Oak Road, Littlethorpe 01 INTRODUCTION Introduction Gladman Developments Ltd has successfully invested in communities throughout the UK for over 20 years, developing high quality and sustainable residential, commercial and industrial schemes. A process of public consultation is being undertaken by Gladman Developments Ltd in order to present the emerging development proposal for land at Oak Road, Littlethorpe to the local community. We are proposing a new residential development of up to 108 homes, together with new green infrastructure and public open space. The purpose of this consultation process is to outline the details of the draft scheme and seek comments from the local community which will be considered before the outline planning application is submitted to Blaby District Council. Site Description The site comprises 6.65ha of pastoral land and is located to the west of Littlethorpe, which lies to the south of Narborough in Leicestershire. Site access is proposed off Oak Road. The River Soar lies to the north of the site and a small brook lies on the northern boundary. A train line and the settlement edge of Narborough lie further to the north. The land-use to the east of the site is predominantly residential, with farmland to the south and Lodge Farm to the west. Housing Need Every Council is required by the Government to boost significantly the supply of housing and to make planning decisions in the light of a presumption in favour of sustainable development. Blaby District Council is required to provide enough housing land to meet its full future housing needs. Approval of this development will help towards meeting the housing need within the local authority area. Enderby M69 St John’s Greens Lodge Farm Why is the site suitable for development? The site is located within walking distance of educational, retail, leisure and NARBOROUGH health facilities, employment, and public transport links in Littlethorpe and Huncote Whetstone Narborough. It provides a good location for new residential development with M1 existing development located to the east. It could provide a wide mix of housing types and scales within an attractive environment. Littlethorpe A426 Croft Quarry The Application Gladman Developments Ltd intends to submit an outline planning application to Blaby District Council in February 2019. This would establish the principle of development. Croft Coventry Road Development Proposals A residential development to include up to 108 new homes (including up to Cosby 25% Affordable) of varying sizes, types and tenures. Green Infrastructure will include: new publicly accessible greenspace, equipped play area, recreational paths, tree and shrub planting as well as attenuation features. Site Boundary M1 Motorway Secondary Roads Existing Settlement A Road Rail Line and Station Dismantled Railway Oak Road, Littlethorpe 02 HISTORIC CONTEXT Historic Maps The historic mapping shows the site in the context of settlement growth over the past 133 years. Narborough and Littlethorpe have remained separate settlements connected by Station Road. This road has retained a similar alignment throughout the period shown on the historic maps. On the site itself an additional hedgerow is shown on the 1886-1938 maps running north-south through the northern field, but this was removed making a larger field by 1955. The Old House and The Plough public house are listed buildings from C16 and C17 respectively. These are located on Station Road and are located within the historic linear core of the village, which can be seen on the 1886 map. The mapping below shows a very slow linear growth of Littlethorpe along Cosby Road between 1886 and 1938, with only a handful of properties being built and expansion taking place at Victoria Mills. Up until 1938 the village is known as Little Thorpe, but in the 1955 map it has become Littlethorpe. Within the wider context, the earliest mapping below shows the South Leicestershire Branch Railway Line already in place by 1886. The railway station was built in 1864 and this led to a rise in the population in Narborough from 791 in 1801 to 1,162 by 1871. The 1904 map shows an additional railway line to the west of Narborough, which was used for hauling granite from the quarry at Enderby. (This is now the path of The Whistle Way, a local walking route). Steady expansion of industrial activity to the north of the railway line at Narborough can be seen between the 1904 and 1992 maps. South of the railway, Littlethorpe remained largely residential. The 1955 map shows some additional housing was built on Warwick Road and Victoria Mills is no longer shown on the map; it burnt down during the second world war. The 1967 map shows smaller scale buildings in its place, still marked as a factory, it also shows the M1 to the east of Littlethorpe. The change between the 1967 and 1973 maps shows that the village grew considerably to the west of Cosby Road. The linear nature of the historic core of Littlethorpe contrasts with the development that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Further infill development took place up to 1981 and a large development to the north east of Littlethorpe is shown on the 1992 map. The shape of Littlethorpe has changed little since this development, although there have been further smaller developments to the east at Purnell Close and south on Plough Road. 1886 1904 1919 1938 1955 1967 1973 1992 Oak Road, Littlethorpe 03 EXISTING CHARACTER Landscape Character The site lies within the National Character Area (NCA) 94 6 ‘Leicestershire Vales’, published by Natural England. This area 5 is characterised as a large, relatively open, uniform landscape composed of low-lying vales and varied river valleys. Its sense of place comes from its visually dominant settlements and views towards higher ground. 