The plan for 48 homes and the village school site was unanimously rejected

A plan to build 48 homes and a school drop-off area in a Leicestershire village has been rejected after every councilor on a planning committee voted against it. The proposed area for the houses was south-west of Billesdon in Gaulby Road.

Planning documents showed 30 homes were proposed in the south and 18 “affordable” first homes in the north, with a school drop-off zone for 40 cars. Council planning officers have recommended approval of the scheme.

However, there was much opposition to it, with 106 objections lodged and one letter sent in support of it. And the local Parish Council spoke out against it at the planning meeting on Tuesday night (May 14).

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Ahead of the vote on the scheme, a representative from Billesdon Parish Council told the meeting: “The plan exceeds our housing requirements. It is unreasonable to concentrate a scheme like this in a single village district. The proposed development will increase significantly. the volume of traffic that already has pollution, noise and safety concerns in the area.”

Council officers told the planning committee that they had noted concerns about potential traffic problems arising from the proposed development and that the highways authority had concluded that the proposal was acceptable from a safety point of view. They said access to the area would be via two new priority junctions on Gaulby Road.

Billesdon Parish Council raised an objection at the time of the application, saying the site of the proposed scheme had been “rejected” as a possible area for new homes in its recent neighborhood plan update. Neighborhood plans set out where development can take place in the coming years.

The parish council added: “The application does not take account of the neighborhood plan. He seems to be looking to be ignored. He said he had “a very dim view” of the app. “The site has been deemed unsuitable for development by the Parish Council. neighborhood plan and we strongly advise the committee to do the same,” he said. “Otherwise, our neighborhood plan, carefully prepared and with overwhelming local support, counts for nothing.”

Objections to the scheme raised by nearby residents included that the development was “bigger than the whole village of Gaulby, which has just 55 homes” and that “we already have over 50 homes that have been approved to be built by 2028. they have affordable homes for sale that have been empty for the past 18 months.”

Motorway concerns raised by residents included: “Gaulby Road is unable to cope with the significant increase in traffic. While other issues related to emergency vehicle access were raised: Emergency vehicles have access issues – this will be worse with more traffic.”

Another problem with the motorways related to school parking, with one person saying: “The location of the car park will make access difficult and require parents to allow extra time to park further away and walk. The car park is also in the opposite direction of travel for those wishing to access the A47 and requires all traffic to negotiate Gaulby Road.”

Residents also raised issues with the design which included: “Dominant impact on the village and its setting – a disproportionate scale. Billesdon will lose its village character”. While landscape issues included: “Detrimental and irreversible impact on the natural environment.”