Long Whatton and Diseworth
HS2. Representations from Diseworth and Long Whatton will be considered by a working group set up to assess the impact of the highspeed HS2 railway development.
An HS2 Working Party has been set up by Leicestershire County Council and it includes members from the County Council, North West Leicestershire District Council, local Parish Councils and Community Groups within the local area likely to be affected by HS2.
There are four geographic areas, and Diseworth and Long Whatton are in Group Two along with Breedon, Worthington, Isley Cum Langley, Staunton Harold and Belton.
The areas of impact to be discussed by the group include public rights of way, traffic management, community impacts and severance, contract behaviour and mitigation and restoration after construction.
Villagers are invited to make any comments on the project to the local parish council at parish council@ wdpc.org.uk
LOTTO FUNDING. Funding from the National Lottery may enable trustees to re-open Diseworth Heritage Centre in 2021 after flooding and the Covid-19 lockdown closed the Centre.
Problems started with serious flooding which occurred in November 2019. A team of volunteers packed up documents, photographs and artefacts, flood precautions were put into practice and the Centre carried on.
Flooding returned in February 2020. The water rose in a little brook which runs alongside the centre, covering the churchyard and then entering the Heritage Centre.
Dehumidifiers were used and more precautions taken but it soon became clear that the floor in the main hall was soaked and required removal. Again, a team of volunteers helped to take up the floor while enquiries were made for advice and support.
The centre managed to continue on a smaller scale with regular groups continuing their meetings. When the floorboards began to buckle in the coffee bar in the centre, volunteers lifted them, and then repaired and replaced the boards.
Enquiries for costing the replacement of the whole floor indicated the immensity of the task and the cost.
When lockdown came in mid-March, all activities at the centre closed. But the building continued to be aired, mopped down and dried.
After three months the centre had a Covid-19 risk test Abd failed in a number of ways, the most important being that the computer suite which had been in weekly use for a computer club for ten years could no longer carry on, as the room was upstairs with only one entrance and the close proximity of members and computers.
Without the pandemic, organisers say the Centre “could have limped along attempting to raise sufficient funds for the repairs but the future looked gloomy.”
At this point the National Lottery Heritage Fund listened to the Centre’s request for funding and awarded a grant of £28,300 to restore the centre and enable re-opening.
A conservation builder has been appointed and plans are being made to restore all the contents of the Centre off-site. An electrician is to re-wire the ground floor of the Centre and all Covid precautions with relevant training will be put in place.
Officials at the Heritage Centre have expressed their thanks to all Lottery players, as their purchase of tickets supports local Heritage projects like the centre at Diseworth.
It is hoped that finishing touches will be put to the Centre by December and that, dependent on the Covid situation, it may re-open in January.
The next task facing the volunteers is the construction of a listed boundary wall to ensure future flooding is contained.