The Town That Never Was

Eighteen months ago, this was the route of the A6 through Loughborough and the most polluted place in Leicestershire. So Charnwood Borough Council had this bright idea of re-routing the traffic and pedestrianising this end of the market place.

The council wants to build lots and lots of houses that many residents do not want. Especially those in outlying villages that are completely ignored by the council, such as my own village, Shepshed. There are no big shops in the centre, other than a Tesco which will likely be closed down under re-structuring plans. M&S is essentially a service centre. Lots of shops like Poundland.

The council seems to me to have no idea. It's never going to create a hub that will rival the centres at the apices of the triangle, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby - which have problems of their own.

So here it is, a big, empty space. With foreign students.