26/0150/NMAT – Land adjacent to Leicester Road and Foston Road – To amend the wording of conditions 20 and 21 to ‘No more than 20 dwellings shall be occupied…’ (proposed non-material amendment to 23/1071/OUT)

Countesthorpe Parish Council has submitted the following objection to the proposal to amend the Condition relating to the installation of the roundabout at Foston Road.

Countesthorpe Parish Council strongly objects to the application to reword Conditions 20 and 21.

The Parish Council objects to the District Council’s decision to treat the application as a Non-Material Change, and disagrees with the District Council’s initial response that it considers the rewording to ‘no more than 20 dwellings’ as relatively minor (and non-material) in relation to the entire scheme of 170 dwellings.

This change to the wording completely changes the meaning of the conditions and therefore, the Parish Council would argue that the application should be submitted as a Variation of Condition (s73) and not a Non-Material Change application. NMAT applications are for the minor/trivial amendments that do not impact on neighbouring properties etc.

The development works are having a major impact on safety to the immediate road network, neighbouring properties, and commercial business operations in the village. Therefore, this cannot be considered a non-material change.

The Parish Council has grave concerns that this rewording will act to disincentivise the construction of the roundabout until sufficient homes have been occupied. Also, it gives carte blanche to the builder to focus on building homes as opposed to completing the roundabout.

Countesthorpe Parish Council objects to this proposal as it is not a change of wording, it is a change of condition. An application for 20 houses in itself would be considered material.

There is no guarantee when or where the actual properties to be occupied will be built. They could be from any section of the site, and therefore, based on a developer normally aiming to build around 30 properties in a year, could take up to two years to have 20 properties occupied.

This proposed change of wording allows for the works to install the roundabout to take considerably longer than currently planned. The Parish Council strongly believes that the proposed wording is misleading and does not actually give any clear indication or guarantee of time scales for the completion of the roundabout works or installation of cycle and pathway routes. Allowing this change to the condition would make the whole development plan open to abuse.

The current traffic control measures will be in place for a considerable time. Blaby District Council have been made aware of the numerous reports of accidents and near misses from traffic having to cross the carriageway into the path of oncoming traffic due to placement of the temporary traffic lights.

Allowing 20 houses to be occupied before the roundabout is completed potentially adds another 40+ cars to the highway thereby adding to the congestion and dangers caused by the temporary traffic management measures.

The Parish Council would assume that the original wording of the conditions existed to ensure that the roadworks were kept to a minimum to mitigate the deleterious effect on residents. Miller Homes would have been fully aware of the conditions from the start. Also, by changing the wording at this stage, it will set a precedent for not only this application but also those of other planning applications.

The Parish Council reiterates its concern that this rewording will act to disincentivise the construction of the roundabout in a timely manner.

In fact, the Parish Council would insist that a condition is put in place to the effect that the roundabout is completed by a set date, for example no longer than 12 months after breaking ground on the development, and that there should be financial penalties for exceeding timescales.

The Parish Council is acutely aware of the major detrimental impact this development is having on local residents living within the vicinity, and those from further afield, travelling through Countesthorpe. This is exacerbated by motorists using local side streets to avoid the traffic control measures.

In summary, and being conscious of the number of accidents and near misses that have taken place for which neither the developer, nor the District or County Councils can suggest suitable solutions to make the system safe, Countesthorpe Parish Council objects to any change in conditions that would lengthen this impact.