Harborough councillors back contentious county-wide plan on future warehousing

Councillors backed a contentious county-wide move on future warehousing at a full Harborough District Council meeting last night (Monday).

Members voted by 17 to 12 to support the Statement of Common Ground on Strategic Warehousing & Logistics.

They did so after outraged campaign leader David Campbell-Kelly accused council bosses of using case law stretching back to the 1840s to stop him asking a question about the controversial issue at the meeting.

Cllr Phil King, who leads the local authority, told councillors they had to back the deal or risk a failure of duty to co-operate with other district and borough councils in Leicestershire.

The Conservative council chief insisted the agreement was not “legally binding”.

But Cllr Mark Graves said he feared Harborough district would have to take a lot more warehousing in future in 11 wards around Broughton Astley and Lutterworth.

He said he was “very concerned” about the under-fire scheme.

Cllr Graves won support for his strong stance from his fellow Liberal Democrats Martin Sarfas, Peter James and Phil Knowles.

Cllr Knowles, the group’s leader, said it was “time to draw a line in the sand” because there was already a huge amount of logistical warehousing in Harborough.

“This will come back to bite us,” he warned.

But the motion was comfortably carried on the night as the vote split along party political lines.

The prickly debate went ahead after David Campbell-Kelly, 64, told the Harborough Mail he was being frozen out as he was thwarted from quizzing councillors about local strategic warehousing.

“I simply can’t believe that the council is quoting obscure and ancient case law stretching back over 170 years at me to justify their stance and block us off.

“It just is not good enough because Harborough council is denying me and the people of Willoughby Waterleys our democratic right to put them on the spot,” he told the Harborough Mail on Friday (February 18).

“This is a pivotal and landmark point of principle for us.

“We want to know where our district council stands on the critical issue of logistical warehousing to be built in Leicestershire over the next two decades or so,” said the chair of Willoughby Waterleys Residents’ Association.

“We set up our residents’ group here three years ago as it emerged that Blaby council wants to build a massive garden village right on our doorsteps.

“Harborough District Council is now to tell us if it approves a so-called ‘statement of common good’ on future warehousing schemes set to go ahead in Leicestershire.

“Every other council in the county has already signed up to this.

“We are told we need another 27 million square feet of warehouse capacity in Leicestershire by 2041 – which is just ridiculous,” said David.