80-home estate near school is approved

Homes to be built off Barns Way near to Bosworth Academy

PLANS for an estate of 80 homes opposite a school in Desford have been approved by councillors.

The outline proposal for the 8.5acre site, off Barns Way and Leicester Lane, opposite Bosworth Academy, includes 32 “affordable” properties.

The scheme was one of two similar projects brought before Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s planning committee, the other being a development of 80 homes off Peckleton Lane.

Planners were initially minded to refuse both projects over concerns about their impact on the area.

They gave the developers a chance to address the concerns, after which the planning committee approved the Desford scheme and unanimously turned down the Peckleton Lane site plan due to its “impact on the countryside”.

The approved scheme comprises mostly two-storey housing, with some two-and-a-half storey units.

The “afforable” properties comprise 24 for social rent and eight intermediate homes for shared ownership.

A number of single-storey bungalows will be built along the eastern edge.

Developer Rosconn Strategic Limited will need to pay £640,000 to create more school places in the area and £52,000 for more healthcare provision at Desford and Ratby surgeries.

A new junction will be created in Barns Way, to allow vehicle, cycle and pedestrian access to the 3.46-hectare site.

Amenities will include an open space and children’s play facilities with planting, while pedestrian/ cycle links around the edge of the site will connect it to existing footpaths. Parking would mainly be provided on plot, within driveways to the front or side of properties.

Desford Parish Council raised no objections but asked that the right of way to Barns Charity Fields be maintained and be wide enough for farm vehicles, and that there should be a locked gate at each end of the access to prevent resident parking.

West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, which commissions healthcare services in the area, said the development was likely to generate an increase in population of 192 patients, leading to additional demands on Desford and Ratby surgeries.

Just over the road, Bosworth Academy recently had its plans approved to build an artificial grass sports pitch on part of its playing fields.

The facility would be equipped with eight 15-metre LED floodlights and areas of ball stop fencing, along with a portable goals storage space and a store for maintenance kit.

Plans with the borough council said the pitch would provide a venue for sports teams in the wider community.