Land to the North of Uppingham Road, Bushby

Bloor Homes are a house building company who have an interest in land off Uppingham Road, Bushby. Some of that land already benefits from a planning permission and reserved matters approval for the delivery of 275 dwellings, and development of the site will commence in 2018.

However, given the concerns raised in this objection and in that submitted in relation to Policy SS1, Bloor Homes are of the view that the PUA could and should accommodate further development in order to ensure the District's Housing Needs are met and to meet a proportion of the unmet housing need stemming from Leicester within the plan period. The PUA is positioned at the top of the proposed settlement hierarchy that underpins the Submission Plan, and further development at Thurnby and Bushby (over and above that already committed and the proposed allocation of the SDA) would entirely accord with Harborough's established development strategy and housing objectives.

In that context there is additional land available adjacent to the committed site that would be an entirely appropriate development allocation for accommodating an element of that further growth on the edge of the PUA.

The site assessments and masterplanning that has been undertaken to underpin an imminent outline planning application submission have confirmed that the site is suitable and deliverable in NPPF terms. The location benefits from having good access to Leicester via the A47, providing access to an extensive range of higher order services, facilities and employment opportunities. Some key services (such as convenience store, primary schools, post office and GP surgery) are also provided within Thurnby and Bushby (and new additional retail provision will be made as part of the committed site). It is, therefore, entirely appropriate to locate new development in this sustainable location.

Bloor Homes' aspiration for the development of the site is to deliver a high quality housing development that respects its relationship with the surrounding urban form and sensitive environmental and cultural features. In that light, the development proposals for the site have evolved through an iterative masterplanning exercise that has taken into account the requirements of the various technical and environmental assessments, and best urban and landscape design practice. Whilst the development of the site would inevitably result in the loss of agricultural fields on the edge of the settlement, the Masterplan seeks to ensure that the proposals respond to the surrounding landscape character by retaining and enhancing boundary hedgerows and trees within the site wherever possible, and by providing new public open space with additional tree hedgerow planting to ensure a soft transition between the built development and open countryside. Within that context the Masterplan demonstrates that the site has the capacity to deliver a further 125 dwellings.