Conkers lies right at the boundary of two administrative districts: North West Leicestershire in which is it situated and South Derbyshire which which it shares a border, at Spring Cottage / Overseal. Thus, not only does the community attempt to marry services from neighbouring districts, but it is also, in effect, subject to two entirely different counties.

The National Forest aces this, stretching across 200m2 to cover emcompass residents of East Staffordshire also. If you live in the Forest, you can quite easily find yourself with a Derbyshire post code, a Staffordshire dialling code, yet paying taxes to any of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire or Warwicksire.

With so many shires to look after you, you would be forgiven for thinking that public service was a given, not least as we are at the heart of a transport and communications infrastructure which boasts three motorways and two international airports within 25 a mile radius, not to mention numerous distribution centres for multinational retailers and manufacturers.

Yet, live here and you will struggle to find public transport, policing, healthcare and telecomms to enable you to access such facilities. As the recent campaign to Save Moira Fire Station has shown, cross boundary considerations are not a requirement of public consultation - “insignifant” service cuts may be contrived out of statistics created to define populations.

The ConkerTU Local on Saturday 27th February intends to kick the notion of boundaries into touch once and for all. Why should we pay more to take a bus in one direction rather than another merely because a border is crossed? Why should we be charged for 8-20MB broadband when the reality is less than two? How do we find out what’s on in a neighbouring village or town?

We all know that the General Election will bring cuts that no party wants to admit and that communities like the Forest are most at risk. The good news is that local parishes, districts and parliamentary candidates recognise this plight and are ready and waiting to tackle it. All you have to do is to come along to share your views. They’ll have plenty to show you too, as ConkerTU puts the Forest firmly on the map of “Digital Britain”.