Demolition plan for iconic industrial site deferred

Charnwood Borough Council planning officers had originally advised the plans to be refused

A plan to demolish buildings on a historic Leicestershire manufacturing site has been deferred by councillors.

The application seeks to bulldoze part of Loughborough’s Falcon Works in Nottingham Road and construct new buildings on the site.

Charnwood Borough Council planning officers had originally advised the plans to be refused, but this was amended, with councillors voting unanimously on Thursday to accept a new recommendation of deferral.

Turbine Hall, also known as "the Brush" or "Falcon building" is not part of the demolition plans.

Turbine Hall, which sports the distinctive yellow "Brush" sign, would remain untouched even if plans go ahead

Developer Falcon UK MLI Property Unit Trust has said the view from Loughborough rail station would be unchanged if the application is approved.

The applicant is seeking permission to bulldoze a number of buildings on the site, some of which are locally listed meaning they have architectural or historical importance to the town.

One of the main reasons for deferral given by officers was their concern that the heritage statement submitted with the plans did not "adequately consider the significance of locally listed buildings".

Officers invited the applicant to work with them to review the statement and some of the designs over the coming weeks, with a view of bringing the application back to committee in September.

The application site highlighted in red, with the long and thin Turbine Hall just to the east

Angie Fenton spoke on behalf of the applicant's agent at the meeting and said "we were quite surprised" to see the original recommendation for refusal.

Ms Fenton said: "The existing buildings on the site are out of date and incapable of being reused by modern occupiers.

"This is evidenced in the fact that there are multiple vacant units within the estate.

“If members agree to defer the application, the team will work with officers over the coming weeks and should we go back to planning committee in the autumn with a positive outcome, the council can expect a high quality development."

The first factory was built on the site in the 1860s to manufacture parts for trains, before the Falcon Works was taken over by Anglo-American company Brush Electrical Engineering in 1889, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Part of the company, Brush Traction, was bought from Brush UK in 2011 by Wabtec, an American company, which announced it was closing the Brush plant in 2021.

Brush Transformers, part of Brush UK, is still on site and the application said the site was "in active, manufacturing use today, although parts of the complex are vacant and disused".

Additional reporting by Julia Breens, Local Democracy Reporter.

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