outline planning application<\/a> \u2013 which seeks approval for the application in principle. A total of 33 objections were raised against these initial plans for an EIA to assess the effects of the proposal on the environment.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Broughton-Astley-flooding-2.jpg\")
Image of the ‘sewage cover blown off’ in the flood water(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n
The majority of objections list flooding and traffic issues as their major concern with the plan. If the proposals do go forward, alongside the 550 homes, a potential primary school expansion and new community facility are also touted.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a local farmer adjacent to the Broughton Treatment Works, said: \u201cI\u2019ve farmed this land for years and I\u2019ve never seen pollution like this until the treatment works started overflowing. What\u2019s washing across my fields isn\u2019t just surface water \u2014 it\u2019s sewage.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time we get heavy rain, the system fails and the pollution spreads further. I\u2019m speaking out anonymously because I\u2019m worried about the consequences, but people need to know what\u2019s happening here. The plant clearly can\u2019t cope with the existing load, yet more housing is being approved with no upgrade in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local resident John Durance told the LDRS: \u201cThe village is operating on an ageing sewage system that hasn\u2019t been upgraded for a very long time. [\u2026] Locally, the infrastructure is in a poor state, drains are blocked, culverts are obstructed, and watercourses are heavily silted.\u201d<\/p>\n
A third said: \u201cI cannot believe that this site is even being considered due to flooding occurring here yearly.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Frolesworth-Road-3jpeg.jpg\")
Most of the buildings that make up Glebe Farm are included in the plans(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n
The resident also referenced closures from January this year when the proposed development site was \u201cclosed from every angle\u201d, adding that cars were \u201cstill trying to pass and causing tidal waves into homes\u201d.<\/p>\n
They added: \u201cBuilding here would make this worse as concrete and brick don\u2019t absorb water. No proper drainage , just soak aways, larger pipes were put in last year which didn\u2019t make any difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched this year as the rain water coming down from the fields was passing down one drain only to come back up the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another said: \u201cThe main development vehicle entrance on Frolesworth Road will divert the storm water running off the site into Mill Farm which will ultimately flood Old Rectory Close and then Frolesworth Road. Without an engineered site layout and drainage scheme this could be disastrous for the Primethorpe area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Severn Trent, who are not a statutory consultee in the planning process, said it understood the distress flooding can cause, but said recent issues in Broughton Astley were \u201cmainly due to heavy rain causing surface flooding\u201d.<\/p>\n
It said that water from fields and streams in the area had then entered the sewer network.<\/p>\n
Concerns were not just limited to flooding, with many voicing fears about highways and traffic levels in the area.<\/p>\n
One resident said: \u201cBuilding here would create a major traffic problem, not only for Broughton Astley, but for all surrounding small villages which would not cope with the amount of vehicles using them. People wanting to go to Lutterworth would have to go through Frolesworth , Leire, Dunton Bassett, which are very narrow lanes.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get to the A5 they would also pass through Frolesworth and the village would not be able to cope with the amount of traffic .The crossroads at the Bull Head already has many accidents there and I am surprised that no vehicles have smashed into Teapots Nursery, injuring or killing children or staff there, more traffic would only make this problem worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get to the centre of the village there is already a massive problem with the amount of traffic passing through to the shops or petrol station, with buses coming this way as well and all the parked cars one day there is going to be a major accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the consultation phase HDC has given a \u201cpositive screening opinion\u201d meaning that the applicant will have to put together an environmental statement before an application can be made for the development.<\/p>\n
In its decision notice, the council said: \u201cTaking into account the development\u2019s type, location, known design parameters and likely cumulative impacts, it is anticipated that it could result in significant environmental effects for the purposes of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations. [\u2026] In summary these are Highways, Flooding\/Flood Risk and Odour.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Severn Trent spokesperson told the LDRS: \u201cWe always urge customers to report sewer flooding as soon as it happens so we can respond quickly and get teams on site to help. After any storm, we check our network to make sure it\u2019s working properly and clear of any blockages, and we\u2019ve found no issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve recently met the community with the local council who are responsible for surface flooding to explain this, as we\u2019re committed to coming together to collaborate to reduce flood risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘What\u2019s washing across my fields isn\u2019t just surface water \u2014 it\u2019s sewage’The local farmer said ‘every time we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,37806,190118,190119,12717,70,760,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-607321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-flooding","10":"tag-harborough-district-council","11":"tag-lutterworth","12":"tag-planning","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-traffic-and-travel","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115649849100654692","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1_Broughton-Astley-flooding-1.jpg\")
The local farmer said ‘every time we get heavy rain, the system fails and the pollution spreads further'(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n