The target for the number of new homes to be built in local authority areas is stated in the relevant regional spatial strategy. For the Leicester city council area, this is the regional spatial strategy for the East Midlands (RSS8) adopted in March 2005. However, that document only covers the period to 2021, and only specifies a figure for the former structure plan area of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. That figure is 3,150 homes a year over the period 2001-2021.
The regional spatial strategy for the East Midlands is under review. That review is intended to cover the period 2001-26 and to apportion housing targets down to the local authority level. The Secretary of State is currently considering the recommendations of the panel report into the examination in public of the East Midlands Regional Assembly's draft, with a view to adopting the strategy with any amendments towards the end of this year.
Neither the adopted 2005 regional spatial strategy nor the emerging review includes targets for the size of housing to be delivered. This is because it is not Government policy for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to determine the size of housing that should be built in local authority areas. Instead, Government policy on planning for housing which is set out in Planning Policy Statement 3 requires local planning authorities to state the proportions of market housing demand likely to arise from multi-person households including families with children, and to specify the size and type of affordable housing required in particular areas, through their local development frameworks.