How Much is My Land Worth in Leicestershire?

We confirm whether the land lies in Leicester City, one of the seven district or borough areas, or across an authority boundary. We then review the adopted Local Plan, policies map, made neighbourhood plan, supplementary guidance and any emerging document. Postal addresses and estate-agent descriptions are not reliable substitutes for the legal boundary.

The weight attached to an adopted allocation, submitted plan, Regulation 19 proposal, preferred option, HELAA entry or early Call for Sites submission is different. A valuation should reflect that distinction rather than capitalising the best possible future outcome as though it were already secured. The guides to Local Plan allocation and Regulation 18 and Regulation 19 representations explain the principal stages.

Each authority uses its own settlement hierarchy and development boundaries. A principal urban area, market town, service centre, rural hub, village and open-countryside parcel will be assessed against different expectations for housing, employment, services and infrastructure. Physical proximity to houses is relevant, but it does not replace the defined policy position or demonstrate that the settlement can absorb the proposed scale.

We examine allocations, permissions, housing trajectories, five-year supply evidence, brownfield registers and competing sites serving the same market. We also check whether the land was included, discounted or omitted from a HELAA or SHLAA and whether its availability, ownership and delivery assumptions remain correct. See the HELAA and SHLAA guide and settlement-boundaries guide.

Leicester and the surrounding districts form a connected housing and employment market, and the authorities maintain joint evidence on housing distribution, strategic warehousing and infrastructure. That evidence can strengthen the case for growth in appropriate locations, particularly where the city cannot accommodate all of its needs within its administrative boundary.

Cross-boundary need does not create an automatic permission or allow every Leicester-fringe parcel to be treated as a strategic allocation. We test whether the relevant district has accepted the distribution, how the site relates to its settlement strategy, whether transport and utilities can support the growth, and what delivery programme is realistic. This separates market demand from the actual probability and timing of planning success.

Leicestershire does not contain designated statutory Green Belt. Parts of the county are instead affected by Green Wedges, Areas of Separation, Local Green Space, settlement-boundary, countryside, landscape or open-space policies. These designations can still be highly restrictive, but they have different purposes and legal policy tests from Green Belt.

National grey-belt and Green Belt release routes should not be imported automatically into a Green Wedge or local gap assessment. We identify the exact designation, the spatial function of the land, settlement-separation evidence, landscape and recreational value and whether the emerging Local Plan proposes any change. The planning-policy guide explains why the correct policy label matters to value.

The M1, M69, A42, A46, A5, A6 and other strategic routes influence residential, manufacturing and logistics markets, while East Midlands Airport and rail-freight activity are particularly important in the north-west of the county. Proximity can improve commercial demand, but it can also introduce aircraft safeguarding, noise, HGV, air-quality, junction and landscape constraints.

We establish whether the land has a lawful connection to adopted highway, sufficient visibility, acceptable junction capacity and safe walking, cycling and public-transport links. Third-party verges, highway widening, bridges, level differences and off-site works can materially reduce net acreage and residual value. The access and highways guide explains the evidence normally required.

The River Soar, Wreake, Eye, Sence, Welland and their tributaries create different flood and drainage conditions across the county. Main-river flood zones are only one part of the review. Surface-water flow paths, ordinary watercourses, culverts, groundwater, historic field drainage and climate-change allowances can alter the layout and safe-access strategy.

A sustainable drainage area, flood compensation, watercourse easement or pumping arrangement may remove land from the developable calculation. We also investigate potable water, electricity, wastewater treatment, foul sewer capacity and the availability of a lawful outfall. The flood and drainage guide and utilities guide cover those checks.

Leicestershire County Council’s development plan includes the Minerals and Waste Local Plan adopted on 25 September 2019 together with the relevant district or borough plan. Mineral safeguarding, quarry consultation areas, active or restored sites, waste facilities and transport infrastructure can affect whether non-mineral development is acceptable and what mitigation or investigation is required.

Former coalfield, quarry, engineering and industrial land may need investigation for made ground, contamination, gas, stability, demolition and abnormal foundations. Conversely, an occupied employment or logistics site may retain substantial existing-use value and relocation cost, so residential value cannot be assumed to be the best or most realistic benchmark. See the guides to contaminated land and existing-use versus development value.

The National Forest, Charnwood Forest, river corridors, ancient woodland, local wildlife sites, historic parks, conservation areas and archaeology can all influence the form and amount of development. The Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Local Nature Recovery Strategy was published in August 2025 and its habitat map is relevant evidence for identifying nature-recovery opportunities, although it is not itself a housing or employment allocation.

Hedgerows, ponds, mature trees and habitat corridors may need to be retained and enhanced, while biodiversity net gain can require on-site or off-site habitat provision. Productive agricultural land, including Best and Most Versatile soils, should also be identified rather than treating every field as interchangeable. The ecology, landscape and heritage guides explain how those constraints affect capacity and value.