An action group campaigning against a proposed housing development close to a level crossing are maintaining their objections following a public exhibition.  

Taylor Wimpey held the event on Friday (January 24) to show residents plans for the 165-home scheme off Brooke Road in Oakham and lay out the changes it would make to the road infrastructure if it receives permission to build the scheme. 

The proposal has been on the horizon for many years and last year the land area was rejected by Rutland County Council as a suitable place for building homes. But with the government's new housing targets it is likely the authority will have to revisit its local plan and may be open to speculative developments. 



Taylor Wimpey showed residents plans on Friday 24th January (Photo: LDRS)

Founder and chair of Oakham South Action Group (OSAG) Monica Stark, said: "As a community, we have battled against this development for 15 years. In 2010, it was rejected on the grounds of highway safety. In 2020, it was rejected again on the same grounds. In 2024, it was rejected from RCC's draft local plan on the strength of feeling from the local community south of the Brooke Road crossing, who know that this is a totally unsuitable place to make a development.  

"This is because of the access issues off, what is in effect, a single-track bendy road and because of the congestion caused by the railway crossing and the danger to the primary school children at the other end of the road. The mitigation proposed will do little to address the narrowness of the road and the extreme congestion that impacts, not just Brooke Road, but all the other roads around the area south of the crossing. This area is locally referred to as 'the wrong side of the track' for good reason." 

Monica says there is no capacity on an already congested road network for an extra 200 cars per day and the level crossing is currently down every 15 minutes.  

The group has also taken issue with the affordable part of the scheme and said: "If they were genuinely wanting to bring affordable housing here, they would be able to identify which Housing Association they would be partnering with; they cannot." 

Another issue is biodiversity. Monica said: "Trying to tell us that concreting over an agricultural field, which contains colonies of hares, muntjak, otters and teems with birds, has the 'potential' to increase the bio-diversity of the site by 10% because they will put in some ponds and nesting boxes, is simply derisory." 

The Local Democracy Reporting Service put the action group's concerns to the housebuilder and received the following response: "We would like to thank everybody for coming along to our consultation event and for expressing a wide range of views. We will now be considering all feedback received and assessing whether to make any changes before submitting our planning application to Rutland County Council in March 2025."