Plans to turn 20 holiday lodges into homes have been rejected by Harborough District Council
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
The applicant had put forward the plan to the council after he said the lodges “failed to sell” in their current guise.
Tom Hartley submitted proposals for the lodges at Medbourne Edge, Hallaton Road, Medbourne, in October. He claimed the change of use permission to convert the lodges into normal homes was due to a lack of interest in the lodges.
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Hide AdHe said “extensive marketing both locally and nationally” had yet to attract any buyers and that the 20 lodges had “failed to sell”. However, the plan attracted some concerns from Medbourne Parish Council, which believed that while rural tourism lodges could be supported, new isolated homes could not.


The parish council made clear there could have been a case for affordable housing on a “rural exception site” in the area, but the lodges did not meet the criteria necessary for this. They also said there was no local need for an affordable housing development of this scale.
Concerns about the remote location of the lodges was also raised, with Medbourne Parish Council believing it was not a safe walking distance from the Leicestershire village. It also claimed “there are not the services and infrastructure that would be required to support the permanent residents of these homes”.
In his plans, Mr Hartley said it was relevant “that the current planning permission places no restriction on the length of stay”, provided that the lodges were not used as “sole or main homes”. He added that they could, therefore, lawfully be occupied “for an unlimited period provided that the occupiers own another property that is their main home”.
However, HDC did not agree about the change of use and rejected the scheme. The full reasons behind the refusal have yet to be established.