The newly created Melton & Syston constituency is a hidden gem of the East Midlands, located in the heart of rural England, in the north-east of Leicestershire. The seat is predominantly rural, with agriculture playing a significant part in the local economy, and also boasts important towns like Melton Mowbray and Syston with a great array of fantastic small businesses and shops, as well as large village like Thurmaston and Sileby, and many smaller village communities, each of which has its own proud local identity and character. The constituency is served by railway stations in Melton Mowbray, Syston, Sileby, and Bottesford, and main roads like the A46 and A52 which skirt the edges of the constituency, and the A606 and A607 as the main routes across it.
At the heart of the constituency is the historic market town of Melton Mowbray, famous for pork pies and stilton cheese, and rightly known as the ‘Rural Capital of Food’ for the area’s strong links with agriculture and top quality food production. Located on the River Eye, which becomes the River Wreake after Melton, the town has its historic market place in the town centre, the stunning medieval St Mary’s Church - arguably the finest in the county - the historic Anne of Cleves pub once owned by Thomas Cromwell, and the long established cattle and livestock market.
Melton Mowbray is surrounded by picturesque rural villages - vibrant communities, many of which have ancient parish churches, village halls, and welcoming country pubs at their heart - all set in stunning, and hugely agriculturally productive, countryside and farmland. From Bottesford in the north of the constituency, through the Vale of Belvoir to the north of Melton, and historic Belvoir Castle, ancestral home to the Duke of Rutland, passing through villages like Redmile, Stathern, Harby, Hose, and down to Long Clawson, Nether Broughton, and Old Dalby to the west. Passing to the north and round the east of Melton, you pass through villages like Scalford, Waltham-on-the-Wolds, Croxton Kerrial, and out towards Sproxton and Wymondham. And to the south of Melton are the beautiful villages of Somerby, Knossington, and Cold Overton, villages where many of those paratroopers who fought in the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 were based before they set out to parachute into German-held territory during World War Two.
Travelling from there to the north-west, you pass through villages like Twyford, Thorpe Satchville, Burton Lazars, Great Dalby, and out west towards Ashby Folville, Barsby, and South Croxton. Heading north from here through Gaddesby, you reach the Wreake Valley, around the River Wreake, with Asfordby the nearest village to Melton to the east, the home of the Defence Animal Training Regiment. The villages in the Wreake Valley as you travel west through the valley include Frisby-on-the-Wreake, with Grimston, & Hoby to the north, Rotherby, Rearsby, Thrussington, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, and nearby Cossington. To the south of the Wreake Valley, the villages of East Goscote and Queniborough lead the way into Syston, the other town in the constituency.
Syston has been a settlement since at least the Domesday Book, and is located towards the western edge of the constituency, and close to the southern edge of Charnwood borough. It is home to the large medieval Church of St Peter & St Paul and boasts a wide array of shops along Melton Road running through the town, which crosses Barkby Brook, and runs parallel to Syston’s beautifully maintained Central Park, home to the town’s war memorial. Syston is also home to the ‘Syston white plum’ which has been grown locally for many decades and is the town’s symbol. While technically a town, and despite significant recent development, Syston still retains the feel and friendliness of a village.
To the south, between Syston and edges of the city of Leicester, is the large village of Thurmaston, split in two by the A607, with the old historic village of Thurmaston and the parish church to the west of the road, but the bulk of Thurmaston’s newer housing and residents to the east. The village is separated from neighbouring Birstall to the west by Watermead Country Park, an oasis for nature on the very edge of the city of Leicester.
North-west of Thurmaston is the large village of Sileby, located in the bottom of the Soar Valley, which with the brook running through the centre of the village, can on occasion be at risk of flooding. Formerly an industrial village, today Sileby remains a lively village community with medieval St. Mary’s Church in its centre, but with much less of an industrial presence and increased commuting to nearby towns and cities. Nearby, to the north of Sileby, is the small, pretty, village of Seagrave, sitting just to the north of the A46.
The Melton and Syston constituency includes all sixteen local council wards from Melton Borough Council (MBC), and five wards from Charnwood Borough Council (CBC).
From MBC: Melton Newport, Melton Warwick, Melton Dorian, Melton Egerton, Melton Sysonby, Melton Craven, Asfordby, Bottesford, Croxton Kerrial, Frisby-on-the-Wreake, Gaddesby, Long Clawson & Stathern, Somerby, Wymondham, Old Dalby, and Waltham on the Wolds.
From CBC: Syston, Thurmaston, South Charnwood, Wreake Valley, and Sileby & Seagrave (majority of ward).