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Big demand for £20,000 homes at Quorn - Inquiry told 1973
Loughborough Monitor - 18th May 1973
The old camp site at Wood Lane, Quorn, was described as both an eyesore and a pleasant public amenity at a planning inquiry at Rothley council offices on Tuesday.
Mr Edward Farnham, of Quorn House, was appealing against the refusal of Barrow Rural Council to allow residential development on the six acre site which forms part of his 160 acre estate. It is proposed to build 18 houses and garages there.
Mr Farnham is a county councillor and chairman of the Leicestershire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England. Mr J B Blood appeared for Mr Farnham and the council's case was conducted by the clerk, Mr J E Bolton. The council objects to the scheme on the grounds that it is against the county planning policy for Quorn, would involve the loss of trees, create a traffic hazard, and set a precedent for future applications.
Mr Blood said the site was used as an Army camp during the war and still had concrete hut placements and roadways. It was an eyesore and used as a dumping ground. From an agricultural point of view the land was poor but it was suitable for the proposed development.
Nearby were Paddock Close, where most of the objectors to the scheme lived, and Unitt Road, a council development. These were both part of the post-war expansion of Quorn. Mr Blood said that although there was no village plan for Quorn, it was in the growth area described as Greater Leicester in the county study plan for the next 20 years. The estimated population increase according to this plan was 157,000 which meant that 56,000 additional houses would be required by 1991.
Mr Blood submitted that the merits of the application justified going against the declared policy for the village, that it was not inconsistent with existing development, and that the site was the natural end of the village. Of the 130 trees on the site, only nine would have to be removed and the traffic danger was non-existent. It was not proposed to develop any further up Wood Lane.
Mr A K Tapper, Quorn House estate manager, said Mr Farnham wished to carry out the development to finance the upkeep of the estate. He had an interest in preserving his own amenities and stringent conditions would be laid down for the development. Mr Tapper agreed with a suggestion by Mr J H Chater, the inspector conducting the inquiry, that the houses on the site would be in the £20,000 category. He said that his firm's Loughborough office had a waiting list of 61 applicants for houses in the Quorn area in the £15,000-20,000 range.
Mr P M Houghton, senior planning assistant to Barrow council, said it was the authority's policy to restrict development in Quorn to limited in-filling. The proposed scheme would be a major extension to Wood Lane and an undesirable intrusion into the countryside. He thought the site was a pleasant amenity for the public in its present state and development would destroy the views across the parkland. Approval for the scheme would also make it difficult to resist applications to develop land to the west and south which was similar in character to the site.
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Submitted on: |
2009-08-03 |
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Submitted by: |
Kathryn Paterson |
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Artefact ID: |
470 |
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Artefact URL: |
www.quornmuseum.com/display.php?id=470 |
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Print: |
View artefact in printer-friendly page |
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