Plans for a new garden village have moved a step closer after leading regional agents concluded a sale on circa 460 acres of land in North Leicestershire, representing one of the East Midlands’ largest and most complex land deals.
Acting on behalf of two private landowning families, agents Wells McFarlane, APB and Newton LDP secured the sale of land north of the A46, between Birstall and Rothley, to local housebuilders, Davidsons Homes and Barwood Homes for an undisclosed sum.
A spokesperson for the three agents said: “This sale has been a decade in the making, requiring extensive collaboration and local knowledge to navigate the complexities associated with a scheme of this scale. From the outset, the project was encumbered with significant and numerous challenges including a demanding planning background and highly technical design and infrastructure requirements. However, the team addressed the various hurdles to bring forward this substantial new community that will provide much-needed housing together with employment land, education and a new district centre.”
Included in Charnwood Borough Council’s local plan, the Broadnook Garden Village development will comprise 1,950 homes (including 319 affordable), 15 hectares of employment land, a local centre with supermarket and community facilities, a primary school, assisted living retirement village comprising 175 homes and a 70-bed care home, sports facilities, natural open spaces, play areas, allotments, cycle routes and footpaths.
The spokesperson continues: “Broadnook Garden Village has been designed and planned as a self-supporting entity of exceptional quality. Strategic sites like this require continuity, so it was important to assemble a team with widespread understanding of the local market to complete a transaction of this size and scale. By uniting three independent, specialist firms, this landmark project has benefitted from multiple resources and a broad range of expertise in rural matters, estate management, planning and development needed to finalise one of the most significant land sales within the region.”
A hybrid application was approved by Charnwood Borough Council's planning committee in 2020, with the development backed by funding from Homes England to support infrastructure improvements. The scheme will provide a boost to the local economy with significant job creation, and developers also providing substantial Section 106 contributions.
James Wilson, group managing director at Davidsons Homes said: “The agents, Trevor Wells from Wells McFarlane, James Phillips from APB and Richard Foxon from Newton LDP Limited were a pleasure to deal with. We have been working on this project for a very long time and, as with any big transaction, there have been many problems to overcome and the agents have acted with fantastic professionalism to help us problem solve in order to make this transaction happen. We look forward to seeing Broadnook become a wonderful place and an asset to the area, and we take with great responsibility the task to deliver this over the coming years and potentially decades.”
Construction work is expected to begin later this year.