Council raises rail hub concerns to new Minister
“Grave concerns” about the impact of the Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange (HNRFI) have again been raised by Blaby District Council.
Councillor Terry Richardson, Council Leader, and Councillor Ben Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Planning, outline issues in a new letter to government.
Both have written to Heidi Alexander MP, following her recent appointment as Secretary of State for Transport. They call for an early decision to reject the plans.
The 662-acre HNRFI scheme from developers Tritax Symmetry is considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.
It features a rail hub and 850,000 sq m of warehousing on countryside southwest of Elmesthorpe. The area lies between the M69 and Leicester to Birmingham train line.
It is due to be decided by Ms Alexander following a lengthy review by the Planning Inspectorate.
Last September, her predecessor, Louise Haigh MP, said she was ‘minded to refuse’ the scheme. However, she gave Tritax more time to submit evidence in support of their application.
With those documents received, interested parties have until February 7 to make further comments.
The letter highlights various negative impacts, most notably on the overloaded surrounding motorway network. It says the scheme could stifle, not encourage economic growth.
Ms Alexander is urged to “carefully consider the negative social, environmental and economic impacts of the HNRF” and “consider the highways infrastructure mitigation that is required in this part of the region.”
The Councillors say: “We hope that the recommendation provided by the examining authority and the total lack of effort on behalf of the applicant to mitigate the issues raised will lead you to reach the same conclusion as your predecessor.
“This extended wait for a decision is having a material impact on local plan making but more importantly is causing a huge amount of stress to the residents in this area especially those under threat of losing their homes due to compulsory purchase.”
Councillor Ben Taylor said: “We have always said this scheme would destroy vast swathes of countryside and ruin the rural character of our District forever. We have also raised continual concerns about the huge negative effects it would have on our highways and motorways and the lack of measures from Tritax to overcome these.
“As the deadline for the decision on the HNRFI scheme approaches and with a new Secretary of State for Transport in place, we felt we should again express our grave concerns. We hope Ms Alexander takes these on board and agrees with the previous position that the scheme should be rejected.”
A decision is due on the HNRFI by 10 March.
Over £180,000 awarded to Melton businesses
Over £180,000 has been awarded to businesses in Melton, allowing them to flourish.
These grants formed part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) received as part of the UK Government initiative to enhance opportunities within communities.
Leader of the Council Cllr Pip Allnatt said: “The Council remains committed to supporting local endeavours and is eager to see the positive impacts these grants will bring.
“With a strong focus on collaboration and sustainability, the residents within the borough continue to pave the way for a vibrant and thriving community and these grants highlight a small number of these initiatives within the area.”
In this round, 29 business grant applications were successful, amounting to a total of £180,114. There were 55 applications submitted, and if all had been approved, the funding required would have reached over £324,000.
The business grants support pre-start, start-up and established businesses with growth aspirations and were awarded borough wide. Projects are supporting the retail, hospitality, manufacturing, and creative industries, amongst others.
A multitude of successful businesses have received funding from the council including £9,500 for a new construction company which is creating an online learning platform, providing training and support for small businesses in the construction industry.
In addition, a new town centre pub will receive £7,500 to buy kitchen equipment, creating several job opportunities and will potentially attract more visitors to the area. The scheme has also awarded £9,547 to enable a well-established company to build the first Tier 3 Data Centre in Melton Mowbray. This facility will enhance the local business environment and support technological growth in the community.
East Midlands property and planning law firm celebrates a year in business
Property and planning law firm and strategic planning advisors Devello Group is celebrating a year in business, opening its 100th matter, and having a strong pipeline for 2025.
Set up by friends and former colleagues Shruti Trivedi and Iain Hibbert, Devello Group was founded on the principle of building trusted partnerships with clients, without the traditional legal hourly billing model.
This unique approach has underpinned Devello’s operations and managing director Shruti and CEO Iain believe it’s played a key part in the firm’s organic and sustained growth over the last 12 months.
With offices in Nottingham and Lincoln, Devello Group has grown to a team of five with the hires of a paralegal and a solicitor apprentice, joining the firm in Q3 and Q4 of last year. The company has further plans to expand its team with at least three new hires this year.
As well as growing their team and portfolio, the co-founders are committed to supporting good causes in the communities it operates in. Since the company’s inception, Shruti has become a Trustee of Base 51, a charity that works with young people in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to build life skills, healthy relationships and resilience, to prepare them for adulthood.
