An Ashby councillor predicts the town could increase in size by almost half - after a motion to open up land in Coalville was defeated at a North West Leicestershire District Council meeting.

A Labour motion to have Meadow Lane reinstated into the local plan was defeated at last week's Local Plan Committee meeting.

Had it gone through, 400 homes could have been built in that area of Coalville.

But as the motion was narrowly defeated by six votes to five, Cllr Dave Bigby told the committee that Packington Nook, to the south of Ashby, may now have to take on the necessary housing, with the Government looking to build more homes.

The motion was referred by last month's Full Council but was opposed by Cllr Michael Wyatt who had already spoken out against it.

However, Labour councillors also stated their case and said that in the meantime, Broomleys Farm and the Packington Nook site in Ashby would have to take on extra housing.

Cllr Dave Bigby said: "I don't have any inside information, but it does appear, from all I've heard recently that the Government does intend to keep the Birmingham to Nottingham HS2 corridor safeguarded for some time, probably at least two years. 

Councillor Michael Wyatt was in jubilant mood after keeping Meadow Lane in Coalville out of the Local Plan. Photo: Michael Wyatt

"Therefore, I think we need to work on the assumption that the three safeguarded sites in Measham and Kegworth will have to be left out of the local plan, and unless an alternative is found, Packington Nook will have to become an allocated site. 

"So I've been doing some number crunching. If we continue down the current path set out on the agenda, the distribution of allocations will become wildly distorted. 

"The required number of houses will be increased by 677 to 8,152 and with Packington Nook, the number allocated to the key service centres will be will increase by 1,100 to 2,001 giving them 29 per cent of the total district requirement. 

"This would mean Ashby increasing in size by nearly 50 per cent over the plan period, which cannot be sustainable, whereas Coalville will be taking four per cent below its distribution of 35 per cent.

"If we put Meadow Lane back into the plan, which is what we are proposing, then we will be really having a fair distribution aligning very closely to adoption. 

"I'm sure that the good people of Ashby would far prefer to accommodate an extra 160 house site than the enormous 1,100 house Packington Nook site, plus even more employed land that they are now being threatened with. 

"So by putting Meadow Lane back in, we have the opportunity to come up with a much fairer allocation across the whole district. 

"Everybody realises that Meadow Lane has been proposed by the officers as one of the best sites in the area, and if we don't put it back in now, it will get that put back in when it comes to examination.

"And then we end up with an extra 400 houses which we don't have to do."

The Packington Nook area to the south of Ashby. Photo: Instantstreetview.com

North West Leicestershire District Council describes Packington Nook as: "A large site capable of accommodating about 1,100 dwellings. 

"The development would be of a scale that would require on-site services and amenities (and could potentially provide some new employment land). 

"Allocating this site would result in a significant scale of growth in Ashby given that Money Hill is anticipated to be built out over much of the plan period. Whilst there is the possibility of allocating a smaller part of the site, this would result in a piecemeal (rather than a comprehensive) development. 

"In short, there would be more potential benefits to allocating the whole site in terms of infrastructure and in the interests of sensible planning."

But Cllr Wyatt strongly opposed the Meadow Lane motion, saying: "We all know why this motion is here. It's got absolutely nothing to do with the housing allocation. 

"It's just pure political theatre from the Labour members who cannot stand the democratic vote which was taken to exclude Meadow Lane from the local plan. 

"Members already know the reasons behind the exclusion, destruction of the environment and its wildlife, flooding, only recently highlighted on the environment agency's website, risk of flooding, increased traffic congestion, pressure on local services and the local community, which I would remind members should always comes first.