Archive for the ‘Campaigns’ Category

Strategic Growth Plan

by simongalton on 29 March, 2019

Harborough District Council has voted by a narrow margin to endorse the Strategic Growth Plan. This would see a massive increase in housing numbers over the plan period 2031 – 2050 (16,000 of which 6,000 would be to meet the needs of Leicester City). The plan has been approved by all the councils in Leicestershire […]

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Public Meeting to Save the 56 Bus Route

by simongalton on 23 March, 2017

A few weeks back I broke the news that Arriva were planning to end the 56 bus service and that Station Road would no longer get a service. The response has been incredible. A petition has been signed by over 500 people and is being presented to Leicestershire County Council. A public meeting is taking […]

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In response to the news that Arriva is to withdraw the 56 bus serving Scraptoft and Thurnby, I have issued the following press statement:   Local community shocked at decision by Arriva to withdraw their bus service Local Residents in Thurnby and Scraptoft have expressed surprise and shock at the decision by Arriva to withdraw […]

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Tories Forced to make U-turn on Bus Subsidies

by simongalton on 27 February, 2017

At Wednesday’s budget meeting, the Tories made a last minute change to the budget, deleting the lines that would cut £1.3m from bus subsidies. In response I sent out the press release below: Tories Forced to make U-turn on Bus Subsidies The Tory group on Leicestershire County Council made a surprise announcement at yesterday’s budget […]

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747 Bus gets a Temporary Reprieve

by simongalton on 16 December, 2016

Further to concerns about the planned withdrawal of the 747 bus service, I am pleased to report that the County Council has agreed to step in and provide emergency funding to keep the service going for the next 12 months. This is in the form of a one off intervention payment of £60,000 to Centrebus […]

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Gigaclear has recently announced that it has received enough expressions of interest from the Welland Valley area that it is now able to go into stage two of deploying superfast broadband and start taking orders. If you live in one of the Leicestershire villages of Blaston, Bringhurst, Cranoe, Drayton, Hallaton, Horninghold, Nevill Holt, Medbourne, Slawston […]

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Update on Rural Broadband

by simongalton on 31 July, 2014

Residents in rural areas have had the short end of the stick when it comes to broadband. New infrastructure has always been rolled out in densely populated areas first, and the further your property is from an exchange, the more broadband signals degrade under copper wires. For this reason, the Government set up a rural […]

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Update on Home to School Transport Policy

by simongalton on 9 May, 2014

I am writing to provide an update on the situation on home to school transport policy as there have been significant developments since my last post on it. When the Cabinet first announced the consultation on changes to school transport, the proposal was simply to the ‘nearest school’ with an available place. This would have […]

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Pushing for an Alternative School Transport Policy

by simongalton on 12 March, 2014

When the Conservatives announced their intentions last November to pursue a new Home to School Transport policy based on ‘nearest school only’, Simon Galton, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, left comments exposing the flaws with such an approach. Finding the Tory approach completely unacceptable, the Liberal Democrats have used the time to work up […]

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Changes to Planning rules announced

by simongalton on 24 April, 2012

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the Government’s planning polices for England and reduces more than 1000 pages of guidance and requirements on Councils to just over 50 pages. This key document is now a “material consideration” when dealing with planning applications and preparing local plans. Since the draft NPPF was published in […]

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