Victorian factory in town set to be demolished for new homes
A pair of vacant factories in Hinckley town centre can be turned into new homes, councillors have ruled – with one set to be torn down. The buildings, in Wood Street, at the eastern corner of the town centre conservation area, have struggled to find tenants, according to developer Onyx Rose, which applied to demolish[1] one of the factories and renovate the other.
The new building, which will replace a Victorian factory, will have 12 flats. The other factory, built in the 1930s, will be turned into 14 homes in total, with a penthouse level on the roof. Bricks and slates from the Victorian building will be salvaged and used in the construction of the new building, said the developer. Access into the site will also be widened, according to planning documents.
Councillors on Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s[2] planning committee met last night to debate the scheme. Although some concerns were raised about the loss of historic town buildings, they ultimately voted in favour of the project, with one councillor opposing the scheme and one abstaining.
Speaking at the meeting, applicant Robert Jeffcoate acknowledged the buildings’ long histories, but said the site would not support industrial use today. The arched entrance was not large enough to allow a “decent-sized lorry” to fit through it, he added.
“Many of the windows have been boarded up for some time now and there is a risk of the site continuing to deteriorate,” Mr Jeffcoate added. Instead, the scheme will deliver 26 “much-needed new residential properties in the town centre”, he said.
Councillor James Moore said he had mixed feeling about the proposal, adding that he felt it would be “chipping away” at the town’s history. He added: “What we’re looking at here is the demolition of the most interesting building on the site, the 1903 factory, which is very characteristic of the small hoisery factories which were once scattered across the Hinckley[4], Burbage, Earl Shilton and Barwell area and have have slowly disappeared one by one over recent years.”
However, planning officers had recommend the scheme for approval, saying it had been “vacant for a number of years”, was “quite dilapidated” and had been “looking unsightly for some time now”.
Councillor Keith Lynch said: “I’ve been passing this derelict factory for so many years. This is the third or fourth incarnation [of plans to bring it back to life]. It’s as good as it’s going to get. I believe it’s quite well thought out.”
The application was a hybrid application, with the developer being granted full planning permission to convert the factory which is to be left standing and outline permission to demolish and rebuild the other. Outline permission means the scheme is approved in principle, but the applicant must submit and get approval on a second application setting out the concrete details of the plan.
A previous planning[5] application for the site, which was refused by the council’s plans committee in 2021, featured similar proposals but also included an additional two-and-a-half-storey building along with a number of terraced houses on the nearby Cross Keys Yard, which has since been sold and is no longer a part of the development.
The plans were knocked back on appeal by the planning inspectorate last year, with the inspector saying in their report: “This proposal would relate poorly to neighbouring development.” They added: “The adverse impacts of the proposal on the living conditions of neighbouring development, and the absence of infrastructure provision, would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.”
References
- ^ applied to demolish (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
- ^ Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
- ^ Decision made on new 210-place primary school for town (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
- ^ Hinckley (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
- ^ planning (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)