BABTAG Update – 4500 Houses

From the developers’ (CEG) liaison meeting on 6th March we learnt the following:- All detailed paperwork on Phase 1 has been completed and will be delivered to Charnwood Borough Council at the end of this month. It will be in the form of four documents, one listing all the infrastructure and three from the the three builders showing in detail how their areas of “Thorpebury in the Limes” will be developed. Together these are the “reserved matters” which need the approval of the council’s Plans Committee. There will be another round of public consultation and approval is expected no earlier than the July meeting of the Plans Committee. Work on the site is now expected to begin in the last quarter of 2019 but with three builders on site erecting more than 100 houses each year 575 houses could be completed by the end of 2021 or in 2022.
Progress on the Southern Relief Road
There can be no more building of houses after the completion of the 575th house without the road linking Phase 1 to the Leicester ring road being opened. Most of this road will lie within green spaces in Hamilton in the City of Leicester. The City is in negotiation with CEG over selling or leasing the land on which the road is to be built and its most recent move has been to seek legal advice in its wrangle over the price it wishes to exact. A deal will need to be struck soon between the two parties if the road construction is not to be delayed and the freezing of house-building at 575 units.
Traffic Mitigation Measures
CEG had a further meeting with County Highways in March with the aim of securing agreement on the early implementation of traffic mitigation measures in Barkby and Barkby Thorpe. CEG says that it remains committed to getting these measures implemented at the time that house-building commences. BABTAG is adamant that these restrictions are in place on time because the existing roads and lanes will have to carry the additional burden of the traffic generated by Phase 1 housing until the southern relief and the spine roads are built.
Other Housing Developments
The developers of the 220 houses off the Melton Road in Queniborough are appealing to the Secretary of State against the refusal of planning permission. The minister will have to take into account all the objections to this development including BABTAG’s but his ministry’s track record is one of frequently overturning the decision of councils and the clear wishes of the public. As for the 195 houses off Barkby Lane the revised application has yet to be submitted to the Plans Committee. When this does happen a new round of public consultation is likely.
A46 Expressway
The Action Group opposing the A46 Expressway, SELAG, (South and East Leicestershire Action Group) and the Leicestershire CPRE are organising a public meeting about the Expressway on Thursday 4th April at 7.00pm in the Billesdon Coplow Centre to alert the public to the threat to the countryside that this dual carriageway and its associated 38,000 houses poses and to rally opposition to it. All parish councils along its route are being sent posters and publicity about this important meeting which should shortly be on display on village noticeboards. SELAG is also actively recruiting supporters for its cause with membership forms on its website www.selag.org and its Facebook page.
The Expressway Route (See map below)
Careful study of the publications of ‘Midlands Connect’ the body planning improvements to the A46 corridor from the South West to Lincoln makes it possible to deduce a route for the Expressway as it carves through the east of Leicestershire. In our immediate neighbourhood it crosses the A47 between Bushby and Houghton on the Hill, runs between Scraptoft and Keyham and crosses the Beeby Road between Beeby and Barkby. Continuing north it skirts east of Queniborough and stays east of East Goscote joining the existing A46 close to the Thrussington crossroads. Nothing, of course, is set in stone and Midlands Connect and the Leicestershire councils say that the route is ‘yet to be defined’ and it may never be built but BABTAG believes local residents should be aware of the threat it poses to the peace of our local countryside.