On Saturday afternoon I was exploring Aylestone Meadows - I recommend the teashop at King's Lock.
Today comes news from the Leicester Mercury that the incurably Philistine Leicester City Council:
wants to build an AstroTurf sports pitch complete with a clubhouse and parking on Aylestone Meadows, in Braunstone Lane East.
The area is a haven for wildlife, including otters, badgers, herons, kingfishers, bats and grass snakes, which conservationists say will be killed off if the proposals are given the green light.
2 comments:
Once again Leicester City Council are wearing both the developer's and local planning authority's hat so they will probably bend the rules like crazy on this.
If it were a private company they'd never let it happen.
Aylestone meadows is a fantastic spear of green that reaches right into the heart of the city.
At the moment the council seems to be spewing out a whole raft of stupid ideas. Can't help thinking they're enjoying winding up the populace.
Big demo against the proposed demolition of the Bowstring Bridge this coming Saturday (12th) at 1pm on Bede Park - spread the word:
http://www.leicestercivicsociety.org.uk/event.asp?item=37
Aylestone Meadows is a beautiful spot on my doorstep with lots of wildlife. The public fields and the commercial farmland cover a huge area, plus there is a further adjacent area of land formerly owned by British Gas that is not officially accessible to the public and acts as a massive nature reserve.
The Meadows already host a number of sporting organisations, so is there room for another one? Possibly yes, dependent on size and the impact on land dwelling animals that need to cross Braunstone Lane East.
Most of the Meadows are just fields. It would be difficult to defend the destruction of a coppice for recreational sports, but there is a lot of space there. With sympathetic design and a bit of planning gain, sports and wildlife and recreational walkers could be accommodated. As always, I would be concerned that any development does not reduce the ability of the Meadows to act as a rainfall sponge.
I'm amazed that anyone cares about wildlife on Aylestone Meadows. Surely the panther ate it all years ago? ;-)
Best wishes to the Bowstring Bridge campaigners.
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