Dear supporters

The campaign is moving into top gear now with major events planned for the May bank holiday weekend. Please support these events - we really need to show the media that we have loads of support. I have attached posters giving more details of both events, so please print them out, put them in your offices, noticeboards, tell your friends, email your friends etc. We will have media attention at both events, but the Saturday walks and rally promise to be fascinating and educational, so please support us. Edward Garnier, one of the local MPs supporting our campaign, will be speaking at both events.

Since last weekend, there has been considerable exposure of the eco-towns nonsense in the Daily Telegraph who are running a series now on the various locations. We have now engaged a specialist company to help us focus the publicity and ensure the Leicestershire eco-town site is mentioned nationally at every opportunity. If you wish to write to the editor of the Telegraph, I'm sure your letter will be considered - dtletters@telegraph.co.uk

Heritage & Ecology Walks and Rally - Saturday 24th May

We are very grateful to Clare Miller who has organised for five different starting points for the walks on Saturday 24th May (Houghton, Thurnby, Great Glen, Burton Overy and Oadby - details and timings see below). You can also drive straight to Great Stretton for the talks at 12 noon, but park on Mere Road which is the road off the Gartree Road towards Houghton. Do not park on Gartree Road, but walk a little way towards Leicester and you cannot miss the field/paddock, as we will have banners etc. Speakers include Edward Garnier MP, Peter Liddle, County Archaeologist), Dr Graham Jones (Heritage Warden and Historian), and David Scott (local ornithologist).

Walks will start as follows (i.e. Oadby 11.30am, Great Glen 11.20am, Houghton (6m or 9m) 11am, Thurnby 11am, Burton Overy 11.20am. Six ramblers have kindly agreed to lead these walks which will take people along the rights of way criss-crossing the proposed eco-town location, and which are indicative of the local ecology. You will be able to see for yourselves the fauna and flora in their natural habitat, hear and see the birds and marvel at this beautiful landscape, as well as understand more about the deserted medieval village of Stretton Magna buried just off the Roman Gartree Road.

Please use the attached leaflets to promote the walk to friends, neighbours, friends and family. If you are intending to take part in the walks please respond to Clare at claremmail-walks@yahoo.co.uk so she knows numbers and where you are starting from. If you want to help raise money for our fighting fund, sponsorship forms are attached for you to cajole your friends, family and people at work to sponsor you by the mile etc. Every penny will be spent on stopping this eco-town. We are already over a quarter of the way towards our initial target of £50,000 but the best professional planning lawyers and experts are expensive and we need them to ensure the scheme is thrown out.

There are other walks planned for June, July and August - see www.save-england.net

You can provide support by putting up posters in communal areas in your villages (i.e. poster boards, pubs and other relevant areas).We really need local support to send a clear message to the government and to the Co-op.

Public Meeting - Friday 23rd May

The evening before the Heritage/Ecology Walks, we have arranged a meeting in the Catholic Church Hall, Fairfield Road, Market Harborough starting at 7.30pm. Speakers include Edward Garnier MP, Sue Smith (HDC), Ian Drummond (LCC), Simon Galton and Kevin Feltham. Come and learn the latest including the schedule of exhibitions and other consultation events being planned from May to end of June by local councils and the Co-op.

Again we need your support. Tell your fiends, neighbours etc. email them the details as well. There is a flyer attached for you to use. A big audience will send shockwaves to the Co-op.

Co-op Exhibitions in June

The Co-op are beginning to switch on their expensive PR machine and are arranging their own exhibition events in June. We need volunteers to (a) help ensure we have big protests outside each venue, but also (b) people inside to keep asking the Co-op reps questions. If you can be available please let me know for which venue and for how long.

Dates and venues for Co-op exhibitions are as follows:

Tuesday 10 June, The Three Swans, High Street, Market Harborough
Wednesday 11 June, Parklands Leisure Centre, Wigston Road, Oadby
Friday 13 June and Saturday 14 June, Exhibition Marquee (being set up on the "Christmas Company Party site"), off Gartree Road
Monday 16 June, Leicester Tigers Rugby Club, Aylestone Road, Leicester

These exhibitions will be taking place from 11.00am to 8.00pm.

Fighting Fund

Many of you will by now have seen the car stickers, coloured flyers and A5 donation forms we have been distributing. After a week, the excellent news is that we have had receipts of over £7,500 including a large grant from a parish council. Our target of £50,000, to ensure we engage the very best help is still a long way off, so we are encouraging people to continue sending us donations. We have not had an opportunity to add any new email addresses from these forms to our current distribution lists, so please be patient if you have not had this email newsletter directly but have now donated. Encourage folk to use the car stickers please; it will send a really clear message when driving around the south-east part of the county if every other car has a sticker in. We are also encouraging streets and villages to put up posters - they can be downloaded from our website, or visit the Great Glen Parish Office during opening hours as they have a stock of A3 printed and A2 plastic posters.

WE CAN WIN THIS CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE CO-OP "ECO" TOWN, WITH YOUR HELP.

Please circulate this email to your friends, colleagues and relatives and invite any of them that wish to be on our mailing list to be in touch with us either through the website or directly to me.

If you still haven't signed the e-petition on the number 10 website it is still growing: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/PennburyEcoTown

also please sign the petition against night flights at East Midlands Airport http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/peacefulnight/ to see if we cannot get more tranquility

Regards,

Kevin Feltham (Dr)
Leicestershire County Councillor - Gartree Division
Chairman of CASCET: Campaign Against the Stoughton Co-op Eco Town
Mobile: 07771 967323
Website: www.save-england.net
Email: kfeltham@leics.gov.uk Skype: kfeltham

Leicestershire Constabulary is urging residents to keep thieves locked out this summer.

As the temperatures rise, so do the number of burglaries at properties where the windows or doors have been left open or unlocked.

PC Ashley Russell, the Force's Crime Reduction Coordinator, said: "A lot of burglaries are carried out on the spur of the moment by thieves who see an opportunity, such as an open window, and take it.

A campaign to ensure every member of the public knows the name of their local beat officer and PCSO is coming to a street near you.
A huge trailer displaying a billboard-size advertisement will be touring Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland for two weeks from Monday May 12. The advert encourages members of the public to find out who their neighbourhood officers are and highlights ways in which they can be contacted.