Shruti said: “Reaching this milestone is really fantastic and testament to the work of our team. A huge thank you to our clients who choose to work with us in what we call a holistic business partnership.
“The last 12 months have been incredible – with our focus on creating a business that puts client experience and team culture first. Having previously been in traditional law companies, Iain and I particularly wanted to support those who need flexibility in the workplace such as working parents and carers, as well as investing in young people, as we have with our apprentice.
“Our focus for the next 12 months and beyond is to help our clients navigate projects, nurture our team as they develop as young professionals, and to support Base 51 and other good local causes who make a real difference in the community.”
Iain said: “At Devello’s core is a new kind of legal practice, with our ethos to put the client first through accessibility, responsiveness and diligence, and our cost structure is flexible to suit the needs of the client and the project. This formula has served us well and with Shruti’s and my combined 40-plus years in property and planning law, our services are in demand.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the business community in the East Midlands who have shown great support for us, it really has been wonderful and it’s an exciting time for us as a new company – having such a strong start and with ambitious plans for 2025.
“We are committed to providing the best possible service and supporting the business community that has supported us – by helping good causes and speaking at industry events to share our knowledge.”
Government’s solar farm announcement branded a ‘slap in the face’ for Lincolnshire
Government announcements that applications for solar farms at Heckington Fen and West Burton have been granted consent are another slap in the face for Lincolnshire, according to a county councillor.
Colin Davie, executive councillor for environment, economy and planning at Lincolnshire County Council, says adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside in the face of strong local opposition shows that the government has not listened to residents.
He said: “These two developments add more than 1,000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for five approved developments to around 3,500 hectares. A further 6,400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.
“Trashing the countryside and putting ginormous industrial developments on agricultural land has understandably caused much local outrage. On top of this, I have no confidence that these schemes help in any way to delivering the affordable energy that we need.
“Quite frankly these decisions are another slap in the face for Lincolnshire, and the government must start considering the cumulative impacts of all these proposals in our county.
“In our recent survey, residents have told us that they are very concerned about the impacts that so many Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects will have on Lincolnshire, and the effects on our nature, landscape and communities.
“They also told us that they – like us – consider rooftops and brownfield sites being the most appropriate places to install solar panels. We must stop the industrialisation of the Lincolnshire countryside.”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury and East Midlands Mayor visit Derby’s Nightingale Quarter
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rt Hon Darren Jones MP, and East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward, visited Wavensmere Homes’ Nightingale Quarter in Derby city centre to address the blockers to new homes delivery and discuss how the regeneration of vacant brownfield land can be accelerated.
The £175m development is in the final construction phase for 925 houses and apartments, together with a range of community amenities.
Situated off London Road, the 18.5-acre site – which had lain derelict for a decade prior to Wavensmere Homes’ acquisition and start on site in 2019 – is one of the most significant residential regeneration projects under construction in the UK.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said: “House building is a huge priority for this government. Not only is building more homes vital to our mission to achieve greater economic growth, but it is also a vital component in our ambitions to improve living standards.
“It was wonderful to meet everyone involved in the process of getting residents into new homes and understand the pressures and policies that are impacting social landlords, local government and residents. The insights I gathered will be integral going forward as I undertake the Spending Review across Government.”
Claire Ward, East Midlands Mayor, said: “It is my priority to help create more beautiful mixed-tenure homes in places with excellent employment opportunities like Derby. People should be able to afford to live close to their place of work.
“Wavensmere Homes has four live regeneration projects in Derbyshire alone, which are delivering close to 1,500 homes – each of those is an opportunity for the people of the East Midlands to live a great life in a good job.
“Through knowledge-sharing and working hand in hand with the Treasury and Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, we will get Britain building again.”
The Derbyshire Royal Infirmary opened in 1894 and closed 15 years ago. While the vast majority of the Florence Nightingale-designed Victorian hospital had been bulldozed, Wavensmere Homes pledged to save and restore the imposing pepperpots, despite one of the buildings being previously consented for demolition.
Pepperpot South opened as the marketing suite for the 925 houses and apartments in 2021. With 95% of the homes now sold, the building has been re-purposed as a gym for residents’ use. The second (North) Pepperpot became The Fulton Partnership’s sixth hospitality venue in the Midlands when it opened in February 2024.
