Green light for 4,500 Leicester homes despite legal threat

The go ahead has been granted for 4,500 homes on the outskirts of Leicester even though part of the site is the subject of a spat with David Wilson Homes.

Charnwood council’s planning committee granted the Commercial Estates Group (CEG) consent last week for its plans to create an urban extension on 360 ha of farmland to the north east of Leicester.

According to a report presented to the Leicestershire borough’s planners, the £445m development will be constructed over a period of 15 to 20 years, at an average rate of 200-300 dwellings per annum.

As well as new homes, the proposed development includes 13 ha of employment land, a food-store covering up to 4,500m², a new secondary school, allotments, parks and a travellers site.

Councillors approved the project even though the report showed that Barratt-owned David Wilson, which has submitted an application to build 150 homes on part of the 360 ha site, had threatened to mount a judicial review of CEG’s scheme. Bellway Homes has also submitted an application to develop another part of the site, 90% of which is owned by CEG.  

The council report said that it was “permissible for several inconsistent planning applications to exist on the same land provided that they are not built out,” adding that the two rival schemes are too small to constitute an alternative to CEG’s development.