Cllr Baines and Cllr Taylor will be holding an open-air public meeting on 4th August 2021 between 5.30pm and 7.00pm. We will be on the recreation ground, behind the Parish Office. We welcome residents that would like to come and discuss the proposed Charnwood Local Plan with us
Charnwood Local Plan
The Charnwood’s Local Plan is now out for public consultation. You can access the plan and submit your comments here: https://www.charnwood.gov.uk/pages/charnwood_local_plan_2021_37
The consultation is open until 5pm on 23rd August 2021.
There are four sites identified within Anstey and this proposed plan adds up to an additional 937 dwellings. Some of these sites already have planning applications submitted. This includes 30 houses for area HA13 and 220 houses (of the proposed 600) for area HA43. Area HA43 will include the building of a new primary school.
The four sites are marked on the map above in orange and we have included the housing numbers for each of the identified possible development sites.
- HA12 - Land at Gynsill Lane and Anstey Lane, Glenfield, 260 homes
- HA13 - Park View Nursery Site, off Gynsill Lane, Glenfield, 30 homes
- HA43 - Land west of Anstey, Anstey, 600 homes
- HA44 - Fairhaven Farm, Anstey, 47 homes
The Local Plan was presented to the Full Council in June 2021 and the council agreed to go out to public consultation. At the meeting in June, both Cllr Baines and Cllr Taylor abstained from the vote as we cannot support such large development within Anstey with no guarantee of substantial new infrastructure being built. However, now the Local Plan has gone out for consultation, we think it is fundamental that residents now have their say on the plan.
We raised the following points at the council meeting held in June:
- Anstey has already taken a large amount of housing as one of Charnwood’s service centres.
- The Nook alterations from the previous 250+ houses over the last 2 years has given rise to a substantial flow of traffic onto Cropston Road, with queues at all times of the day, not just at peak times.
- Putting more housing on Groby Road will send traffic into The Nook along Bradgate Road, which will affect the Cropston Road arm of the roundabout further, causing even more queuing in that area.
- Increasing pressure on our services: doctors, dentist, chemist, and so on. Yes, they could expand, but the car parks are at capacity as it is.
- There are far fewer buses serving the area than previously and if money is secured from developers for a bus stop, it will only be funded for 5 years and then we would have to revert to car use.
- We have now lost our final banking organisation within the village.
- There is one way in and one way out of Anstey (different to other service centres, where multiple exits exist). Anstey cannot cope with further development.
- Anstey is used to access other rural villages.
- Anstey is a village and is fast becoming an urban centre. Anstey residents wish the area to remain a village. Anstey is the gateway to Charnwood Forest and needs to retain its rural and village feel and not be subjected to unsustainable growth.
- We have the Ashton Green development being built out in the city and that will have a knock-on effect for traffic congestion (Cropston Road end again).
- Leicester City also have plans to develop just behind Thurcaston; this will have a major impact on Anstey.
Some of the above could be mitigated by opening up the existing A50 junction to allow another ‘in and out’ of Anstey. This could be a partial solution but would still push traffic to the junction of Bradgate Road/Groby Road, which is a blind junction. We believe the Local Plan as it stands and in relation to Anstey proposes unsustainable growth. We believe Anstey is full and cannot take the 900 plus houses proposed in this Local Plan.
We would urge all residents to respond to the Local Plan public consultation and share their thoughts and comments in response to what we believe to be unsustainable planned growth for Anstey. You can find out more about the consultation process and how to share your comments to the Planning Inspector online or offline here: https://bit.ly/3zjVS32. Please do take the time to read the Local Plan and to respond accordingly.
Cllr Paul Baines and Cllr Deborah Taylor
Ward Members for Anstey
Charnwood Borough Council
