SPECIAL PARISH PUBLIC MEETING 8.00PM THURSDAY 8TH JANUARY

Published by Groby Parish Council on 30th December 2008.


Gypsy/Traveller Transit Site For Groby?

A Special Parish Public Meeting for residents of the Parish of Groby will be held at 8.OOpm on Thursday 8th January 2009 in the Groby Community College Drama Studio.
(The Rt. Hon. Stephen Dorrell Member of Parliament for Charnwood will attend).

Please arrive early to be sure of admission as capacity may be restricted for public safety reasons.

On Friday 28th November 2008 the Leicester Mercury published an article featuring details from a Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council (HBBC) “confidential” recommended site allocations report that had been “leaked” to them. Their report referred to Sacheverell Way, Groby as having been identified as the Borough Council’s recommended “preferred option” for a “Gypsy and Traveller Transit Site” with 10 pitches for up to 50 caravans;

• In response to the Leicester Mercury story the Parish Council Chairman called an urgent Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the Council; The meeting took place on Friday 5th December. Groby residents made their feelings very clear about the “leaked” recommended proposal which had been developed in private by HBBC officials. Parish Councillors were equally concerned as the Parish Council had only relatively recently incurred a significant expense in the successful legal representation to the Public Inquiry into the planning application it had opposed for a permanent traveller site at the Kiondike, close to Groby Pool;

• Two senior planning officers from HBBC attended the Parish Council EGM and attempted to reassure residents that no final decision had yet been made and that this would not happen before the Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council meeting to be held on 20th January 2009, after which there would be a 6 week period of public consultation;

• Do you feel that it is right or proper that elected Councillors should be asked to make decisions based solely on the recommendations of unelected officials (decisions that could lead to a long term negative impact on our community) without any reference to any input from or consultation with the community affected?

• For clarity, once the decision has been taken by HBBC, there has been no provision made for the Council to review its’ decision in the light of the outcome of any subsequent Public Consultation exercise. Surely, logic dictates that the time to influence the decision making process is before a decision is made. Having to try and change a decision after it has been made has severe disadvantages!

• Groby Parish Council resolved the following:
(1) to engage the services of a specialist planning lawyer (the same lawyer who successfully represented the Council at the Kiondike Public Inquiry) to represent the interests of our community;

(2) to arraflge a public meeting at the largest available venue in Groby to provide the opportunity for Groby residents to express their opinions or voice concerns about the Borough Council’s recommended “preferred option “; and,

(3) to dedicate a section on the Groby Parish Council website to provide relevant information and updates and distribute a “Community Newsletter” informing Groby households of this issue.

• Since then, due to the refusal of HBBC of a request to reveal exact details of the Sacheverell Way recommended “preferred option” in order to address the anger and anxiety felt by the community, naturally there has been a great deal of speculation leading to incorrect conclusions having been drawn. Hopefully, the Special Parish meeting and a release of accurate information from HBBC will help to address this.