James Dickens, Managing Director of Wavensmere Homes, said: “When we acquired this vacant site in 2019, we set out to design a landmark scheme that embraced the DE1 location and didn’t turn its back on the city centre.
“We are proud that our 925 apartments and houses have transformed the city living market, acting as the catalyst for thousands more homes to be delivered within central Derby.
“By installing new footpaths, cycle routes, roads, co-working space, a gym – and making a restaurant Nightingale Quarter’s new focal point – this redundant hospital site is once again a vibrant community asset.
“As we currently have over 3,500 plots under construction, or in planning across middle England, we look forward to continuing to assist the government and regional mayors with fresh insight into how much-needed residential regeneration could be accelerated.”
Dr. Martens sees mixed third quarter performance
Iconic Northamptonshire shoe brand Dr. Martens has seen a mixed performance around the world in its third quarter whilst making “good progress” in “turning around” its USA performance.
According to a trading statement for the Christmas period, covering the 13 weeks ended 29 December 2024, third quarter group revenue was up 3% (at constant currency) to £267m, with direct to consumer (DTC) revenue up 1% CC.
By channel, the DTC performance was the result of ecommerce revenue growing by 2% CC and retail revenue declining by 1% CC. Wholesale revenue, meanwhile, grew by 9% CC, against a weak comparative. The wholesale performance by region was in line with expectations, with EMEA and APAC up year-on-year and Americas wholesale down single-digit CC.One of Dr. Martens’ key objectives this year is to return Americas DTC revenue to positive growth in the second half. The business is on track, with Americas DTC revenue up 4% CC.
EMEA DTC revenue, however, declined by 5% CC year-on-year, which the firm said was “impacted by the deep promotional nature of several markets, especially in December, when we maintained our discipline and only participated in promotional activity in line with our discounting strategy.“
APAC DTC was up 17% CC driven by ecommerce. The company’s largest market in the region, Japan, continued to deliver good growth.
Year to date group revenue, conversely, declined 9% to £599m CC.Ije Nwokorie, Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am excited to be CEO of Dr. Martens. The global relevance of our iconic brand, the strength of our product line and the passionate commitment of our team give me great confidence for FY25 and beyond.
“Our Q3 trading was as expected and our outlook for FY25 remains unchanged. We have made good progress against our objective of turning around our USA performance, with USA DTC in positive growth in Q3.
“We continue to actively manage our costs and are on track to meet our inventory reduction target for FY25. The team and I are squarely focused on returning the business to sustainable and profitable growth.”
2025 Business Predictions: Jonathan Heath, director, Armsons Barlow
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Jonathan Heath, director of project managers and building surveyors Armsons Barlow.
The East Midlands economy is expected to continue its recovery in 2025, boosted by growth in key industries such as advanced manufacturing, logistics, and green energy.
Regional infrastructure projects like the East Midlands Freeport and ongoing HS2 developments are set to bring investment and create opportunities across the supply chain. However, challenges such as labour shortages and energy costs will require businesses to adopt innovative approaches to remain competitive.
Inflation is likely to stabilize at around 2.5%, but its effects will continue to weigh on businesses and households. While interest rates may decrease slightly, forecast changes to Stamp Duty on 1st April 2025 will also impact the housing market, both of which will pose challenges for homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers.
We anticipate continued growth in key sectors of the construction industry, with warehousing and logistics hubs maintaining strong demand due to on-going e-commerce expansion. This is particularly relevant in the East Midlands, a central hub for national logistics.
There is also likely to be sustained interest in the flex office sector as hybrid working models continue to grow in popularity.
Housing pressures will drive continued development in the Private Rental Sector (PRS) and Built-to-Rent (BTR) markets, while public sector projects in education and healthcare are expected to grow following increased government funding commitments.
Town centre regeneration will remain a critical focus. With numerous empty retail units, it’s imperative we explore creative solutions to breathe life into these spaces. A more flexible planning policy is essential to repurpose buildings into mixed-use developments, such as residential, office or leisure facilities to avoid the long-term decline of our town centres.
Nationally, we expect construction inflation to stabilise, although high borrowing costs may constrain new private developments.
The emphasis on sustainability will continue to shape the sector, with stricter carbon targets and the increasing adoption of energy-efficient building methods, such as modern methods of construction (MMC) and retrofitting.
While economic growth may remain modest, the East Midlands is well-positioned to capitalise on its strengths, offering opportunities for businesses that adapt to emerging trends and challenges.
