More homes have been approved for a flood-hit Leicestershire village despite residents’ concerns it is already full.
Following the adoption of Charnwood Borough Council’s (CBC) Local Plan earlier this year, Barrow-upon-Soar has been earmarked for hundreds of new builds.
With multiple housing estates in the village already given the green light, the council’s Plans Committee met on Thursday (August 27) to decide on a bid for another 60 properties.
The applicant, St Phillips, wanted to build on land in between Cotes Road and the Midland Mainline railway, just off Gardner Way.
However, residents claimed the village couldn’t take any more development.
Among the 24 objections lodged with this application, neighbours raised concerns that local education and healthcare services were already at capacity, and that said traffic is a nightmare when flooding writes off an exit road to the A6.
Daniel LeBoutillier said that queues of cars often come to a “standstill” in Barrow, causing “misery” for residents.
Montana Fox added that there “simply isn’t the infrastructure” in the village to support new people, and pointed at the “full” local schools and “oversubscribed” GP practices.
Vanessa Lane said: “The infrastructure of Barrow cannot cope with any further development, and has taken more than its fair share of development over the last 10-15 years. Surely enough is enough!”
70 homes were approved for this parcel of land at appeal in June 2026, and a further 130 were given the go-ahead by the committee in the same month.
CBC’s Local Plan only marked the space for 220 homes, leaving councillors questioning how the excess number proposed in the St Phillips scheme can be delivered sustainably.
Officers told the committee a proposal of this scale can still be accommodated.
Ultimately, one member abstained from voting on the item, and the rest voted to go with officer recommendations and grant conditional planning permission.
Close by on Willow Road, 221 homes were also approved this summer.
Although this latest scheme would bring the total planned houses in the village to almost 500, with CBC’s Local Plan revealing that proposals for another 283 homes can be expected.
The spaces yet to see a development bid are all around Melton Road.
By Caitlin James, Local Democracy Reporter