Member Grants
Time is running out for the Member Grants scheme which is run by Charnwood Borough Council every year. For the 2021/22 financial year, Paul and Deborah each have £500 to be used to support local projects that bring benefits to Anstey residents.
Organisations currently running projects with community benefit in Charnwood are invited to apply for a minimum of £250 per councillor, and up to a maximum of £500 per councillor, and applications may be made to more than one councillor. Funding can be provided towards community events, activities, equipment, and uniformed groups such as Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies.
Examples of eligible organisations include:
- Community Groups
- Charities
- Uniformed Groups (e.g., Scouts / Guides / Cubs / Brownies)
- Residents’ associations
- PFA/PTA groups (if they can demonstrate a wide community benefit and not for national curricula activities / items)
- Faith groups (if they can demonstrate a wide community benefit)
If you would like to apply for a member grant, please contact either Paul or Deborah in the first instance, to give you further guidance. There is £1,000 available for community groups in Anstey. For more information please visit: https://www.charnwood.gov.uk/pages/member_grants
If this money is not applied for and used by a local Anstey group, the money will be lost, and the funds will go back into the pot to use for grants for the wider communities in the Charnwood area. Let’s make sure we use our grant money locally for the benefit of Anstey residents. The deadline for applications is the 28th February 2022 so time is running out.
Post Office
We are aware that there are rumours circulating on social media and on Leicestershire Live, that the Anstey Post Office is closing in April 2022. We are very concerned as this Post Office is needed not just by Anstey residents but by many residents in the surrounding villages. We have therefore raised the matter directly with Post Office Counters in London and await their reply. As soon as we have a reply confirming the situation we will update our website, Facebook, Twitter and in our monthly reports here.
Loughborough Building Society
As residents in Anstey and the surrounding villages are aware the Nationwide Building Society closed its local branch in the Nook, Anstey on 31st March 2021. During that time, we had numerous email exchanges with the Nationwide and Zoom meetings with the Directors before the planned closure date, expressing our concerns, stating how this closure would affect our local residents. We also contacted the Daily Mail newspaper, who printed 2 articles on the planned closure and we also organised an online petition gathering over 660 signatures of support. Unfortunately, our residents’ concerns about the closure were not taken into consideration.
However, we are delighted to see that the Loughborough Building Society is coming to Anstey, and taking over the old Nationwide building in The Nook. This service is so needed by the residents of Anstey and our surrounding villages. We look forward to welcoming Loughborough Building Society to our village in the Spring. We would encourage local residents to make full use of the new branch (by opening a new account, or taking out a financial services product/service from them) when they arrive (so that they have a viable business) and we would like to wish them every success in their new venture in the village.
Barwood Homes
We were contacted by several residents regarding the boundaries on their new properties on the old Brookside Nursery site off Cropston Road. After a lot of investigation and email exchanges with Charnwood Borough Council’s (CBC) planning department, we have reached a conclusion. It has been confirmed that the boundaries of some of the houses on the development have not been built in the correct place. This has left some residents unable to access part of their land at the bottom of their gardens, due to the boundary fence being brought forward. Planning officers at CBC have advised that the developers, Barwood Homes, have agreed that they have not erected the boundaries in the correct place. We asked Barwood Homes to correct these errors but so far, they have not taken any action. CBC planners have decided not to take enforcement action against Barwood Homes, a decision that we do not agree with.
Therefore, we have requested that this decision is brought before the Plans Committee at CBC to ask the members to agree for CBC to take enforcement action against Barwood Homes. We think this error has a huge impact on those residents’ lives who bought the houses in good faith. We are also concerned over the longer term as we anticipate there will be issues over an area of land that nobody has access to.
We are hoping the Plans Committee will look at this application in February/March this year and we will be personally attending to make our voices heard and to support our residents.
Planning
We thought it would be useful to give an update about all the planning applications submitted or due to be submitted within Anstey. To say the village is being overwhelmed in our opinion is an understatement. When all the houses planned are added up, we have over 1,000 new houses proposed for the village, along with a new primary school.
We are both working hard to try and stop what we see as the over-development of our village, but we will need as much local support as possible, if you agree with our views. Many of the planning applications are in the very early stages and some have not even been officially submitted to CBC yet. We will continue to update you through our monthly reports, website, and social media as the plans progress. Once we have some more information, we will be able to advise what local support would be helpful for us to add as much weight as possible to our objections.
This is a list of the latest information regarding major planning applications (along with their reference numbers) we are aware of and can share with you:
Land South of Groby Road - Peartree
P/20/2252/2
120 houses
Davidsons
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Land North of Groby Road
P/20/2251/2
100 houses
Davidsons
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Gynsill Lane
P/21/0869/2
50 houses
David Granger
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Bradgate Road
P/21/2358/2
150 houses
William Davis
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Bradgate Road
P/21/2359/2
350 houses
William Davis
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Land South of Groby Road - Cemetery
200 houses
Davidsons
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These applications can be viewed on the CBC’s Planning Portal by entering the reference number: https://portal.charnwood.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorerAA/Home.aspx
Mayoral Update
The Mayor attended the Annual General Meeting of Citizens Advice Charnwood in December. They offer advice to residents on a wide array of problems including advice on debt and money problems, energy costs and supplier switching, scams, work and skills, and much more. They also offer a rewarding place to volunteer, if you wish to use your skills to support others. For more information, see: https://www.charnwoodcab.org.uk/
The Mayor also attended two of the winter graduation ceremonies at Loughborough University. It was great to see the graduands collect their certificates after several years of hard work in tough circumstances in what was a well organised and socially distanced event.
The Mayor hosted the Community Carol Service at All Saints Church, ably led by The Reverend Wendy Dalrymple, Rector and Chaplain to the Mayor, and he and the Mayoress both delivered a reading at the service. This was a really enjoyable event but, unfortunately, the public were only able to attend online rather than in person due to the Plan B restrictions. The recording has been released on YouTube here:
If you wish to donate to the Mayors‘ charities this year, please donate via the following webpages or email [email protected] for our bank details or for further guidance:
- Living Without Abuse: https://lwa.enthuse.com/pf/paul-baines
- Marie Curie: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/paul-baines9
