Parishes and Communities Newsletter Summer 2020

Welcome...

to our summer newsletter. The county council has announced further details of a near-£1m fund to support parishes as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The authority is inviting parishes to start thinking about their 'patch' and the type of measures that could encourage sustainable and active travel.

This could include temporary road closures to encourage people to walk or cycle into village centres; closing parking bays temporarily to create more space; creating pop-up cycle lanes; measures surrounding school access to enable safe drop off and collection; cutting back of vegetation next to pathways to create more space; or some form of pedestrian one-way system so that people can walk around the area while maintaining social distancing.

Application forms, along with a breakdown of the likely costs of some of the measures have been sent to all parishes. The grants available are likely to be either £10,000, £5,000 or £2,000 and will be available for a limited period of time, so, to ensure your proposal is promptly considered, parishes are urged to submit their applications as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, or you would like further information, please email ETDSpecialProjects@leics.gov.uk and anyone in an unparished area should contact your local Leicestershire County Council councillor.

Coronavirus - stay alert!

As lockdown restrictions continue across Leicester, we'd like to remind everyone that we can all help control the virus if we all stay alert.

This means you must:

stay at home as much as possible
work from home if you can
limit contact with other people
keep your distance if you go out (2 metres apart where possible)
wash your hands regularly

If you or anyone in your household has symptoms of coronavirus, do not leave home.

Face coverings are also now mandatory in enclosed public spaces including supermarkets, indoor shopping centres, local takeaways, banks and post offices.

For more information on ways to stay safe, visit the Government coronavirus webpage.

Covid-19 approach to transport recovery

The 'Approach to Transport Recovery' document sets out the work that the county council, as local highways and transport authority, is carrying out to support the Government's approach to the easing of lockdown restrictions and to assist with immediate recovery efforts in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This document sets out the general approach to transport recovery but does not list specific schemes to assist with the easing of the lockdown. The details of schemes being developed will be discussed with local members. What we learn and understand about transport impacts and changes in travel behaviour resulting from Covid-19 will also be a consideration in the development of the council's future, long-term transport policies.

Biodiversity

Several fact sheets have been developed that may be useful for Parishes and Communities to create their own projects around safeguarding biodiversity, which are available here. Free Biodiversity training is available to all Parishes and Communities within Leicestershire & Rutland so please contact Lucie Hoelmer if you are interested in being involved.

It is also important to highlight that the SHIRE Environment Grant Programme is now open to submissions for their 2020/21 programme. Last year they provided grants of up to £3,000 to community groups who wished to deliver projects focused on waste prevention and reuse, reducing carbon emissions and improving biodiversity.

Details of the current programme can be found on the Leicestershire Communities website.

Part-night street lighting

The county council has ended the temporary measure of switching off part-night street lighting an hour earlier at 11pm. The temporary scheme began when the Government introduced measures to tackle the spread of Covid-19 by closing hospitality and leisure facilities, as well as community-based events, greatly reducing night-time activity.

The council has reverted to the previous arrangements of switching off all part-night lighting at 12 midnight. The initiative is estimated to have saved 18,300 kWh of energy and 4.7 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Councillor Trevor Pendleton, county council cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "In light of some of the lockdown restrictions being eased by the Government, we've now reviewed the position on our part-night lighting. We have worked closely with the police throughout the part-night lighting project and when specific issues are raised in an area we do review our approach."

Between 2012/13 and 2019/20, annual carbon emissions from street lighting fell from 14,572 tonnes to 2,536 tonnes. For more details on street lighting, click here.

Leicestershire waste site re-open

Following the re-opening of Shepshed recycling and household waste site earlier in the month, the remaining county waste sites are set to re-open in the coming weeks.

All sites require residents to book in advance online, to ensure social distancing can be maintained. New slots for all sites are released weekly, with site users able to book two slots per fortnight.

Councillor Trevor Pendleton, county council cabinet for waste disposal, said: "We'd like to thank everyone who has visited the sites for using the booking system, turning up for their slots on time and helping us to make everything run smoothly."

Full details of site opening days and times can be found on the Leicestershire County Council website.

News on concessionary travel

Early in June, concessionary travel on public transport reverted to pre-lockdown arrangements which allow free travel for bus pass holders between 9.30am and 11pm (Monday - Friday), all day Saturdays, Sundays and Bank holidays.

During the lockdown, concessionary passes could also be used for free travel before 9.30am so that older and disabled people had access to supermarkets and other essential shops that specifically opened earlier for them.

The easing of lockdown means more people will be using public transport for work and school during the morning peak hours, so the change is considered necessary to ensure bus users will be better able to follow government social distancing guidelines.

In line with the latest Government guidance, parking enforcement teams have increased patrolling to reflect an increase in traffic volume and ensure the flow of traffic and the safety of all highway user.

Environment and transport information for Parishes and communities

We are working on a web page for parishes and communities, which is still under development, but can viewed here.

Let us know what you
think ....

We want to know what you think of your new digital newsletter. Is there any specific information you would like us to include in the next issue?

Alternatively, if there is an article you want to contribute about something relating to highways that you are doing in your area, please let us know by emailing: cscparishes@leics.gov.uk

What's happening at the council?

All our cabinet and scrutiny meetings reports are published on our website.

Here are some recent reports which may be of interest now to your community.

Report a problem on our roads

Click here for the latest info on flooding