Options on the table for 1,000 homes
Option A, with Options B, C and D below. All images in this article Crown Copyright and database rights 2012. Ordnance Survey 100023843.
PEOPLE have less than two weeks to have their say on a controversial plan to put 1,000 homes on land north-west of Harborough.
Four main options for what to do with the land - around the Airfield Farm site off the old A6 between Gartree, Lubenham and Foxton - are being put forward by Harborough District Council.
The council is seeking residents’ views on the options as it seeks to form a masterplan for development of the site.
In addition to the housing options featured in the pictures accompanying this article (A,B,C,D in order), there are also three options over what to do at the north of the site, including building an agricultural showground, business use, or a combination of those two.
The council has been holding a series of consultation events over the last ten days, with the final event due to take place in Great Bowden Village hall tonight from 7pm-9pm.
People have until July 16 to make their views known (see the address below).
Action group MHRAID (Market Harborough Residents Against Inappropriate Development) is urging people to choose Option A, which it describes as the ‘least bad’ option, because it would be more like a self-contained village.
A letter sent out by the group to residents states: “We appreciate that development has to go somewhere over the next 16 years, but let’s make sure it’s location and infrastructure are safe and responsible.
“An option that brings a village community is much more in keeping with our market town, than an unnecessary sprawling characterless ribbon development.”
Paul Claxton, of Great Bowden Parish Council, said: “They’ve still not told us where the traffic is going to go. The big fear for us is it will go through the village of Great Bowden.”
Margaret Wright, chair of Foxton Parish Council, said: “I’ve not got a very high opinion of any of the options. The biggest problem is it’s not clear to anybody what the effects will be in terms of traffic.
“My biggest issue is the extra traffic past Foxton School.”
Option A
THIS PROPOSAL by William Davis/Hallam Land has already been submitted to Harborough District Council.
It is the only option on the table being promoted by a single developer which would be capable of delivering 1,000 homes.
The council says it would include a local shopping centre with healthcare and community services, a primary school and marina and hotel next to the canal.
It would leave open the option of building a link road to the A4304 in the future.
However the council says it would mean more homes would have to be built elsewhere in Harborough to make up the Government-set housing requirements.
It would also need a road bridge over the canal - a designated conservation area.
Option B
A COMBINATION of the plan from Option A, with the Linden Homes proposal for 127 homes off Lubenham Hill, and taking into account land in between owned by a third developer, Davidsons.
It would provide a link road from the B6047 Leicester Road (old A6) to the A4303, coming out either at Lubenham or at the top of Lubenham Hill.
This option would deliver more than 1,700 homes and would include a road bridge over the canal.
The council says this option would deliver the entire housing requirement for Harborough to 2028 in one development.
However it says the road to Lubenham would conflict with a proposed area of separation between Harborough and Lubenham.
Option C
SIMILAR to Option B, but excluding the road bridge spanning the canal.
This option was borne out of a workshop ran by the council to discuss the various options on the site.
It could deliver more than 1,800 homes, exceeding the Government-set housing requirement in Harborough to 2028.
Harborough District Council says a link road coming out at the top of Lubenham Hill is accepable to Leicestershire County Council Highways department ‘in principal’.
However a transport assessment of the development without the second road across the canal has not been carried out, it says.
It also carries the same disadvantage as Option B in that it would see the development of land originally identified as an area of separation between Harborough and Lubenham.
Option D
THIS option shows the area of land identified by the Landscape Partnership as being suitable for development.
The Partnership identified the area in a landscape assessment report it produced for Harborough District Council.
It would see a smaller site developed than either Option B or C.
The council says it would deliver about 1,500 homes with more open space than other options and the same level of local facilities.
The development would be ‘generally sensitive to the landscape character’, it adds.
The option includes the link road going to either Lubenham or the top of Lubenham Hill as well as the road bridge across the canal.
However it carries with it the same disadvantage listed in Options B and C over the area of separation between Harborough and Lubenham.
Make Your views known:
Write to Planning Policy Team, Harborough District Council, Adam and Eve Street, Market Harborough, LE16 7AG or email planningpolicy@harborough.gov.uk
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Weather for Market Harborough
Wednesday 19 June 2013
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