Pennbury, Leicestershire
Encyclopedia
Pennbury is the working name given to a proposed eco-town
of 15,000 to 20,000 new homes intended to be built on Leicester Airport
near Stoughton
. The location is between the existing villages of Oadby
, Great Glen
and Houghton on the Hill
in the English county of Leicestershire
. The eco-town would lie on the south-eastern outskirts of the city of Leicester
(4 miles from the centre) and west of the town of Market Harborough
. The site is in the Harborough
district council area and straddles the Harborough parliamentary constituency
where the MP is Edward Garnier
and the Rutland and Melton parliamentary constituency where the MP is Alan Duncan
.
The proposal has been submitted by the Co-operative Group and English Partnerships
and has aroused local opposition on many grounds including destruction of the countryside and the traffic it will generate. The southern and eastern parts of Leicester already suffer from traffic congestion as there is no proper southern nor eastern bypass. The site is linked to the city by the Roman Gartree Road. The break in the nominated Ring Road occurs at the junction of Goodwood Road and Spencefield Lane. From this point the extrapolated line of the major road crosses into farmland, across Stoughton Lane and points across the centre of the eco-town site towards the new oversized roundabout at the end of the Great Glen bypass in Oadby. No denial has been forthcoming from Co-operative Group that this potentially heavily-loaded and entirely new route into Leicester is a coincidence.
The eco-town site is located well away from any of the four railway lines into Leicester. Historically there were stations on the Midland Railway
line at Great Glen and Kibworth Beauchamp. The sites of these abandoned stations are further from the site of the town than their names imply, because the railway line runs beyond the villages on this stretch and any Park and Ride
service would need to pass through one or other of the villages to reach a station were either of them to be re-opened.
This is not the first time that Co-operative Group has attempted to develop Leicester Airport. This once abandoned Second World War Aerodrome
(it was previously known as RAF Leicester East
, then Stoughton Aerodrome) is currently leased to Leicestershire Aero Club, but the farmland between the runways has been allowed to run down for more than 20 years while the owners tried repeatedly to find a way to re-develop it. There was, in the late 1980s, a proposal for Stretton Magna which was abandoned in 1991 under heavy local opposition from a group with over 3,000 members calling itself CASM (Campaign Against Stretton Magna). More recently an alternative proposal was made, at a meeting in June 2006 with Harborough District Council, for a so called "Sustainable Urban Extension"; this was then dropped in favour of the eco-town scheme.
Principal opposition to the proposed eco-town location has been co-ordinated by the Campaign Against the Stoughton Co-op Eco-Town (CASCET). This campaign group is chaired by Dr Kevin Feltham, the Leicestershire County Councillor for Great Glen and the Kibworths (Gartree Division), and vice-chairman is Simon Galton, the Leicestershire County Councillor for Stoughton, Thurnby & Bushby, Scraptoft and Houghton-on-the-Hill (Launde Division). The Committee consists of representatives from the adjoining parish councils, district councillors and experts in various fields - law, environment, property and public relations. Media appearances and articles have ensured the campaign is well supported with petitions of almost 15,000 signatures being handed in to Number 10 Downing Street on 16 July 2009.
Great Stretton is a deserted village
of which little remains apart from the church which is in the middle of a field. No mention has been made by the developers of the need to protect this archaeological site.
On 29 January 2008 Edward Garnier spoke to the adjournment in parliament and was supported by other local MPs from both sides of the house in expression of their concerns about the secrecy evident in the process of shortlisting.
On 3 April, 2008, it was announced
that the Pennbury proposal was one of fifteen sites shortlisted by Communities and Local Government (CLG) for the next phase of public consultations.
CLG's consultation paper on the shortlisted sites reports that the site would "create a largely freestanding community, but linked to Leicester" and accommodate 12,000 to 15,000 homes in a development of 750 hectares.
On 22 April, 2008 the Co-op opened an information and comment site for the proposal, which states on the Transport page that "The recent 6C's congestion study has shown that congestion in the south east quadrant of Leicester, adjacent to where the eco-town is to be located, is no worse than congestion elsewhere around Leicester city. However, there will be a need to increase the capacity of the network to facilitate journeys to and from the eco-town, particularly by public transport. The transport strategy for the eco-town will ensure that the necessary investment is made and that the infrastructure is designed to ease the journeys in this quadrant and even increase the level of sustainable travel by those living outside the town itself." The downloadable map that is referenced and the inset map in the report both show the break in the Ring Road
in the quadrant rather than comparable figures as suggested above.
On 16 July, 2009 Housing Minister John Healey announced approval of four of the short-listed eco-town proposals. Pennbury was not among them.
Eco-towns (UK)
Eco-towns are a government-sponsored programme of new towns to be built in England, which are intended to achieve exemplary standards of sustainability.In 2007, the...
of 15,000 to 20,000 new homes intended to be built on Leicester Airport
Leicester Airport
Leicester Airport is a small aerodrome in Stoughton, Leicestershire, east southeast of Leicester. It was previously known as Stoughton Aerodrome...
near Stoughton
Stoughton, Leicestershire
Stoughton is a small village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire.It is just east of Leicester, and sits in countryside between two protusions of the Leicester urban area . The closest part of the city of Leicester is Evington...
. The location is between the existing villages of Oadby
Oadby
Oadby is a town within the borough of Oadby and Wigston, in Leicestershire, England. It is to the east of Wigston Magna, and to the southeast of Leicester. Oadby forms part of the Leicester Urban Area, and is situated on the A6 road....
