to start thinking now about the plan period after 2026, going right up to 2031

This presents the Parish Council, in its Neighbourhood Plan, with a real issue on which residents’ ideas and views will be sought. We can’t just pull up the drawbridge and say “no more”. The Neighbourhood Plan can face the issue head on and identify broad areas, e.g. “West of the Village” or “East of the Village” or “enlarge Botcheston or Newtown Unthank” (THOSE ARE PURELY THEORETICAL EXAMPLES!!) and back them up with the evidence why they are the least damaging options, or even go so far as to identify preferred sites.

The average household size in Desford parish is 2.42 people per household.

The breakdown of household composition, based on the 2011 census, is: