More and more people are making use of their Community Forum to try and improve local services and raise issues of local concern.
- Residents in Birstall were unhappy that the swimming pool in Longslade Community College was no longer going to be open to the public outside school hours. Discussion at the local Area Forum meeting resulted in the College working directly with local users to find ways the pool can remain open.
- Following the Government’s shortlisting of ‘Pennbury’ as a potential Eco-town, the ‘Have your Say’ meetings in Kibworth and Tugby were the first opportunity for residents in the surrounding area to find out how the District and County Council were planning to respond to this challenge.
- At the Blaby South Community Forum residents and Parish Councillors from Sapcote, Sharnford, Stoney Stanton and surrounding villages expressed their concerns about the volume and speed of Heavy Goods Vehicles travelling through their villages. In response officers promised to look into a range of measures to reduce the impact of traffic and improve road safety in the short term, while explaining how they were looking to provide longer-term solutions.

Community Forums give you the opportunity to discuss local issues with your local Parish, District and County Councillors and representatives from the Police and the Health Service. There are 27 Community Forums across they county. To find out more about forum meetings in your local area, please visit www.leicestershireforums.org

Contact: Derk van der Wardt, 0116 3057581

A crowded meeting in Long Whatton unanimously opposed plans for a major hotel and golf course development proposed at Woodlands Farm, in Long Whatton and Shepshed.

The picture shows David Taylor MP listening to reactions to the proposals. Also looking at the plans are the two District Councillors for Long Whatton and Diseworth, Trevor Pendleton and Nick Rushton.

The proposal is for a 400 bedroom hotel beside the M1, and two 18 hole golf courses and a golf academy. Additional buildings would be built for greenkeepers and hotel staff.

The meeting was organised by Long Whatton & Diseworth Parish Council, but also drew considerable numbers from Shepshed, as well as Belton and Oaks-in-Charnwood. Speakers included a senior Planning Officer from North West Leicestershire District Council, and Nick Rushton, County and District Councillor. Other contributions came from David Taylor MP, Leslie Pendleton, County Councillor, and Trevor Pendleton, District Councillor. Martin Hening, Chair of Long Whatton & Diseworth Parish Council, led a lively debate in which feelings ran high about the decision making process as well as the scale of the proposal. The Local Plans of both North West Leicestershire and Charnwood, the two planning authorities involved, would be breached by both the size and location of the hotel, while strong feelings were also voiced about the loss of good quality agricultural land, about the amount of traffic that would be generated – possibly 3000 vehicle movements a day - and the effect of that traffic on nearby settlements, Shepshed in particular.

From the range of issues that emerged, participants were asked to identify their major concerns. Equal first were the loss of farmland, and traffic issues. Close behind was opposition to the scale of the golf course development, and whether there was a need for yet more courses in the area. Comparisons were made with the Belfry Hotel in the West Midlands, which has offered few benefits to the area in which it is located.

Other issues which aroused concern included the effect on wildlife, especially in nearby Piper Wood, which lies within the site, and which would have service roads running on both sides from the Ashby Road in Long Whatton; and the effect of such a major development on land drainage and air quality.
Questions were also raised about the pattern of employment that would emerge, and whether it really would generate many jobs for local people.

The meeting agreed to seek further ways to express opposition to the plan, and representatives of Parish and Town Councils, along with the District and County Councillors present, agreed to keep everyone informed and to present a united front. David Taylor MP asked to be kept informed of further developments.

From: Martin Hening, Chair, Long Whatton & Diseworth Parish Council
Phone: 01332 853647
Email: martin.hening@zen.co.uk

A brief report this year. With so much going on, it could be a short book, but I’ll just present some brief highlights.

We were fortunate to appoint as our new Parish Clerk Doug Maas, a man of many years’ Council experience. If he thought it would be a quiet life in a small Parish, he came at the wrong time. The Parish Plan and its follow-up programmes, the Community Forum, some major planning issues, and some recent Councillor appointments, were just a few of the challenges. He has sorted out our finances and simplified some of our procedures, to the approval of us all, and has been seen around at many local events: many of you will have met him by now.

