A50 Housing Development
July 2020
The housing developer of the former A50 site off Leicester Road asked the Borough Council to waive all the infrastructure contribution liabilities that were attached to the planning consent for the land. The Planning Committee rejected the application in July 2020.
December 2019
Developer wants infrastructure obligations to be withdrawn
As you may have read in Councillor reports in the Groby Spotlight, the housing developer of the former A50 site off Leicester Road has asked the Borough Council to waive all the infrastructure contribution liabilities that were attached to the planning consent for the land. The agent making the request said : “The provision of the financial contributions required by the (above) Agreement render an all-affordable scheme unviable.”
Is this what is known as a S106 contribution?
Yes. Planning obligations, also known as section 106 agreements, are typically agreements
between local planning authorities and developers negotiated in the context of granting a planning consent.
Why are these obligations required?
When new housing is built the homes increase pressure on existing services. For example, schools might have to accommodate additional pupils, surgeries may have extra patients, and roads and public transport have more users. The S106 agreement provides a means of ensuring that developers contribute towards the infrastructure and services that local authorities believe to be necessary to facilitate proposed developments.
Why has this waiver request been made?
In order that readers might fully understand the circumstances the agent was asked to explain the reasons why these changes are needed to make the development viable. No acknowledgement or reply has been received.
However a spokesperson for the Borough Council explained that “Originally it was a mixed scheme of 30 properties of which 40% were going to be affordable housing. The new proposal is for 10 affordable homes and 20 shared ownership homes, so the whole development will now be affordable housing.”
How much money is involved?
If the application is rejected the final figure payable will include indexation adjustments. Based on the original agreement the overall sum could exceed £265,000.
How is this calculated?
There are different formulas for calculating the impact on each of the local services.
Roughly how much of the money does each service get?
Library (to be confirmed) £1.7k (£1,700)
Groby health services £16.7k
Transport £33.8k
Open Space/play equipment/sports provision £73.8k
Education £140.7k
Why is the Transport figure so high?
It includes £22.6k for bus passes for six months and a Transport Pack for each of the 30 houses, and £4.5k for an overhead electronic display like the one at the Leicester Road Co-op. There is also money for bus stop improvements to make boarding the buses easier.
Am I allowed to comment on the application to waive the obligation?
Yes, because of the election, and other issues that have been raised by local councillors, a decision is unlikely to be taken by the Borough Council until the New Year, after a 'viability submission' is considered by Planning Officers. Although we are not being told what they are, the developer may have sound reasons for asking for this change. If you wish to comment you may :
support the application and agree that the payment towards infrastructure should not be made,
suggest that some elements should be negotiable (if this is allowed),
request that the application should be rejected as the S106 payment was a condition of the planning consent and the community should not have to lose the estimated £265,000,
or make any other comment you feel appropriate.
Borough Councillor Martin Cartwright's said " Either e-mail your comments to the case officer for this application Jenny Brader jenny.brader@hinckley@bosworth.gov.uk or write to Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council at: Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, Hinckley Hub, Rugby Road, Hinckley, LE10 0FR. In either case please add the reference number 19/01060/S106 to your correspondence."
October 2015
Plan for 30 houses on old A50 land
A plan to develop land behind Leicester Road which used to be the route of the A50 is being opposed by local residents. Leicestershire County Council has submitted an outline planning application for a development of 30 new homes on the land.
A large number of residents attended a meeting with local councillors at Groby Village Hall and three made representations opposing the application at a subsequent Parish Council Planning Meeting. At the Planning Meeting concerns were expressed over the possibility of flooding on the land and the impact additional housing might have on other utility services in the area. One speaker, an ex Leicestershire County Council Highways engineer with 30 years experience said that there was evidence that the area was liable to foul and storm flooding. He added that the existing main drainage systems were already at or near capacity and the foul sewage system had already been compromised by recent floods. This had caused raw sewage to discharge into the flooded gardens and houses at the lower end of Leicester Road. All the residents at the Planning Meeting had seen or were aware of flooding in the recent past and believed that development of the proposed land for housing would increase the danger of serious flood and foul water flooding.
Subsidence issues were raised by a lady who's house backs onto the proposed development. Her house required substantial underpinning and this was only then accepted by house insurers as secure as long as the area of the proposed development remained unchanged. The new development could negate insurance of her home and adjacent houses causing legal issues.
She added that the road where the proposed access was due to be sited was already an extremely difficult area to navigate, particularly by school buses etc, and there were concerns that the proposals for access/egress did not appear to address the safety issues of the area. The access road would be off Leicester Road near the Bluebell Drive roundabout.
The third resident lives immediately backing onto the proposed houses and aired concerns over the topography of the proposed “landscape.” There is a large difference in ground height between the rear of the existing houses and boundary of the land adjacent to the the current A50 bypass which would appear to involve a banking of about 6 metres in some places between the proposed houses and the road.
The Parish Council members present discussed the issue at some length including the lack of a substantial “planning “ reason for objecting to the outline planing application. All members of the committee were in agreement that the residents objections must be supported against this application, though there would be no formal objection from the council itself.
It was thought that it would be unlikely that a building contractor would be able to build a profitable development on this site, partly due to the considerations outlined by the residents and partly due to the remaining highway ground works, and underground services such as water, sewage, drainage, electricity & telephone. It was suggested that as many residents as possible should attend the Planning Hearing at Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.