Village unable to cope with all housing development
I HAVE been a resident of Sileby for 70 years and over the past 5/7 years have witnessed the over development of what is essentially a rural historic village and infrastructure.
To date 445 new homes in the village (390 dwellings plus club house and football pitches along the Seagrave Road alone), with absolutely no improved infrastructure provision. •
The village now has a population of well over 9,000 and has long outgrown its ancient infrastructure.
The fact that it has been given ‘service centre’ status, there is a railway station and some shops, does not change the infrastructure of the village and its inability to cope with existing levels of traffic.
The potential for a further 195 dwellings on such rural and productive agricultural land to the east of Seagrave Road not only further erodes the beauty and ‘quality of life’ benefits of the countryside between Sileby and Seagrave, but seems incomprehensible given the village’s infrastructure which is incapable of being modified at traffic ‘pinch points’.
Absolutely no credibility is given to the local community’s first-hand experience of living and travelling in the area with a blatant disregard for the concerns and difficulties of local residents.
The sheer volume of traffic travelling on such historic narrow roads and junctions with little or no visibility, heavy goods vehicles, attempting to navigate and manoeuvre in the village with no monitoring, signage or £500 fines imposed (not consistent with the policy in Barrow-upon-Soar), high levels of on road parking on eight of the key Sileby roads reducing traffic flow to single file, all have a severe detrimental impact on the well being of the local community.
Surely in such a vast area as Charnwood, intellect must dictate that there are more appropriate and infrastructure-capable locations for both brown and green field development!!!
Pavement bollards along narrow roads and tight junctions have been requested to protect pedestrians on certain footpaths but residents have been told that the footpath ‘is too narrow’!!!
At last - some spatial awareness, but what about the many roads in and around Sileby that are also too narrow?
Compounding the obvious health and safety issues, heavily laden lorries along such narrow, ill-equipped roads is a potential factor in building structure sub- sidence.
Flooding in the Soar Valley are intermittent events but their impact on residents’ ability to travel to and from the village is immeasurable with, on occasions, traffic having to converge on just two of the passable village entry and exit routes.
Long delays and heightened road safety issues are an unacceptable norm in such circumstances.
Please save our countryside and the welfare and sanity of our road users! Richard Burton, Sileby