Armsons Barlow will continue to play a pivotal role in delivering cost-effective, future-proof solutions for these evolving market needs.
2025 Business Predictions: Matthew Hayes, Managing Director, Champions (UK) plc
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Matthew Hayes, Managing Director at Champions (UK) plc.
Business confidence has taken a downturn in recent months, with growth expectations turning negative for the first time in 2024. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) said British inflation was likely to average 2.7% in 2025 – higher than in any other G7 country.
The landscape for business is likely to get harder before it improves. The Government and The Bank of England seem to be set on challenging, rather than supporting entrepreneurial opportunity creators.
The marketing landscape will evolve in 2025. With the continued growth of AI, technology will play a greater role in marketing. AI is a powerful tool and enables businesses to go bigger, faster and stronger quickly BUT it is not a silver bullet. The key is, and always has been, having the basics in place. This includes ensuring frequency and consistency of customer messaging and also brands being able to differentiate their offering through a multichannel approach. The more that technology influences marketing, the more people will crave genuine human experiences. This provides a challenge for marketing managers as to how they can embed these new tools into their marketing plans.
In social media there will be a move away from controversial social media platforms like X. Increasingly, social media channels will grow in impact beyond just channels for engagement and brand awareness, into revenue-driving performance channels.
Entrepreneurs are used to overcoming adversity and turning challenges into opportunities. In times of uncertainty, the key is to go left when everyone else goes right. Double down on sales & marketing activity rather than cut back. When competition is reduced, you get a greater share of voice for your money. Spend and grow while the rest are just ‘surviving’, so when the market bounces back, your brand has greater market share.
West Burton solar project gets go-ahead
Island Green Power’s West Burton Solar Project has received the go-ahead from Secretary of State Ed Milliband.
The West Burton Solar Project will provide solar and energy storage in several land parcels in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, approximately 7.4km to the south and up to 14.6km southeast of Gainsborough in the local authority of West Lindsey District Council.
This Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) will provide three electricity generating stations, each with anticipated capacity in excess of 50MW, comprising ground mounted solar arrays, with associated development comprising energy storage, grid connection infrastructure and other infrastructure integral to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the NSIPs.
On completion the project is set to supply up to 480 MW of clean electricity to the National Grid. That’s equivalent to the energy needed to power around 144,000 homes and replace around 24% of the capacity of the coal powered West Burton Power Station.
Tara Chopra, Technical Director (EIA and Major Infrastructure) at Lanpro, who supplied planning, EIA and environmental expertise, said: “We are delighted with the outcome of the Secretary of State’s announcement today for West Burton, which marks the successful conclusion of three years of dedicated work by Lanpro for Island Green Power.
“This decision enables the project to deliver affordable, clean energy to hundreds of thousands of households across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. It plays a vital role in advancing the nation’s Net Zero goals.
“Again, this is a strong reflection of the current government’s commitment to renewable energy, and we are optimistic that it will lead to more favourable outcomes for our clients in the renewable sector.”
In preparing the planning application, Lanpro worked alongside Pinsent Masons (legal advisor), Dalcour Maclaren (land referencing) and Counter Context (communications).
Charnwood businesses offered free sustainability help
Businesses in Charnwood are being offered free access to a digital platform aimed at helping them become more sustainable.
Charnwood Borough Council has secured 12 two-year subscriptions to sustainability coaching platform Zellar, which sets out to simplify the process of calculating and understanding carbon emissions, enabling businesses to develop tailored decarbonisation plans.
Through the platform, businesses can track their progress, measure their impact, and report on their sustainability initiatives as part of their journey towards ‘net zero’, which means no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Charnwood businesses are being invited to apply for the 12 licences, which will be awarded on a first come, first served basis, and are being funded via the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Councillor Jennifer Tillotson, the Council’s lead member for economic development, regeneration and town centres, said: “This investment demonstrates our commitment to supporting local businesses and driving sustainable growth within Charnwood.
“Zellar provides a user-friendly tool that empowers businesses to take control of their sustainability journey and reduce their environmental impact.”
Gary Styles, founder and CEO of Zellar, added: “We are delighted to welcome Charnwood Borough Council to the Get Zero, Get Zellar programme.
“This partnership demonstrates the Council’s commitment to supporting local businesses and driving sustainable growth.
“We encourage businesses in the region to take advantage of this opportunity to accelerate their decarbonisation journey.”
