Parish Council Latest News

Community Transport

A taxi services is available to Lutterworth , free to those with travel concessions. To book ring 01455 554368.

Also, a community bus runs between Cotesbach and Lutterworth on certain days. It also offers rides to Fosse Park at certain times. To contact them please ring 01455 555571 or e mail admin@luttct.com

Community Support

Forging Futures, located at High Point on Market Street, Lutterworth, is a day support provision for adults of all ages with learning disabilities.

The centre will open on Friday 2nd February 2024 from 9am to 3pm and will be open every Friday. Forging Futures will make links with local education providers offering opportunities for supported work experience internships for young people with additional needs.

Forging Futures’ mission is to provide a safe, nurturing and engaging environment for adults with additional needs and to promote independence, social connections and improve quality of life.

The Forge Cafe, located on the ground floor, is also open

New Parish Councillors

5 positions on the Parish Council have been filled after the election on 4th May 2023.

Your New Councillors are:

Edmund Hunt

Gavin Bennett

Rob Morris

Annie Newton

Margaret Wild

September 2021

Over the summer we have been talking to Shawell Parish about a proposals for the quarry and landfill land to become further industrialised with warehousing and offices. We will be agreeing Cotesbach Parish Council’s position on these possible plans at the PC meeting on 14th September, 19:30 and the village hall.

See a summary of the plans here – they include warehousing / office buildings parallel to the A426, including a new roundabout for entry.

Proposed plans from tarmac for industrial site on quarry and landfill land to be developed over the next few years

December 2020

  • Submit your objection here to Tile Factory operations extension on the quarry site
  • See Shawell Parish’s one pager document for more information

November 2020

  • A few volunteers helped clear the pond a few days ago and it’s looking great, thanks!
  • We also submitted a grant to Leicestershire Council to make some further pond improvements, so fingers crossed we’ll get that.
  • The grant is to support our recently developed Pond Management plan which you can download here. Get in touch if you want to help keep the pond running to this plan!

October 2020

  • Leicestershire County Council planning committee agreed to refuse the waste processing plant application near the quarry on the grounds that it would not be helping reduce local waste going to landfill.
  • The council also heard the concerns from residents about smells, flies, noise and traffic, contributing to its refusal. Councillor Blake Pain from the council wanted the applicant to know that the council will be paying close attention to any operations they decide to re-start at the site according to its existing planning approval.
  • Well done to lots of hard work from Shawell Parish to achieve this – it was great to have worked with them on this campaign.
  • At an extraordinary parish council meeting (see here for minutes) it was agreed to object to the recent planning application for a solar farm near to Cotesbach (20/01289/FUL) on the basis that it does have a detrimental impact on our local footpaths and adds to the cumulative affect of large industrial development nearby. We have been in discussion with the developer about additional improvements they can make to the application, and to confirm receipt of a community fund should the application go ahead. A copy of the letter can be seen here and residents are encouraged to submit their own comments on the Harborough District Council planning website.

June 2020

  • Covid-19 seems to have been an excuse for developers to sneakily submit some major planning applications. An important one is a proposal to re-open the waste sorting facility at the landfill:
    • Trebling the volume of waste to be sorted compared to t.previous operations
    • . king waste from all over the country
    • Sorting it 24/7 to make biomass fuel and recycle some plastics
    • Operating at least 100 HGV movements a day around the Gibbet roundabout
  • The Parish Council, with a vote from villagers in an extraordinary PC meeting (via Zoom!), agreed to object to this application and will be working with Shawell Parish on our objections.
  • Villagers need to object by 30th June to make Leicestershire County Council, who will decide on this application, aware of our concerns.
  • Go to a special website Shawell have created here to find out more and help with your objection. It will take just 10 minutes.

May 2020

  • The Parish Council held their Annual Parish Council meeting and Parish Council meeting on 12th May via Skype which worked well.
  • See draft minutes and the Chairman’s annual report from the past year’s activities on the minutes page here

March 2020

  • Cotesbach Village Emergency Plan has been refreshed, and in light of Coronavirus we have started to roll out some actions before the Plan is formally adopted at the next Council meeting.
  • Click here to see the Plan and your area Street Warden should be getting to know you.
The Emergency Plan Street Wardens and their respective areas

January 2020

  • We welcomed a new Councillor, Charlie Farley, to the Parish Council.
  • Cllr Tom Haywood decided to hang up his Councillor boots after almost 10 years. Many thanks to Tom for his hard work over the years.
  • See a new Funding and Grants section on the Parish Council website to explain more about the Eight Parishes Community Interest Company and the grants you can apply for.
  • We also have a new Policies section that outlines the rules we keep running the Council to, as expected by Harborough District Council.
  • The next council meeting will be on 12th May.

December 2019

  • We are still looking to increase the number of Councillors as we only just scrape by with 3
  • If you are interested in becoming one, have a look at this brief document to explain it a little bit more and email us to register your interest, find out more or just say hi!

August 2019

  • We have recruited for our Parish Clerk! Welcome Patricia Nunn who will help keep us to task and ensure we are running the Council correctly.
  • Our first Parish Council meeting with Patricia will be the 24th September, 19:30 at the Village Hall.

