Deborah's County Councillor Bradgate Villages Monthly Update - January 2023

Saturday, 31 December, 2022

Local News

Happy New Year to your all.

I hope you all managed to have some time together with family and friends. I had a busy Christmas with my family but a relaxing New Year, I have recharged my batteries and I am ready for 2023.

Prior to the Christmas period, I enjoyed some festivities. On Sunday 4th December, I joined colleagues at Jane Hunt MP’s home for festive food and drinks. On Monday I joined the staff at Bradgate Park Trust (I am a Trustee) for coffee and mince pies, to thank them for all their hard work during the year.

On Monday 12th December I went to the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester to listen to the Beacon Voice Christmas Concert. The choir, all children in our care, provided us with some lovely festive songs.

On Monday 19th December I attended the Mayor of Charnwood’s Carol Service in Loughborough and on Tuesday 20th December I joined our children in care Christmas party. A few games of bingo and the Christmas film, Polar Express to enjoy together.

Bradgate Park Award

Bradgate Park Trust has won a couple of awards this year. In November, our volunteers won ‘Team of the Year’ at the Green Flag Awards. A week late I joined a few of the team at Athena in Leicester for the Leicestershire Tourism and Hospitality Awards. We were delighted to win the ‘Large Visitor Attraction of the Year’ award. This is fantastic recognition for the park, staff, and our hard-working volunteers.

Budget

Leicestershire County Council has set out an in-depth financial plan, designed to protect public services and support our vulnerable people during these tough economic times.

An extra £57m investment in support, a 5% Council Tax rise, major capital investment, service cuts, and efficiency savings are all included in the proposals to ensure that the books will balance next year.

Although councils fared better than expected in the Government’s Autumn Statement, the financial outlook remains extremely tough with the authority’s budget gap set to rise to over £90m by 2026.

The report reveals that service demand is adding £70m and rising inflation is set to cost another £80m by 2026/27. The National Living Wage increase drives up social care costs significantly and adds another £18m.

Proposals also include a £508m four-year capital pot - for the cost of building roads, schools, and other one-off projects – which is also subject to significant inflation pressures.

Local residents, organisations, businesses, and staff will be able to give their views during the budget consultation which runs from 19th December 2022 to 15th January 2023. Cabinet will then agree on final proposals before the budget is agreed upon at a meeting of the county council on 22nd February 2023.

To have your say, please head to the website: - https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/have-your-say/current-engagement/budget-proposals-2023-2027

I have included the income and expenditure charts for your information.

Social Internet

The New Year is always a good time to stop and re-access your finances, even more so with the cost-of-living increases. There is a lot of support out there, especially on the County Council website: https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/find-help-with-cost-of-living

Internet costs are one of the bills that doesn’t get mentioned very much. We all rely heavily on the internet now and I wanted to highlight the help out there with these costs.

There are broadband social tariffs available. Social tariffs are special discounted deals available for certain low-income customers. They are generally cheaper than typical broadband tariffs, starting at just £12 per month. They are usually not subject to price rises or exit fees.

Social tariffs are designed to act as a safety net for households that may otherwise struggle to afford broadband services. Research by the telecom’s regulator, Ofcom, has shown that an estimated 4.2 million households in the UK are eligible.

You are likely to be eligible for a social tariff if you receive a means-tested state benefit, such as Universal Credit, Pension Credit, or legacy equivalents. Available from BT, Virgin Media, Sky, Vodafone, Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, and others, social tariffs can help protect against digital exclusion.

It is worth having a conversation with your current provider to see if they offer a social tariff and to check if you are eligible. There are more details on the ‘Which’ website here: https://www.which.co.uk/

Primary School Places

Applications for the autumn (September) 2023 intake need to be made by Sunday 15th January 2023.

A range of information is available at www.leicestershire.gov.uk/admissions to help families start applying.

Families are encouraged to:

Put down three schools, including your catchment school, to help ensure you have the best chance possible of securing a school of your choice
Contact the admissions team if you have already submitted your child’s application but want to go back in and add more schools / include your catchment school. You can do this via the FTA amendments form: - www.leicestershire.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools-colleges-and-academies/school-admissions
If you are not sure if a school is your catchment school, check this with them directly. Most schools have this information on their websites.

Choosing a catchment school is important because if the council cannot offer a place at one of the schools listed, parents and carers can then be offered a place at the child’s nearest school which still has available places.

This may not be local if you have not listed your catchment school as one of your choices, as places there may have already been filled by other children who listed it in their applications.

There is no automatic entry for school in Leicestershire, so it is vital that applications are submitted before the closing date of Sunday 15th January 2023.

Bus stop

The bus stop relocation from Leicester Road to Stadon Road, Anstey has now been progressed.

The operations team now has the work programmed to begin in February 2023 (5th Feb 2023 – 12th Feb 2023)

Young person of the year

The Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Mike Kapur, is celebrating the achievements of young people in Leicester and Leicestershire. The Lord-Lieutenant’s award for young people recognises the very best examples of achievement by young people in Leicester and Leicestershire.

You can nominate a young person in one of four categories. Finalists will be invited to attend a special awards ceremony where the overall winner will receive a £500 prize.

The criteria for nominations are: -

The young person is aged 13-19 living or attending full-time education in Leicester or Leicestershire
The young person can be nominated by other young people, their school, parent/carer, or any other agency
Joint or group nominations cannot be accepted
Previous finalists should not be nominated again unless there is a fresh story to tell.

There will be a separate award for each category. From the winners of these categories, one person will be announced as Lord-Lieutenant's Young Person of the Year 2023.

The Award categories are: -