I attended the ‘opening’ of the new allotment site on Groby Road, Anstey on Saturday 21st January. This land has finally been transferred to Anstey Parish Council from the developers, after a very long delay, due to legal issues. I was grateful to the Parish for the bacon cobs and warm coffee on a chilly morning. I am now watching all the allotment plots being worked on by their owners as I take my dogs for a walk, and it is great to see all the enthusiastic digging going on!
I joined the online event on Holocaust Memorial day on Friday 27th January. We watched a film that showed us the horrors that happened to millions of Jewish people during that time, and it was intensely moving to hear some of the personal stories.
On Thursday 2nd February I hosted our annual Suicide Prevention Conference at the King Power Stadium. This brought together many partners from across Leicester and Leicestershire. This is a difficult subject to discuss and we were honoured to listen to some very personal stories, but we all finished the day filled with hope. We all promised to take back what we had learnt on the day to our own organisations, to ensure we raise the profile of suicide prevention and work hard to reduce deaths from suicide across the city and county.
As we head closer to the local elections on 4th May, Leicestershire County Council will be operating under ‘Purdah’. Purdah is the period in the run-up to an election when there is a restriction in place on publicising the views of political parties, issuing press releases, or promoting initiatives with quotes or photos from particular councillors as this could be seen to unfairly promote one particular political party.
Therefore, there will be limited information being placed into the public domain. I will of course be continuing with all my work as a local councillor dealing with individual resident issues, including my role as Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Children and Families in the County.
Tree Preservation Order (TPO)
A new searchable website-based map which allows residents in Leicestershire to play their part in protecting some of the county’s most valuable trees has been launched.
The map details every Tree Preservation Order (TPO) managed by Leicestershire County Council and shows if an individual tree, group of trees or even entire woodlands has a TPO.
Residents can check whether trees are covered by a TPO before carrying out any work to trees or starting any building works which may affect trees covered by a TPO. Breaching a TPO by carrying out unauthorised works can lead to a fine of up to £20,000. The map can also be used to check if trees being worked on by third parties are subject to a TPO, so any breaches can be reported.
The interactive map only lists the TPOs issued by Leicestershire County Council but it provides links to each of the county’s seven district and borough councils so members of the public can also check on TPOs issued by those authorities.
The searchable map, as well as detailed information on TPOs, how to apply for permission to carry out works to a tree covered by a TPO and details of how to contact the TPO team for further advice, can be found ton he council’s website: www.leicestershire.gov.uk or by scanning the QR code:
Buses
The Passenger Transport Policy and Strategy (PTPS) was adopted by the County Council in October 2018 to ensure the delivery of value-for-money passenger transport services and to provide a robust and transparent framework for determining decisions on the provision of passenger transport services. A programme of service reviews in December 2018 was started, however, it was then paused in March 2020 due to the pandemic.
There is a budget deficit of approximately £1m going into the 2023/24 financial year, due to inflationary costs and the bus recovery funding from the Government coming to an end in March 2023.
The PTPS review of all supported bus services was recommenced in September 2022. There are currently twenty-six bus routes subsidised by the council, this is less than 10% of all the bus routes across the county, meaning most of the bus routes across the county are commercially run services.
These reviews are being undertaken in four batches, the first of which is nearing completion and is likely to result in changes to these services, including the likely withdrawal of some of them.
Batch One includes the Centrebus 154 between Leicester and Loughborough and the Midland Classic 125 bus services between Leicester and Castle Donington, both these services run through my division.
A programme of focused local community engagement events and where necessary consultation on the PTPS review outcomes will be held during Spring/Summer 2023 with the implementation of the outcomes for the first batch of services being in place in Autumn 2023.
I must stress that no decisions have been made yet and residents will have an opportunity to attend local community engagement events during the Spring and Summer.
Census Data
There has been an early release of some of the 2021 Census data. This was the first ‘digital’ census. The Leicestershire population has gone up by 9.5% to 712,366 since 2011, this equates to 351,753 males and 360,613 females. I have picked out some interesting data from the census:
- 68,869 of Leicestershire residents were born outside of the UK
- 22,913 Leicestershire residents have previously served in the UK armed forces
- 342,298 Leicestershire residents have a main language other than English
- 59.1% of Leicestershire is economically active in the labour market
- 30.5% of the workforce work mainly from home
- 54.5% of residents travel to work via car or van
- 48.5% of residents record themselves as being in very good health.
You can get a wealth of data from the ‘Leicester.Shire.Rutland’ Statistics and Research (LSR) online website: https://www.lsr-online.org/population-and-census.html
The county council will use this census data to predict future changes in demand for services such as school places; adult social care; public health provision; transport infrastructure and housing.
So how has Leicestershire changed since 2011?
- A growing population, with particular increases in the older population
- More ethnically diverse
- Less religious
- More highly qualified
- More people living in rented accommodation.
Family Hubs
Leicestershire County Council is to receive a boost to support parents, carers, and families. An announcement in February selected Leicestershire as one of twelve local authorities to be awarded nearly £1m of Government funded money to create a network of ‘family hubs’ for parents, carers, and families.
The family hubs, whether in a building or accessed ‘digitally’, will be places where information, advice and support can be easily found in one place. The idea is to provide seamless support and the best start right from the start, and to help parents and carers navigate parenting from conception, through the early years into the start of adulthood.
