At an Extraordinary North West Leicestershire District Council meeting on Tuesday, Labour Councillors voiced their concerns over a new version of the Local Plan which was being adopted.

This is a temporary measure, with only very minor changes, whilst a full review of the Local Plan is carried out.

Reluctantly, the Labour Group voted for the proposal, as the alternative would have left the District without a Local Plan, a situation which would allow unconstrained development.

Councillors Dave Bigby and Michael Hay, Labour members for Ashby Willesley and Castle Donington Park wards, expressed their deep concerns about the 'sloppy' wording of polices in this version of the plan, which fail to control the spread of large warehousing developments on land that is designated as countryside and ought to be protected by the plan.

Most recently, the new G-Plan warehouse complex was given the go-ahead at the A42 junction in Ashby while a major Jaguar Land Rover site is currently being constructed at Appleby Magna.

Cllr. Bigby said: "Currently, these (policies) are allowing developers to take a coach and horses through many of the controls that the plan seeks to impose."

He called on the Council 'to develop a robust Local Plan which will properly regulate the future development of our District over the next 15 years; putting the right things in the right places where they benefit our communities and businesses, rather than damaging them.'

Cllr Hay pointed out that, in the last four years, North West Leicestershire alone has agreed to more strategic warehousing developments than were deemed to be needed across the whole of Leicestershire until 2031.

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He said: "To say that we have delivered more than our fair share doesn't even begin to cut it!"

The Lib Dem members voted against adoption of the plan, a move condemned by Labour as dangerous and reckless.

Cllr Terri Eynon, Labour member for Coalville North, remarked that: 'The Local Plan is only a paper shield, but is all we have to protect ourselves from predatory developers."