Do you want a New Town without any committed Infrastructure?
A public meeting was held at Evington Village Hall on Saturday 11 July 2026, where Dr Henri Winand spoke to residents from Evington and surrounding areas about proposals for a major new development and how people can object.
Dr Winand is the leader of the Stop The New Town (STNT) campaign. He set out the group’s case against the proposed new town, drawing on his senior industry background, including his work with Intelligent Energy in the fuel cell / clean‑energy sector.
In a clear and well‑presented talk, Dr Winand argued that a large new town should not go ahead without firm, funded infrastructure plans. He raised concerns about existing congestion and capacity pressures locally, including overloaded roads, stretched GP services, and the lack of rail links or effective public transport. He also highlighted further risks and impacts that residents are worried about, including sewage capacity, jobs, and flood risk.
The map on the cover page shows in red the 4,500 plan for houses south of Gartree Road as well as another proposed 9,030 houses to the North East of the 4,500 Gartree Road houses.
The map also includes the proposed developments that were put forward in 2018. The key on the map shows that of these earlier proposals only one has been completed near Loughborough. The proposals near Hinkley, Coalville and Loughborough were planned where there was already some infrastructure. This does make more sense than building on open countryside and expecting overstretch country roads to cope with the inevitable increased volume of traffic.
Summing up, Dr Winand said: “There is no suitable infrastructure and there are no suitable services to support this development to the South East of Leicester, for 4,500 houses between the M1 and the A47.”
The public consultation on the proposed Wellcome Trust / Urban&Civic development (4,500 homes on land south of Gartree Road) opened on Monday 6 July 2026.
Residents can view the consultation information and respond online until 30 July 2026 at:
https://lsgrconsultation.co.uk/
Residents can view the ‘Stop The New Town’ (STNT) website at http://StopTheNewTown.org
Planning documents lodged with Harborough District Council indicate the homes could be built between 2028 and 2045 if the application is approved.
The Evington Echo has followed the history of land ownership changes in the Evington area over many years, including the transfer of land after the First World War and later changes connected to proposals for large‑scale development. We will continue to report on this present consultation and what it could mean for Evington and neighbouring communities if it is passed.
