A parish council near Ashby contested claims by a developer that affordable housing was "in demand" in their area.

The disagreement came as North West Leicestershire District Council's (NWLDC) planning committee debated plans to build 18 such homes in Breedon on the Hill.

All 18 will be social housing, with the agent for applicant Bowsall Developments Ltd saying there was an "acute need for affordable housing in the district" and "demand levels" in Breedon were "high".

However, Councillor Ray Morris, speaking in his capacity as parish council chairman, but who is also NWLDC ward member and on the authority's planning committee, disagreed.

He told the committee "there is no demand for these houses" in the village, saying the applicant was referring to figures for the district as a whole when they claimed there was an "acute need".

Ultimately members of the committee ruled in the developer's favour and voted unanimously to approve the scheme.

Cllr Morris left the meeting before councillors began their debate and was absent for the vote in line with council policy.

He also raised concerns about flooding in the area, which, despite backing the plan, were echoed by some on the committee.

Cllr Morris described flooding as "the biggest problem" of the application, referencing a particularly bad incident in June 2016.

He said: "Twenty-seven houses were flooded, some were unoccupable for a year afterwards. Since then we have had three further flooding incidents, the most recent in January 2024."

Cllr Morris added works were underway in the village to mitigate against such incidents, but would not be complete until "the end of 2025 at the earliest".

He called on members to reject the application and reconsider it when the works were complete.

Cllr John Legrys also raised flooding as a concern, saying it "is an issue". He added: "I think the whole issue of flooding is something that we as a society need to improve and actually properly mitigate against the problems that we do have."

However, he also voiced support for the affordable nature of the scheme, saying it was a "good use of land".

Planning officers at NWLDC advised members the bodies responsible for flooding locally had raised no objections to the plans. Dylan Jones added: "The development itself will not increase flood risk. It will be managed so it doesn't cause any further issues."

The new homes will be built on previously undeveloped land to the north of Southworth Road, from which the site will be accessed.

They will be a mix of two-bed and three-bed houses, and will be formed of 12 two-storey semi-detached properties and six two-storey terraced properties.