Omission Site 1 - Land West of Warwick Road

Land to the West of Warwick Road, Kibworth Beauchamp, as identified on Plan 2 below, should be allocated for up to 400 dwellings, together with a new 2 form primary school in response to acute capacity issues at the existing school and to provide additional housing in a sustainable location that can assist in making up for an anticipated shortfall in the Council's predicted delivery at Lutterworth
and Scraptoft North SDAs.

The allocation of Manor Oak Homes' Land to the West of Warwick Road, we consider, would assist in resolving some of the current problems relating to the soundness of the draft Local Plan. As explained in our representations contained at Enclosures 1-4, the Local Plan cannot in its current form be considered sound as it is unjustified in including the Kibworths as a Rural Centre and not a Key Centre
(see Enclosure 1) and on this basis it fails to plan positively for the needs of the Kibworths going forwards or to consider its potential to deliver sustainable housing growth over and above its current commitments (Enclosure 2). In addition, it makes overly optimistic assumptions regarding the delivery of the proposed SDAs at Lutterworth and Scraptoft North meaning that the plan will be ineffective in
ensuring the delivery of the proposed housing requirement (Enclosures 3 and 4).

Land West of Warwick Road offers an important opportunity to assist in ensuring that the Local Plan is sound and that the needs of the Kibworths will be met by resolving capacity issues at the existing primary school and providing additional housing in a sustainable location.

Primary School
As the Education Report prepared by EFM at Appendix 3 explains, the existing primary school in the Kibworths, Kibworth CE Primary School, has been expanded a number of times and is now a threeform entry school. It is one of the largest primary schools in Leicestershire, and the County Council considers that it is incapable of further expansion due to site constraints. This point is confirmed in the
committee reports for both Manor Oak Homes' application at Land to the South-East of Warwick Road (Ref: 15/01153/OUT) and David Wilson Homes' application at Land North of Fleckney Road, Kibworth Beauchamp (Ref: 16/00166/OUT):
* The December 2015 report for Land to the South-East of Warwick Road notes that the school had recently submitted a planning application for expansion to 630 places and that "This would take the school to the maximum size desirable, as set out in LCC's Pupil Place Planning Strategy "In the Right Place". It notes LCC's advice that "662 pupils are projected on the roll should this development proceed" which is a clear deficit even with the expansion plans; and
* The May 2017 report for Land North of Fleckney Road note that "Since September 2016, the school has increased its net capacity to 630 (90 per year group). This is the maximum size desirable, as set out in LCC's Pupil Place Planning Strategy" and "LCC Education have advised that 713 pupils are projected on the roll should this development proceed; a deficit of 83 pupil places after taking into account the 47 pupils generated by this development."

The S106 agreement for Manor Oak Homes' proposals at Land South-East of Warwick Road secures significant financial contributions towards education improvements at other schools and transport costs for transporting pupils to schools elsewhere. The resolution to grant planning permission for David
Wilson Homes' application is subject to a S106 agreement securing similar obligations. It is evident therefore that the inability of the existing primary school to be expanded represents a significant constraint to ensuring that existing committed developments in the Kibworths can be sustainably delivered.

Leicestershire County Council (LCC), as the authority with statutory responsibility for the provision and commissioning of school places, works with the school and Academy Trust to ensure the provision of sufficient school places in the locality. However, it is clear from the determination of the above applications that there are no plans to increase educational capacity in the Kibworths. The David Wilson
Homes' committee report states that "Instead pupils would be offered places at the next nearest schools with financial contributions from the developer used for the provision, improvement, remodelling or enhancement of education facilities at schools in the locality of the development." This is a far from ideal from a sustainability perspective and would lead to large numbers of primary aged children in the Kibworths travelling elsewhere to go to school, particularly when opportunities to resolve this matter exist.

As the EFM report notes, Land to the West of Warwick Road offers an important new opportunity to make a sustainable addition to primary education provision which is well placed to meet local needs, and will help address local concerns about the pressure on the existing school. The provision of this school site would ensure the sustainability of the existing approved developments in the Kibworths and
there is therefore considerable justification for allocating the proposed site for development to achieve this significant benefit to the local community. Furthermore, as noted in the EFM report, the expected pupil yield from an additional 400 dwellings, as now proposed by Manor Oak Homes, together with other committed developments, will be more than sufficient to sustain a new primary school.

