Leicester Forest East or LFE is a settlement in Leicestershire, England, west of Leicester, straddling the M1 motorway. It is part of the Blaby district.
LFE is a popular location among commuters and young families. It was developed primarily between 1920 and 1985, seeing major developments constructed along the Hinckley Road (A47) and to the south-east of the M1 throughout the 1930s. Large-scale housing developments took place in the 1960s, to the north-east and west of the M1 motorway. More recently a large housing project was constructed in the 1980s at the western edge of the settlement. The village takes its name from the ancient Leicester Forest.
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There are local shopping facilities at the eastern end of the community, including a newsagent, a post office, a bank, a small Co-op supermarket with a cash-dispenser, and a public library with free internet access; there are also numerous local shops along the Hinckley Road approaching the western end of the community, including a small Sainsbury's, a butcher, a hardware store, three hair salons and a petrol garage. There are two medical centres in LFE, one at the eastern end housing a general practitioners, a pharmacy and a dentist, and another on the western end (Warren Lane) with similar facilities.
There are two pubs with hotels in LFE, both on the A47. The Forest Park Inn is a recently-refurbished family motel with outdoor patio seating. The other is a much older establishment called The Red Cow. Both serve food and offer accommodation.
The Parish Hall is situated on King's Drive, by the playing field/park. A new playpark was installed in early 2009.
There are two places of Christian worship - St Andrews, an ecumenical church with Anglican and Methodist congregations. Also behind the church there is a local Cub & Scout Troop (92nd LFE). There is a meeting house for the Jehovahs witness community situated on Hinckley Road.
There is also the nearby Forest Chapel, where a playgroup and Day Care centre (forest chapel day care) also run from.
Transport links in Leicester Forest East are excellent.
Facilities for cyclists are improving, with cycle lanes being provided along the greater part of Hinckley Road during April 2009.[3] The main routes to and from the city, and to major shopping areas are indirect and on busy roads. There are no secure cycle parking facilities at the local shops, the community centre or the churches. There is a reasonably well maintained network of local footpaths giving pleasant walks towards Enderby Thorpe Astley and Kirby Muxloe.
Stafford Leys Primary School opened in 1966 under the headship of Gordon Hill (who was better known as a football league referee)[4]. The school takes pupils from Reception up to Year 5. The current headteacher is Edward McGovern. In 2003, Leicester Tigers star Freddie Tuilagi opened a new library building, one of the largest primary school libraries in the county.[5] In 2006, the school achieved the National Healthy Schools Standard, for its work in educating pupils about healthy eating, exercise, emotional issues, and bullying.[6] The school has also attained the Basic Skills and Investors in People awards.[7] In their May 2006 inspection, Ofsted assessed the school as Satisfactory, point 3 on a four point scale, saying "This is a satisfactory school, which has improved well since the last inspection, when it was judged to have serious weaknesses.".[7] The Ofsted inspection in June 2009 assessed the school as 'Good' and identified a number of aspects which were outstanding.[7]
Secondary education will typically continue at either Winstanley High School in Braunstone, or South Charnwood High School in Markfield.
Holmfield Primary School, on the eastern boundary of LFE, was closed permanently by Leicestershire County Council on 16 July 2010.
Most people know LFE for Leicester Forest East motorway service station on the M1 motorway, which opened on February 14th 1966 just over a year after the motorway reached Markfield [8]. It was based on an Italian design used on the Autostrade which is very unusual in Britain. At the time of opening it was operated by the Ross Group and featured a Terence Conran designed restaurant with a waitress silver service restaurant. (ref Leicester Forest East services ).There is no legal access for public vehicles to the motorway from within LFE (although some members of the public use the slip-road which is properly reserved for service station employees and emergency vehicles as a means of getting on and off the M1). There were plans to widen the M1 motorway, which if given the go-ahead would have transformed the stretch of the M1 that bisects LFE from the current eight lanes to ten lanes. The current plans are to install a "traffic management" system instead, which will use the hard shoulder at busy times, controlled by overhead gantry signals. Many local residents have campaigned against both schemes. The works would result in the closure of Leicester Forest East service station, due to a planned flyover southbound link to the M69. However, even if the plans are approved, it is unlikely to happen before 2016.
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