Three-bed house approved for old playground that ‘flooded three times last winter’

A house is to be built on a former playground which “flooded three times last winter” after a council leader said the county’s flood agency acted as “Pontius Pilate”. Villagers in Hoby say proposals for a three-bedroom detached house with a double garage off Brooksby Road would be a “stain on the landscape” and the land has a history of flooding.

At a meeting of Melton Borough Council’s planning committee last week, council leader Cllr Pip Allnatt compared Leicestershire County Council, the lead local flood authority (LLFA), to the biblical figure Pontius Pilate, who washed his hands in while announcing that he was not responsible for Jesus’ death. Coun Allnatt said the county council had “washed its hands” of responsibility by telling the district council that “the proposed development is not considered a major application and therefore the LLFA is not a statutory consultant on this application and provides no comment”.

Hoby with Rotherby Parish Council objected to the plans, saying: “The part of land to which this amended application relates has been flooded three times this winter, the most recent being on 28 April 2024 when three other properties were flooded in Hoby village. from the flooding of the stream.” There were 35 objections to the application, with villagers sending photographs of the flooded land to the district council.

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But there was support for the application, with three people submitting positive comments to the council, praising the “tasteful development” and pointing out that the site is considered to be at low risk of flooding by the Environment Agency. At the meeting, Jacqueline Jackson of Marrons spoke on behalf of applicant Jack Wilkins, calling it a “high quality detached family home” and claiming the building would not be on an area of ​​the land that is flooded.

But ward councilor Ronan Browne claimed “the village of Hoby is not sustainable”, adding that dozens of homes are being built in other nearby villages which he said are sustainable. Coun Allnatt said: “The major issue is the flooding issue, where again our hands are a bit tied because the county’s flood agency did a Pontius Pilate and really washed their hands and I have no doubt that they claimed that they were rather Kafkaesque. rules that they can’t get involved because it’s not a major development.”

He added: “I don’t feel comfortable. I’m not very happy with the app support because of the flooding issue. I’d like to see at least more conditions put on it so it can be stopped if it can be demonstrably shown to endanger the community in the way it’s described.”

During the discussion, councilors decided to add an additional planning condition and amend an existing one. The new condition requires the application to provide the council with existing and proposed ground and floor levels for the scheme, “to ensure that the development minimizes the risk of flooding elsewhere and to protect against adverse effects on the landscape character of the area”.

The amended condition covers dirty and surface water, with the new wording requiring the applicant to demonstrate that the scheme will not increase the risk of flooding elsewhere. Councilor James Mason said he believed the new condition “gets us part of the way there”, but said he had “severe reservations”. He added: “The site is very boring.”

While Councilor Margaret Glancy said: “I’ve been through a lot of planning applications in my time and it seems we’re sitting here tonight trying to get this right and to me it’s wrong. We have to add conditions and change conditions to make sure we get what we think is on the package and to me, ultimately, that’s wrong.”

Councilors voted to approve the application with the additional and amended conditions. Although the number of councilors who voted for and against was not announced, it was not a unanimous decision.

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