Dear Councillors of Leicester, Please Say NO to a new Road at the Full Council Debate on the 4th October

Dear Councillors of Leicester,

I am contacting you as one of your constituents to ask you to speak in favour of the removal of the Evesham Road/Aylestone Road link road from the Leicester Local Plan at the council debate to be held on 4th October 2018.

I go to Eversham Road every Tuesday for my violin lesson on Heyworth Road from Braunstone Frith. From there, I go to a community of repairers: The Leicester Hackspace in the Faircharm Industrial Estate to work on various projects to help people in Leicester to engage further with trying to repair items in their home. Over the summer, I went to the pebble pool on Aylestone Meadows with my nephews and greatly enjoyed it.

Recently, I was made aware that there is a plan to make a link between Evesham Road and Aylestone Road.  I was disappointed to hear so. The road will erase some of the historical and social fabric of the space people have been living in for decades. It will also impact tremendously on the natural environment surrounding it. I am thinking about Aylestone Meadows and the river corridor, but not only. What about air pollution which is recognised to kill people as they ingest fumes from cars? Did you know that there is St Mary Fields Primary school not far from where they are planning to build a road? What a poor example for children living in the area to see that their city favour cars over their health?

My main concern with this road stems from my experience living in Braunstone Frith where I can see the impact of social and economic deprivation. I believe that building a road does not solve this particular issue, it will induce more traffic for sure but will it really enhance the lives of people living where those cars are passing through?

Seeing cars every day before your eyes make one believe that having a car is the only way to make it in this life. It just increases the feeling of unworthiness when actually if we had better transport links and cycling routes around Leicester, people could feel more empowered to direct their lives. It will save them money and they will pay more attention to their direct environment. 

We shall also inspire them to create cultural, sport and artistic events in their local areas and/or create local businesses that benefit people living directly in their area. Instead of encouraging them to travel further and farther from where they live to create connections with work colleagues who have no clue about their living situation.

It is sad for me to think that some citizen in Leicester who tend to travel by car to go from their home to work do not realise the richness of their town (natural, historical, social and economic environment) as they are so siloed by their own personal goals. It is also sad that the council is perpetuating such a false concept by planning more roads. It is believed that building a road may improve citizen personal situation. Yet, it is not! because they become more isolated since they have no or little connection with people they work with and little connection with people they live with. 

For example, my husband travels by car every morning for 30minutes from our home to get to work. When he comes back, he has no energy to get involved in our local area. He has no connection with the people living here in Braunstone Frith and no connection with the people he works with. I am lucky to be able to work in Leicester for most of the week. I only go to Loughborough to work with the university there. Otherwise, I cycle, take the bus, walk and only when I need to transport big items do I use the car. I am richer because of it. I meet people in the local area, they recognise me, sometimes they approach me to ask me questions. I recently learnt about Braunstone Park Run. My husband lived in Braunstone Frith for the last 15 years, he had no idea. 

I can also see the opportunities that there is in the local area to create events or businesses. You would not have those ideas if you are always on the road and obviously if you do not have the time to educate yourself. Having to travel less definitely provide ones with more time to think about what they want and how to get there by collecting all the information they need. A road ultimately does not pass knowledge from one area to another if people have no connection with the people living next to them. In other words, it has very little economic value for people living there. Please read p.6. of the End of the Road Briefing on the Economics of New Road for more information.

I believe that we share a concern for people's health but also recognise the extent to which community events participate in strengthening the cultural and social fabric between the members of a community and this has economic value. It increases their loyalty to the area. And so I hope you will support my views by speaking out at the upcoming debate and help to get this plan off the map once and for all with a firm commitment by the council to consult with Leicester residents on what should be done with the land and property protected for possible road development.

Why do we want a firm commitment by the council to remove this plan from the map? It is because building this road has been a recurring plan in the past two decades. In the early 90s, The council tried to build in this area and was countered by a strong opposition. Last year 2017, the plan came up again.

You would argue that there is currently no official and formal plan by the council to build a road. However, I think that they do have an intention to build a road and this is considering that Cllr Adam Clarke signed of the funding bid for the opening of Putney Road and I will quote the council p.8 of the same document: "Leicester City Council is considering a future scheme whereby Evesham Road would be extended to provide a direct link (new vehicular bridge over River Soar and canal) between the A426 Aylestone Road and the A5460 Narborough Road and M1/J21. There are very few river crossings in the south of the city (namely Upperton Road and Middleton Street) and providing this link would free up those congested routes across the river. The Putney Road link would greatly enhance the viability of building the Evesham Road link."

Can you see where my concern is? There may be no official plan yet. But for me the ''intention'' is alarming and so everytime a consultation will be put forward, this recurring plan will come back to haunt Leicester constituents.

What I would really love to see is for the council to share and make the same commitment of its constituents in Aylestone and across its various wards and areas to promote and protect their green environment, considering them as lungs of the city.

Lungs are the most important part of the human body and we say that smoking kills, remember cars' moke do kill people too and so the Lungs of Leicester - its Green areas - are worth protecting from harm.

It is with this official commitment by the council to protect this area that our efforts in reaching out to you and other councillors will be rewarded.

We should work to encourage people to use their car less and not the contrary.

I will appreciate that you take my concern into considerations and share with your fellow councillors the opportunities that can be created in protecting what we have so dear.

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