North end of High Street, Ibstock - geograph

North West Leicestershire is a local government district in Leicestershire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 census was 93,348. Its main towns are

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordsh ...

, Castle Donington,

Coalville Coalville is an industrial town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon ...

and Ibstock. The district contains East Midlands Airport, which operates flights to the rest of Britain and to various places in Europe. It is also notable as the location of Castle Donington and

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned ...

, a grand-prix circuit and a major venue for music festivals. The district is represented in the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...

by the constituency of the same name. The area has a long history of mineral extraction, with

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

, brick clay, gravel and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

amongst the products. All the deep

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

s in the area have closed, but opencast mining still continues. The district was formed in 1974 by a merger of

Ashby de la Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordsh ...

Urban District, Ashby Woulds Urban District,

Urban District,

Ashby de la Zouch Rural District Ashby de la Zouch Rural District was a rural district in England, near Ashby de la Zouch (which was an urban district). It was formed in 1894 along with most other rural districts. In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 197 ...

Castle Donington Rural District The rural district of Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England, was formed in 1894 and abolished in 1974. It was formed by the Local Government Act 1894 from the part of the Shadlow Rural Sanitary District that was in Leicestershire. It ga ...

and Ibstock from the Market Bosworth Rural District.

Politics

Like many other shire districts, authority over North West Leicestershire is shared between the district council and the county council. Areas of responsibility of the district council include local planning, building control, council housing,

refuse collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclabl ...

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The Energy recycling, recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability t ...

, and some leisure services and parks. The district council is currently controlled by 38

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

who are elected every four years; the last election took place in May 2019 and saw the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

hold on to control. The current political make-up of the council is as follows: The council has a five-member executive known as the Cabinet which is made up of councillors who have special responsibilities and power. As the Conservatives won overall control of the council in 2007, they hold all of the seats on the cabinet.

Parishes

Appleby Magna Appleby Magna is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It includes the small hamlets of Appleby Parva and Little Wigston. The parish has a total collective population of 1,084 (2011) spread across 500 properties (2020), wit ...

, Acresford, Ashby Woulds,

, * Bardon, Belton, Breedon on the Hill * Castle Donington, Charley, Chilcote,

Coleorton Coleorton ( ) is a village and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the A512 road approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Ashby de la Zouch. Nearby villages include Newbold, to the north, Thringstone ...

* Ellistown and Battleflat * Heather, Hugglescote and Donington le Heath * Ibstock,

Isley cum Langley Isley cum Langley is a civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 64. At the 2011 census the population of the civil parish remained less than 100 and is i ...

Kegworth Kegworth () is a large village and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, in the East Midlands region, England. It forms part of the border with Nottinghamshire and is situated 6 miles north of Loughborough ...

Lockington-Hemington Lockington-Hemington is a civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The parish includes the villages of Hemington and Lockington. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 556, rising to 838 at ...

, Long Whatton and Diseworth * Measham * Normanton le Heath * Oakthorpe and Donisthorpe, Osgathorpe * Packington *

Ravenstone with Snibston Ravenstone with Snibston is a civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,149, increasing to 2,212 (including Donington le Heath) at the 2011 census. The ...

* Snarestone,

Staunton Harold Staunton Harold is a civil parish in North West Leicestershire about north of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The parish is on the county boundary with Derbyshire and about south of Derby. The 2011 Census (including Lount) recorded the parish's population ...

Stretton en le Field Stretton en le Field is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, about 7 miles/11 km south-west of Ashby de la Zouch, historically an enclave and excla ...

, Swannington,

Swepstone Swepstone is a village in the civil parish of Swepstone and Newton Burgoland, in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, about five miles south of Ashby de la Zouch. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 censu ...

* Whitwick,

Worthington Worthington may refer to: People * Worthington (surname) * Worthington family, a British noble family Businesses * Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's * Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a di ...

Human Geography

North West Leicestershire has experienced steady population growth in recent times as the district balances the agro-rural economy with the end of labour-intensive deep coal-mining. Alternative employment opportunities exist within the district in the services and distributive sectors, together with local or nearby manufacturing and extractive/transformative/construction industries. The lack of rail services to/from Leicester,

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second lar ...

and other nearby centres limits access for employment, commerce and leisure to a road journey that competes with freight and heavy-haulage vehicles especially to the south and east.

Economy

Since 2013 Norton Motorcycles has its head office in Donington Hall, Castle Donington. BMI (British Midland), an airline, was headquartered in Donington Hall.Contact us
." ''BMI''. Accessed September 23, 2008. The airline moved its headquarters to Donington Hall in 1982. The subsidiary bmibaby also had its head office in Donington Hall. Prior to its disestablishment,

Excalibur Airways Excalibur Airways was a charter airline based in England. It had its head office on the grounds of East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington, Leicestershire. Code data *IATA Code: EXC *ICAO Code: EX *Callsign: Originally CAMELOT then EXCAL ...

had its head office on the grounds of East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington. Prior to its disestablishment, Orion Airways had its head office on the grounds of East Midlands Airport. In 2011 Coalfield Resources plc were given permission to develop an

opencast coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

pit on the site of the former Minorca colliery between Measham and

on a seam which will be across and extract 1,250,000 tonnes (1,380,000 tons) of coal over five years, and 250,000 tonnes (280,000 tons) of clay."Leicestershire opencast coal mine gains approval"
''BBC News''

Arms

References

External links

North West Leicestershire
{{Coord, 52, 43, 01, N, 1, 22, 12, W, region:GB-LEC_type:adm3rd_dim:15000_source:dewiki, display=title Non-metropolitan districts of Leicestershire