Plans for nearly 3,000 homes at Lutterworth have been shelved after hospital officials said they would have an overwhelming impact on patients and over-stretched services

A huge scheme to build almost 3,000 homes at Lutterworth was put on ice at an historic ‘virtual’ Harborough council meeting on Tuesday evening.

The decision to back or block the massive highly-contentious Lutterworth East blueprint was deferred by the district council’s planning committee.

Councillors were expected to rubberstamp the enormous Leicestershire County Council initiative after planning officers recommended it be approved.

But all nine members who took part in the history-making online 20-minute meeting voted unanimously to shelve the 556-acre plan for now.

They acted after a powerful last-minute submission to Harborough council by the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL).

One of the biggest and busiest NHS Trusts in the UK, they said that the proposed new 2,750-house scheme by the M1 would have an overwhelming impact on patients and over-stretched services.

The UHL warned that an 85 per cent bed occupancy level “represents the benchmark level of occupancy for patient safety”.

“Occupancy above this percentage leads to accelerated deterioration in the A&E performance”, said the Trust, which looks after one million people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The organisation also said it would need a decisive cash injection to help care for thousands more extra patients.

“It is important that when patients present themselves at the hospital, they can be either discharged or transferred to the correct ward for the right treatment.

“If there is no bed available there is an increase in transfers from one ward to another.

“This will lengthen the stay for the patient and will have a detrimental impact on the quality of the care and recovery time.

“Without a mitigation of financial contribution, the individual and the cumulative impact created by this proposed development in turn will have a knock-on effect on other services which will then again increase waiting times for other patients and be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the community at large.

“In addition, it will potentially put the Trust at risk of further financial penalties having not achieved the required standard.”

The University Hospitals of Leicester added: “The proposed new additional residential development will add a further pressure on the current acute healthcare services provided by the Trust.

“The new population moving into the Trust’s operation area are those people who previously did not live in the area and therefore do not form part of any calculation by the Trust on the demand for their services.”

As a result Cllr Amanda Burrell, representing Thurnby and Houghton, said they should defer making such a “momentous decision” on the landmark county council application.

Cllr Burrell said they should consider legal advice from the council’s barrister on the UHL’s last-ditch intervention and set up a full site visit for the entire planning committee.

Not all of the councillors on the committee have been able to tour the proposed site because of the coronavirus lockdown.

Cllr Burrell, a Liberal Democrat, was supported by all of her eight colleagues at the council’s trailblazing ‘remote’ get-together.

The district council has been inundated with over 150 objections, mainly from furious local people, to the monumental project.

The Lutterworth East proposal would create 2,750 new homes, community facilities and employment space.

Set to take years to complete as it stretches ahead into the 2030s, the enormous development would be built on land east of Lutterworth and the M1.

It would feature over 100 hectares of green space, two new primary schools, employment space to create about 2,500 jobs, a community hub and a network of footpaths and cycle routes connecting with the town centre.

The site is identified in the Harborough Local Plan as a key area to accommodate new housing in the district, known as Lutterworth East Strategic Development Area (SDA).

Some 1,260 new homes would be built by 2031 with the rest going up after 2031.