Leicestershire council area

Selling Land in North West Leicestershire

North West Leicestershire builds far more homes than its plan asks for and can show 5.1 years of housing land, only just above the five years national policy expects. Its new plan to 2042 raises the target to 690 homes a year and proposes a new settlement of 4,250 homes at Isley Woodhouse, south of East Midlands Airport.

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Coalville, Ashby and the Airport Corridor

North West Leicestershire District Council is based in Coalville. Its new plan names the Coalville urban area, which takes in Whitwick, Thringstone, Hugglescote, Greenhill, Donington le Heath, Snibston and Bardon, as the principal town. Ashby de la Zouch and Castle Donington are key service centres, and Ibstock, Kegworth and Measham local service centres, with seventeen sustainable villages below them. East Midlands Airport and Donington Park both lie at Castle Donington.

Far ahead on delivery. The council built 2,009 homes against a requirement of 1,091 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 184%.
A plan from 2017, reviewed in 2021. The Local Plan 2011 to 2031 was adopted on 21 November 2017, and a partial review was adopted in March 2021, 5 years ago.
Just over five years of supply. The council's interim statement finds 5.1 years of deliverable housing land at 1 April 2026.
A new plan out to 2042. The Proposed Submission Local Plan was published for consultation in July 2026, with comments closing on 11 September 2026.

In most councils that pass the delivery test this easily, land comes forward mainly through the plan. That is true here too, but the margin in the supply is thin, and the new plan asks for a lot more land than the old one.

North West Leicestershire in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
184%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
5.1 years
Five years or more of deliverable housing land. Position at 1 April 2026, measured against the standard method, 626 homes a year, plus a 5% buffer, less 229 homes built above that rate since April 2024. Stated by North West Leicestershire District Council (interim statement).
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
2,009
of 1,091 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
March 2021
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Final draft Local Plan consultation closed 11 September 2026; submission planned for November 2026
Checked source

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.

Five Years of Supply, 63 Homes to Spare

The council now tests its supply against the standard method, and says it will keep doing so until the new plan's own requirement is adopted. Its interim five-year supply note, published on the council's supply page, sets out the sum:

Source: North West Leicestershire District Council, Interim Five Year Housing Land Supply, base date 1 April 2026. The council works from unrounded figures, which is why its surplus is 63 rather than the 62 the rounded rows suggest.
Step	Council's figure
Local housing need, standard method	626 homes a year
Homes built April 2024 to March 2026, against 1,252 needed	1,481, an oversupply of 229
Five years at 626, plus a 5% buffer	3,287 homes
Less the oversupply	3,058 homes, or 612 a year
Projected deliverable supply	3,120 homes
Result	5.1 years, a surplus of 63 homes

Two points stand out. The council counts its building since April 2024, the start of the new plan period, against the standard method and takes the surplus off what is still needed. Without that credit, the 3,120 homes would fall short of the 3,287 requirement. The note is also interim: the council says supply forms for every allocation and other site it counts will be completed and published in an updated statement in the autumn.

Why the Standard Method Figure Moved

The council's housing background paper records local housing need of 617 homes a year in May 2025, while the April 2026 note uses 626. The two are not in conflict. The government's formula is rerun each year with fresh figures on house prices, earnings and the size of the housing stock, which most likely explains the rise. For a landowner, the later figure is the one that counts, and it is slightly harder for the council to meet.

Where That Leaves Land Beyond the Limits to Development

Under the national framework as revised in August 2026, policy S5 backs homes outside a settlement only where there is evidence that need is going unmet, and the district currently offers neither of the usual kinds: a Housing Delivery Test score below 75%, or less than five years of deliverable land. At 184% and 5.1 years, neither applies today. An application on open land outside the limits to development therefore has no shortfall to lean on. The routes open today are plots within a settlement, where policy S4 tilts the balance towards permission and only harm that would substantially outweigh the benefits justifies a refusal, together with previously developed land and small rural schemes for a village's own need. For most fields, the way in is the plan.

