Owner bids to demolish city's last 'slum' house

The row of buildings has been vacant for a number of years

An application has been made to tear down the last surviving "slum" house in Leicester.

The two-storey brick properties were built around small courtyards about 200 years ago, but most were demolished in the mid-20th Century.

The derelict house is part of a series of houses on Belgrave Gate that a business owner wants to replace with modern shops, flats and a warehouse.

Raj Patel told the city council the buildings were “in a state of considerable disrepair” and the viability of refurbishment was “highly questionable”.

The rear building is a survivor of Leicester's once-extensive slums

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said Mr Patel's application acknowledged the properties may, at one time, have been of historic value and “characterful” but a run of “poor quality” shop fronts, nearby demolition and their “advanced deterioration” now negatively impacted the area.

In their place, he wants to build two new five-storey buildings with shops and flats fronting Belgrave Gate and an industrial warehouse to the rear, facing Garden Street.

The industrial building would be used for storage by Mr Patel’s business, planning documents state.

An archaeological assessment found that while there would be "very little impact overall" on any listed buildings or scheduled monuments nearby, the proposal would destroy the "last remaining example of a 'slum' dwelling in Leicester".

It suggested the "recording of this building" may be appropriate before it was demolished.

A previous application to tear down these properties and and put up a similar-sized development was turned down in 2017.

A decision is expected in October.

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