, Great Glen
Great Glen, Leicestershire
Great Glen , also known as Glen Magna, is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, about seven miles south-east of Leicester. Its name comes from the original Iron Age settlers who used the Celtic word glennos meaning valley, and comes from the fact that Great Glen lies in part of the...
and Houghton on the Hill
Houghton on the Hill
Houghton on the Hill is a village lying six miles to the east of Leicester in the East Midlands in England.An entry for Houghton on the Hill is recorded in the Domesday Book....
in the English county of Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. The eco-town would lie on the south-eastern outskirts of the city of Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
(4 miles from the centre) and west of the town of Market Harborough
Market Harborough
Market Harborough is a market town within the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England.It has a population of 20,785 and is the administrative headquarters of Harborough District Council. It sits on the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire border...
. The site is in the Harborough
Harborough
Harborough is a local government district of Leicestershire, England, named after its main town, Market Harborough. Covering , the District is by far the largest of the eight district authorities in Leicestershire and covers almost a quarter of the County....
district council area and straddles the Harborough parliamentary constituency
Harborough (UK Parliament constituency)
Harborough is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
where the MP is Edward Garnier
Edward Garnier
Edward Henry Garnier, QC, MP is a barrister and Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. A former Guardian Newspaper lawyer he is on the socially liberal wing of his party and has been the Member of Parliament for Harborough in Leicestershire since 1992...
and the Rutland and Melton parliamentary constituency where the MP is Alan Duncan
Alan Duncan
Alan James Carter Duncan is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton, and a Minister of State in the Department for International Development....
.
The proposal has been submitted by the Co-operative Group and English Partnerships
English Partnerships
English Partnerships was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by Regional Development Agencies on a regional level...
and has aroused local opposition on many grounds including destruction of the countryside and the traffic it will generate. The southern and eastern parts of Leicester already suffer from traffic congestion as there is no proper southern nor eastern bypass. The site is linked to the city by the Roman Gartree Road. The break in the nominated Ring Road occurs at the junction of Goodwood Road and Spencefield Lane. From this point the extrapolated line of the major road crosses into farmland, across Stoughton Lane and points across the centre of the eco-town site towards the new oversized roundabout at the end of the Great Glen bypass in Oadby. No denial has been forthcoming from Co-operative Group that this potentially heavily-loaded and entirely new route into Leicester is a coincidence.
The eco-town site is located well away from any of the four railway lines into Leicester. Historically there were stations on the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
line at Great Glen and Kibworth Beauchamp. The sites of these abandoned stations are further from the site of the town than their names imply, because the railway line runs beyond the villages on this stretch and any Park and Ride
Park and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
service would need to pass through one or other of the villages to reach a station were either of them to be re-opened.
This is not the first time that Co-operative Group has attempted to develop Leicester Airport. This once abandoned Second World War Aerodrome
Aerodrome
An aerodrome, airdrome or airfield is a term for any location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve cargo, passengers or neither...
(it was previously known as RAF Leicester East
RAF Leicester East
Royal Air Force Station Leicester East, more commonly known as RAF Leicester East, , was a Royal Air Force airbase, near the village of Stoughton, east southeast of Leicester, Leicestershire...
, then Stoughton Aerodrome) is currently leased to Leicestershire Aero Club, but the farmland between the runways has been allowed to run down for more than 20 years while the owners tried repeatedly to find a way to re-develop it. There was, in the late 1980s, a proposal for Stretton Magna which was abandoned in 1991 under heavy local opposition from a group with over 3,000 members calling itself CASM (Campaign Against Stretton Magna). More recently an alternative proposal was made, at a meeting in June 2006 with Harborough District Council, for a so called "Sustainable Urban Extension"; this was then dropped in favour of the eco-town scheme.
Principal opposition to the proposed eco-town location has been co-ordinated by the Campaign Against the Stoughton Co-op Eco-Town (CASCET). This campaign group is chaired by Dr Kevin Feltham, the Leicestershire County Councillor for Great Glen and the Kibworths (Gartree Division), and vice-chairman is Simon Galton, the Leicestershire County Councillor for Stoughton, Thurnby & Bushby, Scraptoft and Houghton-on-the-Hill (Launde Division). The Committee consists of representatives from the adjoining parish councils, district councillors and experts in various fields - law, environment, property and public relations. Media appearances and articles have ensured the campaign is well supported with petitions of almost 15,000 signatures being handed in to Number 10 Downing Street on 16 July 2009.
Great Stretton is a deserted village
Deserted medieval village
In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more...
of which little remains apart from the church which is in the middle of a field. No mention has been made by the developers of the need to protect this archaeological site.
On 29 January 2008 Edward Garnier spoke to the adjournment in parliament and was supported by other local MPs from both sides of the house in expression of their concerns about the secrecy evident in the process of shortlisting.
On 3 April, 2008, it was announced
that the Pennbury proposal was one of fifteen sites shortlisted by Communities and Local Government (CLG) for the next phase of public consultations.
CLG's consultation paper on the shortlisted sites reports that the site would "create a largely freestanding community, but linked to Leicester" and accommodate 12,000 to 15,000 homes in a development of 750 hectares.
On 22 April, 2008 the Co-op opened an information and comment site for the proposal, which states on the Transport page that "The recent 6C's congestion study has shown that congestion in the south east quadrant of Leicester, adjacent to where the eco-town is to be located, is no worse than congestion elsewhere around Leicester city. However, there will be a need to increase the capacity of the network to facilitate journeys to and from the eco-town, particularly by public transport. The transport strategy for the eco-town will ensure that the necessary investment is made and that the infrastructure is designed to ease the journeys in this quadrant and even increase the level of sustainable travel by those living outside the town itself." The downloadable map that is referenced and the inset map in the report both show the break in the Ring Road
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
in the quadrant rather than comparable figures as suggested above.
On 16 July, 2009 Housing Minister John Healey announced approval of four of the short-listed eco-town proposals. Pennbury was not among them.