Nearly 40,000 sign petitions against city expansion

Conservative MPs have collected nearly 40,000 signatures on petitions opposing plans to expand Leicester's political boundary.

The government has announced a major redrawing of local authority boundaries, which will see the city extended into areas currently served by neighbouring councils from 2028.

Leicestershire Tory MPs Alberto Costa, Neil O'Brien, Peter Bedford and Alicia Kearns said they planned to hand their petitions in at 10 Downing Street on 14 September.

Labour Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, who proposed an expanded Leicester, described the petitions as an "empty political gesture".

Under the process, called local government reorganisation (LGR), the 10 existing councils serving Leicestershire and Rutland will be dissolved and replaced with two new authorities.

An enlarged Leicester Council would incorporate areas like Oadby, Wigston, Blaby, Syston and Birstall which are currently outside the existing city boundary.

The rest of Leicestershire and Rutland would be served by a single unitary council.

The MPs said their petitions demonstrated "overwhelming" public opposition to city expansion.

They said affected residents were concerned their towns and villages would be "swallowed up" by the growing city in a move designed to provide Leicester with more land for houses to be built

Mid Leicestershire MP Peter Bedford said more than 9,500 people had signed his petition.

"There is real anger and concern about this," he said. "Residents have been very clear they do not want this to happen.

"We are telling the government they must rethink this."

More than 15,000 people have signed a petition collected by South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa.

He said: "Thousands of people across South Leicestershire and the wider county have made their views clear. They do not want their towns and villages absorbed into an expanded Leicester city against their wishes."

Similar petitions collected by Harborough MP Neil O'Brien and Rutland and Stamford MP Alicia Kearns have attracted more than 14,000 names.

The government has been accused of ignoring the result of its own consultation on the changes, which showed 87% of some 6,600 responses opposed city expansion.

A government spokesperson said: "Local government reorganisation in Leicestershire will put one council in charge of decisions in their area.

"This will speed up the construction of new homes and infrastructure, improve public services and boost regional growth to put more money in people's pockets."

Soulsby told the BBC: "The government has been through all the proper processes and came to the clear and obvious outcome."

"Opponents of the outcome know this and they also know that petitions, or threats of legal action, are empty political gestures."

The mayor has argued the communities that will fall within the enlarged city authority are already effectively part of Leicester.

He said it would provide space for the city's estimated future housing need of 30,000 new homes by 2046.

The city council has also calculated the move would allow £46m of annual efficiency savings for councils across Leicestershire by reducing duplication of services, saving back office costs and allowing the money to be redirected to front-line services.

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