Tuesday Evening Planning Meeting at the District Council

Late Tuesday afternoon, I spoke in the district council chamber in support of the planning application to rebuild and expand the Belvoir centre. This was undoubtedly the most important planning application affecting our major conurbation of Coalville for many decades. Provided that the development proceeds in a reasonable timeframe this application will shape the future of the centre of Coalville for the next twenty-five years plus, play an integral part in the Conservative controlled councils plans to regenerate Coalville and also provide 1100 much needed new jobs in the very heart of the town Coalville.

The ambitious plans provide for a new superstore, numerous shops, bars and restaurants, also a six screen cinema and a multi-story car park accessed by a new bridge and traffic island at the junction of Whitwick Road, High Street and Hotel Street. I am pleased to report that the application was passed with all party support.

I would like to compliment Councillor Matthew Blain and the all the planning team at the council involved in the work required to bring this most important application to the planning committee. The fact that the Conservative controlled council have been able to attract developer willing to invest in Huge projects such as these in the teeth of the deepest recession for sixty years is a testament to their hard work, professionalism and dedication to the cause of improving the quality of life for our residents in Coalville.

The Belvoir centre application can proceed alongside the redevelopment of the Ford garage site and the North side of Hotel Street which was passed by the planning committee in the Autumn. For those who were disappointed by the refusal several months ago of the so called ' Asda application' please bear in mind that under Labour Government rules had this been approved then the Belvoir centre project would not had been able to be given permission as the maximum amount of retail space permitted in the town would have been reached.

Coalville has suffered more than its far share of disappointments over the years, as I left the chamber the representative of the developers thanked me for speaking in support of the application, I replied ' please now deliver the project and regeneration that Coalville so desperately needs, He replied 'We will '.

I am sure that we all look forward to ' Cranes over Coalville' in the near future.

Following the planning meeting I travelled across to Ashby to join our canvassing teams for the rest of the evening. I had a couple of interesting conversations on the doorsteps with some of our younger voters, more about this later.