Council loses bid to block new homes in village

Fields and paddocks in a Leicestershire village's "green wedge" will be turned into housing after a government inspector overturned a council's decision to refuse planning permission.

The 27-acre site, off the Common in Barwell, will now see 95 homes built on it after Redrow Homes won its appeal.

Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council (HBBC) had rejected the latest version of the scheme in 2024 having won two previous appeals against development of the site.

However in his ruling, government inspector David Murray said the plans "would not materially spoil the value of the green wedge in visual terms".

The land had been designated as a "green wedge" by the council in a bid to keep an area of separation between Barwell, Hinckley, Earl Shilton and Burbage.

It won two previous appeals for the site, in 2018, for an application by land promotion company Gladman Developments, and in 2023 by Harrow Estates, which is part of Redrow, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In his decision, Mr Murray acknowledged the plans would "erode the physical extent of this open area" but said there was a "material shortage" in the number of new homes in the area which he said was now worse than when the previous application was refused at appeal in 2023.

At HBBC's most recent plans committee meeting, Chris Brown, head of planning, acknowledged the council's previous success in defending appeals for the land, but said: "In this case the inspector had a different view."

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