Come along and tell us what you think about the latest major planning application in Thurnby and Bushby to build 175 dwellings on the site of Coles Nursery, Uppingham Road, Thurnby.

Harborough District Council (HDC) is required to identify sites for around 470 dwellings in Thurnby, Bushby and Scraptoft. Outline approval has been given for 150 dwellings in Scraptoft leaving approximately 320 to be found.

Your local councillors want to hear your views / concerns about the proposal submitted by James Coles & Sons (Nurseries) Ltd.

Where & when:

Please drop into the Memorial Hall, Main Street, Thurnby anytime between 7.30pm and 9pm on Wednesday 4^th January where local district and parish councillors will be available with copies of the plans. A planning officer from HDC has also been invited.

The County Council has published plans to switch off most street lighting between 12 midnight and 5.30am in the Houghton on the Hill. This is the latest village to be chosen for “part-night lighting” in the area I represent following approval of the Energy Reduction policy about 2 years ago. The main driver for the policy is that it will result in annual savings of up to £700,000 and will contribute towards the Council’s carbon reduction targets.     

The consultation being undertaken by the Council is mainly aimed statutory service providers and the parish council but as your County Councillor, I would like to know what you think about these proposals. These changes have already been implemented in Thurnby, Bushby and Scraptoft and although there were few objections at the time, just recently a number of residents have contacted me raising concerns about particular lights being switched off.

As the decision to roll out part-night lighting across the whole of Leicestershire has already been taken by the Council, it means that the consultation is limited to which lights should be left on around junctions and speed tables etc. A plan of the Council’s proposals for Houghton can be found at :

http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/highways/road_pathway_maintenance/street_lighting/lighting_scheme.htm

(click on part-night lighting then Harborough District).

This shows every street light in the village maintained by the Council and how it will be affected by the changes. If you have any problems accessing the information or would prefer a paper copy please contact me using the email address above or phone 0116 2432211.

This consultation is an opportunity to ensure that important street lights are left on at key locations in the village but I need to submit any representations to the Council by 4th December so please let me know if you have any concerns before then. 

I understand the Council intends to publish proposals for Stoughton, Tilton, Skeffington and Hallaton shortly so watch this space for more details of how it will affect these villages.

A number of local residents have contacted me recently to raise the issue of broadband speed in their village. This is a particular problem in parts of Houghton on the Hill but is by no means limited to just this area and residents in other rural villages are also reporting slow download speed. The Coalition Government has recently made available £3.1m to the County Council towards the costs of rolling out high speed broadband in areas of Leicestershire where the market is unwilling to make the necessary investment. The article below provides more information on how the project is being developed together with timescales etc. If you are experiencing problems with broadband speed in your area, please contact me and I will keep you informed as the project develops.   

Expanding the use of the internet requires improvements to the capacity and speed of the internet system. Government policy is to roll out  ‘super-fast’ broadband to 90% of the population by 2015. This roll out is principally focused on urban areas and centres of high economic activity and population, with investment from government (£530m up to 2015 and possibly £300m more up to 2017).

Broadband infrastructure improvements are expected to be mainly market driven and around 190,000 Leicestershire residents living in mainly rural areas will not benefit if the required investment is left to the market. In addition there are areas with ‘slow-spots’ where the internet speed is below 2Mbits/s. Taken together it is estimated that around £20m is needed in Leicestershire to do a really good job and ensure the benefits reach a wider proportion of the County’s population. The County Council has therefore begun developing a broadband funding strategy to target resources at those areas that will not directly benefit from the market led infrastructure improvements.

Leicestershire County Council has received £3.1m from Broadband Delivery UK towards the estimated cost of improving the network in County (this funding is for the areas not covered by Market based improvements). It is anticipated that the funding will be matched by similar funding from both Local Authorities (the rest of the public sector) and private business. However, at present it may only be possible to raise £10m which will is half the total amount needed to cover the whole County.

If the Council and its partners are unable to raise the full amount it may be necessary to develop a criteria for distributing funds to local areas. There is clearly an important role here for local councillors to play making the case for particular communities to receive funding by explaining the benefits that will arise. The Council is expected to invite service providers to submit bids to provide the necessary technical solutions next spring and the roll out should start in 2012 and continue until available resources are fully committed.

Local area maps showing the current coverage are available at www.leics.gov.uk/broadband  We understand that a website is being set up shortly to enable the public to show their support for high speed broadband projects. We will circulate the address as soon as it is known.

Simon Galton Oct 2011

Leicestershire is to have two representatives on a national board responsible for the Environment and housing issues in Local Government. Following internal party elections, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Leicestershire County Council, Simon Galton, will join David Parsons on LGA’s Environment and Housing Programme Board. One of the Board’s key responsibilities is planning which means it will be responding to the Government’s controversial proposals contained in the draft National Planning Policy Framework.

Simon said: “As a member of this Board I hope to have an input into the LGA’s response to the proposed changes to the planning system. I have no problem with the draft Framework taking thousands of pages of bureaucracy out and producing a simpler and more streamlined guidance, but this has to be balanced against creating a system which puts the interests of developers over people and places. As currently written I am very concerned that all developers will have to do is prove a council’s 5 year housing supply figures are wrong and they can get their proposals through.”

“David Parsons and I may disagree on many things but I hope this is one area where we can work together to ensure the emerging planning framework does not create a ‘developers paradise’ in Leicestershire. I have already written to several Liberal Democrat MPs on this issue and they share my concerns that as currently drafted, the ‘presumption in favour of development’ creates a real danger for local communities and the environment. Existing planning guidance says the Countryside should be protected for its own sake and new framework should not weaken this key principle.

My place on the LGA board is an opportunity to part of responding to this issue, alongside the response that the Liberal Democrat group on the County Council is preparing and my ongoing work with Members of Parliament.”