Housing, Planning and the Environment

Is it likely that any young or elderly member of your household will need a separate home in Newtown Linford in the next 5-10 years.

A village appraisal offers the perfect opportunity to look at things as they are now and question whether or not and indeed how they may be improved. The opinion of residents is the deciding factor.

Newtown Linford has no designated starter homes, nor does it have sheltered accommodation for the elderly or disabled. Although this does not mean that there is a real requirement, 26 young people and 10 elderly residents indicated that they would like the option of a separate home within Newtown Linford in the next 5-10 years.

Would you consent to new social, sheltered housing, or starter homes being built outside the village's present built up area?

There was a strong feeling against starter homes but 48% of respondents would accept the provision of a small housing development for elderly and/or disabled residents. Development outside the village confines did not find any supporters. The great majority of residents would like the village to stay as it is without any further building development.

There is already a great awareness by most parishioners that the character of the village should be preserved and that planning applications should be viewed with that in mind. Almost all respondents felt that a design statement is essential in order to safeguard this aim.

Would you like to see more traffic calming measures in the village? Would you be prepared to contribute financially to achieve this?

At present there are various speed limits in existence: 30 mph in the village centre, 40 mph on some approaches and 60 mph on de-restricted roads. In order to achieve greater road safety, many people believe alternatives should be considered. The majority of residents want lower speed limits (i.e 30 mph throughout the built-up parts of the village with ideally, 20 mph alongside the park entrance and by the Primary School). The preferred method to control speed is speed cameras, but quite a lot of residents would like to see additional traffic calming measures (preferably not chicanes), particularly coming down Sharpley Hill and Bradgate Road.

Most people were not prepared to contribute separately to extra traffic calming, being of the opinion that they were already paying enough Council tax.

Are there any areas of the village that could be made more attractive?

We all want to live in an attractive community and the Parish Council has made strides towards that by introducing hanging baskets and flower troughs in the busiest parts of the village, but there are other ways of improving the visual amenities of the community and parishioners have their own thoughts as to how this can be achieved. Most people felt that the village is pretty enough, but there were suggestions for more hanging baskets and flower containers, more bulbs and wild flowers, tree planting on verges, which would also stop verge parking, improving the appearance around the River Lyn at the bottom of Markfield Lane and making the exterior of the Village Hall and the area in front of it more attractive.

Have you any particular concerns regarding maintenance of the local environment, such as draining, property flooding, tree/grass cutting, cleanliness etc?

The general maintenance of the village bought many responses, some of which were already voiced in the issue of making the village more attractive – for instance, the appearance of the brook area at the bottom of Markfield Lane and that of the verges. A need was expressed for improvement of the playing field behind Grey Crescent (which is mentioned elsewhere in this document). Attention was drawn to different parts of the village suffering from flooding during rainy periods. Suggestions to remedy this situation were offered: clearing culverts on a regular basis, introduction of land drains on Jelson’s fields and additional gullies. Cleaning, particularly leaves in the Autumn, and maintenance of pavements was considered unsatisfactory,as was the frequency of emptying litter bins.

Would you like to see more footpaths and bridleways and should they be better maintained?

Most people are happy with the number of public footpaths and bridleways in and around the village, but there does appear to be a need for a proper footway and cycle way from the top of Groby Lane, past the cemetery and all the way to Groby. Maintenance of footpaths and bridleways brought a request for cutting back hedges and overgrown foliage to give clearer walking space. Dog and horse fouling should be controlled by notices and greater responsibility shown by those owners/riders.

Many residents feel that there should be much better maintenance of pavements and owners of adjacent properties should be encouraged to cut their hedges and keep branches above head height.

Recommendations

- Parish Council to consider providing more hanging baskets and troughs and planting of bulbs and wild flowers.

- Charnwood B.C/Parish Council to investigate improvements to the brook area of Markfield Lane.

- County Council/Parish Council to consider planting trees and shrubs on verges.

- Parish Council/Village Hall committee to improve Village Hall building and green area at front with flower boxes and trees.

- County Council (Social Services) to consider provision of sheltered accommodation.

- Parish Council/County Council/Police to consider the speed limits and additional traffic calming measures.

- County Council/Charnwood B.C to improve maintenance of footways/pavements.

- County Council/Parish Council to consider issues relating to footpaths, pavements, bridleways and cycleways.

- Charnwood B.C/Parish Council to investigate by-laws re dog-fouling.

- Charnwood B.C/Parish Council to prepare a Village Design statement.