Petitions opposing city expansion handed to No 10

Petitions opposing plans to extend Leicester's political boundary have been handed in to Downing Street.

Conservative MPs collected more than 40,000 names of people objecting to the government's plans for a major redrawing of local authority boundaries which would see the city extended into areas currently served by neighbouring councils.

MPs, council leaders, and campaigners travelled to Westminster on Monday to urge Prime Minister Andy Burnham to abandon the process, known as local government reorganisation (LGR).

The move comes after the LGR process was put on pause earlier this month so a legal review could be carried out.

The government has been contacted for comment.

Leicestershire Tory MPs Alberto Costa, Neil O'Brien, Peter Bedford and Alicia Kearns launched the petitions and were joined by colleagues Luke Evans and Ed Argar as well as campaigners from affected towns and villages.

Labour Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, who proposed an expanded Leicester, previously described the petitions as an "empty political gesture".

Under the plan, the 10 existing councils serving Leicestershire and Rutland will be dissolved and replaced with two new authorities.

An enlarged Leicester Council would incorporate areas like Oadby, Wigston, Blaby, Syston and Birstall which are currently outside the existing city boundary.

The rest of Leicestershire and Rutland would be served by a single unitary council.

Hinckley and Bosworth Tory MP Evans said the petitions were "an extraordinary demonstration of public concern".

He said the government's approach had been rushed, confused and badly handled.

He accused ministers of ignoring the result of their consultation on the changes, which showed 87% of some 6,600 responses opposed city expansion.

"Time and again local people raised legitimate concerns, only to feel those concerns were being ignored," Evans added.

"Now ministers have been forced to stop and reconsider the very decisions they were insisting only weeks ago were correct.

"While the government's pause is welcome, this is not the end of the matter.

"The review must be meaningful. Ministers must publish the evidence, explain the financial case, learn the lessons from this chaos and genuinely listen to the communities affected."

South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa said: "The MPs and council leaders present today are united against these plans. We will keep working together to fight for our residents, until city expansion is taken off the table.

A government spokesperson previously said: "Local government reorganisation in Leicestershire will put one council in charge of decisions in their area.

"This will speed up the construction of new homes and infrastructure, improve public services and boost regional growth to put more money in people's pockets."

Soulsby previously told the BBC he believed the city expansion would be delayed, but that it would still happen.

The mayor has argued the communities that will fall within the enlarged city authority are already effectively part of Leicester.

He said it would provide space for the city's estimated future housing need of 30,000 new homes by 2046.

The city council has also calculated the move would allow £46m of annual efficiency savings for councils across Leicestershire by reducing duplication of services, saving back office costs and allowing the money to be redirected to frontline services.

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