THE PROPOSED ECO TOWN

Dear Editor,

Well done to John Mayberry who wrote a letter in the Oct/Nov Echo, regarding making Evington residents aware of the horrendous proposal planned on your doorstep.

 Should the Co-op's plan ever see the light of day and get final Government approval, God help us. The 15,000 new home and 14K workforce for the area will have a significant and detrimental effect on the village of Evington let alone all the other rural villages and hamlets that surround this particularly beautiful part of Leicestershire.

 Co-op Estates don't even show the village of Stoughton on their ‘masterplan', presumably because they know, like the rest of us, that this tranquil area will be swallowed up by this monumental development.

 For them to say that this plan will only have a ‘minimal impact on the roads' is fanciful in the extreme. They also know that neither they nor the Government can impose vehicle ownership on the new town dwellers. 15,000 new homes could easily produce another 20.000-30,000 additional vehicles!!

 Finally, one of the main tenets in the Government's Eco Town Prospectus states new settlements must be “separate and distinct from main urban areas”. This will not be the case at ‘Pennbury' as the city boundary will be a mere two miles away!!

 Might I suggest that Evington follows Thurnby, Bushby and Scraptoft in organising a similar Poll in order that local residents' views are known.

 Happy Christmas to you all.

 David Hankey

Old Evingtonian

Great Easton . (01536-770309)