New homes plan for footwear machinery site approved

Plans for 311 flats and 43 houses on part of the former British United Shoe Machinery (BUSM) site in Leicester have been given the go-ahead.

Leicester City Council has approved a planning application from Trafalgar Global Ltd to build houses as well as seven blocks of flats ranging from four to five storeys in height on land on part of the former BUSM site.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) previously said during the 20th Century the firm became the world's largest manufacturer of footwear machinery and in the 1960s it employed more than 4,500 people.

Planning documents state the site forms part of a "wider regeneration plan" first envisaged in the early 2000s.

The LDRS previously said the company collapsed in 2000 and in 2007, a planning application for 1,210 houses was submitted.

Building started in 2010 and the former BUSM headquarters in Belgrave were demolished.

Planning documents state the site for the proposed development is 4.04 hectares (9.98 acres) in size and comprises mainly of a diamond shaped area between Charles Bennion Walk and the Grand Union Canal.

"The surrounding context has changed enormously in recent years as a number of residential focused regeneration projects have come forward - notably to the east of the site between Ross Walk and Charles Bennion Walk and to the west on Wolsey Island.

"Older industrial buildings which once lined the waterside have been replaced with contemporary housing," plans add.

According to planning documents the proposed development would comprise of 197 one-bedroom and 114 two-bedroom flats.

It would also contain 14 two-bedroom houses, 24 three-bedroom houses and five four-bedroom houses.

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