Go to www.ldcuc.org.uk for more on cycling
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| A super area for a winter walk | Children enjoying a safe ride on the traffic free road
through the estate. Go to www.ldcuc.org.uk for more on cycling |
Stonebow bridge over the Black Brook, the beginning of the walk through the estate. |
We need to persuade policy makers to keep this wonderful resource for ourselves and our children.The Coalition Government has said that it will abandon the policies based on the Regional Spatial Strategy, but until the Localism Bill has become law, Charnwood policy is to designate the Garendon Estate as the preferred location for a suburban expansion of 3500 houses.
We need to keep
up pressure to make sure that Borough and
County Councillors will vote against any such
proposal. Read the report of the AGM of the group, held at the Glenmore Centre on 24 October 2011:Over 50 Shepshed, Hathern and Loughborough residents attended the Annual General Meeting of GPCPG on Monday evening at the Glenmore Centre in Shepshed. Lynda Needham was re-elected as Chair, Roy Kershaw as Vice-Chair, Lynn Clarke as Secretary and Pat Murphy as Treasurer.
Lynda Needham said "The excellent attendance at the meeting shows that local residents are becoming increasingly concerned at the increasing number of planning proposals to build on greenfield agricultural sites around Shepshed and Hathern. Many sites were identified in the recently published Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA). Not only was the Garendon Estate included but also sites on Iveshead Road, Tickow Lane, Oakley Road in Shepshed as well as Hathern Road and the A6 in Hathern Village. If these proposals were to come to fruition there could be as many as 5500 houses built in the area - almost all of them on greenfield sites and many of them on productive agricultural land. Shepshed and Hathern would be absorbed into an urban sprawl losing their identity and the Garendon Green Wedge would be decimated.
Roy Kershaw added "We will continue to campaign against the Borough Council Core Strategy that envisages building houses on greenfield sites even when brownfield sites are available east of Loughborough. We will also campaign against proposed new feeder roads through Garendon Park towards the Outwoods as these would open the gates for developers to build anywhere in the countryside. Roads should be improved east of Loughborough in line with the County Council Highways Authority's road building strategy - not west of Loughborough. We are not NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) but we are NOGALS (Not On Greenfield Agricultural Sites)!
Ex Borough Councillor David Walker received the greatest applause when he said "The number of houses needed was far less than forecast in the recent Housing Needs Report. Government policy will significantly reduce net immigration over the next decade and fertility rates will remain below replacement level. The thousands of empty houses and the inability of people to obtain mortgages will mean demand for new homes will be depressed for many years to come.
Roy Kershaw Vice-Chair, GPCPG There
are documents relating to the proposals on the
Charnwood Borough Web site: The Green Wedge Review is here Click here
for the latest Newsletter
Click here to see our response to the County Council who have asked for responses to help to formulate a Green Spaces Strategy. It is the latest of very many representations that we have been making at all levels of government BackgroundFor over five years the Garendon Park & Countryside Protection Group (GPCPG) has campaigned to protect the Garendon Green Wedge (including the Estate and the listed Garendon Park). Charnwood Borough Council (CBC) has proposed building 3,500 houses on the Green Wedge thus destroying free public access to the countryside where Shepshed, Hathern and Loughborough residents can walk, jog, cycle, horse ride etc in a healthy and traffic free environment. With the help of the over 400 members of GPCPG and many supporters we have so far been successful in preventing this. Current SituationCBC is again to undertake
what will be the third consultation on this important
issue. But this time there will be a much bigger
opportunity for communities to have their views taken
into account. The Coalition Government is introducing
a new planning system that relies much more on local
communities influencing how much development there
should be and where it should be. The Government also
intends to create a new planning designation for Green
Spaces that are most valued by local people. The Garendon
Estate threatened by Charnwood Borough
Council. Fields, woods, lakes and meadows form the Garendon Estate, a green wedge between the intensively developed urban areas of Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern. Generations of local people have enjoyed walking and cycling through this area. You can read a detailed and interesting account of the history of the estate here It is now under threat. Charnwood Borough Council have proposed the Garendon Estate as the Preferred Option for a major new housing development. Click here for a map of the proposed development The outline has been sketched from the papers in the consultation document and superimposed on a satellite map of the Estate. The Borough Council has been asked to respond to the demand from Government for much more land to be designated for housing. Charnwood has been told to find space for 3,500 houses in the north of the Borough. The Council has produced a "Core Strategy" document which identifies the Garendon Estate green wedge as the preferred option. They dismiss four other potential sites two of which are to the east of the town. This is the
