Leicestershire council area
Selling Land in Charnwood
Charnwood has a brand new local plan, the lowest delivery result of any Leicestershire district, and no Green Belt at all. That combination, plus a decision to move its Leicester fringe into an enlarged city council in 2028, makes the borough unusually active for owners of land near Loughborough, Shepshed and the Soar valley villages.
- We pay for the planning, at our own cost and risk
- Your price is agreed up front, in writing
- If planning is refused, you keep your land and owe nothing
Charnwood at a Glance
Charnwood Borough Council is based in Loughborough. Its plan names Loughborough as the urban centre, with Shepshed and the Leicester fringe settlements of Birstall, Syston and Thurmaston as urban settlements, and Anstey, Barrow upon Soar, Mountsorrel, Quorn, Rothley and Sileby as service centres. Many of the villages sit along the Soar and Wreake valleys, and part of Charnwood Forest falls within the plan area.
- 62% in the Housing Delivery Test 2025. The council delivered 2,080 homes against a requirement of 3,376 across the three years measured, the lowest result of the Leicestershire districts.
- No Green Belt. The government's statistics list sixteen Green Belts in England, none of them around Leicester, and the inspectors describe the borough's protected open land as countryside, Green Wedges and Areas of Local Separation.
- A plan adopted on 19 January 2026. The Charnwood Local Plan 2021 to 2037 provides for 1,111 homes a year for the borough plus 78 a year towards Leicester's unmet need, 1,189 in all, or 19,024 over the plan period.
- A split in 2028. From April 2028 most of the borough joins a new Leicestershire and Rutland council, while Syston, Birstall, Thurmaston and Anstey move to a new council covering Leicester, Oadby and Wigston.
Put simply, land in Charnwood is judged against a fresh plan and a national policy that currently treats the borough as short of homes. Both matter, and how they are balanced on a particular field is what decides its prospects.
Charnwood in Figures
The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.
Housing Delivery Test 2025
62%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
2,080
of 3,376 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
January 2026
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
No recent stage listed
Check the council's website for its timetable.
Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.
A Low Score in the Year of a New Plan
The Housing Delivery Test looks back over three monitoring years, all of which came before the new plan was adopted. Its result still counts. Any score below 75% is taken, under policy S5 of the national framework as revised in August 2026, as evidence that the borough is short of homes, and that opens a route to approval for housing outside settlement limits. That route is switched off only in the Green Belt, so here it reaches every settlement edge.
The adopted plan pulls the other way. It says new built development will be confined to sites allocated in the plan and in neighbourhood plans, and other land within the Limits to Development, subject to specific exceptions, with policy C1 covering the countryside. The inspectors also found that the plan provides for at least 21,216 homes against its requirement of 19,024, which they called "a reasonably comfortable 11.5% margin". A council with that supply and a plan only months old will argue that its allocations are the right answer. The S5 route therefore works best for land that fits the plan's own logic. These are the questions we test, in order:
- Does the land sit tight against a settlement? Land that adjoins the Limits to Development of Loughborough, Shepshed, a Leicester fringe settlement or a service centre is in a far better position than one separated by open countryside.
- Can infrastructure cope? The plan comes with £350 million of developer contributions for roads, public transport, cycle routes, education, health and community facilities, including six new primary schools at Anstey (two), Barrow, Loughborough, Shepshed and Syston. Land that can use that capacity, or add to it, answers one of the council's first objections.
- Is there a local designation? Green Wedges (policy EV2), Areas of Local Separation (EV3) and Charnwood Forest (EV4) each carry their own policy, and land inside them faces a harder case.
- Is the land in the flood plain? The plan records 2,758 properties at risk of flooding from watercourses in a 1 in 100 year event, so this often decides how much of a field can be built on.
A site that passes each of these can make a strong case now. The inspectors also noted that national policy requires plans to be reviewed every five years, and the evidence we prepare for an application puts land in a good position for that review. Our guide to the 2026 NPPF covers the S5 tests in more depth.
Where the 2021 to 2037 Plan Puts New Homes
The plan carries forward three large urban extensions agreed under the previous Core Strategy and spreads the remaining homes across the settlement hierarchy. The council's own summary gives these figures:
| Location | Homes in the adopted plan |
|---|---|
| Three urban extensions: Garendon Park west of Loughborough, Broadnook north of Birstall, Thorpebury north east of Leicester | 8,355 |
| Loughborough, beyond the extensions | 2,242 |
| Leicester's edge at Birstall, Thurmaston and Syston | 2,104 |
| Shepshed | 1,878 |
| Larger villages, mainly Barrow (703), Anstey (647) and Sileby (345) | 1,819 |
| Small villages | 815 |
Why the Extensions Show Two Different Totals
The adopted plan itself records planning permission for 4,500 homes at Thorpebury, 3,200 at Garendon Park and 1,950 at Broadnook, which adds up to 9,650, more than the 8,355 in the council's summary. The two are not in conflict. The likeliest explanation is that a plan counts only the homes it expects to be built within its own period, and extensions of this size take many years to finish, so part of each permission is expected after 2037. For a landowner the useful point is that these extensions are already consented, so the rest of the plan's growth, and any case for more land, turns on the towns and villages in the lower rows of the table.
