From football stadium expansion to a 600-home housing estate near Harborough - it's been a busy year for Leicestershire planners

Big new developments change the face of the area where they are built and can often increase the pressure on the local infrastructure, despite the efforts of the local authorities to keep them to a minimum. But they can also provide much needed new homes, facilities, provide jobs and kickstart the local economy.

With such big changes on their way, we have pulled together a list of some of the biggest, most controversial and most exciting upcoming changes approved this year. Here’s our pick of the biggest schemes given the go ahead this year, starting with the Overstone Park in Harborough:

Overstone Park, Market Harborough

The next phase of a 600-home housing estate near Market Harborough is to go ahead in 2023. The development, called Overstone Park, was approved on 93 acres of farmland off Kettering Road south east of Market Harborough and outline permission was granted to developers for the scheme in 2018.

The building of the new homes was split into a number of different phases, with the latest phase being approved in October earlier this year. Some 313 homes will be built as well as a new public open space and a number of pedestrian and cycle links.

In the scheme, 81 of the new homes will be available as ‘affordable housing’. The application suggests that 14 one-bedroom semi-detached properties and 14 two-bedroom bungalows will be implemented, as well as a further 30 two-bed terrace houses, 19 three-bed semi-detached homes and four four-bed homes.

Plans to build a primary school, a doctors surgery and a community centre that will be used by residents of the site are also in motion. Access to the site will be via a roundabout on Kettering Road and also at the A6 junction at Clack Hill.

The King Power Stadium expansion

Leicester City were given the go ahead in September to add an extra 8,000 seats to the King Power Stadium. A new upper tier will be added to the East Stand, which will also expand behind the existing structure, taking the total stadium capacity from 32,312 to around 40,000.

On the lower levels, there will be hospitality suites, catering facilities, a ‘sensory room’ and a first aid room. The expansion will also wrap around the North and South stands at the same height as the existing levels.

And even though the extra seats will make a significant difference to all Foxes’ fans, the impact as the scheme will be felt much wider and is set to transform the area around the stadium. Councillors have also approved outline plans for a new 220-room hotel, a fanzone, 20-storey block of 234 new homes, a new club shop, a completely separate 6,000-seat indoor arena and multi-storey car park for around 525 cars and 80 bicycles.

However, it could be a while before any building work on the wider scheme starts. Builders cannot begin construction until full planning permission is in place and the club has five years to submit the plans to the council for approval.

Debenhams Highcross demolition

The old Debenhams department store in Leicester’s Highcross Shopping Centre is to be demolished, and 305 flats built in its place The unit has been vacant since the company went into administration in March 2020, and Highcross owner Hammerson has been working with Leicester City Council to find a way to bring it back into use.

The council approved in January the plan to replace the former shop, and part of the adjacent car park, with homes. The flats complex will be formed in three ‘steps’ at eight, 11 and 12 storeys high, a slight decrease from the 15-storey building outlined in the original plans.

Considering the flats scheme, planning officers said it was unlikely the space could be quickly brought back into use as a department store.

Hermitage Leisure Centre, Coalville

The former Hermitage Leisure Centre in Whitwick near Coalville is to be demolished in the New Year, despite campaigners calling for it to be saved. The site has lain empty since February when it was replaced by the multi-million pound Whitwick and Coalville Leisure Centre.

The £300,000 demolition is due to take place as officials at North West Leicestershire District Council believe it to be a drain on resources. Whilst it is yet to be confirmed, it is thought that council homes will be built there alongside a potential recreation ground, featuring a café and ecology park.

Council officers have said the building is costing taxpayers £17,500 a month to just stand empty, while necessary repairs – including to its roof and structural framework – would cost more than £2 million. Whilst it was voted unanimously by the council to clear the entire site, some local groups and representatives from Whitwick Parish Council wanted to keep the sports hall section of the building to be used as a community centre.

New surgery unit, Leicester General

Leicester’s General Hospital is to open a new surgery unit to help cut the length of time people are waiting for procedures. The new centre can be built on land next to the Brandon Unit, which is currently a staff car park, after Leicester City Council’s planning department approved the plan in October.

The single-storey structure will contain an operating theatre, as well as pre-op and post-op beds for patients. However, this is only phase one of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust’s proposal for the site. Eventually the trust hopes to bring the vacant Brandon Unit back into use, with a separate planning application to be submitted to the city council.

Phase two would see the new building connected to the newly refurbished unit and the accommodation area included in the current application redeveloped into a second operating theatre. However, the trust has said phase one ‘cannot wait’ for the unit to be redeveloped as the current demand for non-urgent surgery means it is needed immediately.

Abbey Park Road Bus and Tram Depot

Construction work has started on the former bus and tram depot in Abbey Park Road in Leicester to create a new housing estate. It was left devastated by a fire in 1999, kick-starting moves to find a new depot elsewhere in the city. The site was finally closed for good in 2007 and demolished three years later.

All of the 117 new homes will be ‘affordable’, with a mix of houses and flats. There will be 29 two-bed, 70 three-bed and four four-bed houses, as well as two two-bed flats and 12 one-bed flats.

The proposal was approved by the city’s planning officers in October, who say it fits in with the aims and aspiration for the area, which the council has earmarked for regeneration. The main access to the site would be via an extension of the existing Wolsley Island Way road.

HMP Fosse Way, Glen Parva

A new category C prison is currently under construction in Glen Parva and is set to be opened next year. The prison is being built as part of the Government’s aims to create 20,000 new prison places by 2025 and will be focused on training and resettling prisoners.

It is believed that the prison will be opened in summer 2023 and will be built on the site of the former Glen Parva young offenders institution. The prison will have a capacity of 1,700 prisoners, after it was announced recently that the new institution will be extended further.

Plans to add another four-storey cell block with room for 250 prisoners, as well as another two-storey building for administrative use, a sports area and 80 extra parking spaces were all approved by two district councils. Officials from both Blaby District Council and Oadby and Wigston Borough Council approved the plans at separate planning meetings on Thursday December 16. Decisions on planning applications are usually only ruled by one district council, but the prison site sits across the border of both council areas, which is why the application was submitted to both.