response of the Garendon Park and
Countryside Protection group Here is the full submission sent to the Council One argument that the Council has used is that no other site has detailed plans and agreements with landowners. In fact this is no longer true. There are very detailed plans for one of the potential sites to the east of the town, which is not on a green wedge and would link in with a proposed eastern distributor road. It would not impact on reacreational land and would not lead to traffic chaos. Read all about it here You may think that the Council have made the wrong decision, and you would have support from the many members of the Garendon Park and Countryside Protection Group, as well as from planning consultants, lawyers and notably from Leicestershire County Council. A "consultation" exercise is running until December 5th. The Council want our views on their "Core Strategy" Preferred Option. You can and should write to say that you think the Preferred Option has too many drawbacks. You might like to argue that the option of locating to the east of the town has not been given proper consideration. Some guidance on writing to the Council The deadline has now passed for submitting objections and comments to the Council, but late submissions will still be considered. The leader of the Council has said that the decision will be based on evidence and the Garendon Park Countryside Protection Group have produced a mass of evidence, and this has been submitted to the Borough Council.
The Garendon Park and Countryside Protection Group want this important green wedge to be preserved for future generations to enjoy for walking, cycling and appreciation of the rich wildlife, and because its loss would lead to Hathern, Shepshed and Loughborough merging into one major urban area. We are also amazed that the Council assume that the traffic generated by the 3,500 houses can be dealt with without major new road building. It is estimated that 3500 houses would generate 25000 car journeys a day, and these would inevitably join the existing traffic jams on the A6 and A512. However, read on. The County Council are responsible for transport policy, and it is on the grounds of transport implications that they find the proposal for the development of the Garendon Estate seriously flawed. The County Council's reasons can be downloaded here. Section 4.20 and 4.21, are particular significant, as is Appendix A. Appendix A is very critical of the alternative transport assessment that was carried out by the MVA consultancy for Charnwood Borough Council. The County Council feels strongly about this
issue. The County Council's response to the Consultation Document includes;
It is disappointing that the County
Council as highway authority was excluded
from the transport study underpinning the
work to assess the transport element of the
alternative options. It is also regrettable
that the County Council's transport
assessments which informed its advice to
EMRA for the Regional Plan was not used as
the basis for the further assessments. At its meeting on 1st October, the County Council's Cabinet agreed that: "taking account of the proposed overall increase in housing provision, the Cabinet regrets the decision of Charnwood Borough Council not to include in further consultation on its Local Development Framework Core Strategy preferred options for development to the east of Loughborough, since the inclusion of those options would give greater certainty to the development of a Loughborough Eastern Distributor Road as part of an overall package of transport measures required to deliver sustainable growth, reduce congestion and improve public transport in the town." You might like to write to say that you agree with the County Council that the preferred option of development on the Garendon Estate would cause traffic chaos, while development to the east of the town could be combined with a distributor road which would relieve congestion throughout the town The Garendon Group has submitted a formal
objection to the proposals put forward in
2006. This has been submitted and was
considered by the Examination in Public in the
summer of 2007. Download the
submission We are now working on our response to the current proposal. Get
involved in opposing this proposal
Our campaign to protect Garendon is at a critical stage for funding. -We cover most of our administrative costs personally or by separate financial support. -But we have now engaged environmental lawyers to work on making our actions and outcomes as effective in law as possible. -None of this comes cheap and if we are to continue to serve our communities effectively, we need to raise funds URGENTLY. - We cannot guarantee victory but, rest assured, we will have tried our hardest on your behalf.
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Published by
David Walker, 337 Beacon Road, Loughborough,
LE11 2RA on behalf of the Garendon Park
and Countryside Protection Group. Last
updated 24/11/11
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