Chance to have your say on huge plans
the construction of an A46 expressway, looping around Leicester and linking the M69 with the M1.
This coupled with widening of the A5 - planned for 2020-21 - is seen a crucial to the future success of the city of Leicester and the wider county.
Talking about the A46 expressway, the SGP consultation draft says: “Together with the proposals to create an expressway along the A5, the combination of new and improved roads and railways in this area creates the opportunity for major development along a corridor extending from the M69 to the north-eastern fringes of Leicester.
“The proposed new road is of national and regional significance but it also provides the opportunity for strategic development in Leicester and Leicestershire. We estimate that this corridor has the potential to accommodate about 40,000 new homes and additional new jobs.”
However, such a mammoth scheme, with the new road and associated commercial infrastructure practically urbanising the border lands between Hinckley and Bosworth and Blaby, is already causing controversy - particularly since it aligns with the proposed rail freight hub.
Borough and county councillor David Bill said: “With the launch of the SGP I really would like people in this area to get engaged and make their views known. We are being asked to approve all these plans but we are not being given any indication of the impact on our local roads of the proposed expressway on this area. From speaking to Highways England I gather that they have not yet given it any thought.
“In addition I have the gravest concerns about the 750 acre freight depot which is going to fill in most of the countryside and farmland between Burbage, Sapcote and Stoney Stanton without anyone in the vicinity being consulted.
“Thanks to the article which appeared in the Hinckley Times just before Christmas I have been contacted by a number of concerned residents who I now advise to make their views known through the consultation process which has at last now got under way. I would also very much like to hear what people think. I am on d.bill@ ntlworld.com or 07779345437.”
Cllr Bill and Burbage Parish Council representative Paul Williams will be on hand to hear people’s views on the SGP and the freight hub at the public event on Thursday January 18 at Burbage Millennium Hall which runs from 1.30pm to 5pm.
Other civic representatives have also called for residents to air their opinions but have hinted without the framework of the A46 growth corridor, the borough could be at the mercy of developers in the future building wherever they wished.
Conservative council leader Mike Hall said: “I hope local residents will take the opportunity to get involved in this process. Perhaps the most significant of the high level proposals in the SGP is the need for a major new road to the south and east of Leicester, connecting to a new M1 junction. Without this road Hinckley and Bosworth could be the target for significant extra housing growth after 2026 - which is the end date of our current plans.
“Although the strategic plan would take many years before it was implemented I would like to see if there is local support for the scheme at these early stages.
“With the Local Plan I am particularly keen to hear residents’ views on how we decide locations for our future growth in new homes. We are including options that will give residents the opportunity to seek local development where it will protect or improve local services, such as retaining local pubs and shops, or providing new local schools.
“The option to build new villages to meet our housing needs is also a possibility, and would offer an alternative to the seemingly endless expansion of our main urban areas. My aim is to have a local plan which protects the nature and character of existing communities, while providing new homes where