Leicester - The Real story

Today on Remembrance Day 11th November 2019, St. Matthews Estate is having almost every bush and small tree removed under a 'tidy-up blitz'. We are being subject to this 'blitz' over the next six weeks, and I dread to think how bad things will be by then.  St Matthews lies between 3 major roads and has a problem specifically identified in the LCC AQAP (Air Quality Action Plan) as having high levels of NO2 from this traffic.  This Mayor's initiative has been undertaken with no local consultation and has just been imposed on us by the same people who have been building illegal car parking (no existing planning permission for Kashmir Rd) on the estate. I wonder if there is some collusion between the contractors and the Mayors office. Spending £330,000 on 24 spaces seems to have been a way of funneling money to the Council Highways dept. (and it was only 1 of 3 car parks) Surely it cant cost over £10,000 per space to convert what was already a temporary car park in...

I would like to extend condolences to the victims of the fire in Grenfell Tower and hope that some positive change will come about. The health and safety of people living on council estates is more important then purely aesthetic measures designed to put money in the hands of greedy subcontractors.  Spraying dangerous chemicals on wildflowers from quad bikes falls into this category.  As does the cutting down of trees and the building of car parks instead. The people of St  Matthews want a greener and cleaner environment. Unfortunately our tenants association which has no public forum has failed to represent the people of the estate in this matter. Our tenants association has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on unregulated car parking at the expense of our small number of trees. They haven't even had planning permission to do this.  I personally like to see weeds and wildflowers growing on the concrete and the aesthetic taste that wants us to live in an arch...

The first question I have is about planning permissions. Let me illustrate. This sign needed planning permission. This carpark didn't. Which one had the biggest effect on local people and their built environment? The same road had two other car parks built on it that also had no planning permission. Check planning applications for Manitoba Rd, St Matthews  here  . These car parks were paid for with money made available to the local tenants association to meet the most pressing demands of their constituency and to improve life on the estate. Remember over half of the population on the estate are children who have no say in the shaping of the environment they are to grow up in.  Let me remind you  Manitoba Rd in 2008 and 2016  It doesn't take a genius to work out which is the best for children, a few trees or a carpark! I will be asking Ms Jean Williams, the Chair of St Matthews Tenants Association how she can justify...