The big event of the year was the completion and launch of the Parish plan, an excellent report that was produced as the result of a fine co-operative effort by representatives of both villages. It would be invidious to name names, but I hope they felt their efforts were well rewarded by the reception it got at the launch event in Long Whatton Community Centre, with over 50 people present. Already four themes reflected in the Plan’s findings are being tackled. Improvements to the B5324 Ashby Road are well under way (you may have noticed the installation of traffic lights at Hathern turn, as well as speed limit changes and other additional signage). Also on the traffic front, our Speedwatch trial is currently running for a month in both villages.

Much comment on the housing needs of both young people and the elderly in the plan has brought a swift response. A housing needs survey will go to every household in June, and if needs are clearly identified, we are confident that action will follow. The more of you that fill in and return the survey, the better our chances of getting what is needed.

Those young people who helped with the plan should be pleased to know that a Youth Shelter of their choice will shortly be erected on the Diseworth Village Hall field. Used sensibly, it will be a valuable addition to the limited facilities for our teenagers. We were unable to get a site for something in Long Whatton, but we will continue to try. There will be a summer play scheme for younger children from both villages, also at Diseworth Village Hall, of which more news soon.

Although not a Parish Council initiative, mention must be made of the Diseworth Heritage Centre, on which work will be starting next week. It will house all sorts of activities – educational, social and cultural, for residents of both villages and visitors alike. From our point of view, it will provide for the first time a Parish Council Office, rather that a back room in the Clerk’s house, giving easy access to Planning Applications, and other information, an advice centre, and a permanent meeting place (with coffee on request). The formal opening of the Centre is planned for November, exactly 8 years after it was closed due to flooding.

Planning is always a major concern for Parish Councils. Having no District Councillors living in the Parish, our local knowledge is particularly important. Most of the time we feel that the Planning Authority, North West Leicestershire District Council, pay heed to our views; though the continued expansion of Harlow Brothers is a matter of some concern both to its immediate neighbours and to the wider public. Current issues include two Hotels and two golf courses. One hotel is at Tea Kettle Hall in Diseworth, where approval was given some years ago for a hotel, but the new application has been criticised for its inappropriate design. The application to build a 400 bedroom hotel with two golf courses at Woodlands Farm has aroused a lot of feeling in the Parish. What could be thousands of traffic movements a day will affect both villages as well as Shepshed and Belton; we have consulted Belton PC and Shepshed Town Council, and will try to produce a coordinated response. About one third of the site is in Shepshed, whose Planning Authority is Charnwood, a complicating factor. Access to the site is almost entirely from the Ashby Road, whose planned improvements noted earlier, do not of course take this into account.

We continue to support a number of village organisations, in particular the two village magazines, and we are responsible for three playgrounds, soon to be four with the completion of Sherwood Close. We also supported live theatre this year, with a performance by Mikron Theatre, a travelling company (they travel most of the time by boat on the canals); when a booking was cancelled at short notice, we helped financially with their performance at Long Whatton Community Centre. Because of the short notice, the audience was small, but we all had a splendid evening.

We sponsored the Best Village entry for Diseworth, and were surprised and delighted when the winner was announced. The plaque is up at the Cross as proof of success. The judges came just after the Scarecrow Festival, and everyone left their scarecrows out for the occasion (including the lifelike Best Village judges in Hallgate) and that made a big impression. We also won the Business in the community award. I am pleased to learn that Long Whatton has entered this year, and wish them every success.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported our work this year – our Clerk, of course, (with an added thank you to \Lindsay who stepped in at short notice when Nev Cheetham fell ill), to my fellow Councillors, who are a fairly new team, but have made my job as Chair quite easy. The Parish Plan team I have mentioned, and I should add mention of the Parish Councillors and others, who worked unstintingly to ensure that the Launch was a splendid occasion socially, and members of the team running the Long Whatton Show, an event that blossomed last year after small beginnings.
Martin Hening, Chair, 2007-08

