THE campaign group Save Rothley, set up to oppose an application for housing development, sent a batch of letters of objection to Charnwood Borough Council on a Great Central Railway train.

The group is made up of residents of Mountsorrel and Rothley and is protesting against an application to build 175 houses in West Field Lane, Rothley.

The letters of objection were transported from the Grade II listed Rothley station, on one of their heritage trains and delivered to the borough council.

A spokesperson for the group said: “The Save Rothley team were joined at Rothley Railway Station by approximately 100 people last Friday, to see a sack full of 1,028 letters of objection delivered to Charnwood Borough Council planning department by steam train.

“The letters were delivered by steam train on the Great Central Railway because the site of the proposed housing is a short distance along the same road as the Grade II listed Rothley Station.

“It is a very historic area, with the Grade I listed Rothley Temple and the remains of a Roman Villa also situated along the route, close to the proposed site.

“Rothley residents were greeted at the council offices by Richard Bennett, head of planning and regeneration, and a colleague who both received the letters in good spirit.”

The spokesperson also said: “Earlier in the week a packed village meeting was held at the Rothley Centre. Villagers expressed concerns over an infrastructure which cannot cope now and will struggle even more when the 650 houses permitted but not yet built are constructed.

“They feel it would be catastrophic to add even more houses to the equation.”