Three new schools could now be built to the south of Melton

The recently-approved Local Plan flagged up the need for just one primary school but it has now been decided that three schools will be needed to serve families who move into the required 2,114 houses in the scheduled South Melton Sustainable Neighbourhood.

A masterplan drawn up to direct the developments also indicates the need for a ‘Local Centre’, to include shops, a community hall, leisure facilities and potentially a medical centre, to act as the town’s second GP surgery.

Most of the scheme would be built on a strip of land bordered to the south by a planned southern link to the approved Melton Mowbray Distributor Road (MMDR) and to the north by Kirby Lane.

Members of Melton Borough Council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the masterplan at their meeting on Wednesday afternoon so it can then be forwarded to Leicestershire County Council.

A viable plan is needed to ensure that an offer of £15million government funding towards the £28million cost of the south section can be taken up.

County Hall is due to pay £13million of the cost up front before recouping it from developer contributions from new houses built in that part of town but it decided in March that it was too much of a risk because there was not an adequate masterplan in place.

The county council has held off on committing the money up front and on accepting the government funding offer for the south link.

Local authorities are now in a race against time over the masterplan wth the deadline fast approaching for accepting the £15million grant offered by Homes England under the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF).

At Wednesday’s borough council meeting, councillors will be encouraged to back a preferred masterplan from three options, where a new secondary school would be built adjacent to the B6047 Dalby Road, with capacity for 650 students.

The primary schools would be located to the west and the east of the secondary school, one for 420 pupils and the other for 210.

The development strategy is based on the projections of the Melton Local Plan anticipating a population increase to the south of the town up to 2036 of 4,756 people in 2,114 dwellings.

A report to go before the cabinet meeting states: “The Masterplan is considered to have developed into a strong, positive and coherent approach to the development of the Sustainable Neighbourhood.

“It is considered to provide the assurance requested by Leicestershire County Council to ensure delivery of housing and infrastructure and particularly recovery of infrastructure investment and as such forms a sound basis for them to accept the Housing Infrastructure Fund award.”

Funding of £63.5million remains in place for the north and east sections of the MMDR, connecting the A606 Nottingham Road with the A606 Burton Road, with work due to begin next summer and be completed by the autumn of 2023.

It is hoped that a southern section, connecting Burton Road with the A607 Leicester Road, will be built at the same time, although that may rely on being able to accept the promised government contribution.