How Much is My Land Worth in Hinckley and Bosworth?

The Regulation 19 plan directs most growth to the urban areas of Hinckley, Burbage, Earl Shilton and Barwell, while supporting proportionate growth in the borough’s rural centres and villages. It calculates a plan-period requirement of 15,687 homes, including a five per cent delivery buffer, and identifies that 11,487 homes need to be provided through allocations after taking account of completions and commitments. Proposed allocations are considerably more advanced than an early Call for Sites option, but they remain subject to representations, examination and adoption.

The Council’s final five-year statement identifies approximately 4.48 years of supply for 2026–2031. That shortfall can affect the planning balance, but it does not erase settlement boundaries, Green Wedge policy, flood risk, heritage, ecology, highway safety or infrastructure requirements. We therefore distinguish current adopted policy from the emerging publication plan and examine how much planning risk remains. See the guides to five-year housing-land supply, Local Plan allocation and Regulation 19 representations.

Hinckley and Burbage have the borough’s strongest concentration of employment, retail, rail, schools and other services, but the urban area also contains very different site types. The publication plan identifies a minimum of 1,320 homes north of Normandy Way, 530 homes west of Hollycroft Grange and approximately 195 homes at the former Cadent site on Brick Kiln Street. Each requires a separate assessment of land assembly, access, drainage, surrounding neighbourhoods, open space, infrastructure and the degree of planning certainty already attached to the parcel.

Land west and north of Hinckley must also be checked against the broad safeguarding corridor for the Hinckley Western Link Road. A proposal that sterilises part of the corridor or fragments land needed for access, mitigation or construction may be resisted, while development that benefits from the scheme may be expected to safeguard land or contribute towards delivery. A nearby allocation or road proposal can therefore increase strategic interest while simultaneously reducing the usable area or creating a major first-phase cost. See access and highways and land equalisation.

The plan carries forward the Earl Shilton Sustainable Urban Extension for 1,581 homes and the Barwell Sustainable Urban Extension for 2,500 homes, with 1,961 of the Barwell total expected during the plan period. It also proposes a further strategic allocation south of the A47 at Earl Shilton for 2,513 homes, of which 1,932 are expected by 2045. These are not ordinary edge-of-village sites: they require comprehensive masterplanning, schools, local facilities, transport improvements, drainage, green and blue infrastructure and coordinated delivery over several ownerships and phases.

Land adjoining one of these sites is not automatically included within its policy boundary or entitled to use its access and infrastructure. We check whether the parcel is needed for roads, drainage, landscape buffers, habitat land or later phases; whether it depends on third-party land; and whether its owner can participate in the wider delivery structure. The Green Wedge separating Hinckley, Burbage, Earl Shilton and Barwell also performs a distinct settlement-separation and green-infrastructure role. The guides to collaboration agreements and utilities and infrastructure explain why strategic value is often shared rather than parcel-specific.

Lindley Meadows, north of Watling Street and close to the A444, is proposed for a minimum of 3,000 homes, with 1,604 expected within the plan period. The policy envisages a landscape-led community with a local centre, schools, sports provision, parks, wetlands and substantial green and blue infrastructure. It must retain a sensitive rural edge towards Fenny Drayton, respond to nearby heritage and archaeological assets and address noise from the A5 and A444.

A strategic allocation of this scale does not mean the whole ownership can be valued as serviced residential land. Country-park space, schools, drainage, habitat, roads, noise buffers, utilities and community facilities can occupy a substantial proportion of the gross site. The position of access points, phasing and adjoining ownerships determines which land can produce an early receipt and which land carries long-term infrastructure or stewardship obligations. Nearby Higham on the Hill, Fenny Drayton and land along the A5 also have separate settlement, heritage and countryside considerations.

Barlestone, Desford, Groby, Market Bosworth, Newbold Verdon, Markfield, Ratby and Stoke Golding form the plan’s Key Rural Centres. They are the main focus for rural growth because they offer a broader range of services than smaller villages, but their planning circumstances are not interchangeable. The publication plan proposes 550 homes south of Desford, approximately 470 homes south of Markfield Road at Ratby and 200 homes south of Station Road at Market Bosworth, alongside separate allocations at Markfield, Groby, Newbold Verdon and Barlestone.

These sites must be assessed against village-specific access, school capacity, sewage and drainage, heritage setting, landscape character and made neighbourhood plans. Market Bosworth’s historic townscape and Bosworth Battlefield setting create different design and heritage issues from the Rothley Brook floodplain around Ratby and Groby or the transport requirements of the strategic Desford allocation. A Key Rural Centre designation supports proportionate growth; it does not make every adjoining field suitable. See neighbourhood plans and heritage and development land.

Bagworth, Congerstone, Higham on the Hill, Kirkby Mallory, Nailstone, Sheepy Magna, Stanton under Bardon, Thornton, Twycross and Witherley are identified as Rural Villages. They generally have fewer services and more limited infrastructure than the Key Rural Centres, so the scale and purpose of development require closer justification. Some have proposed small allocations or defined settlement boundaries, but that does not create a general presumption for outward expansion.

The plan treats Barton in the Beans, Botcheston, Cadeby, Carlton, Dadlington, Fenny Drayton, Norton-Juxta-Twycross, Orton-on-the-Hill, Peckleton, Ratcliffe Culey, Shackerstone, Sibson, Stapleton and Sutton Cheney as Rural Hamlets. It proposes no settlement boundaries for those hamlets because of their limited services, dispersed built form and close relationship with the countryside. Land between existing buildings may consequently remain open countryside rather than policy-compliant infill. We check the mapped boundary rather than relying on a postal address or visual impression. See the settlement-boundaries guide.

MIRA Technology Park at Higham on the Hill is a nationally significant automotive, engineering and mobility cluster. The publication plan identifies a minimum of 24 hectares of available developable land within the technology park and supports employment connected with its specialist sectors. That strengthens demand for appropriate research, advanced-manufacturing and associated uses, but does not convert surrounding agricultural land into general employment land or justify incompatible distribution, residential or roadside uses.

The M69, A5, A47 and A444 also connect the borough with Nuneaton, Coventry, North Warwickshire and the wider Midlands logistics market. The plan safeguards land associated with the proposed Nuneaton Parkway station near A5 Watling Street West, although the main station site crosses neighbouring authority boundaries and remains at an early business-case stage. We therefore check highway authority boundaries, access rights, safeguarding, noise, HGV routing, power capacity and the status of transport proposals before applying corridor-related value. Compare the Nuneaton and Bedworth and North Warwickshire guides.