Leicester: Council approve plans for new homes at Western Park

The main access to the site would be via the existing car park entrance

Plans to build 20 new homes at a city park have been approved despite opposition.

Councillors backed the plans, which would see the properties built on a car park at Western Park in Leicester.

City council officers have said the current state of the site was "detrimental to the local area", and the provision of new homes would help meet housing need in the city.

The application was approved despite 58 objections being lodged.

Designs show the development will consist of two two-bed homes, 12 three-beds and six four-beds. Four of the properties will be classed as "affordable homes".

Developers say the new homes would be built to "Passivhaus" standards - homes which are energy efficient and retain heat from the sun.

'Innovative design'

While it was supported by the council, the plan attracted the disapproval of people in the community.

Key concerns included the loss of park land, the loss of the car park, traffic and parking concerns and the harm to wildlife, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A handful of supporting comments were also submitted, with those in favour saying it was good the scheme was for brownfield land and it would help tackle anti-social behaviour, to which some said the car park was "prone".

Planning officers say the proposal has an "exemplary and innovative design which should be welcomed".

Teresa Aldred, ward councillor for Thurncourt, said: "I'm really happy to see a development with a community building and I wish more developers would bring forward, when they do schemes like this, a community building for people to mix.

"There may well be families, people with children [moving into the homes]. It's a place for everybody to get to know each other."