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Blocked plans for 500 Hinckley homes off perimeter road are resurrected
Plans to build 500 homes on land near Hinckley have been resurrected, just weeks after they were blocked over traffic fears. The proposals, for a site off Normandy Way – the A47 perimeter road – and Stoke Road, was turned down by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council after the applicants lodged an appeal against the length of time it was taking to be decided.
However, Leicestershire County Council’s Highways department had been working with the applicants – Richborough Estates and Mr and Mrs Adcock – to assess the scheme’s potential impact on local roads, and, with the work incomplete at the time of the appeal, the Highways team said they had no choice but to recommend the plans be refused on the grounds of safety.
Now, in news which won’t be welcome to the 13 locals who objected to the original application, the plans have been resubmitted in the hope of overcoming the traffic and road safety concerns. The Highways team’s original objection to the scheme read: “The applicant has failed to demonstrate that any significant impacts from the development on the transport network (in terms of capacity and congestion), or on highway safety, can be mitigated.”
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But the team also added that had the work it was carrying out with the developer been completed, it may have been able to recommend the scheme for approval, and that ‘regrettably at this stage’ it had no choice but to recommend it be refused.
The applicants say they will now submit an updated travel assessment for the plans, adding they are ‘confident that a positive outcome is achievable by working proactively with Leicestershire County Council and other stakeholders’.
The borough council listed three reasons for refusing the previous application when it was turned down in May, including that it could cause ‘dangers for highway users’ and that the applicants had failed to prove it wouldn’t have a significant impact on local roads and highway safety. Planning officers also gave the lack of a section 106 agreement – where developers provide financial compensation towards local services and facilities – as a reason.
Access to the scheme is planned via a new roundabout on Stoke Road, but locals had criticised it as ‘unsuitable’, with objections from locals to the original application expressing various concerns, including a potential increase in traffic, pressure on local schools and GP surgeries, pollution, noise and the loss of countryside.
If the latest version of the application is approved, the houses will range from one- to four-beds, with up to 95 affordable homes. There will also be land for a primary school, children’s play areas and public open space, including a community orchard.
The plans can be seen on Hinckley and Bosworth’s planning portal, and comments and objections can be made until Thursday 29 June.
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