May 2019

  • We are starting to recruit for the Parish Clerk position. See the recruitment pack and job description here.
  • The Parish Council held their Annual Meeting on 13th May, 19:30 at the village hall.  See the agenda here and approved minutes from the previous meeting in January here.  All welcome to attend.  Draft minutes of the meeting to follow shortly.
  • The pond was cleared on 19th May – it looks great and look out for more improvements to come. Contact the council if you want to get more involved in the pond!
Great pond clear effort! Thanks everybody!
 

April 2019

  • We are recruiting for a Parish Council Clerk!  If you are interested in helping to keep Cotesbach a great place to live for a couple of hours a week…and get paid for it, get in touch!
  • We are ideally looking for people with some experience in being a Parish Council clerk but are interested in anybody interested who can help organise the council and keep on top of increasingly important compliance requirements.
  • Email us to find out more, and full job description to follow shortly.

January 2019

  • The Parish Council met on the 14th January.  See the agenda here.  Minutes will be available once approved.
  • At the meeting, residents and the council agreed to increase the precept to approximately £30 per year for a Band D household with the aim of hiring a clerk to ensure the council is compliant and has the administrative support to carry out the council’s activities.
  • See a one page explainer of the precept increase here and more information will follow.
  • Approved minutes of the 5th November meeting here and 3rd December here.

December 2018

  • Following the meeting in November, the Parish Council met in December to discuss increasing the precept for the financial year 2019/2020.  The Council agreed to propose an increase of approximately £20 per year to primarily cover the costs of employing a clerk and provide budget for further investment in the Parish Council duties.  The final decision will be made during a public meeting in January.
  • Minutes of the meeting will be available once approved at the Council’s January meeting.
  • The Parish Council distributed leaflets and wrote an article in the Cotesbach Communicator to inform the village of the

November 2018

  • The Parish Council held it’s meeting on Monday 5th November.  The agenda is here and minutes will be uploaded once approved at the January meeting.

October 2018

  • Many thanks to the Parish Councillors and residents who helped clear the Village Pond on 7th October.  We’ll do it again in the Spring so will let you know when we need help!

Before and after

September 2018

  • The Parish Council meeting was held on 24th September after the original meeting on 3rd September was not quorate due to last minute councillor unavailability.  The minutes of the meeting are here.

July 2018

  • On 3rd July it was confirmed that Symmetry Park, the development nearest Cotesbach for 3 million square feet of warehousing, is not going to be called in by the Secretary of State.  Therefore it is now approved in outline and we await the full application with more detail on warehousing sizes and colours etc.  At the same time, Magna Park owners Gazeley submitted an appeal against the full council decision to refuse Magna Park North.  More detail on Magna Park is Big Enough website.

May 2018

  • The Parish Council held its AGM on 14th May.  See the Chairman’s annual report, minutes and finance cashbook for 2017/2018 here.

January 2018

  • Gazeley’s Magna Park North application was REFUSED by full council on 10th January!  Cotesbach worked hard with Magna Park is Big Enough to achieve this so great news! More on the Magna Park is Big Enough website.
  • Parish Council meeting to be held on Monday 5th February, 19:30 at the village all.  All welcome.  See Agenda here.

December 2017

  • One of the Magna Park applications will be reconsidered by the full Harborough District Council, now on 10th January at 18:30 at the Bruntingthorpe Hangar 42. More information available at the Magna Park is Big Enough website.  We would encourage people to come along to show the councillors the continued public objection!
  • There is a Parish Councillor vacancy available! The council is particularly interested from people who may be interested in taking on Clerk responsibilities.  Contact the council to find out more

November 2017

  • On 23rd November, Harborough District Council disappointingly approved both applications to double the size of Magna Park.  Cotesbach Parish Council worked hard together with the Magna Park is Big Enough group to campaign against these applications.  The Parish Council’s attention is likely to now be on the full application for Symmetry Park which most closely affects Cotesbach.  More news to follow.
  • Parish Council meeting to be held on Monday 7th November, 19:30 at the village all.  All welcome.  See Agenda here.

September 2017

  • Harborough District Council have released a new Local Plan to the public for consultation
  • The Local Plan will contain key policies to be used for the delivery of “sustainable development” up until at least 2031
  • It includes specific policies for the expansion of Magna Park and allocation of over 2,000 houses to the East of Lutterworth
  • Residents are encouraged to respond by the 3rd November so the Government Inspector can understand any concerns local residents have
  • Cotesbach Parish Council objects strongly to the proposed growth of Magna Park based on the impact on infrastructure and no expected benefit to our village
  • The Parish Council recognises the need for significant number of new houses, seeing the benefit in the “Lutterworth by-pass” but does not believe the Local Plan is ensuring the by-pass is built early enough
  • More information available in this presentation from an event in early October
  • See also the Magna Park is Big Enough website for more details on how to respond

August 2017

  • Don’t forget the Eight Parishes Community Interest Fund is always open to applications for grant funding from residents
  • Money is available to support projects or activities that focus on a benefit to the local community that will primarily be based on amenities, facilities and assets for the village.
  • See more information here and download the application form