As explained at Enclosure 1, the Kibworths is by far the largest of the Rural Centres and should be defined as a Key Centre, so far as it represents a sustainable location for growth due to its size and its role providing key retail, service and employment infrastructure. As outlined at Enclosure 2, Manor Oak Homes consider that the decision not to give the Kibworths a minimum housing target fails to recognise its sustainability as a settlement in addition to failing to consider how development there could assist in meeting the needs of the settlement going forward and resolving existing infrastructure constraints.

In the context of the above, we consider that the allocation of additional housing in the Kibworths represents a particularly appropriate and sustainable option for meeting the anticipated shortfall in the Council's predicted delivery at Lutterworth and Scraptoft North SDAs (as outlined at Enclosures 3 and 4). Furthermore, Manor Oak Homes consider that their Land West of Warwick Road is the most sustainable option available in the Kibworths to provide the significant level of additional housing needed so far as it is located adjacent to Manor Oak Homes' approved developments at Land to the South-East of Warwick Road and Land to the South and West of Priory Business Park and David Wilson Homes' site at Land North of Fleckney Road. The sustainability of land to the west of the Kibworths was recognised in the Council's Sustainability Appraisal of potential SDA options following their Options Consultation in September 2015 and was accepted by the appeal inspector in her consideration of our client's appeal relating to their land to the south-east of Warwick Road (Ref: APP/F2415/W/16/3152485). In the decision notice for this appeal, the inspector states that:
"Based on the evidence that is before me and observations gleaned from my site visits, it is clear that future occupiers of the proposed development would have access to everyday local facilities and services using means other than the private car" (Paragraph 20). "the appeal proposal would be in a location where services and facilities would be readily accessible by sustainable modes of travel" (Paragraph 23).

The Inspector's conclusion was based upon the following observations:
- The Kibworths, is served by an extensive range of services and facilities, including two schools (one primary and one secondary), newsagents, supermarket, doctors surgery, health centre, pharmacy, community library, post office, two churches, restaurants, pubs, a range of other shops and a number of halls and other accommodation for use by community groups;
* There is an acceptable and deliverable walking route between the site and these local facilities (n.b. land to the west of Warwick Road would also benefit from this route);
* The Kibworths is served by several bus services providing connections to Leicester, Market Harborough and other settlements. Furthermore, whilst there would be access to an existing bus service from a bus stop within the Kibworth Meadows development, a short walk from the appeal site, new bus stops are proposed on Warwick Road to directly serve the proposal. These would provide direct access to local facilities by public transport (n.b. these new bus stops will be located adjacent to the promoted site); and
* The recently granted planning permission for new retail and employment facilities on land to the south and west of Priory Business Park are within a short walking distance to the north of the appeal site (n.b. they are a similar distance from the promoted site).

This appeal decision clearly demonstrates the sustainability of the promoted site for development as it is located directly across Warwick Road from the appeal site and would also be accessed off Warwick Road. In the Statement of Common Ground agreed between the Council and the appellant ahead of the appeal, all of the above points were agreed upon and it is therefore clear that the Council considers the promoted site to be sustainably located.

Appropriateness for Residential Development

In addition to the clear sustainability of the site's location and the significant social benefits that would accrue from its allocation, it meets the required tests of delivery, as set out below and there should be no hesitation from the Council in releasing it for residential development:
Available:

