Major rewilding project in 'jeopardy' after vote

Major plans to rewild a large swathe of land near Market Harborough have been thrown into doubt after councillors voted narrowly to withdraw funding from the project.

Harborough District Council has set aside more than 130 acres (54 hectares) to the north of the town to be returned to nature.

However, the coalition of Liberal Democrat, Labour, Green and independent councillors who run the authority lost a key vote on Monday when Tory opposition members proposed deleting £666,000 earmarked for the initiative.

Council leader and Liberal Democrat councillor Phil Knowles, said he was angry and frustrated after his administration lost the budget vote by 18 to 16.

"This was nothing more than a wrecking motion by the Tories that they threw in at the 11th hour and 59th minute," Knowles said.

"They have thrown a grenade into the rewilding project which is a really important one for the district and has now been left in jeopardy."

Despite the vote, Knowles said he would hold conversations with council officers to find out how the scheme could be saved.

Leader of the council's Conservative opposition group Simon Whelband said: "The administration will say we tried to stop their rewilding project.

"We are not trying to stop it. We are just seeking more information.

"It's not clear and we haven't seen a business case. It would be wrong to put more money into this scheme until we have a proper sense of what the plans are."

Whelband told the BBC he was concerned the rewilding plans had been "drawn on the back of a fag packet".

"It's not clear if it's genuine rewilding," Whelband added.

"It's more akin to a county park."

Knowles said the council had published a full business case for the rewilding last week.

"It's not my fault if they [the Tories] haven't read it," he added.

Knowles said the council was working with the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust on the scheme and had started to explore a sister project close to Magna Park near Lutterworth which could provide a further 500 acres (202 hectares) of rewilded land.

The deletion of the rewilding funding was one of a number of Conservative amendments to the council's budget approved on Monday.

They include £85,000 extra funding for street cleaning and tackling fly-tipping in the district.

Further approved changes include £250,000 for more specialist play equipment for disabled children in parks and transferring £500,000 into a grant scheme for hospitality businesses.

Knowles said the Tory amendments should have been tabled much earlier to allow them to be scrutinised before Monday's meeting.

Despite losing the vote on the Conservatives' budget amendments, the administration's proposed 5% cut in its share of council tax was voted through over a Tory amendment to freeze it instead.

That means the council's precept will reduce by £9.16 for a Band D property from 1 April.

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.