Plans for a new dog daycare centre just outside Ashby have been given the go-ahead by North West Leicestershire District Council - despite concerns over extra traffic.

Mr S. Duffield of Moira applied for permission for a change of use on land off Beaumont Way, between Lount and Newbold Coleorton, last year.

A planning, design and access statement accompanying the application says the site for the centre comprises an area of woodland and an existing car park - without access on Beaumont Way, a private road leading off Melbourne Road.

The development will use of existing woodland for daytime care of dogs and three small log cabins.

In addition, mobile timber kennels and a polytunnel shelter would be located on the site.

One cabin will be used for a reception area and an additional room for sleeping dogs.

Another will house another room for sleeping dogs and timber kennels will be used to provide separate areas for dogs that are unwell.

Access will be from Beaumont Way, using the existing car park on site. The current car park has space for up to 14 vehicles.

Owners will be dropping their dogs off and would unlikely be on site for longer than 15 minutes each time.

A management schedule will be in place to control traffic flow. Once the business reaches a 30 dog capacity (if not earlier) then a bus service will be added which will collect dogs from customers' homes.

The daycare facility would operate Monday to Friday 7am-6pm and is expected to hold around 40 dogs with a capacity for a further 20 dogs as the business grows.

But Worthington Parish Council had traffic concerns and said it could be a 'recipe for disaster'.

Councillors said: "The report shows a potential for 256 NEW movements - most probably at a time (early morning and evening) when dog walkers are out and about on Beaumont Way.

"This is a recipe for disaster without some traffic control, speed limits or some other means of control.

"Coleorton Wood; the private road leading to the wood (a metalled road in the ownership of Coleorton Parish Council) has a speed limit set of 5 mph. Surely in the interests of safety the landowner/applicant must enforce some sort of speed regulation on the permissive bridleway leading to this proposed new facility."

Coleorton Parish Council raised similar issues and said: "The council has no issue with the actual dog day care facility. However, it would like to raise serious concerns about the vast increase in traffic on what is a single track permissive bridleway with blind bends and no proper passing bays.

"Vehicles have been witnessed travelling at inappropriate speeds on this track and the problem will only be exacerbated with such an increase in movements. The track is used extensively by dog walkers and joggers, sometimes horses and riders and families out for a stroll and the parish council has been made aware of near misses with just a small number of vehicles using this bridleway.

"Before any decision is made on this application, serious consideration needs to be given to speed control to prevent the inevitable accidents occurring."

But the applicant's statement says the demand for daily facilities for dogs is a growing sector and a trend that is expected to continue with household dog ownership increasing from 22 per cent to 33 per cent.

Additionally, the recent RSPCA Being #DogKind report said that 49 per cent of Dogs are left for three hours, and over, each day, with 22 per cent of them being left for four or more hours.

Fifty-three per cent of those dogs are left at home indoors and 22 per cent were left at home but with access to the garden.

The report recommends three key outcomes, one of which is improved access to dog services which are evidence based and upto-date in their approach placing dog welfare first and foremost.