The 72-bed application, proposed for a ‘Green Wedge’ piece of land, raised concerns with some neighbours.
An impression of the new care home bound for Evington. Image by Harris Irwin architects, via Leicester City Council.(Image: Harris Irwin architects, via Leicester City Council.)
Plans to build a care home on a Leicester golf course are facing likely refusal after residents rallied to protect the city’s green land.
The proposal to build a 72-bed care home in Evington, near the junction of Stoughton Drive and Gartree Road, is due to be considered by Leicester City Council’s Planning Committee next Wednesday (March 25), after plans were re-drawn last year.
The site sits on The Leicestershire Golf Club (TLGC), which is within the Green Wedge – a planning designation made to stop urban sprawl and maintain open land between Leicester and Oadby. The land also forms part of a local wildlife site.
Officers have recommended councillors reject the application. Documents claim the proposal would ‘erode’ the “predominantly open and undeveloped character of the Green Wedge”.
Documents also show the council has received 22 letters of objection, as well as a petition signed by 163 residents.
Proposals will still go before the planning committee in spite of officer and neighbour concerns because one of the elected representatives for the area, Councillor Jenny Joannou (Conservative), said there was local need for the facility.
141 letters in favour of the plans were also submitted by residents.
Amongst supporters are the golf club themselves, who say they ‘urgently’ need to secure capital funding.
Selling this land would help fund a new irrigation system, which the golf club argues will contribute to the wider health of the Green Wedge.
TLGC told officers the application has their “full support”, saying the loss of a “small and peripheral section” of the Green Wedge actually delivers “far wider net gains” in terms of future sustainability.
The final decision on whether to grant planning permission will ultimately lie with councillors, although the club can appeal if they are not happy with the outcome.