Reluctant yes to builder's traffic for new Market Harborough homes

Councillors had hoped to persuade Avant Homes to find an alternative route to their 215-home estate at Farndon Fields, Market Harborough.

They approved the estate itself, but said Avant should look again at access.

But Avant said no alternative route was viable, and the only possible access was down Angell Drive and Charley Close.

Planning committee chairman Chris Holyoak said his committee had been hoping for a bit of goodwill from the developer.

“But ‘goodwill’ – from what residents say – is not in Avant’s vocabulary” he said.

The controversial access route was approved, despite a procession of local residents saying it was noisy, dirty and dangerous.

After the decision, Farndon Fields resident Darren Williamson, one of the speakers at the meeting, said he was “extremely disappointed”.

“We were sold houses in a quiet close” he said. “This access route has turned it into a physical risk.”

n A new 48-home estate off Winckley Close in Houghton on the Hill has been approved by district council planners.

An initial application was considered to overshadow neighbouring homes.

But councillors said developers William Davis deserved credit for adjusting their plans to meet most council requirements.

n A plan to erect 100 metres of wooden posts along a country road has been turned down by the district council.

The posts at Paddock Lane, Nevill Holt, intended to protect the verges, would be detrimental to the area’s rural character, planners ruled.