By Alex Leadbitter

A De Montfort University student has decided to host an art exhibition inside her own house next year on Friday, January 11, showcasing works of art from art students and residents of the house.

The exhibition will be called ‘Head Space’ and will feature works that represent mental health, drugs and alcohol.

Hannah Rowe-Blackman, 20, a second year fine art student, is the organiser of the unique exhibition that will be displayed throughout her entire house.

She said: “I want the artwork to be put up everywhere. In the living room, the bedrooms and all through the hallways.”

Oliver Asbury shows off his sculptured armour and weaponry made of beer cans.

Miss Rowe-Blackman came up with the idea of hosting her own exhibition as part of her course where she has been tasked to show her work in a collaborative way.

She continued: “This is part of an ongoing project that I’ve been working on about exploring professional areas, so I thought why not make my house into one?

“I’m really interested in curating work from different artists so I may as well bring them all to my house and create a welcoming environment for them to be shown.”

She added: “I have to be harsh with what I allow to be exhibited because this is all being marked for my final grade.

“Still, everyone on my course is really talented so I have no doubt that they will all bring amazing work to be shown off”

One of the students who will be presenting their artwork will be Oliver Asbury, 21, a third year journalism and English student.

He said: “Its such an amazing thing what Hannah has done because it gives students a great opportunity to curate and showcase their work.

“A lot of students hope to find a place to perform or show off their work and this is a really cool and unique way of doing it.”

A Facebook events page will be set up where selected students and tutors will be able to attend the exhibition.

By Olivia Mumby

An investment of £800,000 into city parking facilities are being planned, Leicester City Council has announced.

The investment comes as the latest phase of the Council’s Parking Improvement Programme, and the work is to take place between now and March 2020.

It aims to improve road safety outside schools, improving car parking on housing estates, improving air quality by decreasing traffic congestion, exploring future residential parking permit schemes and tackling problematic pavement parking.

Peter Soulsby, Leicester City Mayor, said: “This money is the second phase of work which began in 2016/17 to look at parking issues citywide, and what we could do to improve the situation.

“In many cases these overlap with wider concerns such as traffic congestion, road safety near schools and air quality, all of which are addressed in these latest schemes.

“We are currently consulting on introducing controlled pavement parking in Harrison Road, and brought in a similar scheme in Braemar Drive, Rushey Mead in 2017, which has helped ensure there’s enough space for both cars and pedestrians to use the area safely.”

The council is also hoping that the investment will be beneficial to its ‘shop local’ agenda by encouraging customers to use local businesses by providing adequate parking.

The investment is being split amongst six projects, with school safety receiving the largest share at £350,000.

£250,000 will be spent on creating parking laybys in outer estates across the city including those in Queensferry Parade, Tolcarne Road, Sunbury Green and Kashmir Road.

£150,000 is set to be spent on controlled pavement parking pilot schemes in Rushey Mead, along with ongoing feasibility assessments for Aylestone.

Evington road will benefit from a £25,000 controlled pavement parking pilot scheme, which it is hoped will encourage shoppers to visit. There will also be a review of parking for shops located in Green Lane Road.

Residents of Herschell Street, Evington will benefit from a £20,000 investment in ongoing feasibility work and consultations on parking in the area.

The remaining £5,000 will be spent on parking strategy activities aimed at cutting congestion as part of the wider Air Quality Action Plan.

For more information, go to www.Leicester.gov.uk

By Matthew Chandler

Opinions have been divided among Leicester students about the news that 125 new student flats will be built in the city.

The developments, which were approved last week, will take place in two of the city’s historic areas.

A New Walk building will be made into studio apartments, while a two-storey office block near Leicester Castle will be converted into five floors of flats, costing about £10 million.

The second of these developments will be overseen by Victoria Hall Management Ltd, who also built the nearby Victoria Halls accommodation.

Alex Blackwell lives on Narborough Road and believes the company are being unruly at the residents’ expense:

“It’s unfair on the residents and is another example of a big firm taking advantage of their power and abusing residents who cannot hold them to account.

“Being from Leicester, I am all for new housing for more students as it adds to the city, but I am not a fan of it being a negative and affecting the local residents.”

The other site will be built near St Mary de Castro church

Another student disagreed, though, saying it is better to add students to an area where they are already well-populated than to create new patches full of them.

Adam Clarke, living in student accommodation Queen’s Court, said: “There’s already students in the area so I don’t see why more would be a problem.

“I get that students can be annoying but it’s not like it’s a quiet area they’re adding students into. They are already areas with students, so more won’t really affect it too much in my opinion, and students have to live somewhere.”

Meanwhile, Derry Keary, who also lives on Narborough Road, generally agreed that residents should not stand in the way of what he considers further improvements to the city, and believes such change in a place like Leicester is inevitable:

“When you are a student city like Leicester, developments will always come around like this. Sometimes it’s just unfortunate they are on the sites of something really special. It’s just modernising the town.

People can get hung up on history sometimes; you have to let new history be made. Where there was great historical value, there can be the space to let students discover and learn and go on to do great things. If it’s at the cost of something we’ll never have again, there has to be a balance.”