Former rugby club grounds in Harborough district is being eyed up for 100-home development

The former home of Stoneygate Rugby Club in the north of the Harborough district is being eyed up for development.

The club moved out of its grounds in Covert Lane, Scraptoft, more than four years ago, and the land has become semi-derelict since, developer Parker Strategic Land said in an application to build up to 100 homes on the site.

A fire has since destroyed the clubhouse, and the pitch areas have not been cared for, the company added. It has submitted a plan to Harborough District Council for outline planning permission for an estate of one and two-storey buildings on the site. Outline permission means a developer is looking for approval for the scheme in principle, with the details to be ironed out later.

Vehicle access to the site would be from Covert Lane, with walkers and cyclists also able to enter from an extension of the existing footpath there, said the developer. Covert Lane itself would be widened, plans state, to allow two vehicles to pass each other. Some areas of kerb along the road would be built out in an attempt to keep speeds slow, it added.

A stretch of open space is proposed at the centre of the development. This would include a play area, the plan shows. Existing trees and planting on the site would be retained “wherever possible”, Parker Strategic Land added.

Council planning officers have described the site as having “relatively poor landscape quality and a semi-derelict and abandoned appearance, with remnants of the former use including hard standings, rubble, floodlights, lights and unmanaged pitch areas”, the company said in its application.

It added that there were suitable services “within close proximity of the site” for potential new residents to use. These include village hall, GP surgery, church, small convenience store, post office, public house, and sports and recreation clubs. There are no schools in the Scraptoft parish area, the developer added, but two primary schools in nearby Thurnby.

The council will make a decision on the application on a later date.