Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Services

Presented by the Regeneration and Planning Portfolio Holder

Having declared a pecuniary interest, Councillors R Blunt, J G Coxon and T J Pendleton left the meeting prior to consideration of the subsequent item and took no part in the discussion or voting thereon.

Councillor A V Smith presented the report to members on behalf of Councillor T J Pendleton.  She made reference to the current consultation on the proposed changes to the HS2 route in the district.  She reminded members that the Council had previously resolved the object to the route in 2014 on the basis that the district would be negatively impacted without any real gain.  She advised that it was now suggested that the Council should no longer object outright to the project, but instead offer qualified support recognising the significant economical potential generated by the HS2 project.  She outlined the potential benefits including better journey times allowing for much improved business and employment links between towns and cities, increased capacity on the existing network leading to improved train services, opportunities for more economic development, particularly around East Midlands Airport and opportunities to develop improved transport networks linked to HS2 hubs.  She emphasised however that concerns remained, which were set out clearly in the documents appended to the report.  She summarised the concerns as follows:

The logic of no longer proposing a tunnel under East Midlands Airport was acknowledged, however Kegworth would need to be compensated for the lack of recreation space and the delivery of the Kegworth bypass should not be put at risk.

The lack of a station in the district was disappointing and an opportunity had been missed to link closer to East Midlands Airport or the Parkway station.

The proposed route change to run the line to the east of Measham would have a severe detrimental impact upon the villages of Appleby, Measham and Packington and a route should be sought which protected important jobs within the district but avoided the negative impacts of the eastern route around Measham.

Councillor A V Smith commented that whatever route was eventually decided upon, HS2 was coming to the district and the Council had an important role to play in supporting communities and businesses affected by the proposals.  She reiterated the importance of making the most of the benefits that HS2 would bring to the district, but also ensuring that HS2 heard the voice of our communities.

Councillor S Sheahan proposed an amendment to the motion which was circulated at the meeting.  He stated that since the Council published its report a lot of people had written in and some of them were present at the meeting.  He added that much of what they had written was informative and well written.  He stated that the amendment sought to ensure the Council could give the strongest possible response to HS2.  He made reference to a piece of work which had been undertaken in respect of employment which he felt should be included and some figures released by Leicestershire County Council in respect of the number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52