Plans for thousands of new homes to be approved by Leicester mayor

Thousands of homes are set to be built in Leicestershire towns and villages if new plans are approved by the mayor of Leicester.

Leicester City Council was asked by the government to build 39,400 new homes between 2020 and 2036 as part of its housebuilding strategy.

The authority said it cannot meet the target due to a lack of available land.

Sir Peter Soulsby is expected to formally sign a deal to build 18,700 of the homes in county districts instead.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said an agreement had been reached between the city council and counterparts in Leicestershire.

Sir Peter said the city council was "making enormous efforts to accommodate as much housing and employment land in the city as we can".

"However, we simply cannot meet predicted need for all the housing and employment land the government sets out," he said.

"That's why we are immensely grateful to all our neighbouring councils for their constructive attitude to this statement of common ground."

The district and borough councils across the county - which have a legal duty to co-operate and find room for these homes - are in the process of approving targets through their own local governance processes.

Conservative-led Blaby District Council agreed at a meeting last month to become the first authority to officially accept within its borders a share of the 18,700 homes, which will see its own housing target almost doubled from 5,536 to 10,992.

Sam Maxwell, leader of Blaby's Labour group, said councils "have a responsibility" to meet housing needs.

"It's not good enough to say 'it's the city's problem', because it's not the city's problem, it's the country's problem, and it's a growing problem that needs urgently to be addressed," he said.

However, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council has opposed its allocated share of the unmet target.

The borough has been asked to find room for 2,992 extra homes, bringing its target to 10,544 new homes.

David Bill, lead member for housing, said the area is being forced to take on more new houses than it can handle.

"There are no further brownfield sites available, they've long since been taken up," he said.

"Any additional housing is bound to go out into the countryside."

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