‘Way above the agreed number of homes’ - parish councillor speaks out on plans for additional homes in Billesdon
Plans to increase the number of homes in Billesdon are “way above” the agreed amount, one parish councillor has claimed.
The original 35-home development for land at Uppingham Road was approved four years ago, but developer Hazelton Homes (Midlands) Ltd then applied to Harborough District Council (HDC) to increase that number originally to 46. This has since been reduced to 44 homes instead.
However, it still marks a 25 per cent increase on the original 35-home scheme.
Those plans were discussed at HDC’s planning meeting on Tuesday, July 21, when councillors agreed to defer the decision, suggesting there were three issues to be resolved, relating to highways, infrastructure and drainage. Now the plans are about to be discussed again at the authority’s next planning committee meeting on Tuesday, September 8.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Billesdon parish councillor Peter Francis what he thought of the revised plans.
He said: “[The increase of homes to] 44 is absolutely not ideal, given that Billesdon’s already had another development approved on appeal elsewhere in the village, so we’re already way above the neighbourhood plan’s agreed amount of housing.”
This point is echoed in the objections put forward in response to the proposed increase in the numbers of homes.
One resident said: “The number of houses still exceeds the 35 agreed as part of the neighbourhood plan that was consulted on with residents. No consultation with the residents has taken place to amend the neighbourhood plan.”
Relating to issues raised at committee, the objector added: “Services in the village are not able to support additional people and properties on top of other developments signed off in the local area.
“The school is at capacity, the doctors is over capacity with appointments being already challenging to get.”
The revised plans on two former agricultural grazing fields will introduce smaller homes and vary the layout of the homes.
At the previous planning meeting, Lee Staniforth, the agent speaking on behalf of the developer, said: “The market has changed since the original approval back in 2018 to 2022.
“Demand for large four and five-bedroom homes has weakened. What buyers actually want is two and three-bedroom homes.
“The revised mix is a closer fit to the housing needs assessment than the original consented scheme.”
Following the previous planning committee meeting, Staniforth Architects, on behalf of the applicant responded to the issues raised, including noting that committee suggestions to reduce house numbers in order to improve viability, would worsen rather than improve the situation, due to a reduction in financial contributions from the developer towards infrastructure.
Responses were also given with regard to water and road management, with the architects concluding that the private and non-adopted roads would be maintained through a funded resident management company.
They also noted that Severn Trent Water had conducted a full technical review of the site and confirmed the drainage design is “fully technically compliant”.
Officers have put the plans forward for approval, stating that the number of homes on an already approved site would not be at odds with plans already in place, adding the mix and design of houses is acceptable.