Employment land is part of the picture too: 81 hectares of flexible employment land, and 73 hectares to extend the Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park. The plan gives Shepshed extra weight as part of its ongoing regeneration and describes the town as the county's international gateway.
Leicester's Need and the City Fringe
Leicester cannot fit all of its housing within its own boundary. The inspectors recorded that the Leicester and Leicestershire statement of common ground of June 2022 set a working assumption of 18,700 homes of unmet need for the city, shared among the surrounding districts. Charnwood's part is 78 homes a year, 1,248 over the plan period, added to its own requirement.
The larger change comes in 2028. Under the government's decision announced in July 2026, two unitary councils will replace the current ten from April 2028. Syston, Birstall, Thurmaston and Anstey will be served by the new council covering Leicester, Oadby and Wigston, which will also take in parts of Blaby and Harborough, and the rest of Charnwood by the new Leicestershire and Rutland council. Land on that fringe will eventually be planned by a council centred on the city.
For now, the council says all its services are continuing as usual, so Charnwood decides applications across the whole borough until the new councils take over.
The Forest, the Green Wedges and the River Corridors
Charnwood Forest is the landscape most people associate with the borough. The plan has a specific policy, EV4, for the Forest and the National Forest, defines the Charnwood Forest Regional Park and protects wildlife corridors at places including the Forest, the Grand Union Canal and the River Soar. The Forest was also submitted to UNESCO in November 2025 for Global Geopark status. The bid team expects evaluators to visit in summer 2026, a decision by the Global Geopark Council in the autumn and final approval by UNESCO's Executive Board in 2027. That would be international recognition of its geology, not a planning designation, so it would not add a new layer of control on its own.
Two local policies protect the gaps between places, Green Wedges and Areas of Local Separation, which keep neighbouring settlements apart. Both are drawn on the council's policies maps, and land inside them is harder to bring forward, though not impossible where a scheme keeps the gap open in practice.
Water shapes the valleys. The plan notes that many of the borough's settlements are concentrated along the corridors of the Soar and the Wreake, and it has a dedicated policy, EV5, for the River Soar and Grand Union Canal corridor. Our guide to flood risk and development land sets out how the sequential test treats a field with a low corner.
The Kind of Land We Buy in Charnwood
- Fields that adjoin the Limits to Development of Loughborough, Shepshed, Syston, Birstall or Thurmaston.
- Edges of the service centres the plan already expects to grow, such as Barrow upon Soar, Anstey and Sileby, and of the smaller Soar and Wreake valley villages.
- Land within a reasonable walk of a railway station or a good bus route.
- Holdings that can share or add to new school and road capacity.
- Yards, former commercial sites and other previously developed land, anywhere in the borough.
- Farmland with a road frontage, or a realistic way to get one, on the edge of a settlement.
Land deep inside Charnwood Forest, in a Green Wedge or in the middle of an Area of Local Separation carries a higher bar, and we will say so plainly once we have looked. Where we go ahead, we agree the price at the start, cover the full cost of the planning work and put money towards the fees of your own solicitor and land agent, so having it done properly does not cost you anything.
What Charnwood Landowners Ask Us
The plan was only adopted in January 2026. Can land outside it really get permission?
It can, but it has to earn it. The 62% result means unmet need is treated as evidenced under national policy, and there is no Green Belt to block that route. The council will still give its new plan real weight, so the land needs to sit well against a settlement and deal with infrastructure, landscape and flooding.
My land is near Syston. Which council will decide an application after 2028?
From April 2028 Syston, Birstall, Thurmaston and Anstey are due to be served by the new council covering Leicester, Oadby and Wigston. Until then Charnwood decides, under its adopted plan.
Does the UNESCO geopark bid stop development in Charnwood Forest?
Not in itself. A geopark recognises geology and supports tourism; it is not a planning designation. The Forest already has its own policy in the local plan, and that is the test land inside it faces.
Part of my field floods from the Soar. Is it worth looking at?
Often. Homes can usually be kept to the higher ground, with the wetter part used for open space and drainage. How much of the field that leaves is something we work out early, using the Environment Agency maps and, where needed, our own modelling.
What is the first step if I want to know whether my land has a chance?
Tell us where it is. We look at its position against the plan, the settlement limits, the flood maps and access, and give you our honest view before anything is agreed. There is no cost to you for that review, and our how it works page shows what follows.
Tell Us About Your Land in Charnwood
It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly. We reply within 2 working days, in confidence.
More in Leicestershire
County overview
Selling Land in Leicestershire
Selling land in Leicestershire? Council by council housing delivery and plan status, Leicester's unmet need, green wedges, the River Mease and growth areas.
Sources
- Charnwood Borough Council: Plan for borough's growth is adopted by Council
- Charnwood Borough Council: Summary of the Charnwood Local Plan 2021 to 2037
- Charnwood Borough Council: Charnwood Local Plan 2021 to 2037, adoption version
- Charnwood Local Plan 2021 to 2037: Inspectors' report
- Charnwood Borough Council: Government announces decision on local government reorganisation
- Charnwood Forest Geopark: UNESCO bid
- GOV.UK: Housing Delivery Test 2025 measurement
- GOV.UK: Local authority green belt, England 2024-25
We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.