Defend our Village
There has been an appeal submitted for a development of 36 houses in Woodhouse Eaves.
It has been refused twice by CBC Planning Team.
This is not the right area for development and we need residents to write to the Planning Inspectorate to object.
The developers are back wanting to build 36 houses on Maplewell Road, this is fundamentally a
similar proposal to the plans rejected on appeal in 2019, but with the number of houses reduced
from the original 50 to 36. However, the impact on the village will be the same. This new
application has been refused by Charnwood Borough Council but unlike 2019, the appeal by the
developers will not be subject to a public hearing in the village, but decided remotely based on
written submissions.
There is a serious risk that the appeal will succeed. It is vital that we all take action
NOW by submitting objections to the Planning Inspectorate by Wednesday 26th May
2021, even if you submitted objections to Charnwood Borough Council in the past.
Please write your objections in your own words. These are the main points that will be
considered by the Inspector - you may include all, some or more.
1. The boundary for development in our village has been determined by the Council in its
Core Strategy and should be respected. This proposed development is outside the
boundary. If this development is allowed it will set a precedent and there will be a free for
all for other developments outside the agreed boundary.
2. The proposal will have a detrimental environmental and visual impact on the local
landscape. Charnwood Forest has received a grant of £2.7 million to “protect and
enhance” the area - this development would do the precise opposite. The starkness of 36
houses on the fields could not in any way be mitigated. A number of views of open
countryside and the hilltop would be lost including views from the Leicestershire Round.
As the last Inspector observed “the proposal would result in development where there
presently is none and would fundamentally change the rural character of the site, resulting
in an intrinsic loss of open countryside to a suburban form of development which would
extend the village in an uncharacteristic manner and scale”.
3. The proposal would result in the loss of valuable trees and hedgerows.
4. The proposal will result in the loss of valuable agricultural land.
5. The last inspector took the view more houses on Maplewell Road would not have too
adverse an impact on traffic on the road. We don’t agree and if you share our views then
consider adding them to your submission.
6. Please ask for a public hearing of the appeal.
Please send your objections via email to west2@planninginspectorate.gov.uk quoting
appeal APP/X2410/W/21/3271340
Submit your comments online here
More information about the planning appeal can be found here
If you do not have access to the internet, send 3 copies of your letter to:
Attila Borsos,
The Planning Inspectorate
Room 3C
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Bristol. BS1 6PN
And there’s this! For over two years, an Advisory Group, appointed by the Parish Council,
has worked on our Neighbourhood Plan. It has identified sites for 20 new homes in the
village; it does not include the fields on Maplewell Road. The plan is in its final stages
before it carries weight in the planning process.