The application site is within a single ownership and is wholly in the control of Manor Oak Homes. As such, no barrier exists to prevent a planning application on the site being submitted immediately and the proposed scheme being implemented immediately following achieving planning consent. Suitable: The site represents a suitable and unconstrained location for the proposed development, as follows:
* Landscape: The site is identified in Harborough District Council's Rural Centres Landscape Capacity Study (July 2014) as having a medium-high capacity to accommodate development and in general the west side of the Kibworths is least constrained in landscape terms. The Initial Landscape and Visual Appraisal prepared by Aspect Landscape Planning and contained at Appendix 3 (Ref: 6080.LBN.001), confirms that the surrounding landscape has the capacity to accommodate development and that the proposed development can be successfully integrated in this location.
-Heritage: The site is in an area of overall low to moderate potential for archaeological remains being present and is located some distance from any listed buildings and the Kibworths' two conservation areas. By virtue of distance, vegetation and intervening development, including modern housing estates, the site is effectively separated from any heritage designations and would have little to no impact from a heritage perspective. The site compares positively to other locations around the Kibworths in this respect and in particular land to the north and east of the settlement where there is a higher concentration of recorded archaeological sites, land is in close proximity to the Kibworth Harcourt Conservation Area and there are a number of listed buildings located near to potential development sites including the Grade II* listed Kibworth Post Mill, which is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument, Grade I listed Old House and Grade II* listed St Wilfred's Church and Grade II listed Kibworth Hall.
* Ecology: The Preliminary Ecological Review prepared by Aspect Ecology and contained at Appendix 4 (Ref: 1005105 BN02 EOD dv1), confirms that the site is not constrained by any statutory or non-statutory ecological designations and that the habitats present are dominated by intensively managed arable land, which is of negligible ecological value. There are some small areas of habitat value on site (e.g. hedges and ponds) which have been incorporated into the indicative proposals as part of substantial areas of open space that will enhance the value of the site for wildlife. *
-Arboriculture: The site is largely absent of any significant tree cover, but there are some examples of high quality trees along the sites boundaries and along field boundaries within the site. The Preliminary Arboricultural Appraisal prepared by Aspect Arboriculture and contained at Appendix 5 (Ref: ARB9733), confirms that a sympathetic design such as that shown on the submitted Masterplan Sketch at Appendix 1 would enable the integration of important trees and mitigation for low quality removals, such that development would enhance the arboricultural interest of the site. *
-Highways: The Highways Improvements / Capacity Note prepared by JPP Consulting and contained at Appendix 6, identifies a number highways improvements that would mitigate the impact of the development on the surrounding road network. In addition to these improvement works, the inclusion of a school on the proposed allocation would reduce the number of vehicles on the Kibworths' roads associated with people accessing the existing school and the proposed school would reduce the highway impact from developments with planning permissions already granted.
* Flood Risk: The site is in Flood Zone 1 (i.e. Low Risk).

Achievable:

As referred to above, a package of technical assessments have been prepared, which confirms that there are no significant constraints to the development of the site. Accordingly, upon the grant of the necessary consents, the provision of new housing is achievable with immediate effect.

A report last year from Lichfields (http://lichfields.uk/media/1728/start-to-finish.pdf) identifies that the average planning approval period for schemes of 100-499 dwellings is 2.4 years with an additional 1.6 years from approval to first delivery (i.e. 4 years total) and that following the grant of planning permission the average annual build out rate is 60 dwellings per year.

Manor Oak Homes are currently preparing detailed proposals for the site with a view to submitting an outline planning application by the planned adoption date of the Local Plan October 2018, if not before. Based on industry standards contained in the Lichfield's report, if an application were submitted in October 2018, building would start in October 2022 and the scheme would deliver 60 dwellings by October 2023 (i.e. within 5 years of the adoption of the Local Plan). The proposed allocation is therefore achievable with a realistic prospect that housing will be delivered on the site within five years (in accordance with NPPF Paragraph 47 Footnote 11) and is considered fully developable within the plan period as outlined in the table below. 18/19-App, 19/20-App, 20/21-App, 21/22-App, 22/23-30, 23/24-60, 24/25-60, 25/26-60, 26/27-60, 27/28-60, 28/29-60 29/30-10, 30/31-0 Total: 400

Viable:

Manor Oak Homes are an established promoter of development sites with a track record of delivering viable planning consents in the Kibworths; as is demonstrated by the sale of their Land at Wistow Road, Kibworth Harcourt to Mulberry Developments. Manor Oak Homes achieved outline planning permission on this site in 2015 and Mulberry Development subsequently received reserved matters consent in May 2017 and are currently discharging conditions ahead of commencing development in the very near future.

Manor Oak Homes has a unique understanding of the local property market and can confirm that the site represents an viable source of housing land capable of viable delivery in the short-term.