2 The Blaby District Landscape and Settlement Character Assessment locates the site within the ‘Blaby and Whetstone Fringe’ Landscape Character Area and the ‘Sence and Soar Floodplain’ Landscape 3 Character Area. Key characteristics for the Blaby, Countesthorpe and Whetstone 1 Fringe include: “Strong urban fringe characteristics; farming land; strong linear woodland features such as the heavily wooded disused railway line run through the area; several small and meandering stream corridors traverse the landscape which influence the topography; 4 1 7 fields are small to medium scale with a regular pattern and bounded by well maintained tall hedgerows; and new linear woodland planting along field margins and new open space.” The key characteristics of the Sence and Soar Floodplain Landscape Character Area include: “Floodplain landscape associated with the Rivers Sence and Soar; wetland meadow and vegetation typical of wetland Thurlaston Rolling Site Boundary Croft Hill 6 environments; localised views contained by and channelled along 3 Farmland Blaby Countesthorpe & the river corridor; low intensity of management creates a relatively 1 4 Cosby Agricultural Parkland 7 Soar Meadows Whetstone Fringe natural character; pockets of wetland habitat designated for their 5 nature conservation value; woodland vegetation concentrated 2 Sence and Soar Floodplain Lubbesthorpe Agricultural Park Urban along rivers; canal and the urban edge; and mature hedgerow boundaries, hedgerows trees and small clumps of woodland provide a perceived wooded character.” Settlement Character Cosby Road retains a fairly enclosed character with small terraced cottages providing a continuous urban frontage. Buildings are constructed out of red brick with slate roofs. Occasional buildings are rendered which adds variety. Away from Cosby Road, the remainder of the settlement comprises mainly modern 20th century development; primarily semi-detached two storey buildings. These are constructed from a range of brick colours which often contrast with the materials on older properties. The character of the village changes dramatically once off Cosby Road. Examples of settlement character within Littlethorpe Oak Road, Littlethorpe 04 VISUAL CONTEXT Site and Setting The site and its immediate context are not covered by any International, National or Local Thorpe Meadows Designations. The site comprises parts of three grassland fields. The fields are bounded NARBOROUGH Local Littlethorpe by hedgerows and fences and a brook is present to the north, defining the northern Wildlife Site Burrows Close Park Station Road boundary. A railway line and the River Soar are located further north. The land-use to the east of the site is residential, comprising dwellings and associated infrastructure, with 2 farmland to the south and Lodge Farm to the west. Detached residential bungalows and associated private access drives are situated adjacent to the site’s eastern boundary, Railway Sycamore Way on Beechwood Road. Mobile homes are located along Chestnut Close, also adjacent to LITTLETHORPE the eastern boundary of the site. Oak Road Sycamore Way There are 3 Local Wildlife Sites (LWS) situated nearby, which are associated with the Lodge Beechwood Road River Soar and its wetland habitats. There is a footpath through Thorpe Meadows LWS, Farm and an informal desire line has been created through the other two, creating an informal 1 path from Thorpe Meadows LWS, across to the field located to the north of the site. A play space and recreation area is located at Littlethorpe Park. The site has a fairly restricted visual envelope owing to the interaction of localised variations in topography, existing vegetation cover and urban fabric along the edge of Littlethorpe and Narborough. Views of the site are screened from the vast majority of properties within Littlethorpe. Views are largely restricted to those properties situated Aerial photograph with site boundary and viewpoint locations immediately adjacent to the site. There are localised views of the site from the Oak Road, Chestnut Close, Poplar Road, More distantly, to the west, lies Croft Quarry. The hill associated with the Beechwood Road and Sycamore Way. Hedgerows and trees to the north of the site and quarry provides long distance views over the nearby villages and towns and around Lodge Farm assist in screening or filtering views in views from Coventry Road surrounding countryside.