A second bid to build a new Coalville care home has been approved in spite of traffic safety and heritage concerns.

Exemplar Health's first attempt to gain permission for a 36-bed centre in the town's Ashby Road was rejected last year amid concerns about its "unacceptable" and "obtrusive" nature.

The new plan, submitted to North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC) in April this year, once again looked to demolish several vacant business units to create space for the centre, including on what opponents said was the historic home of the National Coal Board Mines Rescue Fire Station.

The Snibston Heritage Trust said this station served all Leicestershire coal mines in the 1960s and was most recently a Tiles 4 Less supplies store.

Concerns were again raised to NWLDC about the potential heritage impacts of the care home scheme, with the Snibston Heritage Trust claiming the loss of the important fire station "cannot be overstressed". Traffic concerns surrounding the plan were also raised.

Ward councillor Craig Smith also feared the development could exacerbate already "dangerous" parking conditions in Ashby Road. He claimed there was "already a huge problem with on street parking" in the area.

However, planning officers dismissed all these concerns and said they considered the new proposition to be "acceptable". NWLDC said they did not believe the fire station is linked to the coal mines as claimed and was in fact more "likely" to be "a municipal fire station erected by the former Coalville Urban District Council in around 1939".

The council said it has no "functional relationship to Snibston Colliery" as the Heritage Trust believes. As such, they ruled it has "limited architectural or historic interest".

In its role as local highways authority, Leicestershire County Council said there were six accidents with 500 meters of the site over the last five years. However, the council believes these were "isolated incidents that took place away from the site access" and therefore it does not believe that the development would increase the likelihood of further incidents occurring.

Officers also ruled the new care home proposal would fit better into the rest of the street. The large area of parking originally proposed at the front of the site has been reduced in response to concerns it would leave views of the home "dominated by hardstanding", with the building now sitting closer to the street.

The property will also now be two-storeys where it fronts the road, which will "assimilate" it "more successfully" with neighbouring developments, officers said. Finally, Exemplar Healthcare has reworked the design of the building to a more "industrial style", which will help it "relate more positively" to the historic surroundings.

Regarding the risk of flooding, the applicant is now proposing to raise parts of the ground where water might pool to allow it to run off into the drainage system.