Significant changes approved to huge homes plan near Lutterworth - but move sparks criticism

Leicestershire County Council (LCC) secured planning permission for the site in Lutterworth East two years ago, but the proposals have now been updated.

The changes, approved by Harborough District Council’s (HDC) planning committee on Tuesday (December 3), affect the numbers of affordable homes on site.

Previously, there was a planned 40 per cent affordable home share, but this has now been changed to a maximum of 40 per cent and a minimum of 10 per cent on site.

LCC said the change had been made as the existing terms meant the major scheme was not viable. The applicant also proposed changes to the size of warehousing units as part of the wider 550-acre scheme – but the changes have proved contentious with South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa.

He claims both moves – and HDC’s subsequent approval – are in breach of the area’s local plan. He has now written to the Secretary of State requesting a call-in review of the approval. If this happened, this would mean the Secretary of State, rather than the local planning authority, will decide the outcome of the application.

The Lutterworth East development has previously been described as a key part of Harborough District Council’s local plan – which sets out how land is used and what is built where. It would aim to create 2,750 new homes, with 36 acres of business space, over 100 hectares of green space, schools and around 5,000 new jobs. The site of special interest, Misterton Marshes, would be protected within the scheme.

The contentious – and now approved – warehouse changes mean the original restrictions on the floor space of no more than 9,000 sq m will no longer be in place. In their assessment, HDC planning officers said this would “make the development more attractive to developers”, by increasing the value of the site, being easier to develop and let as fewer large units rather than a number of smaller ones.

Plans stated that Covid-19 and Brexit had increased floor space demands which would not have been apparent at the time plans were initially put together.

Planning officers accepted in the report that the move to increase warehouse space was “controversial” and a “cause of concern within the local community”. Among those to voice concern was Lutterworth town councillor Richard Nunn.

He said: “The warehousing proposed in the original application has a size cap of 9,000 square metres per unit and therefore would never be Magna Park style strategic warehousing. Let’s be clear the application to remove the size cap is in direct contravention of local planned policy.

“It is not the role of a planning authority to financially benefit a developer. […]There are no legal means of ensuring that the money generated from the warehousing is spent on the rest of the development as promised.”

However, despite these fears HDC said it was satisfied that the impacts of the changes affecting warehouse space would be negligible when compared to the original approved scheme. HDC also believed the applicants had demonstrated that the increase in warehouse space would generate additional income which could be used to help deliver the homes scheme.