Archive for year: 2022

WHETSTONE WILL FIGHT THE LOSS OF PART OF ONE OF ITS MUCH-LOVED GREEN OPEN SPACES

Whetstone Parish Council is committed to protecting its green open spaces and its much-loved play areas. Trinity Road Park sits in the heart of the old village, and is bordered by a variety of residential homes, and St Peter’s church (photo enclosed). It is used by parishioners as part of daily village life, for exercise, for walking their dogs, and for playing. It is also used as a route from the Parish Council owned Car Park to St. Peters Primary School and to the village Cemetery. There are villagers who happily remember playing games with their friends when they were children,  as decades later, they now walk through the park to meet friends, with their children and grandchildren doing the same and following in their footsteps.

Blaby District Council (BDC), as current owners of Trinity Road Park,  which sits alongside the Grade 1 listed St. Peters Church, agreed last year, to sell part of the park the land to East Midlands Homes (EMH) for the purpose of building 8 houses.  The park in its entirety, since 2012 has been leased to the Parish Council who maintain the park. Approval was subject to other planning applications also being sought and approved. This included the Car Park that sits off the Balk, next to the Glenfield Methodist Church on  Station Road.

When this matter came to light last year, the Parish Council spent pubic money in getting professional advice for land values, but on that advice,  made an offer to BDC for £1, which is a nominal value attached to any area of public open space. This was not accepted at the time. It was still hoped that common sense would prevail and that no application would be forthcoming.

It was again hoped that development on Trinity Road Park would never come about, as EMH already had approval in the village, supported by the Parish Council, to building 78 dwellings on the Whittle Estate in Whetstone. The loss of valuable green public open space and the above approvals, together with a  further 49 dwellings now approved for the Venture group in Whetstone, again on the Whittle estate brown field site, is felt that Whetstone has taken it fair share of affordable / social housing across the Blaby District.

The Parish Council have now received a planning application from Blaby District seeking full planning permission for  Erection of 8 no. dwellings with access from High Street and on-site parking together with associated works including landscaping.

It has always been the belief and opinion of the Parish Council and indeed the village, that this has been used as a single open space since when the land was owned by the Church. In the move to sell off and build on part of the park, BDC defined the land as “underutilised” due to it not have play equipment on it. This is simply not the case.

The Parish Council have never been opposed to the building of affordable housing, and has seen several plots built within the village in the past with the Parish Council supporting and even encouraging development on former brownfield sites in the village. Many became eyesores and the old GEC buildings, the old Wheatsheaf Public House and the old Electroform site on the High Street are examples of this. With the 127 approved affordable dwellings listed above, Whetstone has already provided more affordable homes than required within Blaby District. Already 137 homes out a district wide pipeline of 749 are approved and under construction in Whetstone. This is simply overbearing development for affordable provision.

The Vice Chairman of the Parish Council, Mark Jackson will be asking for the help and support of the village. “Now the application is validated by BDC as the planning authority, we will  object to the application based on solid planning reasons, and we will start a campaign aimed at highlighting this unnecessary and unwelcomed loss of valuable open space. We hope the whole village of Whetstone will join us.”

Contact: Mark Jackson – Vice Chairman
Mobile 07443 475676
Email –

Trinity Road Park alongside St Peters Church