Isley Woodhouse - Public Engagement

Pegasus Group are now preparing to undertake a period of wider public engagement in relation to the proposals for a new sustainable settlement located to the south of East Midlands Airport and Donington Park Racing Circuit, and west of Diseworth and south of Isley Walton, known as Isley Woodhouse.

The site extends to approximately 313ha, and is a proposed allocation in the emerging North West Leicestershire Local Plan 2020-2040, as Isley Woodhouse (IW1) in the Proposed Housing and Employment Allocations Consultation Document. Emerging proposals for the new settlement include approximately 4,250 new dwellings, a local centre and two neighbourhood centres, a sport, leisure and community hub, two new primary schools, a new secondary school, employment land and green infrastructure, including sports facilities.

A special project website has been launched and the engagement period will run from 11th November to Friday 29th November 2024. The website address is: www.isleywoodhouse.co.uk http://www.isleywoodhouse.co.uk The website will include the latest masterplan proposals and there will be the opportunity to leave comments through the website.

The Parish Council objected to the development (see below) , along with neighbouring parishes and will continue to liaise with the developer and make comments throughout the process. Please can I urge you to look at all the detail on their website and make your own individual comments directly to them.

Comments from Parish Council: The size, scale, location and potential impact of the proposed new settlement on the conservation village of Diseworth/Tongue/Breedon means that the PC agrees that a thorough Environmental Statement MUST be undertaken should an application be submitted; furthermore, that the joint parishes should be involved in future discussion with the developers.

We note that Statutory Consultees have been consulted on the detailed content of the Environmental Statement, and it is understood NWLDC will feed back these consultation responses to the applicant.

The proposed site is immediately to the west of Diseworth and, as such, adds significantly to the overall pressure already imposed on the village. Hemmed in by the M1and A42 motorways to the south and east, we have East Midlands Airport and its associated air cargo distribution centres (DHL, UPS, etc.) immediately to the north. Now, with a similar scoping proposal placed with you regarding land in the Freeport designated area immediately to the east (APPLICATION REF: 24/00072/EAS), it is obvious that the cumulative effect will be immense.

Visual Impact Assessment: It is noted that this is proposed to be included within the Environmental Statement. The draft Neighbourhood Plan (NHP) highlights the potential loss of important countryside and viable farmland that, by necessity, is essential for the survival of any rural community. The NHP calls for suitable and substantial separation from any form of development to be maintained in order to ensure the integrity and individuality: this MUST be a serious consideration in any future development plans.

Highway network: The impact on the local rural roads through our Parish will be, to say the least, significant since Diseworth, Long Whatton and Belton are likely to receive much greater volumes of traffic, particularly during the construction phases, and also when new residents travel east and north out of the application site. This increased traffic movement will add to the noise and pollution already caused by the existing surrounding infrastructure, all as mentioned above. The Transport Statement surely must accurately reflect this, as well as the proposed plans for the Freeport.

Other Key Issues: Long Whatton and Diseworth and Breedon regularly suffer flooding issues from rainwater that originates from the farmland covered by this proposal (as well as from the A42 and Airport) so further loss of natural ground drainage must be mitigated against and measures put in place to overcome this problem.