Leicestershire to be hit with a new 20000 home Eco town

[pigletwillie]

I live in Leicestershire, just near Thurnby. It is right on the edge of the city sprawl and is mainly farmland interspersed with small villages including medieval Great Glen, and a small airfield (Leicester Airport).

The main landowners are the CO-OP who own over 10,000 acres. In cahoots with English partnerships, a government quango, they have earmarked this whole area for a 20,000 home Eco Town to be called Pennbury.

Now I am all for progress and had no objection when the old Scraptoft campus was pulled down and over 500 homes built, its less than a mile from me, but 20,000 homes (and thats just the start) will totally change the structure and nature of where I live. It proposes 2 park and ride schemes and a public transport hub whatever that is but I fear gridlock as people try to get into the city as the A47 is only single carriageway into Leicester.

I fear the worst and expect this fait acompli to swamp the whole area.

[shirlthegirl43]

Oh dear. Don't understand the half of it all I am afraid but sorry to hear there is such a drastic sounding change to happen to your locale.

Move to Pembrokeshire - thousands of people can't be wrong!

[smallblueplanet]

....they have earmarked this whole area for a 20,000 home Eco Town to be called Pennbury...

20,000? Shurely musht be shome mishtake?

Unbelievable, you have my sympathy offered PW, maybe someone else will offer you a subscription to 'Living France'?

[Peter]

Piglet, you have my sympathy.
This What's proposed? is what is going on down the road from me and is in addition to the proposed expansion of Stanstead airport.

Sadly you will need to emulate the man behind the website and mobilise a LOT of opposition, good luck. A catchy matra helps.

[pigletwillie]

No mistake Manda, the first tranche is for between 12-15000 homes but the area to be developed will fit 20,000 homes in.

[shirlthegirl43]

Will they be like new homes being built here - no gardens?

[smallblueplanet]

No mistake Manda, the first tranche is for between 12-15000 homes but the area to be developed will fit 20,000 homes in.

C'mon Piggie you and the OH better emigrate to France-land!

[Tracey]

Sorry Pigletwillie,

I searched on google and found this petition: www.petitions.pm.gov.uk/PennburyEcoTown

Kind regards
Tracey

[valmarg]

C'mon Piggie you and the OH better emigrate to France-land!

Given half a chance, and if OH and I could afford it we would be out of this dreadful country. The imcompetent Home Secretary, part time Defence Secretary, et al ad nauseum!!

Personally I would be down the antipodes, ie either Australia or New Zealand.

valmarg

[Tigerella]

Hi

I am an eco person, and I also rent where I live.

So I am generaly against building, but we do need more houses!

T

[pigletwillie]

2,000 000 tonnes of concrete sure isnt green Tigerella.

Yes we do need more houses but not so many in one place that will destroy the very nature of the whole area.

The CO-OP are just trying to make a killing and by wrapping it up as a carbon neutral eco scheme, feel that they can just ram it through with the aid of English partnerships.

[Snadger]

This is the official gloomiest day of the year. Just been watching news of a stockmarket crash, floods all over the country so news of 20,000 homes eating into the countryside is par for the course today methinks!

[bramble]

Piglet willie, they have done exactly that where my mam lives. There were 20 houses 1 shop and a cemetary. Her little village is now surrounded by houses apartments and flats.A new town is springing up and a shopping centre, railway station, park and ride and schools are in the pipeline. The road is filthy from clay being trucked from the site, her windows are filthy from dust, her water and electricity are constantly being cut off while new pipes and cables are being laid. All in all the place is distroyed. You have my sympathy.

[Tigerella]

2,000 000 tonnes of concrete sure isnt green Tigerella.

Yes we do need more houses but not so many in one place that will destroy the very nature of the whole area.

The CO-OP are just trying to make a killing and by wrapping it up as a carbon neutral eco scheme, feel that they can just ram it through with the aid of English partnerships.

Hi

It is very easy for me to say I disagree with all these houses.
But everyone else has voted for T Blair.
With that comes the growth, the dog eat dog England, and England becoming more "succesfull".

Unless most of us vote Green, this will just cary on.
But instead everyone will fall for the next Blair clone!

T

[Storm]

Hi

It is very easy for me to say I disagree with all these houses.
But everyone else has voted for T Blair.
With that comes the growth, the dog eat dog England, and England becoming more "succesfull".

Unless most of us vote Green, this will just cary on.
But instead everyone will fall for the next Blair clone!

T

I agree!! there are plenty of Blairbots waiting to come off the production line.

but i doubt it would matter who was in power the effect would be the same. my "village" got swamped years ago with new estates without any improvement to the infrastructure and PW is right to be gloomy about the effect 20000 houses will have on teh area. the "transport hub" is not scheduled to go in first which means that the first occupants of the new houses would have to buy a car whcih they are unlikely to then give up once the bus service eventually starts.

as bramble pointed out in their post above, the same happened to her mam's village - quickly profitable houses first - infrastructure "in the pipeline". this even contradicts the true meaing of the word - infra meaning "beneath" - not "on top of".

the other impact apart from increased traffic flow and strain on local resources that my "village" has suffered from is flooding. there is so much tarmac now that there is simply nowhere for surface water to go. this has been especially prevelant in the last few years with the ever increasing fashion for ripping out gardens and covering them in paving stones or concrete

the city of Leicester has hectares of abandoned industrial land that has lain in ruin since the mills went in the Thatcher years. there is already and infrastructure in place... there can be no justification to build 20000 new houses unti other avenues have been exhausted.

my other personal conspiracy theory is that there isn't actually a housing shortage at all and that the problem is one of distribution though the population. there would be enough houses to go around if so many were not "second homes" or there were not "buy to let" investors fuelling demand and thus pushing up prices.

the second home phenomenon was very apparant when i lived in the west country - you only saw lights on at the weekends. and as for when i lived in brighton, almost every other person was a Londoner. People even commute to the capital now from as far away as humble Leicester!

it's insane!