Proposals that could see swathes of countryside at the edges of Leicester developed are “justified” to meet local housing need, planning inspectors have said. Projects that could see areas of parks and allotments within the city concreted over are also the correct approach according to inspectors.
Their comments come following a public examination of Leicester’s local plan last year. A local plan sets out where developments can and cannot take place within an area, and is intended to protect communities from uncontrolled, or speculative, building.
The Leicester City Council local plan, which is currently being considered for adoption, includes a number of hugely controversial sites, including the former Western Park Golf Course and Beaumont Park. Residents have long expressed concerns about the potential loss of “green oases” on their doorsteps.
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However, the city council has said it needs to include those areas in the plan to both meet Government-dictated housing targets and to ease the local housing crisis. While the new targets are a drop off on those previously allocated to the council, they will still require the authority to ramp up construction compared to rates over recent years. The local authority has also previously claimed there was not enough room within its borders for the much-need housing.
A submission error ahead of the public examination of the plan saw a number of the green spaces mistakenly moved to a list of sites no longer being considered for development. These include proposals for 420 homes near Thurcaston; 670 homes at Ashton Green; 240 homes off Billesdon Close, near Glenfield Hospital; traveller pitches and employment use at Beaumont Park; and employment land to the north of Birstall Golf Course.
Council notes showed this was done because they were either located in the city’s green wedge – a protected area of land –, were allotments or a local wildlife site, and because there were “significant sustainability issues” associated with building on them. However, officers corrected the error, saying they were planning to keep the areas as possible development sites because they would “provide significant contributions to the housing need”. Despite this, officers said they recognised the sustainability concerns regarding those sites were “still accurate”.
In a letter to the council this month, the planning inspectors overseeing the examination process said they are “satisfied” the site allocations “are justified” to “meet the development needs of the city”. They further felt the impacts of the loss of green space “can be mitigated”.
However, they have requested a number of changes be made to the local plan, known as “main modifications” in planning terms. These include setting out mitigation measures to help minimise the impact of building on green spaces, as well as simpler changes to wording on some policies to make them legally compliant or more specific. Once those modifications have been made, the plan will be put back out to public consultation.
The city council plan to build upon Beaumont Park due to the “strategic opportunity of the site”.
(Image: Hazel Orton)
Following the consultation, planning inspectors will again consider the proposed local plan before making their final recommendations. However, they indicated that, at this stage, they believe the plan is “likely to be capable of being found sound and legally compliant”.
The inspectors latest comments have prompted renewed opposition from Conservative councillors and local campaigners. Steve Walters, who has led a years-long campaign to save the Western Park Golf Course, said he fears the plan will lead to “vital” green spaces being “lost forever”.
He said: “Labour’s Local Plan is deeply flawed and if implemented, many vital green spaces, including the golf course, will be lost forever. I applaud the fact that Leicester City Council have many laudable green policies, but these have been swept aside with their haste to push through their concreting agenda. At the golf course hearing, the council stated they had created a “balanced Local Plan” but with this attack on green spaces, and all five strategic site’s residing in North West Leicester, there will be irreversible long term consequences.”
The local Conservative Party told LeicestershireLive the plan “threatens vital green spaces, prioritising development over the long-term interests of Leicester’s communities”. They feel “underlying issues” remain in respect of the local plan.
Hemant Rae Bhatia, Conservative group leader and Beaumont Leys councillor, said: “Labour’s Local Plan has always put unjustified over-development ahead of what’s best for the people of Leicester. The fact that key areas such as Beaumont Park, which are earmarked for traveller camps and employment use, are threatened shows that the Labour administration has no real regard for our city’s environment. There’s plenty of land at Ashton Green already in the previous Local Plan which will take decades to build on, then why sacrifice other much needed public green spaces? It’s time for a new approach—one that prioritises Leicester’s communities and green spaces, rather than sacrificing them for hasty development.”
Abdul Osman, Conservative councillor for Thurncourt, added: “Labour’s plan threatens to alter the very fabric of our communities. We need sustainable growth, not short-sighted development that erases the green spaces residents cherish. Brent Knowle Gardens should be preserved, not sacrificed for hasty housing schemes. Labour’s approach fails to deliver this.”
The local party, which forms the main opposition on the council, believes that a “balance” is needed between meeting local housing need and protecting natural spaces. They are calling on the authority’s Labour leadership to revisit their submission.
Once the main modifications have been made to the plan, a public consultation is expected to run for at least six weeks. The Local Plan would have to be formerly adopted by Leicester City Council’s elected members for it to come into force.