Those of you who have registered as an Interested Party with the Planning Inspectorate for the application regarding the proposed Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange should have now received an invitation to the Preliminary Meeting which is to be held on 12th September.
It's important to note that this upcoming meeting is not an opportunity for Interested Party's to share their views on the application, but actually a discussion on how the consultation should work. There will be further meetings for residents to engage in that focus on the substance of the proposal and their views.
In this vein, I wanted to share with you that I have already raised my concerns about the process.
I have written to the Planning Inspectorate regarding the choice of venue for this meeting. There are many local venues, both in our area and in the South Leicestershire constituency (where the Hinckley NRFI is proposed to be located) which would have been suitable and, most importantly, easier for residents and Interested Parties to attend, than the Leicester Tigers Conference and Events Venue.
While there is the option to join the meeting online, it is not always easy to contribute effectively to this type of meeting when joining remotely. I have asked for reasons as to why this venue was selected and requested that future meetings be held locally.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to share with you that, due to the event being held on a Tuesday, I will not be able to attend. This is another complaint I and my colleague Alberto Costa MP have raised. I am required to be in Parliament that day to sit on a Bill Committee, through which MPs scrutinise legislation before it is written into law. Members of my team will be attending in my place to ensure our community is represented, and I have asked the Planning Inspectorate to consider holding future meetings on a Friday so that the Members of Parliament for the affected areas (myself and Alberto Costa, the MP for South Leicestershire) are able to attend and represent our constituents.
You can read the letter in the attached file.