Above 481 Homes a Year in Every Year Since 2014

The adopted plan asked for 481 homes a year, 9,620 over 2011 to 2031. The council's monitoring report for 2024/25 shows how far building has run ahead of that since the early years of the plan:

Selected years. Source: North West Leicestershire District Council, Authority Monitoring Report 2024/25 (December 2025).
Year	Net completions
2017/18	978
2019/20	763
2021/22	987
2022/23	704
2023/24	563
2024/25	732

By March 2025 the district had built 9,178 homes since 2011, an average of 655 a year, leaving only a few hundred of the whole plan's requirement with six years to go. The 1,481 homes built over the two years to March 2026 imply around 749 in 2025/26. In 2024/25, 412 of the 732 homes were in the Coalville urban area and 218 in Ashby and Castle Donington, while the sustainable villages took 63. That year 186 affordable homes were completed, a quarter of the total.

The pattern matters for land. Growth has gone overwhelmingly to the towns, and the new plan continues that. A field on the edge of Coalville, Ashby or Castle Donington sits where the council has chosen to build; one beside a small village is competing for a much smaller share.

690 a Year to 2042, and a New Settlement at Isley Woodhouse

Policy S1 of the Proposed Submission Local Plan sets a requirement of 690 homes a year, 12,420 over 2024 to 2042, taken from the Leicester and Leicestershire statement of common ground of December 2025. That is 43.5% above the 481 a year of the current plan. The plan puts the standard method at 617 a year in May 2025 and, while noting that the district has only a limited functional relationship with Leicester, says the strength of its economy informed the higher figure, with more homes giving a better balance between jobs and homes.

How the Plan Meets It

The housing background paper takes off the 1,481 homes already built, leaving 10,939, and adds a 10% margin for flexibility, which leaves 12,033 to find. Against that it counts 4,121 homes on major sites with permission, 8,123 on new allocations and 906 on small sites, a total of 13,150. The largest pieces are:

Source: North West Leicestershire District Council, Housing Background Paper (July 2026).
Site	Homes in the plan period
Isley Woodhouse new settlement (policy H3a)	1,950 of 4,250
South East Coalville, already permitted	2,637
Money Hill, Ashby de la Zouch, second phase	1,200
West of Castle Donington	1,100
Land off Stephenson Green, Coalville	700
Land west of Whitwick	650
Land off Leicester Road, Ibstock	450
Land off Leicester Road and Ashby Road, Measham	300

Isley Woodhouse

The new settlement lies south of East Midlands Airport and Donington Park, and is put forward by Harworth Group and Caesarea Development Holdings. The background paper expects 4,250 homes in all, with 1,950 built by 2042, and lists an outline application, reference 25/00865/OUTM, as pending. The council has also commissioned a separation study for Diseworth and a noise assessment covering Isley Woodhouse and Castle Donington, which shows the questions the examination is likely to test.

One Requirement, Two Ways of Phasing It

There is a tension between the plan and its own evidence. Policy S1 says 690 a year is the annual figure for five-year supply and delivery test purposes. The background paper, because the requirement jumps so far and the new settlement delivers late, sets out a stepped trajectory instead: 500 homes in 2026/27, rising by 50 a year to 650 in 2029/30, then 690 in 2030/31 and 750 a year for the six years to 2036/37, before easing back to 690 by the end of the plan. The interim supply note refers to "the 690/stepped requirement" without choosing. Which version the inspector accepts will decide how hard the council's supply test is once the plan is adopted. A flat 690 would be tougher than today's 626; a stepped figure would be easier in the first years.

Employment is part of the same picture. The plan provides for about 1.09 million square metres of strategic warehousing, 44% of the total need for Leicester and Leicestershire, two thirds of it around junctions 23a and 24 of the M1 and junction 1 of the A50.

The River Mease, the National Forest and the Gaps Between Places

Land around Ashby de la Zouch, Measham and a string of villages drains to the River Mease, a Special Area of Conservation sensitive to phosphates. The council's River Mease guidance says development there can only proceed if it is nutrient neutral, and that there is no capacity left in its second developer contribution scheme. It names Ashby de la Zouch, Measham, Packington, Oakthorpe, Blackfordby, Norris Hill, Donisthorpe, Appleby Magna, Snarestone, Swepstone and parts of Moira and Newton Burgoland among the places affected.

Relief is scheduled. A Severn Trent scheme to pump treated flows from the Packington and Measham works out of the catchment was postponed from the end of 2025 to 2027, and the background paper expects allocations in the catchment to benefit from 1 April 2027. Land off Steeple View Lane, Appleby Magna is the exception: it cannot use the scheme and needs its own mitigation, so its homes are expected later in the plan period.

