Decision due on warehouse scheme after concerns

More than 2,000 residents in Enderby have objected to the plans

A decision on whether to give the go-ahead to a contentious warehouse scheme in a Leicestershire village is due to be made.

The Enderby Logistics Hub has been on the cards in the village about a decade – and campaigners have spent much of that time fighting against it.

Elected members at Blaby District Council defied the advice of their own planning department and rejected the plan in October.

In February, developers submitted a new proposal, which will be decided on Thursday.

Planning officers have again recommended councillors give it the green light, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Concerns from locals include the impact on the road network, the loss of a green space and subsequent impact on wildlife.

The Drummond Estate previously said in a statement the planning application was "entirely compliant" with the Local Plan policy for the site.

The first application, which was submitted in 2019 but had been on the cards for about a decade, would have seen four large logistics warehouses and a training centre built on the site off St Johns.

New woodland

The new plan no longer proposes the training centre, but instead includes three general industrial buildings in addition to the original four.

The developers are also appealing the original refusal, and submitted a report in April calling on the government’s planning inspectorate to overturn the council’s rejection, according to the LDRS.

Under the plans, the applicants plan to upgrade nearby roads, including traffic lights at Meridian South Roundabout and make contributions towards improving Lubbesthorpe Way and the Desford Crossroads scheme.

Blaby District Council said it had received 2,699 representations from members of the public on the scheme, of which 2,660 were objections and 30 were in support of the application.

They also received a petition from local campaign group Snub the Hub that had 753 signatures, said the LDRS.

The Drummond Estate and Inverock Trust has proposed a new woodland along the western and southern edges of the land and has said it will replace any hedgerows lost through the development.

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