Protest over 4,500 homes plan near to M1

Planning officials have been accused of ignoring the Leicestershire public over plans to build more than 4,500 new homes.

Residents living close to the proposed site told officers from Blaby District Council at a meeting last night there had been a lack of consultation over proposals to develop 1,000 acres of land to the west of the M1, near Leicester Forest East.

More than 250 people crammed in to the village's parish centre to hear council representatives outline the plans, though many said afterwards they feared it was already a done deal.

Bev Mitchinson, acting chair of the parish council, called for the opportunity for "full and meaningful" input from residents in future.

She said: "We do not support the argument that this site is the best option available.

"We ask Blaby District Council to address the serious affect this development will have on our residents and the resources that are already overstretched with the overflow from Thorpe Astley."

Villager Roger Green, 65, added: "We accept we have got to have a percentage of houses, but we seem to have to take it all in one place. We will be lobbying against the proposals but it feels like it is already a done deal."

Gary Clarke, planning policy manager for the district council, argued that the site had been chosen following five years of research and numerous feasibility studies.

He said efforts to reduce the Government-imposed target to build 7,600 houses in the district had been rejected by Whitehall.

"We are not saying everything is perfect," he said.

"We know there are issues and challenges that we have to address.

"But we have been given a target that we have to meet."

Under the proposals, the site, which is bordered by the M1 to the east and Beggars Lane to the west, would include three new primary schools, a secondary school, health care facilities and shopping areas, for a predicted 10,000 new residents.

Alternative sites at Glenfield and to the west of Kirby Muxloe have been rejected by Blaby District Council as untenable. Included in the plans is a 20-hectare site to be developed for factory and office space to the south of M69, in Enderby.

A six-week consultation period ends on September 10, at which point the council will submit its strategy to Whitehall.