Housing Policy in Ashby de la Zouch

Local member and former Branch Chairman, David Price, is supporting Ashby de la Zouch Civic Society and other local community groups in raising a petition against housing proposals for the town contained in North West Leicestershire District Council's recently published 'Core Strategy'.

Whereas previous attempts at determining a planning strategy had seen Ashby's housing allocation whittled down to about 700 new homes - on top of schemes that already have planning permission - the latest strategy has virtually doubled that allocation, with other schemes lurking in the background as well. Some 500 homes are now earmarked for a greenfield location north of the town, for example, that had previously been overwhelmingly rejected for development when David had been chairman of the A511 Bypass action group - even though the developer had offered to fund the bypass if their scheme had been approved.

"It is absolutely clear from the public's response to this petition that people are totally fed up with seeing Ashby's historic identity as a small market town being swamped by new suburbs. Any thoughts the Tory-run Council had that their plans might slip through without protest are going to be blown out of the water."