News
News
Parish Council MP Forum – 15th March 2025
On 15th March 2025, Merle Joyce – Chairman and myself will be attending the first MP Parish Council forum meeting being held by Peter Bedford MP.
The Parish Council forum is being presented as an opportunity for Parish Councillors to meet collectively and raise any specific issues that they have with their Member of Parliament.
We naturally want to be able to represent you in the best possible way and we therefore need you to send us the issues or matters that are important to you as a community and that you would wish us to raise with Peter as your elected Member of Parliament.
We will collate the responses we get back and will try to get as many put forward to Peter at the meeting. If we are unable to table every issue on the day we will write to Peter directly for his action / comment and provide feedback.
Please send me details of the issues you wish us to raise directly with Peter on the day via the email address detailed below. (do not put comments on the Facebook group, they will not be picked up)
I look forward to hearing from you
Phil Tenwick – Vice Chairman.
Lagan Homes – Planning Application Objection Forms
The number of objection letters to the outline planning application by Lagan Homes ref 24/00914/OUT is disappointingly low with just over 500 letters received. This appears to be due to a number of factors, 1. confusion over the letters already written, 2. People are just really busy and 3. Letter writing is a thing of the past.
We know you all care about the village and the detrimental impact this housing plan will have on our village, infrastructure and and community so we have devised an objection form to make the task of objecting quicker and easier.
A form will be delivered to every house in Ratby w/c 27th January 2025, all you have to do is fill the form header in with your name, address, date and signature. Then simply read and tick the relevant reasons for objection that matter to you, and enter your personal comments on th reverse side of the form.
Completed forms csn be dropped in to the Parish Office 13 Station Road Ratby, as well as the Post office and library. We will submit your objections to Hinckley & Bosworth on your behalf.
We do not know when the last date for us to be able to submit objections is so please do not delay to get the forms filled in and submitted, it i likely we do not have much time left and we need far many more objections to have any chance of blocking this application.
Additional forms can be picked up from the Parish Office, Post Office and Library, they can also be downloaded here on the website. They are available in both word and pdf formats.
Residents can also send objections direct by downloading the form or scanning the letter and sending it by email to alex.jelley@hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk
Or you can post your letter direct to Alex Jelley, Planning Policy, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, Hinckley Hub, Rugby Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire, LE10 0FR.
If you need help or have any questions, please get in touch via the Rise for Ratby website www.riseforratby.org.uk and please do not forget to register at the foot of the home page, you will receive regular updates and news direct to your email.
Thank you all in advance.
Wildlife in Ratby – Nature Spot
Wildlife in Ratby
Ratby residents will be aware of the wonderful countryside in the parish but may not realise its importance for the county’s wildlife. The combined woodlands of Martinshaw, Burroughs, Pear Tree and others give Ratby the largest area of continuous woodland cover in Leicestershire.
The Rothley Brook and its associated flood plain is a vital wildlife corridor. Historic hedgerows, ancient woodland, flower-rich meadow grassland, ponds and even gardens all help support a rich biodiversity. Indeed, Ratby has the second largest number of species of any parish in Leicestershire, with 2,329 different plants, animals and fungi recorded so far – with more being regularly added.
Local charity NatureSpot is based in Ratby and its award-winning website is all about the wildlife and wild places of Leicestershire and Rutland. As well as comprehensive image galleries, distribution maps and species descriptions, it also has feature pages about the wildlife of both parishes and individual sites.
You can view the Ratby parish page at www.naturespot.org/parish/ratby.
Here you can see a list of all the wildlife so far recorded in the parish together with the latest sightings and images, plus a links to many specific sites of wildlife interest around the village. NatureSpot also encourages the public to submit records of any wildlife sighting they make as part of its citizen science work.
Any records received from Ratby are automatically added to the parish page and help to build up our knowledge of local wildlife and ecology. The more data we have, the more importance can be given to the area.
If you’d like to help, just register on the NatureSpot website and use the Submit Records link. The on-line form makes it easy to submit a record and there is lots of help available. You can also get help identifying any wildlife species – just post an image on the ‘ID Help’ forum.