The Garendon Development

Public Access to the Park You can walk or cycle through the exising lane from Coe Avenue in Thorpe Acre to Butthole Lane in Shepshed. Hathern Drive is largely closed related to building work by Persimmon and Wm Davis. New access has been opened by foot from Garendon Lane/Coe Ave, from the Old railway path via Thorpe Hill and via the Coach Road in Shepshed. Coming from Thorpe Acre the new path is on the left after leaving Coe Ave It leads just south of the old Abbey gardens to the main Estate Road. Here you have to turn left and you can follow the Estate Road to the A512 or the Old Railway path passing Booth Wood and ultimately to the Firestation and Epinal Way. The old Coach Road from Shepshed is also open. This is accessed from Cumbrian Way and leads to the main Estate Road, past the Triumphal Arch. You can turn left or right at the Estate Road. If you are arriving by car please find place to park where you are not inconvenience residents, particularly avoid parking on Coe Avenue. Thank you.

Listed Monuments

• Stonebow Bridge
• Dovecote, Barn, Outbuildings
• The Obelisk
• Boundary Wall
• The Triumphal Arch
• The Temple of Venus
• Lodge to Garendon Park, Snells Nook
• Entrance Archway to Hall
• Gateway and Railings to Hall
• Wrought Iron Screens and Gates
• Bavarian Lodge and Archway to North of Site of House
• Cistercian Abbey, Mansion, Fishpond, Mound

Protecting your interests I attend Consultation meetings with the company and planning officers, and I am happy to take up any local concerns. Although the main decisions may seem to have been taken there are many conditions which still need to be met which need local input. For example, we need to be sure the routes to schools, including Stonebow and the Secondary schools are convenient, we need the woods that border Booth Wood to be managed wellfor biodiversity, we need to ensure that the management company is equiped to respond to new residents and proper access for all residents is ensured. To study some of the fine detail, Charnnwood publish the latest planning detail of the development. Timing of heritage works (S106 Schedule 6)- Some of these must come forward soon. Obelisk Prior to occupation of 40 dwellings Entrance Archway to Hall Prior to occupation 40 dwellings Wrought Iron Gate and Screens Prior to occupation of 40 dwellings Cowhouse Outbuildings Prior to occupation 40 dwellings Barn Prior to occupation of 100 dwellings Temple of Venus Prior to occupation of 100 dwellings Triumphal Arch Prior to occupation of 100 dwellings Gateway and Railings to Hall Prior to occupation of 100 dwellings Dovecote Prior to occupation of 100 dwellings Stonebow Bridge (currently under consideration) Prior to occupation of 100 dwellings Boundary Wall Prior to occupation of 200 dwellings Scaffolding around obelisk Para 1.5 Within 3 months of deed to erect scaffolding around obelisk to provide support for the obelisk such scaffolding to be carried out to the reasonable satisfaction of the CBC The Bavarian Gate (Red Gate) Uncertain, occupied as a private home.

Timing of other milestones (some will be met well in advance)

Strategic Link Road	prior to the occupation of the 1,201'st dwelling
Public footpaths	accessible 6 months after 1st house occupied
Schools	After 300 dwellings occupied
Hathern Road access	prior to the occupation of the 2,040’th dwelling (Design Consented)
A6 Access	Solely accessible by no more than 600 dwellings
Landscaping scheme	Completed prior to the occupation of the 1,201’st dwelling
Employment Site	Laid out prior to occupation of 1,440th dwelling
Gypsy & Traveller site	Laid out prior to occupation of 1,440th dwelling
Police/Health	Notice to CBC within 600 occupied dwellings
Community Hub	Notice to CBC within 600 occupied dwellings
Sports & Community Hall	Completion within 1,600 occupied dwellings
Community Development	Worker advertised after 100 occupied dwellings
Local Shopping Centre	Occupied within 1,800 occupied dwellings
Hathern Library Extn	Paid on Occupation of 150 dwellings
Clowbridge Cyclepath	Scheme implemented prior to 1,000 dwellings (Sch 4 para 5)
Blackbrook Footpath	Contribution prior to 1,000 dwellings (Sch 4 para 6)
Off site Footpaths	Contribution prior to 500 dwellings (Sch 4 para 7)

Following the Section 106 Agreement, the Outline Planning Permission was finally given on 20 July 2018

The various sections of the 106 Agreement are linked below but you also can find other information from Charnwood Borough Council.

• Schools
• Community Facilities, Travellers, Police, Health
• Transpprt & Highways
• Green Infrastructure
• Heritage works
• Estate Plan: Property Management
• Affordable Housing
• Various Covenants

The background to the decision to build

Garendon Park and the adjoing estate have a history of bids from various builders to develop the land for new housing. Each one has met with opposition from residents but I believe we need to win the war not endless fight battles against successive plans.

The latest, most recent development consortium is led by Wm Davis Ltd and Perimmon Homes. You may also know that the option to use the Estate for building was effectively rejected in September 2006 when the Labour-led Cabinet asked planners 'to look for alternatives'. The search for alternatives turned attention to the eastern side of the town. At the same time, in December 2006 the County Council recruited consultants to look at transport plans which would be needed for any further development of Loughborough. They found, as we suspected that there was no affordable road solution for developments in the west of Loughborough, although I believe they would have favoured a western ring road intersecting with J23. An eastern development (Loughborough/Cotes or Wymeswold Airfield) would, however, have been achievable in highways terms.

This work then went before the Public Examination of the East Midlands Regional Plan in summer 2007 which I attended. The Inspectors were not impressed with the fact that, as` they saw it, a pre-existing need for more roads seemed to be leading the planners' choice of location.

The situation rested with the Conservatives who run Charnwood Borough Council. So it was that on 25th September 2008 they proposed the Garendon Estate as preferred option for 3,500 dwellings and 20 hectares of employment land, as well as a major site near Thurmaston.

It felt as if we are being told we gave the wrong answer in the consultation two years earlier and we were being asked to go back and think again.... until we give the answer they wanted. Their consultation lasted from 24th October 2008 for six weeks. About 90% of the responses from the north of the Borough were opposed to Garendon. Many suggested Cotes or Wymeswold as an alternative.

On 14th November 2008 the Leics County Council gave its response to the Garendon option proposed by the Charnwood Conservatives. It was not supportive of the Borough's position. Their preference at that time was for a site at Cotes promoted by Davidsons.

The decision was due to be made by the Borough Council in October or November 2009. However, fearful of a reaction before the elections, they failed to make a decision. It soon became clear that, despite promises, the new Tory/LDem Government was not going to give local residents any real power over the scale of housebuilding. When the Government began to penaise Councils for not building and give developers preferential treatment where no Local Plan existed, the new Conservative administration at Charnwood set some new and ambtious dates to complete the Local Plan.

Meanwhile because of their delay, the period of the new Plan took on extra years to 2026 and with it a requirement to build more houses, sometyimes called the supplementary or residual requirement. In doing so they seemed to regard their 2008 consultation on a Preferred Option of Garendon effectively 'banked', despite ever reconciling the public objections. A brief Consultation on the Supplementary Requirement took place in June 2012. The Local Plan Charnwood Local Plan 2011 to 2028 Core Strategy was finally approved in 2015. Charnwood are currently working on a new Local Plan to 2036.