West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) are in the process of constructing a new Local Plan that will cover the period up to 2043. This new plan is currently subject to a Regulation 18 consultation, which means that organisations, councils and members of the public have the chance to have their say before the new plan is adopted. The consultation closes on March 27th 2026. Click this link to view the formal WNC documents and take part in the consultation process. East Farndon Parish Council (EFPC) will be considering the latest plan at their March 2026 meeting and if you have any comments, please use this link to email our Parish Clerk, Sarah Gresly.
EFPC have been monitoring progress and making inputs into this new plan, and are keeping a very keen eye on how housing development features for East Farndon. In addition, as we are on the border with Market Harborough, EFPC continues to monitor the development of the new Harborough Local Plan. EFPC submitted our drawn East Farndon Village Confines for the new WNC plan, but these are no longer required as the village has been re-classified as a small settlement / hamlet. EFPC made 4 nominations for local green spaces, Village Green, Marriott Green, Church Grounds, Church Burial Ground & Extension. These have all been accepted and are included in the new WNC Local Plan.
Note that the new local plan covers other matters in addition to housing, such as employment, infrastructure, climate, biodiversity, special landscape areas, heritage, flooding, transport etc. The provisions on heritage seem to be largely unchanged from the current provision.
East Farndon Village Confines, Local Green Spaces & Heritage
In the new WNC Local Plan, East Farndon has been classified, following a robust analysis of services and facilities, as a small settlement/ hamlet. This is the smallest settlement size of the four categories set by WNC. Drawn Village Confines are not required for a small settlement / hamlet and WNC regards the whole area as open countryside when considering housing and other development applications. New housing targets are not set for the small settlement / hamlet category. With this change, East Farndon seems to be well protected from new developments, but of course major strategic planning applications could be received, but these will be managed on a case by case basis. East Farndon is also in a special landscape area which offers further protection. As explained above, East Farndon has 4 Local Green Spaces in the new WNC local plan.
Click this link to view our drawn Village Confines, but note that these are not included in the latest WNC Local Plan as explained above: Village Confines Map
Click this link to see more details of our Local Green Space nominations. These are included in the latest WNC Local Plan as explained above: Local Green Space Nominations Map
In the previous WNC Local Plan consultation in 2024, WNC announced that parts of East Farndon are designated as a Special Landscape Area. This was determined by WNC, using their own criteria, versus being requested by EFPC. In responding to the 2024 consultation, EFPC did request that the area was extended up to the county boundary, but this was not accepted by WNC. Click this link to see the map from the 2024 consultation submission: 2024 Special Landscape Area Map
The latest WNC Local plan shows the WNC Special Landscape Area (red striped area on the map). Please click this link to view an extract that shows the impact on East Farndon: 2026 Special Landscape Area Map. EFPC have resubmitted this request for the latest Regulation 18 consultation.
In addition, most people will know that East Farndon has medieval settlement remains in the village and this is a Historic England Scheduled Monument. This can be viewed in map form by clicking this link: Medieval Settlement Remains & Scheduled Monument Map
Major Housing Development
The parcels of land in the West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) spatial options strategy and call for sites documents, identified for potential major housing developments between East Farndon and Market Harborough, remain in the latest / new WNC Local Plan supporting documents. The good news is that all of these areas have been marked as not suitable and therefore will not be going ahead into the new housing areas to be developed for the latest Local Plan. It remains the case that Harborough District Council (HDC) could request these development areas from WNC, even though these areas are not identified in the latest HDC Local Plan. This is unlikely, but East Farndon Parish Council (EFPC) will continue to monitor closely the development of both the WNC and HDC Local Plans, as well as researching and responding quickly to any adhoc / speculative planning applications.
To read the latest on this subject, please click this link to visit our EFPC Housing & Built Environment Page.
