Pennbury was the working name given to a proposed eco-town of 15,000 to 20,000 new homes intended to be built on

Leicester Airport Leicester Airport is an aerodrome located to the east of Stoughton, Leicestershire, England, about east of Leicester City Centre by road. The Leicestershire Aero Club Limited, the airport operator, provide elementary flight training, experie ...

, four miles from the centre of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. On 16 July 2009, Housing Minister John Healey announced that the Pennbury project would not go ahead. The site is in the

Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the ad ...

district council area and straddles the Harborough parliamentary constituency where the then-MP was

Edward Garnier Edward Henry Garnier, Baron Garnier, (born 26 October 1952) is a British barrister and former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. A former lawyer for ''The Guardian'' newspaper, Lord Garnier is on the socially liberal wing of h ...

and the Rutland and Melton parliamentary constituency where the then-MP was

Alan Duncan Sir Alan James Carter Duncan (born 31 March 1957) is a British former Conservative Party politician who served as Minister of State for International Development from 2010 to 2014 and as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas from 201 ...

. The proposal was submitted by the

Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-op ...

and

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agencies on a regional level. On 1 December 2008 its powers passed to a successor ...

and aroused local opposition on many grounds including destruction of the countryside and the traffic it would generate. On 29 January 2008 Edward Garnier spoke to the adjournment in parliament and was supported by other local MPs from both sides of the house in expression of their concerns about the secrecy evident in the process of shortlisting. On 3 April, 2008, it was announced that the Pennbury proposal was one of fifteen sites shortlisted by

Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government in ...

(CLG) for the next phase of public consultations. CLG's consultation paper on the shortlisted sites reported that the site would "create a largely freestanding community, but linked to Leicester" and accommodate 12,000 to 15,000 homes in a development of 750 hectares.CLG's consultation on the shortlisted sites; page 26

References

External links

{{coord, 52.604, -1.039, region:GB, display=title Geography of Leicestershire Eco-towns