Articles

KIBWORTH TIP OPENING CHANGES
Following two countywide consultations, the cabinet have approved changes to the opening days for the Kibworth and Market Harborough Recycling and Waste Sites.

Kibworth will change to be open four days a week on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays, with Market Harborough open the other days of the week on Thursdays, Friday and Saturdays. These changes are expected this autumn.

STRATEGIC GROWTH OPTIONS STUDY
Two studies have been jointly commissioned by the partnership of Leicester & Leicestershire Authorities to inform the delivery of the Strategic Growth Plan.

The Strategic Growth Options and Constraints Mapping Study (SGO Study) has been prepared by AECOM to assist the partnership when considering locational choices around delivery of the long-term vision set out within the Strategic Growth Plan to 2050 and to determine whether they offer suitable and appropriate solutions to deliver sustainable locations for new communities and economic growth.
The Strategic Transport Assessment Stage 1(STA1) was prepared by Leicestershire County Council as the Local Transport Authority, commissioned in a consultancy role for this piece of work. Through assessing and comparing the respective transport implications of four differing housing distribution scenarios between 2036 and 2051, it is intended to provide a further piece of evidence to help identify how growth should be distributed across Leicester & Leicestershire over the long term.

Overall, the findings from the two studies have provided further evidence in support of the spatial strategy set out within the SGP. Each local authority has an annual target for home building set by Government. However, strategic planning across different authority areas helps get the best out of development in terms of funding for infrastructure and improvements to services such as roads, health services etc. The SGP is about strategic planning over the long term and managing growth to ensure people have not only homes and jobs, but also the infrastructure required to support them whilst minimising negative impacts on, and creating benefits for, the environment we need to protect.
Clusters and corridors were shown through AECOM’s analysis to offer the highest potential to deliver good growth in the long term. One area is around the new freeport near the East Midlands Airport; one area is west of Melton Mowbray near Six Hills; one area is either side of the A5 corridor between Lutterworth and Hinckley; and, the fourth area is a crescent running from east of Leicester, around the south and over to the west of Leicester.

Significant strategic developments usually require Government funding, and having a strategic plan backed by evidence helps secure the funding required for these projects.

The information in the STA1 and SGP are important when local planning authorities e.g. Harborough, are considering their Local Plans, as locations considered unsustainable because of a lack of infrastructure will not be appropriate for new communities.

Harborough District Council are planning the next round of public consultations (Regulation 19 and 20) on the new Local Plan between January and March 2025. This is when potential development sites for both housing and employment across the district are made public and responses sought from landowners, parishes, developers and residents.

Harborough District Council planners will be seeking to submit their new Local Plan for examination only when all responses, including objections, to the consultation have been adequately considered.

Kevin Feltham
kevin.feltham@leics.gov.uk

We regularly hear of the dire effects of the changing climate yet somehow struggle to take action; governments even less so, it seems. Most people reading this will have taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint, yet it all seems a bit pointless.

We were so delighted to welcome so many people to, not only our first ‘CoCo’ morning but also our ‘Wilder Westerby’ event, that once again we are inviting everyone to join us for Coffee and Conversation (and of course cake!) at Smeeton Village Hall on Wednesday 17 July, 10.30am - 12 noon, when we will also have more information about our wildlife project. Hopefully, this time the sun will be shining and we will be able to sit in our hall’s gorgeous little garden.

On arrival at our meeting on 9 May, members were invited to look at photo albums, minute books and some of our more recent yearbooks, including one which recorded our different life during the Covid
pandemic and two special, ornate yearbooks celebrating Leicestershire and Rutland Federation’s and our own centenaries. Some of the minute books and the photographs are decades old and it is so interesting to read about those meetings and to note the more formal style of reporting. For example, members were addressed as Mrs… or Miss…

We began the business of the meeting with this year’s Resolution. In the past, this involved presentations of a number of suggested campaigns to present to the Government, and then members voted for their favoured resolution. Nowadays, the process is much simpler. Members can access information online or in the national WI Life magazine. The top resolution is presented to WIs and they vote either for or against. This year’s resolution is ‘Dental Health Matters’ which urges the Government to address the chronic shortage of NHS dentists and to ensure that everyone can access an NHS dentist, wherever they live.

In May, we were treated to a fantastic and entertaining afternoon. Roger Prescott recreated ‘Juke Box Jury’ for us. He was David Jacobs and four members of the audience were selected as panels members. It was great fun.

Retirement? Not yet, months, years, even decades! Some time ago a colleague passed by on his way home after a day at work. If I was within hearing distance he would say ‘that is another day nearer retirement’. To continue the story he was somewhat eccentric, writing steamy novels in his lunch break which were never published; also he was an amateur wrestler! Some time later I met a former working colleague and asked the inevitable question – he had finally retired.

In community life few events hold as much significance as the Women’s Institute meetings. Not just a forum for business discussions, these gatherings are a celebration of camaraderie, shared passions and of course a dash of fun.

This event was organised by The Friends of St Wilfrids. Cream teas, (with homemade scones to die for), real Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam, were provided by the ladies of the church.

Dear Editor

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