Stadon Road Bus Stop
You may have noticed that the new bus shelter has been erected at the Stadon Road bus stop. The team at the highways department at County Hall will now carry out the final stage road safety audit and then the project will be complete.
Biodiversity Net Gain
What is Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)? BNG is a way of creating and improving natural habitats. BNG will make sure development has a measurably positive impact (‘net gain’) on biodiversity, compared to what was there before development.
In England, BNG is becoming mandatory under Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021).
Developers must deliver a BNG of 10%. This means a development will result in more or better quality natural habitat than there was before development. For the purposes of BNG, biodiversity is measured in standardised biodiversity units. Biodiversity units can be lost through development or generated through work to create and enhance habitats.
A habitat will contain a number of biodiversity units, depending on things like its:
- size
- quality
- location
- type.
There is a statutory (official) biodiversity metric, which is a way of measuring:
- how many units a habitat contains before development
- how many units are needed to replace the units of habitat lost and to achieve 10% BNG.
Through site selection and layout, developers should avoid or reduce any negative impact on biodiversity. They must deliver 10% BNG, as measured by the statutory biodiversity metric.
There are 3 ways a developer can achieve 10% BNG:
- They can enhance and restore biodiversity on-site
- If developers can only achieve part of their BNG on-site, they can deliver through a mixture of on-site and off-site. Developers can either make off-site biodiversity gains on their own land outside the development site, or buy off-site biodiversity units on the market.
- If developers cannot achieve on-site or off-site BNG, they must buy statutory biodiversity credits from the government. This must be a last resort. The government will use the revenue to invest in habitat creation in England.
More Information on this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-biodiversity-net-gain
Council Meeting
At the council meeting held on 15th January, a motion was put forward by the Labour/Green Coalition to award themselves huge pay increases. The Conservative Group put forward an amendment to try and stop these above inflation increases from being approved. We were delighted that our amendment was approved. This will ensure that more money will be used for frontline services and not paying the Labour/Green Coalition more in allowances.
Here is a copy of our press release:
Charnwood Local Plan 2021-37 Examination
The public hearing sessions by the Planning Inspectorate are due to start again.
Following the hearing sessions last year, there was further consultation carried out. Following the closure of that consulation, the Planning Inspectors decided that there was a need for further hearing sessions in public.
These hearing sessions re-open on Tuesday 20th February 2024. Deborah will be attending to speak on behalf of Anstey residents.
The issues to be discussed are shown below and you can access all the information at the website here: https://www.charnwood.gov.uk/pages/examination
Residents can also attend the hearing sessions but will not be able to speak.
Budget
Charnwood Borough Council’s draft budget was considered by the Cabinet on Thursday 8th February 2024.
The proposed budget includes the creation of a £100,000 grants pot to support community groups who help residents struggling with the cost of living and freezing the cost of the garden waste service.
The budget also contains a proposal to increase the Charnwood element of Council tax by 8p a week for the average Band D property in the borough.
The proposed Council Tax increase would see the annual charge for the Charnwood element of an average Band D property rise by £4.21 over 12 months (three per cent) from 1st April 1 2024.
This proposed budget will now go forward to the council meeting on 26th February 2024 for a vote.
Farmers And Craft Market
Food and drink producers and handmade craft traders are being invited to join a monthly market in Loughborough. Charnwood Borough Council, which operates the historic Loughborough Market, runs a Farmers and Craft Market in the town centre on the second Wednesday of every month.
It aims to offer visitors the opportunity to browse a range of locally sourced produce and handmade crafts.
The Council is looking to re-energise and kick start Loughborough’s series of specialist monthly markets to support small businesses and bring more variety to the town centre for local people and visitors.
To help grow the Farmers and Craft Market, the Council is offering pitches free of charge to new traders for a limited period of time.
New traders can take advantage of the offer until Wednesday April 10, 2024.
Businesses looking to join the specialist market can find out more about becoming a trader and booking a free pitch at www.charnwood.gov.uk/markets
If you have any issues or concerns, we are here to help.
