Forthcoming Events at Little Markfield Farm Message from Dr Luke Evans MP

Homemakers inability to produce an upto-date Local Plan (which determines housebuilding in our area) has meant that hard working groups across our area, from Burbage and Stoke Golding to right here in Markfield, are finding their Neighbourhood Plans are being ridden roughshod over. As a result, I have asked the Secretary of State – Michael Gove – to call this in. If he chooses to do this, it would mean the planning inspectorate and he could review the decision.

LOCAL PLANNING is one of the issues that people across our area contact me most frequently about. It’s perhaps most frustrating, because as your MP I have no power over local planning. That’s down to the Borough Council. Yet an application has been raised with me that needs addressing; the recently appealed development for 93 houses on Ashby Road. A group of residents across Markfield have worked incredibly hard to draw up a Neighbourhood Plan which delivers a framework for future house-building for local people, by local people. This development goes against a democratic referendum, taken as part of a Neighbourhood Plan.

May 10th

COLIN KING - TALK TRADITIONAL FOLK TALES FROM WARWICKSHIRE, LEICESTERSHIRE & FURTHER AFIELD

June 14th

PETER COOMBS - TALK ANTIQUES FROM THE BOTTOM OF A BOX.

Aug 9th

SKITTLES

Sep 13th

LEICESTERSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE - FIRE SAFETY

Oct 11th

IAN MABER - TALK AND QUIZ THINGAMEBOB

The application, immediately adjacent to the village, has been granted by the neighbouring authority in Charnwood, despite Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council refusing consent due to the development being contrary to the Neighbourhood Plan.

Down in Parliament I have been calling for stronger protections for Neighbourhood Plans as Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s

On a more positive note, I’d like to share news with you that access to fast, reliable gigabit-capable broadband across Bosworth has increased exponentially in the last four years. In January 2019 only 0.2% of households and businesses in our area had access to faster broadband… this now stands at 67.4%!

Improving broadband locally has been really important for me as your MP and I am pleased to see such progress. We’re a rural area and poor connectivity has blighted residents for many years, so this is huge news for families and businesses across our community!

I am keen to seek out houses and businesses who have struggled, and have been pleased to help hundreds of local homes, from Burbage and Stoke Golding to Far Coton and Osbaston, get connected to superfast broadband after their areas were left behind.

If any Markfield residents are still suffering from poor broadband, please contact me on luke.evans.mp@parliament. uk and I will work with BT Openreach to find a solution.

Recording animal and plant life in burial grounds

CARING for God’s Acre is the conservation charity for Burial Grounds across the UK.

Because burial grounds have been a dedicated green space for years, sometimes centuries, their plant and animal life is often rich and diverse. We are encouraging visitors to burial grounds to record species that they encounter and these records can then be added to a database which will be accessible by all and will build into a picture of what has been seen, when and how frequently.

Anyone can make a recording by noting down some details – all records are useful, even of common plants, grasses, birds or other wildlife as they help to monitor the rise or decline of species over a period of years. Making a record is simple, there are just four things to make note of:

Who – the recorder’s full name

What – the common (or scientific) name of the species you round – eg. swift, ladybird, daisy… Where -the name, address and/or grid reference for the site you visited

When – include the day, month and year We encourage most recorders to submit their records using the iNaturalist app. The app can help with species identification, the process is more userfriendly and you can get all the work done out in the field rather than typing up at home afterwards.

You need to join the Beautiful Burial Grounds activity before submitting records and all of this can be done within the app.

The records must be verified by an expert before they can be submitted to the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas.

The speed of this process depends on availability of expert verifiers and varies according to species group and geographic location. Please visit the Burial Grounds Portal on the NBN to see if there are already records for your site!