Plans for 21 holiday lodges in Lutterworth look set to go ahead

The construction of 21 holiday lodges at a farm in Lutterworth looks set to be given the green light.

An application to build on land at a farm in Moorbarns Lane was submitted to Harborough District Council in March last year and has been under consideration since.

Members of the authority’s planning committee will meet on Tuesday (July 11) to discuss the application, which officials have recommended be approved. Applicant Ian Fenny also wants to build a single-storey management building and parking on the 33-acre site.

This will not be the first time the application is scrutinised by the planning committee, as it was already discussed at a meeting in April under the former administration.

But the decision was deferred to allow for more data to be collected from the applicant about nearby traffic, as councillors felt the initial application did not provide enough detail about its potential impact on the roads.

This has been completed according to planning documents and a highways officer from Leicestershire County Council has since reviewed the findings.

They raised “no objection to the proposal from a highways safety perspective,” the report says.

Each of the proposed lodges will be suitable for four people and will feature two beds.

The applicant added in the planning documents the lodges and management building will be “constructed using logs typical of the rural area”, along with “profiled metal cladding”. Individual car parking for each lodge is also featured in the designs.

The site is currently used by the farm for equestrian purposes and stables sit close to it.

As part of the same application, the developer wants to be allowed to use these buildings for commercial use, which includes being used by ‘holiday makers who wish to use the facilities.’

But the site must not be used as a commercial riding school, according to council documents, as this is ‘likely to create additional traffic which has not been fully assessed’.

If approved, council planners say the accommodation must only be used for tourists for a stay of up to 30 days and must not be used as a person’s main permanent residence.