PROPOSED ECO-TOWN – PENNBURY

The County Council newsletter gives the latest information on what is happening with the proposed eco-town.

Download the pdf newsletter and comments form. Alternatively email your comments to ecotown@leics.gov.uk

What are the Proposals for Pennbury?

On 3 April, the Government published a list of 15 locations that have been short listed as possible sites for eco-towns. One of these locations lies to the south east of Leicester in an area around Stoughton village. Here the Co-op has put forward a proposal for an eco-town in conjunction with English Partnerships. Provisionally, the town has been named Pennbury.

The Co-op is proposing between 12,000 and 15,000 new homes at Pennbury on 750 hectares of land. Between 4,000 and 5,000 of these would be affordable houses. The Co-op state that all the houses would be built to meet high environmental standards. Jobs, schools, shops, health facilities, parks and leisure facilities would all be provided in the ecotown. The design of the town will encourage walking and cycling with good public transport. Some new road links would also be needed. The Co-op believes that they can create a sustainable development and that they will seek to maximise the benefits and minimise the impact of the proposals.

What is the Programme for deciding if Pennbury should go ahead?

The Government has indicated that there will be four stages to take forward the eco-town programme:

Stage 1 – a consultation to 30 June on preliminary views on eco-towns in general and the 15 locations short listed.

Stage 2 – from July to the end of October, there will be consultation on more detailed assessments of the 15 locations and the publication of a draft planning policy statement on eco-towns.

Stage 3 – publication of the final list of locations with potential to be an eco-town by the end of the year.

Stage 4 – consideration of planning applications for individual schemes.

What has happened so far?

As part of Stage 1, Leicestershire County Council prepared a newsletter which gave the latest information on the Pennbury proposals and encouraged everyone to send in their comments about Pennbury. This was distributed within the Pennbury and surrounding area. The County Council also held two public meetings – one in Oadby and one in Billesdon - to provide an opportunity for residents to find out more and express their views. Through this process, a large number of questions and concerns were raised. Harborough and Oadby & Wigston Councils carried out similar consultation exercises at the same time and the Co-op held an exhibition at a number of different locations.

Based on an examination of the Co-op’s proposals and the feedback from the consultation, a report was considered by the County Council’s Cabinet on 20 June. Copies of the report can be viewed on the County Council’s website. At the meeting, Cabinet approved a number of comments which together represent the Council’s preliminary views on eco-towns and Pennbury in particular. The response included:

Concern that there is a real lack of detail about the proposals which makes it difficult to comment on the scheme – the consultation period should accordingly be extended by 6 months.
Concern that the eco-town process has a complete disregard for established planning procedures and existing planning policies.
Support for the principle of developing sustainable communities and affordable housing.
There is already enough land allocated for residential development to meet the needs of the County and that this position was recently accepted by a Panel that examined the Regional Spatial Strategy last year.
The Panel considered Pennbury to be an inappropriate location for large scale development.
Concerns as to whether Pennbury can attract the number of jobs the Co-op anticipate.
Concerns that Pennbury could adversely affect the regeneration of the City and other sites already identified for development.
To be a self contained community, Pennbury must provide a full range of support and community facilities and services (e.g. schools, health facilities, police station, library, parks, leisure facilities etc).
Concerns about the transport proposals for Pennbury and the need for these to be very carefully examined.

What happens next?

The Cabinet report also states that to be able to come to a considered and final view, it will be essential to understand fully the proposals being put forward by the Co-op and to carry out studies which will help to decide whether Pennbury should be opposed or supported. The Government have already commissioned a sustainability appraisal which will look at the environmental aspects of the development. A transport assessment is being undertaken by the Co-op, the County Council and the City Council in consultation with Harborough and Oadby and Wigston Councils to see if the transport proposals are acceptable. The Government has also commissioned a financial assessment along with the local authorities to see if the development is viable. The County Council supports this work but has asked for further studies to be undertaken to ensure that a complete assessment of the project can be made. These include a review of current planning policies for the area, an assessment of the impact of Pennbury on the regeneration of the City, the capacity of the housing market to accommodate Pennbury and all the other developments already planned for the County, the affordable housing needed and the number and type of jobs needed at Pennbury. All of these studies will need to be completed by October so that the Council will have all the information it needs to come to a final decision on the scheme.

The County Council is currently working closely with Harborough District, Oadby and Wigston District, the City Council, the Government Office, the Communities and Local Government Department, the Co-op and English Partnerships to carry out this work.