A housing developer has appealed to the Secretary of State for permission to build a 120 homes village development – after it was turned down three times.
Davidsons wants to build new houses off Kirkby Road, a single track lane just past Desford Community Primary School, on the edge of the west Leicestershire village.
Some 203 people wrote in with objections to its most recent application for the site, which was turned down last month.
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They raised concerns about its impact on the rural character of the village, loss of countryside and congestion. There was one letter of support.
Another developer is already building homes on the other side of the village while another development is also planned.
Davidsons originally failed to get permission to build on the Ashfield Farm site back in 2015, when Hinckley and Bosworth councillors agreed it would significantly exceed the requirement for housing in Desford.
An updated application from Davidsons – which is headquartered in Ibstock, a couple of miles up the road from the village – failed to gain planning permission last summer.
That same application was resubmitted and turned down again in December.
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A Davidsons Homes spokeswoman told BusinessLive said: “We were obviously disappointed that committee members chose to refuse the two recent applications at Ashfield Farm, Desford, despite having the full support of Hinckley and Bosworth’s planning officers, who recommended the applications for approval.
“An appeal was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on October 16, 2020 in response to the application being refused in May 2020.
“The appeal was subsequently validated on November 9, 2020.
“Davidsons are currently reviewing whether to appeal the refusal of our re-submitted application, which was refused in December 2020, given that the two are identical.”
She said the site was recommended as a reserve housing site within the Desford Neighbourhood Plan by an examiner appointed by the Secretary of State, who had advised that landscape harm was “local and limited”.
She said: “The site is highly sustainable, located to the western edge of Desford.
“The site is exceptionally well placed to encourage walking and cycling to local services and facilities, including local shops and other amenities, whilst Desford Primary school and play park are located opposite the site, off Kirkby Road.”
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She said the plans included 48 affordable houses and under a section 106 Agreement, Davidsons would be obliged to put £1.5 million into the community – including a more than £950,00 for education contribution, almost £200,000 for highway improvements, more than £255,000 for play and open spaces, and more than £60,000 for surgeries in Desford and Ratby.
Speaking at the time of the last application, resident Graham Cole, who has children in the village schools, said Desford had grown massively in the last few years and had more than taken its share of the borough’s growth needs.
He said: “I get the impression that Desford is picked on as it is on the edge of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough.”
Another dad-of-two said the village was in danger of losing its identity.
He said: “This is a small village with a handful of shops, two pubs and two schools and its character would be totally changed by further development.
“It is in the worst possible place for access, so all traffic, during construction and once built, would have to come through quiet residential streets, affecting the lives of everyone who lives along them.
“Previous applications for the site were turned down and since then, Desford is even less suitable for further development than it was then.”