“We are driving young families away from our villages – there is no affordable accommodation for them” - Quote from Parish Plan

Following the Parish plan, the Parish Council is becoming increasingly concerned that the community is being adversely affected by people having to move elsewhere to find a suitable home. Young and old alike may be forced to move away from their family and friends because rents and house prices have soared in rural areas making it impossible for them to stay; much as they might like to. This may result in schools and other amenities having to close, worsening the situation. As was also highlighted in the Parish Plan, developers tend to build large family houses which may be unsuitable for those starting out in life or older residents looking for bungalows.
To address this problem planners are able to approve small developments on the edge of villages for affordable housing only, resulting in housing for those who cannot afford to access the open market from their own means. The properties fit well with their surroundings and remain for the use of people with a strong connection to the Parish. In planning jargon this is known as an “Exception” site.
These properties, usually a mixture of property types and sizes, may be rented or part purchased. The latter option gives younger villagers access to the housing ladder which may otherwise be closed to them. However, these properties cannot be completely owned and then sold off. When sold they are recycled for the use of villagers, in perpetuity.
There is a good example of this in action at Swannington, where a small development has been established on the edge of the village. The properties, finished in 2007, were built to a very high standard by a firm of local builders and the scheme has been welcomed by the community. Some of the homes are rented and the others are for shared ownership. These are managed by a local housing association.
To start a scheme in your community the first thing to organise is a survey to assess local housing needs in the village. This has been agreed by your Parish Council and takes the form of a questionnaire delivered to each household in the village and is conducted in partnership between the District Council, Parish Council and the Rural Housing Enabler. The costs of printing and postage are covered by the Enabler.
The results are then analysed by the Enabler and presented to the Parish Council in a form that is acceptable to local planning authorities. If a need for homes is shown then the search starts for a site.
If this is successful, and the usual planning permissions are granted, then it is subsequently developed by a housing association. They manage the properties on behalf of the village - liaising with the parish council to ensure that all important local connection of applicants.

For further information contact the Parish Council or Richard Windley, the Rural Housing Enabler:-
Tel: 01530 276546
richard.windley@midlandsrh.org.uk

And please look out for more information on its way with Long Whatton News and Diseworth Dialogue. Thank you.

The District Council have given us a useful bit of information and we thought we'd pass it on. From 1st April you can simply phone them and they'll collect your unwanted wardrobes, beds, fridge/freezers, armchairs and the like. It costs £15 for up to 3 items and above that or in some special cases there are other charges. Phone 01530 454572 for all queries and requests. There's all kinds of information about recycling and disposing of difficult items, etc. at www.nwleics.gov.uk

On 21st February the unstinting effort by the Parish Plan Team, the people of the two villages and the assistance of the many officers of the Rural Community Council, the County and District Councils and the enthusiasm and support of the Parish Council, was rewarded at the Grand Launch of the completed Parish Plan itself at the Community Centre in Long Whatton.
The purpose and objectives - clearly demonstrated as the wishes of the people of Diseworth and Long Whatton for the future of their villages - were explained. The challenge of achieving them, both through local effort and with the positive action now needed from other authorities, begins here in earnest.
Full information about how the Parish Plan came into being is available at leicestershirevillages.com. A Summary of the Plan was delivered to every household with the village newsletters. It can be seen via the link on our Home Page.

The Library Service has issued the following dates and times:
11, 25 January
8, 22 February
7 March
4, 18 April
2, 16, 30 May
13, 27 June
11, 25 July
8, 22 August
5, 19 September
3, 17, 31 October
14, 28 November
12 December
Calling at: LONG WHATTON:
Oakley Drive 10.10 to 10.35
Piper Drive 10.40 to 11.10
Main Street/Layby 11.15 to 11.45
DISEWORTH:
The Bowley 11.55 to 12.15
Clements Gate 12.20 to 1.20