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Charnwood is a local government district with borough status in the north of
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It is named after Charnwood Forest, much of which lies within the borough. Towns in the borough include Loughborough (where the council is based), Shepshed and Syston. Villages in the borough include Barrow upon Soar, Birstall, Hathern, Mountsorrel, Quorn, Rothley, Sileby and Woodhouse Eaves. The neighbouring districts are Melton, Harborough,
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, Blaby, Hinckley and Bosworth, North West Leicestershire and Rushcliffe.


History

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
, covering the area of three former districts, which were all abolished at the same time: * Barrow upon Soar Rural District * Loughborough Municipal Borough * Shepshed Urban District Prior to the new district coming into being there was some debate as to what name it should take, with alternatives considered including "Loughborough and Soar Valley", "Greater Loughborough" and "Soar Valley". A committee of the three outgoing councils chose Soar Valley as its preferred option but was overruled by the government, which went instead for the committee's second choice of Charnwood, after the Charnwood Forest which covers the western part of the district. The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. The symbol of Charnwood Borough Council is the fox, which is also the symbol used by Leicestershire County Council. Charnwood contains the village of Quorn, which gives its name to one of the country's oldest
fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...
packs, the Quorn Hunt, which was established in 1696 and moved to Quorn in 1753.


Governance

Charnwood Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Leicestershire County Council. Much of the borough is also covered by
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
es, which form a third tier of local government.


Geography

To the south it borders the City of Leicester, about 20 km away from Loughborough. There is a moderately urbanised A6 corridor between the two population centres and close to the River Soar, including Quorn, Barrow-on-Soar, Mountsorrel, Birstall, Sileby, Thurmaston, Syston, Queniborough and East Goscote. To the south of the borough, Birstall, Queniborough, Thurmaston and Syston form part of the Leicester Urban Area, while Quorn and Shepshed (the second-largest town in the district), amongst others, might be considered to be part of a Loughborough
urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
. The highest point is Beacon Hill (248m/814 ft) to the north of the Charnwood Forest 'area of natural beauty' extending WN-west into the National Forest.


Demography

Charnwood is the largest borough by population in Leicestershire, and has the largest school population as well.


Media

The area is served by BBC East Midlands and ITV Central with television signals received from the Waltham transmitter. Radio stations for the area are: * BBC Radio Leicester * Smooth East Midlands * Capital Midlands *Community based stations: Fosse FM and Carillon Radio,


Parishes

Most of the borough is covered by
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
es. Most of the pre-1974 borough of Loughborough is an unparished area. The parish councils for Shepshed and Syston have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". The parishes of Barkby and Barkby Thorpe share a grouped parish council, as do Burton on the Wolds, Cotes and Prestwold. The small parishes of Beeby, Hamilton Lea, Stonebow Village, Swithland, Ulverscroft and Wanlip have a parish meeting rather than a parish council. * Anstey * Barkby * Barkby Thorpe * Barrow upon Soar * Beeby * Birstall * Burton on the Wolds * Cossington * Cotes * East Goscote * Hamilton Lea * Hathern * Hoton * Mountsorrel * Newtown Linford * Prestwold * Queniborough * Quorn * Ratcliffe on the Wreake * Rearsby * Rothley * Seagrave * Shepshed * Sileby * South Croxton * Stonebow Village * Swithland * Syston * Thrussington * Thurcaston and Cropston * Thurmaston * Ulverscroft * Walton on the Wolds * Wanlip * Woodhouse * Wymeswold


Freedom of the Borough

The following people, military units, and organisations and groups have received the Freedom of the Borough of Charnwood.


Individuals

* Paula Radcliffe: 28 June 2004. * Michael Jones: 29 September 2008. * Lez Cope-Newman: 24 June 2019.


Military Units

* 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment: 4 September 2006. * 203 (Loughborough) Squadron The 158 (Royal Anglian) Transport Regiment: 15 April 2010. * The Royal Logistic Corps: April 2010.


Organisations and Groups

* Leicester City Football Club: 14 September 2021.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine


References


External links


Charnwood Borough Council

Charnwood Borough Council YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charnwood, Borough of Non-metropolitan districts of Leicestershire Boroughs in England