St George’s Barracks and Woolfox Garden Village could help meet Rutland’s housing quota

The government is expected to increase quotas for new housing meaning blueprints could be drawn up for two previously controversial sites.

Masterplans are on the agenda for St George’s Barracks at North Luffenham, and the former RAF Woolfox airfield, between Empingham and Greetham.

Rutland County Council’s cabinet is being asked by its senior planning manager to allow a partial review of its draft local plan to flesh out detail on the sites.

Both sites are identified as ‘future opportunity sites’ in the draft local plan, which is due to go out to public consultation this month (as part of regulation 19 requirements under the Town and Country Planning Act).

But with the government’s recent announcement that an extra 1.5 million homes must be built across the country in the next five years, the sites will likely now be needed to accommodate the extra homes.

The cost of the partial review over a four-year period is expected to be just under £700,000.

The report to be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday, October 8) by the cabinet, led by Coun Gale Waller (Lib Dem - Normanton) says: “The impact of these proposals for Rutland will amend our Local Housing Need figure from 123 dwellings per annum to 264 dwellings per annum, an increase of around 115%.

"Local planning authorities are expected to make all efforts to allocate land in line with their housing need."

The report adds that the scale of the increase should be addressed through a partial review of the Rutland Local Plan.

It continues: "Assuming that this partial review would extend the plan period up to say 2046, then it could mean that land for an additional 3,500 to 4,000 dwellings would need to be identified within that review. This is an indicative figure until the proposals from Government are confirmed following the consultation.

"This is an exceptionally high figure for Rutland’s Local Housing Need and is considerably more than past building rates. Nevertheless, it is important that the council ensures a plan-led approach to addressing the scale of the issue.”

The St George’s Barracks site was the reason the draft local plan for Rutland in 2021 fell apart.

About 2,300 homes were proposed but the council decided to reject the scheme and £29.4 million of Government funding that went with it.

Before that, 7,500 new homes had been proposed on the former RAF Woolfox airfield, along with schools, employment, and other amenities. In December 2019 ‘Woolfox Garden Village’ was deemed by the council to be undeliverable due to insufficient evidence relating to minerals, roads and landscape.

The cost of putting together a new local plan is £2 million.

The new draft plan says: “It is expected that St George's Barracks site will be vacated by the MOD by 2026; at that time, it would constitute “previously developed land” (a brownfield site). Whilst the Woolfox site includes a former Second World War airfield, it is considered to be greenfield.

“There is potential for either or both sites to help meet future housing and economic development needs. In so doing, this would ease the pressure for future development on the edges of the county’s towns and villages. However, there are considerable complexities in considering the future use and development of both sites.”

The recommendation for the early review, will see the detail of what the development sites could look like, fleshed out with housing numbers, infrastructure and timelines. If the council does not go ahead with the masterplans it could face having developments forced upon it in unwanted areas.

Currently the authority has allocated new homes at Barleythorpe, Oakham, across several sites in Uppingham, on a former quarry to the north of Stamford near Great Casterton, and smaller developments across the county’s villages.

Tomorrow’s report says there will also be the need to put a call out to landowners and developers for new sites from January, as the St George's Barracks and Woolfox sites will not be sufficient for all the extra homes anticipated.

The current plan is due to go for a 12-month independent examination in spring with final sign off in May 2026. While this is happening the review will take place and it is expected this will start the 12 month independent examination from September 2027.