Page 13 - Herald December 2024

DECEMBER 2024
UPDATE ON WILLOUGHBY
ROAD PLANNING
APPLICATION
Following the meeting of Blaby District Council’s Planning Committee at the beginning of October which resolved to defer the decision on application 24/001/ OUT for 205 dwellings on land off Willoughby Road, over concerns about the density of the proposed housing for the site, and also to enable more clarity on any feedback from Severn Trent Water on the application.
The Parish Council made representation at the meeting a copy of which is below:- “You will recall us being here in July when 170 houses were approved for Foston Road. Now a further 205 are recommended for approval at the opposite end of the village, yet again on a site not allocated for development. Are you really going to increase our contribution even further by approving this application? You must be aware of our lack of school places, employment opportunities, transport options, bank, post office, parking spaces, leisure centre etc. And of the pertinent comments made by 612 residents who objected to this application. We fear you will ignore them too.
You will also be very aware of our highways infrastructure, already at breaking point.
Previously someone remarked that you can’t use a development to mend a broken infrastructure. A development, however, can make an already broken infrastructure immeasurably worse. This application should not be approved until extensive improvements have been made to mitigate against the further harm this development will cause. Please refer to Policy CS11.
As always, the LHA say that the impacts of the development on highway safety would not be unacceptable, when considered cumulatively with other developments, the impacts on the road network would not be severe. We would like to ask “At what point would the cumulative impacts become severe?” Apparently, not after the Foston Road development, nor this development. What about Gillam Butts, a further 50 houses awaiting determination. When exactly!
The local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for the south of Leicestershire shows that the entire length of Station Road in Countesthorpe has been given a poor walking and wheeling score. Significant improvements are needed on this, the main route through the village. Anyone who has walked or cycled in Countesthorpe will tell you of the horrors of narrow roads, even narrower pavements and of buses and lorries whizzing past centimetres away from our shoulders.
THE NEW COUNTESTHORPE HERALD 13
The LHA is satisfied that walking is a viable means of travel for future residents. Very unlikely. You can’t seriously believe that parents will walk all through the development, down the footpath to Beechings Close, and all the way to the school with young children? They will drive. No parent will risk their child’s safety on our roads and pavements for any longer than necessary. They will drive. No matter if there are cycle spaces at their homes. No matter how many pathways are provided to and from the development. They will drive. Imagine walking that distance to the Health Centre whilst ill. They will drive. And, when they do drive, they will have to navigate a poorly designed double-mini-roundabout junction which we believe is dangerous and unfit for purpose. Will it even have an official pedestrian crossing?
New developments should seek frequent, accessible and comprehensive public transport links to higher order centres. Good luck with that. You can give people as many bus passes as you like but unless they work on the 85 bus route it’s totally pointless. They will drive.
By requesting alleviating measures at junctions at Hospital Lane and South Wigston, the Highways department acknowledge they expect increased vehicle movement. Of course they do. People WILL drive, and through a
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