Symmetry Park

MPISBE symmetry 2

17 times as big as Fosse Park Shopping Centre

Symmetry Park (Adjacent Glebe Farm, Coventry Rd)

Reference: 15/00865/OUT

This planning application is for:

  • Three million square feet of warehousing
  • Total site area over 217 acres of farmland
  • Up to 4,000 new jobs
  • Highway works involves the building of a traffic island on the A4303 to access the site.
  • Lorry park and drivers’ facilities

To object to this planning application online:

  • Go to harborough.gov.uk/planning and select “view and make a comment on planning applications”
  • Type 15/00865/OUT into search then select “ comment”
  • Add your name, address etc and comments (It is easiest to type up your comments in “word” then copy and paste them into the comment space.)

Alternatively send a letter to:

Mark Patterson, Planning Department, Harborough District Council, The Symington Building, Adam and Eve Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire LE16 7AG

Reasons for objecting fall into two groups: the reasons that are specific to Symmetry Park and those that apply to both applications, Symmetry Park and Magna Park North.

Objections specific to Symmetry Park

  • The application traffic assessment is fundamentally flawed, as applicants admit that 30% increases in traffic flow are significant enough to require mitigations (minor adjustments to roads). Some junctions have >200% traffic increases yet no mitigations are suggested.
  • The suggested partnership with the Frank Whittle School is flawed (1) because of the launch of the DIRFT III Skills and Innovation Centre (2) because employment in the local area is <2% and (3) because the partnership would support a minority (38%) of school leaver aspirations for Modern Apprenticeships.
  • The application does not support National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Paragraph 19 ““the transport system must be balanced in favour of sustainable transport modes, giving people a real choice about how they travel”. The application does not provide any additional public transport solutions.
  • There is no method suggested to increase road to rail freight logistics in the application – a favourable requirement under NPPF.
  • The planning officer report for Magna Park 1 (DHL) identified a risk that air pollution limits along the A4303 at one residence in particular would be exceeded if Symmetry Park was also built. This has yet to be answered.

Objections that apply to both applications

  • The Magna Park plans are immense in scale. If both plans were approved, it would be the equivalent of building 63 Fosse Park Shopping Centres on farmland in rural South Leicestershire. One single warehouse could house 16 full-sized football pitches!
  • It’s smarter and supported more by planning policy to build logistics centres at locations with railheads.
  • The road infrastructure around Magna Park struggles to cope with existing traffic volumes. Traffic congestion and road traffic accidents would inevitably increase if these massive plans were approved. Leicestershire already has the =6thmost dangerous roads in England!
  • HDC have selected Lutterworth as a key growth area with the potential for 2,000 new homes. Analysis for this has demonstrated that additional residents’ vehicles would take roads up to capacity, without further massive increases in HGV traffic and business commuters
  • Some HGVs do not follow approved routes, travelling through small villages on minor rural roads. This dangerous problem would become even worse if these plans were approved.
  • It’s smarter to build warehouses nearer to people who would take up the new jobs being created. The area around Magna Park has almost zero unemployment. The thousands of new jobs would have to be filled by those having lengthy commutes into the area, generating even more traffic congestion around Magna Park.
  • Lutterworth already has some of the worst air quality in Leicestershire, alongside that of Leicester City Centre and East Midlands Airport. It doesn’t presently meet EU standards.
  • Opposing the expansion of Magna Park is most definitely not “NIMBYism.” We already have Europe’s biggest dedicated distribution centre in our backyard!