- Pylons, masts, antennae and other structures in the countryside
- Allotments
- Can We Exist Sustainably?
- Clutter Challenge - Part One
- Eco-towns - here's what started the ball rolling
- Landscape Character Assessment
- Leicestershire Housing Issues
- New Quarry at Bardon
- No Realistic Controls Over Environmental Blighting by Airport's Activities
- Opencast coal-mining in NW Leicestershire
- Renewable energy resources... what are the alternatives?
- The adverse health impacts of 'community' noise
- Wind turbines in Leicestershire
About Us
Sponsor Leicestershire CPRE
As a registered charities we are increasingly finding ourselves in a position where it is difficult to undertake tasks to conserve the countryside, even though our planning volunteers are unpaid, working on an expenses-only basis. Even then, some volunteers forego claiming some expenses. However, this is not a position we can sustain for very much longer. If you, as a local business or branch of a larger corporate concern with low environmental impacts, would consider sponsoring Leicestershire Branch of CPRE please do get in touch with us.
Volunteers Needed Urgently
Our small active band of planning and other Branch volunteers would welcome others on board with open arms. You don't have to be a planning expert so don't let that put you off, unless of course you are a retired planning professional looking to give Leicestershire CPRE some of your time! You can help to support Leicestershire CPRE in a variety of ways, such as helping to run our stall at village fetes, organising anti-litter education programmes in your parish, taking minutes of meetings, or organising countryside walks under the banner of CPRE. If you've any ideas of your own which will contribute to the success of Leicestershire CPRE, we'd love to hear from you.
Our Mission
CPRE is a voice for everyone who wants to save our Leicestershire countryside. We believe that thoughtful planning is vital to the future of the countryside. We will continue our increasingly successful influence on national, regional and local planning policies. We want to see the countryside protected and enhanced, while the City and towns become more attractive places to live.
You may also find this link to the East Midlands Regional Group useful: www.cpreeastmidlands.org.uk
Who are we?
We are all unpaid volunteers. That is, no charge, no remuneration - it's all free! Having said that how can we afford to run our organisation? The answer is that we are a charity - there are no posh offices from which we run our County Branch. We are supported entirely by donations, bequests and perhaps most important of all, membership fees.
We are frequently approached by people who are very concerned about what's happening to the way our countryside is being used. We don't mind giving out information or pointers enabling the resolution of planning problems, except perhaps when that knowledge is used to establish an independent action group. While many action groups do good work it's all too easy as beginners to make mistakes while negotiating the complex planning and legislative minefield. Such mistakes can discredit performance at planning meetings, public inquiries and consultations. Planning isn't everyone's cup of tea and its certainly not bedtime reading! By joining CPRE you become another set of eyes and ears across our county which we need now more than at any other time. We also have the benefit of professional experts at our London HQ to prevail upon when things get tricky. Our experts in London also routinely lobby Parliament.
If you are interested in our work and wish to become a member please contact us - you may qualify for a reduced membership fee. On the other hand you may wish to support our work in other ways. Thank you.
What's special about Leicestershire?
Leicestershire is one of the smallest counties in England. Throughout most of the county the landscape is characterised by rolling farmland dotted with Jacobean and Georgian country houses and a regular patchwork of fields bounded by hawthorn hedgerows. In contrast Charnwood Forest, in the northwest, is notable for its rugged beauty, with outcrops of ancient rocks and expanses of heath land and historic woodlands.
Can we exist sustainably?
This question really begs another, which is 'what are the alternatives?' That is, how can we derive the energy we need other than from fossil carbon-based fuels? When the pros and cons are weighed up in a fair and sensible manner, the answer is that we cannot possibly carry on relying on fossil fuels, unless we are hell bent on pressing our self-destruct button. The father of the the study of 'greenhouse gas' atmospheric heating was Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius, who published his findings about atmospheric carbon dioxide and heating potential in the late C19th. It wasn't until the 1960s that much attention was paid to atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change. Since then an enormous amount of professionally refereed research has taken place into climate change and its contributory causes. Although carbon dioxide fluxes have taken place in the Earth's geologic past, the current rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has an undeniable anthropogenic fingerprint. However, this is not the forum to examine the evidence in detail or to match opinions against scientific evidence - we'll leave the latter to climate change deniers such as Lord Lawson of Blaby and Bjorn Lomborg.
Further Information
Further information regarding the Leicestershire CPRE can be found at The Beehive.
Leicestershire CPRE Campaigns and Development Officer
I've been appointed for one year until March 2009, as Campaigns and Development Officer for CPRE Leicester. I'm very excited about the opportunity to work on an issue which is very close to my heart. My background is in the non-governmental sector, with work at Refugee Action, voluntary work with Amnesty International and a short time volunteering overseas. I enjoy walking; camping and youth hostelling in the English countryside and it's the things I've learned on these excursions which make me so enthusiastic about working for CPRE.
We have some beautiful rural areas in Leicestershire, but if we are to protect them we need more members and volunteers. CPRE acknowledges that the countryside needs to be a working, sustainable place. It's not an option to simply preserve the countryside as it is; we must engage with the local, national and international issues which have an effect in rural Leicestershire to ensure that developments are appropriate. To do so, we need an enthusiastic and active membership.
My main aims for the year are to recruit a Chairman and Secretary for the Branch Committee; to work with existing District Groups to develop them further and to establish District Groups where there is currently no coverage, the priority districts being Harborough and North-West Leicestershire.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in joining a District Group or if you have any ideas for CPRE Leicestershire.
Lisa Michael
Email: lisam@cpre.org.uk
Lisa Michael running the CPRE stall at the Stoughton Village Show (May 10th 2008)