Developer unveils major 240-home plan with cemetery and medical centre expansion

A "garden neighbourhood" of hundreds of new homes could be built in a Leicestershire village. Developer David Wilson Homes has also set aside land for a new cemetery and a health centre expansion as part of the plan.

The housebuilder is seeking permission from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council (HBBC) to build 240 homes on fields off Barlestone Road to the north of Newbold Verdon. Planning documents promise 40 per cent of the homes will be affordable, while five per cent will be bungalows.

Two plots of land are “safeguarded” in the 34-acre site, one for a new cemetery, as the village’s current one is close to capacity. Another is for either a potential expansion of the Newbold Verdon Medical Practice, which is just over the road from the site, or for parking for patients and staff if the health centre's existing building is expanded into its current car park.

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Newbold Verdon, which according to the 2011 census has a population of roughly 3,000, is already set to be expanded to the south after a controversial 239-home development was given planning permission by a government inspector earlier this year. Applicant Richborough Estates was twice refused planning permission, with the company then taking the scheme to appeal.

The land has now been sold to Persimmon Homes. More houses have been also been built by Bloor Homes at the Ferrers Green development in the north west of the village.

In its application, David Wilson Homes says the 240-home development will be a “new garden neighbourhood”, and will “create housing choice”. The documents add: “The delivery of local facilities and services, employment space and community facilities, alongside development will support both the existing and proposed communities, complementing the existing town of Newbold Verdon.”

There will be two equipped play areas, and a community orchard. Two existing lanes that run across the site would be kept, with one to be downgraded to a pedestrian/cycle path along part of its length. There will also be footpaths and cycle paths connecting to public rights of way.

The application documents can be read on HBBC’s planning portal, and comments and objections must be made by Tuesday, December 17.

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