From new housing estates to an “eyesore” metal container for windsurfing equipment, there are more than 130 Leicestershire planning appeals currently awaiting a final decision by the Government. Here we take a look at a few of the proposals from across the county that will be heard by planning inspectors over the coming months.
Planning applications are turned down by councils for all types of reasons, but sometimes that is not the end of the story. Applicants can take their rejected plans to an appeal, where a Government planning inspector will rule on whether or not, in their opinion, the council made the right decision. Applicants can also appeal if the council fails to make a decision within a Government-set timeframe.
One of the largest schemes under appeal in the county at the moment is for 100 homes in Melton Road, in Queniborough. The developer, Hallam Land Management, already has planning permission for 160 homes on the land, but is taking Charnwood Borough Council to appeal as it says it has failed to decide this second scheme in time.
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The developer told the council it wanted to wait until both schemes were approved before deciding which it would go ahead with. The appeal is under way, with a hearing set for March. Members of the council’s plans committee members said last month that they would have given planning permission to the developer if the plans had come before them, rather than being sent to appeal.
The fate of another large housing estate is also set to be decided by an inspector. Developer Redrow wants to build 95 homes on land east of the common in Barwell. Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council refused planning permission in June, but Redrow is hoping to convince the inspector to overturn the decision. A hearing is set for the spring.
In Billesdon, up to 48 homes could be built on land in Gaulby Road should an appeal by Church Farm Billesdon Ltd be successful. The company was refused planning permission by Harborough District Council in May this year. The scheme would include 30 custom house build plots and 18 affordable first homes. A hearing took place in late November where Inspector K Savage examined evidence from both sides, but the decision has yet to be announced.
The White Cottage in Scalford as it looks now.
(Image: Google)
But it is not just housing estates that go to appeal. In Scalford, an applicant is hoping to demolish the White Cottage, described by objectors as one of the oldest in the village and said to date back to 1750. The cottage would be replaced by a modern, three-bedroom house, with a garage and car port planned for land over the road. Building supply company FC Measom, which submitted the plan, hopes the inspector will rule against Melton Borough Council after it denied planning permission in June. The appeal process has only just begun, and a date has yet to be set for the decision.
In Asfordby, there are plans for a new-build three-bed house on land in Mill Lane, but while many single-home schemes come before council planning officers, not many also involve the building of a new bridge. The structure would sit on a stretch of the River Wreake, with applicant Roland Barker saying it would be “impossible” for machinery to access the site to build the house without the new bridge. There would also be changes made for vehicle access, and the addition of a turning area. But an objector said the plans would be “an ugly intrusion”. Although the application was first submitted to Melton Borough Council in 2021, the decision to refuse was made in August. The schedule for a hearing and a decision is still unconfirmed.
And finally, back in Charnwood, the borough council is going head-to-head with Leicestershire County Council, which is arguing against a decision to refuse permission to keep a steel storage container in Watermead Country Park. The container is currently used by members of a wind surfing club. The county council put in a retrospective application to retain the container, but one objector called it “an eyesore”. The Environment Agency also objected to the scheme, with borough council planning officers saying the container was an “unwarranted and intrusive form of development in the countryside”. The appeal process began in October, but an estimated date for when the inspector’s decision will be announced hasn’t been confirmed.
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