Developer challenges council's rejection of proposed housing and office development on edge of Melton

Westleigh Partnerships Ltd want to build about 54 homes and offices on land adjacent to the A607 Leicester Road, west of Bowling Green.

The site had previously, in 2011, been granted outline planning permission by the council for a business park project.

But Westleigh claimed their revised planning application for the site, discussed by the council’s planning committee in November, would better meet demand.

Planning consultant Graham Price argued that the advantages of the proposed mixed use development, to include up to 40 percent affordable housing, significantly outweighed any harm and that it would greatly benefit the local economy in terms of job creation and housing provision.

However councillors refused the revised plans on grounds that Westleigh had failed to show it had satisfactorily dealt with the issue of noise and failed to show there was no reasonable prospect of the site of the site being used for employment purposes.

Westleigh has now appealed to the Secretary of State in a bid to overturn the council’s decision.

The date for a public inquiry is yet to be fixed.