Golf Course

Opposition speakers, including, Peter Bedford MP, and myself, attended and presented many arguments against the development plans, i.e. the loss of green space, loss of wildlife, increased flood risk, air pollution, and a huge increase in traffic.

However, apart from the good news that the waste site, (at least for now), has been removed from the site (the Masterplan will be updated), City are determined as ever to build over the golf course.

The latest masterplan for the golf course, was published on the City website in October. Although the document is in the public domain and freely available to view on the Local Plan Examination website, I had to obtain special permission from Leicester City Council to publish it here. The current Masterplan includes the Blaby section of the course. There were several caveats with the permission, as follows. It is an indicative Masterplan and subject to change; it does not preclude development of the Blaby area and formal site allocation within the emerging Blaby Local Plan.

Looking at the plan in detail, the main access will be via an enlarged Ratby roundabout, with possibly two further access roads onto Ratby Lane. Other access roads feed on to Scudamore and Ryder Road. As an indication of predicted increases in traffic, 412 homes are planned for the City section and potentially another 252 are listed for the Blaby section. This gives a total of 664 if the whole site is developed. There will also be additional traffic from the employment areas.

Most of the green areas shown are in fact wooded, so the development will tend to be on the grasslands. Flood lagoons have been included to hopefully reduce the risk of increased flooding onsite and in Glenfield. However, surplus water from the lagoons and flood alleviation system, will go into Rothley Brook.

Due to the number of amendments which emerged during the examination phase of the Local  Plan, there will probably be a final public consultation on the changes. Then, probably in 2025 the City Council will adopt the plan. Following that, there will be a public planning consultation.

The Blaby Local Plan, which may or may not include the Blaby section of the golf course, will be subject to further public consultation, currently scheduled for July 2025. If the Blaby section of the course is included and approved in the Blaby Local Plan, it will be followed by a planning phase.

Latest on the Golf Course - posted 10th September 2024 - from Steve Walters

The public hearings for Leicester’s Local  Plan are due to commence on the 1st October and the 15 all day sessions will run  into November.

All the development sites in  the plan will then be forwarded for detailed planning, which will be  subjected to public consultation. The details  of highways access, house and employment areas, household waste site  and the Gypsy Traveller site, will be released at this point.