The local planning authority is of the opinion that the development makes too little provision for children's play, measured against the standards set out in saved policies RT/3 and RT/6 of the adopted Borough of Charnwood Local plan. The provision is deficient in both the ground area of the provision of equipped and ancillary play space and in terms of the close proximity of the equipped play area to nearby residential property. As such the development would be contrary to the intentions of adopted policies RT/3, RT/6 and H/16 of the adopted Borough of Charnwood Local Plan and the policies set out in the National Planning Policy Framework which seek to promote healthy communities, access to local services that reflect the communities needs, social and cultural welfare and developments that function well and which are attractive and comfortable places to live.

The local planning authority is of the view that the development pays too little regard to the distinctiveness of the immediate area, epitomised by the designated and non-designated assets represented by the Grade II listed station of the Great Central Railway (GCR) and the locally listed buildings comprising the GCR office building and the former Great Central Hotel building on the opposite sides of Wharncliffe Road, at its junction with Great Central Road. In particular the terraces of dwellings fronting Wharncliffe Road lack the strength of detail and the simple vertically orientated articulation of facades and the articulation of roof planes that are distinctive locally, or any interpretation of the distinctiveness of the Victorian character of the area. The dwellings on plots 27-30 and 35-37 present a modern, road dominated suburban layout and building designs that similarly make no positive contribution to the enhancement of the Grade II listed heritage asset adjacent. As such the development would be contrary to the saved policy EV/1 of the adopted Borough of Charnwood Local plan and the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework which recognise the desirability of sustaining and enhancing the significance of heritage assets, the importance of heritage assets to the community and its vitality, and the need for new development to make a positive contribution to local character and distinctiveness.

The local planning authority considers that the development would be likely to provide a poor living environment for the occupiers of plots 27–30 and 36-38 within the development, due to the disturbance, noise and other effects arising from the close proximity of the houses and their private amenity spaces to the operations of the Great Central Railway at the main Loughborough station. This would be exacerbated by the loss of privacy caused by the close proximity of the proposed pedestrian link to Great Central Road between plots 37 and 38 and the over-dominant impact of the steep landscaped roadway embankment on those plots, and the over-dominant impact on plot 37 of the railway bridge. As such the development would be contrary to the intentions of policies EV/1, EV/39 and H/16 of the adopted Borough of Charnwood Local Plan and the policies set out in the National Planning Policy Framework which seek to promote a good standard of amenity for all occupants of land and buildings and the provision of attractive and comfortable places to live.