The biggest changes proposed for Leicestershire including thousands of homes

From 1,200 homes at the edge of a Leicestershire town to a huge Freeport bid, these are some of the biggest changes proposed for our city and county. The planning process can be complicated and controversial. While councils have a target of deciding major applications within 13 weeks, sometimes the process just takes longer.

In the case of some planning application, it can take years. For those who fear what the plans might do to their neighbourhood or who are desperately waiting for the new infrastructure to be delivered, this can be an uncertain time. Here are some of the biggest proposals submitted over the course of 2024 on which we are still waiting for a decision.



READ MORE: The biggest Leicester and Leicestershire developments approved this year A further 1,200 homes could be built in a Leicestershire town where hundreds of properties are already under way. Ashby’s Money Hill has long been slated for development, with a number of planning applications have already been given the go ahead for the site. In 2023, North West Leicestershire District Council approved a scheme for 605 homes and a car park at the site .

A further 153 homes were approved in 2018, preceded by 70 homes in 2016. Ultimately, the land is earmarked for more than 2,000 homes in the authority’s local plan – a document which sets out where developments can be built in an area. This latest scheme, put forward by Taylor Wimpey and Bloor Homes, is in the very early stages with the developers describing the plan as “still emerging”, so details thus far are sparse.

A huge housing development in Leicester could end up with fewer homes and more employment space. The Ashton Green development has been in the pipeline since planning permission was first granted in 2011 – but the intention to use the land for housing dates back even further, to the mid 1970s, Leicester City Council said. In 2011, up to 3,000 homes were slated to be built on the site via the council-led scheme located at the northern edge of the city, off Leicester Road.

A school was also planned and around five hectares were set aside for employment space. However, the scheme was adjusted in 2014 to increase the amount of space to be used for employment purposes to 10 hectares. The number of homes proposed remained the same.

Now, Leicester City Council is applying for permission to again vary the scheme. It once more wants to increase how much land can be used for employment purposes – this time to 15.9 hectares.

It said this adjustment is a response to “strong market demand”. To accommodate that, around 700 planned homes could be dropped from the scheme. A first look at the East Midlands Freeport emerged this year.

The massive scheme would span more than 100 acres of the Leicestershire countryside and play a part in creating 28,000 new jobs for the region. The outline application, which looks to approve the principle of the plan, was submitted by East Midlands Airport’s owners, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), and would see land south of the airport transformed into a new major distribution and logistics hub . The vast proposal aims to erect eight units on the land which spans 102 acres between Castle Donington and Hyam’s Lane in Diseworth.

It would become the first of three major sites in the East Midlands to become part of the UK’s only major inland Freeport, with others slated for the East Midlands Intermodal Park (EMIP) in South Derbyshire and the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station redevelopment site in Nottingham. Countryside at the edge of Leicester could be concreted over for more than 700 homes, new plans show. The site, near Glenfield Hospital , crosses three council boundaries – those of Leicester City Council , Blaby District Council and Charnwood Borough Council .

All three local authorities have included it as a possible site for new housing in their respective local plans – a document which sets out where developments can take place in an area with the intention of protecting communities from uncontrolled building. An application for permission to build around 375 homes on part of the land has already been submitted to Charnwood Borough Council by developer William Davis. This has not yet been decided.

Now, early planning documents have been submitted to Leicester City Council for another section of the site, off Anstey Lane in the city. This reveals a further 350 to 370 homes could be built over 15.5 hectares of countryside.

Residents are promising a "fight on every front" against proposals for almost 500 new homes in their village. The proposals, lodged by Lagan Homes, would see up to 470 homes built on fields that connect Ratby village to The Burroughs, a nearby beauty spot. The scheme was revealed in the summer when the developer held a consultation to garner the public's views ahead of submitting the application in October.

The company wants to build either 450 homes or 470 homes with both choices including a community hub and a primary school, but a care home would be part of the development if the 450-home option is chosen. The 80-acre site is next to ancient woodland known as The Burrows that is a popular walking spot for residents. Redrow Homes has submitted an application to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council for the new houses and a care home at the edge of Burbage.

The developer is seeking permission to build 28 one-bed, 129 two-bed, 188 three-bed, 46 four-bed and 31 five-bed homes on fields to the south of the village, next to the M69 motorway. The proposed care home would have room for 66 residents, while seven of the homes would be bungalows and there would also be up to 11 “self-build” plots, documents show. Most of the parking would be in garages or driveways outside each home.

Some 84 of the homes are described as “affordable” housing. A number of the farm buildings already on the land would be demolished under the scheme, as would numbers 65 and 65a Coventry Road. Almost 900 homes have been earmarked for Hinckley by a developer after it submitted new proposals following a successful planning appeal earlier this year.

Richborough Estates hopes to build more than 400 properties on land north of Normandy Road – the A47 perimeter road – next to a site where almost 500 houses were given approval by a planning inspector in January. Although the new plans are only for outline permission , where basic details such as access and the maximum number of homes are decided, Richborough Estates says there will be a large park between the two developments – to be known as Valley Park – as well as play areas, allotments, cycleways and footpaths. Developers have touted plans for a huge 350-home development in Leicestershire which would centre on land at Keepers Farm, Winchester Road, Blaby.

Bonnel Homes Ltd submitted the screening application to officials at Blaby District Council (BDC) in what was the first stage of the development's process. This first stage, while not an official application, does tout the possibility of up to 350 homes for the site. A quarter of these homes would be affordable, while an 8.

47 hectare country park would also be created if ultimately backed. The site is on the south eastern edge of Blaby and is visually enclosed to the north and south by the existing homes in Blaby and Countesthorpe. Development to the north also includes the three storey Oak Court Residential Care Home.

Hallam Land Management Ltd has submitted an application to Blaby District Council setting out plans to build over most of Blaby Golf Course. It is the second development proposed for the course in around eight months. Davidsons Homes submitted a bid in November 2023 for 53 homes on the disused allotments at the edge of the course and on part of the adjacent fairway .

The 53-home plan was approved last month. If the Hallam plan is also approved, maps submitted with the latest application suggest the two estates could sit side by side and cover the course as a whole. Some 200 homes, as well as shops, are proposed for the Hallam section of the site.

A new bid has been submitted to build nearly 100 flats on the site of abandoned Leicester student digs. The former Mary Gee halls of residence, in Ratcliffe Road, have stood vacant since they closed in 2018. Adlington Retirement Living announced in August it was planning a fresh attempt to transform the site into homes for the over-60s.

Its first effort to build 100 apartments there was rejected by Leicester City Council in 2020 over concerns it was not a “good quality of design” and was “inappropriate for the setting” due to its scale and layout. The existing buildings on the land would be demolished, with Adlington saying they have been “the subject of substantial vandalism and arson” while they have stood vacant. In their place, four new three-storey buildings would be built with 94 flats spread across them – a slight decrease from the 96 previously suggested.

.