North West Leicestershire District Council tonight (Wednesday) voted to give the green light to plans for G-Park complex just outside of Ashby - despite heated objections to the scheme.

The area around Corkscrew Lane, where it meets the A511, has been designated for the warehouse site which is set to be built on 48 acres of land.

The District Council's planning committee considered a revised plan and council voted six to four in favour ot the development.

But, in a debate lasting more than an hour, strong objections were made by Ashby de la Zouch Town Councillor Mike Ball, along with Ken Ward of the Ashby Civic Society and Money Hill Ward District Councillor Dan Harrison.

Among the criticisms aimed the scheme were that the congestion caused by that, and the planned Money Hill housing development, would cause increased traffic levels.

Mr Ward said the plans were 'environmental vandalism' while district councillor John LeGrys raised concerns over wildlife species being disturbed.

Cllr LeGrys also said that road should be the gateway to the National Forest - but instead would be the 'National Forest of Sheds'.

However, the point was also made by Cllr Jim Hoult that the 1,000 jobs that would be created by the development could be valuable in the future as the region looks to recover economically from the coronavirus crisis.

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But European business builder and logistics company GLP - formerly known as Gazeley - describes the project on its website as: "A 48 acre development site which sits adjacent to the A42 and A511 and provides access to the M42 to the South, and M1 (Junction 23A) 10 miles to the North East.

"The development has been flexibly designed to suit logistics/warehouse opportunities of up to 736,487 sq ft.

"G-Park Ashby's central position within the so-called 'Golden Triangle' for UK logistics in an area in which 90 per cent of the UK can be reached within a four-hour drive - making it easily accessible to all parts of the UK."