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Issues at the Packington Nook Inquiry
Where is
the proposed Packington Nook development?
Farm and meadowland south of Ashby, bounded by Lower
Packington Road, Measham Road and the A42. Hallam Land already own much of the
103 acre site and want to build 1100 homes. They
also propose 25 hectares of Industrial Development down to A42 junction 12.
Where may there be other housing developments in Ashby?
Developers are currently building 450 houses in Ashby. In
addition they propose the sites shown below:
500 houses Leicester Road
1600 houses Moneyhill (north of the town centre
towards the A511)
145 houses Shellbrook (Moira Road)
1100 houses Packington Nook
500 houses Burton Road
TOTAL 4295
additional houses!
There are 5000 houses in Ashby already – this would
nearly double the town.
This does not take into account the development of
industrial units and out of town retail units approved and planned.
What will be the impact on the town?
1100 new homes at Packington Nook roughly equates to
3000 people with 2000 cars.
There are no immediate plans to significantly
increase employment in the town.
Ashby will become an unsustainable commuter town with
a huge reliance on cars.
Education?
Willesley Primary school,
in the heart of the Packington Nook development, is currently full.
All of the schools in the town are at or very
near capacity. There are currently 64 vacant spaces total in the Primary
schools and no spaces in the Upper schools.
There is already a lot of school-run traffic – this
would increase dramatically.
Sustainability?
- Whilst there are good work opportunities in
Ashby, most of the working population of the town (57%) commute away
to work.
- Proximity to the A42 and the trunk road
network makes Ashby very attractive to those prepared to commute to
Nottingham, Derby and the West Midlands.
- However, this is not sustainable and this is
an important consideration in deciding where development must take
place.
Health
Services?
Doctors
in the town are already over capacity. They have already taken on
more staff to cope and are bulging with patients. This new
influx of people would need a new surgery. Current thoughts this would be on
the outskirts of the town, meaning a car trip to visit the doctor.
It is already impossible to find an NHS dentist.
The only NHS dentist in Ashby is already full.
Water services and Environmental Risks?
The Packington Sewage Works is rated as High
Risk category due to lack of capacity.
Part of the Gilwhiskaw Brook (which flows through
Ashby towards Packington) and all the River Mease, into which it flows at
Measham, is a SAC (special area of conservation) with European
protection of its wildlife.
- The continued increase of surface water flowing
into the Gilwhiskaw in Ashby from these developments increases the risk from
pollution and increased flow rates of damaging this important habitat.
Packington already suffers occasional flooding
from the volume of water coming from Ashby. There is real concern that the
plans to deal with this have not been properly thought-through.
Roads and Public Transport?
The extra number of cars
that will be using the already congested roads of Ashby will cause a major
headache for everyone who lives in the town.
There will be a lot of additional people commuting
away from Ashby at a time when we are all concerned about the environmental
impact of car travel.
Everyone will be affected by these developments - the
residents of Upper and Lower Packington Roads and residents of Avenue Road
will also have a large number of extra vehicles using the roads passing
their homes. They will also have their on-street parking restricted.
The plan to re-open the Leicester-Burton railway
line to passengers has not been implemented.
There is no bus service to Birmingham or
Nottingham. The service from Leicester to Burton runs infrequently and
generally Ashby is a public transport desert.
Conclusions
Everyone who lives in Ashby
will be affected by the development in some way – whether by local services
being stretched or the devastating impact of more cars to the congested town
centre.
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FOOTNOTE
Development at the Packington
Nook site has been refused by the Secretary of State, following
a public inquiry in October 2009.
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2012
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