The National Forest has its own policy, En4, and the plan's vision looks to its maturing as an environmental and economic asset.
Areas of Separation (policy En5) protect gaps between neighbouring places, and the council's evidence base includes separation studies from 2022 and 2023 and one for Diseworth from October 2025.
Flood risk is covered by a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment updated in June 2026.

Our guide to call for sites and local plans explains how these constraints are weighed when councils choose sites.

The Land We Look for in North West Leicestershire

Fields on the edge of the Coalville urban area, from Whitwick and Thringstone to Hugglescote and Ellistown.
Land beside Ashby de la Zouch or Castle Donington, checked early for the River Mease and airport noise.
Edges of Ibstock, Kegworth and Measham, the local service centres.
Plots, yards and former commercial or colliery land inside settlements.
Paddocks and small sites that could meet a village's own need.
Larger holdings that could suit the next plan review.

Land in an Area of Separation, or in the Mease catchment before the pumping scheme runs, faces extra hurdles, and we will be clear about them. When we proceed, you know the price from the outset, every planning cost falls to us, and we make a contribution to your own solicitor's and land agent's fees so that getting the legal side right costs you nothing.

Submission in November 2026, Examination From March 2027

The Plan Timetable

The plan's own timetable puts submission to the Secretary of State in November 2026, the examination in March 2027 and adoption in autumn or winter 2027. It follows a long run of consultations, listed by the council, from the first issues stage in 2018 to a round on additional housing and employment sites in spring 2025. The examination is where the new settlement, the stepped requirement and any omitted sites will be tested.

The Autumn Supply Statement

The council has promised an updated statement this autumn, with evidence for each site. With a surplus of only 63 homes, a modest change in the timing of a few large sites could move the figure either way. If it fell below five years, policy S5 would give well placed land outside the settlements evidence of unmet need to rely on. We make no forecast; we will read the statement when it appears.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 was published on 17 August 2026, and the government brings out a new edition each year. The district's 184% leaves a wide cushion above every threshold, and the 1,481 homes built in the two years to March 2026 are an early sign of continued strong building.

The Mease, and Reorganisation

The pumping scheme's April 2027 date matters to land around Ashby and Measham. Separately, reorganisation of councils across Leicestershire is paused while the government reviews it, and on 21 September 2026 the district joined four other councils in a pre-action letter questioning the decision. The district council is preparing the plan in the meantime.

What This Means for Timing

Land that is already in the plan will be decided at examination. Land outside it is best prepared now, with evidence ready for any change in the supply position and for the next review. The council's last call for sites closed in October 2020, but its land availability page still takes submissions for future assessments. Our Leicestershire page sets the district beside the rest of the county.

Questions About Land in North West Leicestershire

The council has just over five years of supply. Is it worth asking about my field?

Yes, though the route may be the plan rather than an application. The margin is only 63 homes on an interim statement, a fuller one is due this autumn, and the plan still has to pass examination. Land inside settlements, previously developed land and small village schemes can often be looked at now.

My land is near Diseworth. What does Isley Woodhouse mean for it?

The new plan proposes the new settlement south of the airport, and the council has studied the separation between it and Diseworth. That makes land in the gap harder, while land that could serve the new community may be a different case. We would look at the policies map first.

I own land at Measham. Is the River Mease still a barrier?

Measham is one of the places the council says could be affected until treated flows from the Packington and Measham works are pumped out of the catchment, and meanwhile new homes there must be nutrient neutral. The council expects allocations in the catchment to benefit from 1 April 2027, so preparing evidence now can make sense.

My village is not a service centre. Can a small site still work?

Sometimes. Seventeen villages are classed as sustainable villages, and several have small allocations in the new plan. Beyond that, schemes that meet a village's own housing need follow their own route.

I put my land into the 2020 call for sites. Is it still in the running?

The proposed submission plan of July 2026 shows which sites the council has chosen. If yours is not among them, the council still accepts sites for future land assessments, and the next review is where it would be looked at again. We check the allocations, the Mease catchment, noise and access first, and our how it works page shows the stages that follow.

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.