Leicestershire & Rutland

Leicestershire & Rutland

Association of Local Councils

May 2013 LeicestershireCounty Council News (funded by LCC Project Funding)

Broadband Leicestershire

Over 50 people, representing parish councils and local businesses, attended the last Stakeholder Forum on the 22nd April. Our website has been updated with the presentation slides from Openreach and the County Council. Q&A notes will be uploaded shortly. The third Forum, will be held in the evening of the 24th June at County Hall from 6.30pm until 8.00pm with refreshments available from 6pm. Please confirm attendance with Kate Harvey (, 0116 305 7016)

We have also agreed to publish a monthly update which will be sent to all CountyCouncillors, District Councillors and Parish Councils (via Clerks). The first will be circulated towards the end of June.

Defra has also extended the deadline for the submission of expressions of interest to its Rural Community Broadband Fund. The deadline is now the 17th June 2013.

More information is available at

Cash for your community – how will you spend yours?

Over 140 exciting projects across Leicestershire have already requested a share of the £320,000 Leicestershire County Council has made available for community projects. Project proposals include a new fun and fitness group for Older people in the Desford area, Village Hall repairs in Harborough, activities for toddlers in Kegworth and many, many more.

You can get involved by viewing and making comments on all projects online via Alternatively, register your interest to come along to your local Decision Night where you can vote for your favourite projects. Register either online or by calling 0116 305 7034.

There is still time for community groups to get project proposals in for other parts of the county. Deadlines coming up include Coalville, Blaby North, Shepshed and Hathern, Melton, Hinckley and many more. For details, please visit the website or contact Leicestershire County Council at 0116 305 7034.

Updated bus guides

Bus maps and guides have been updated with the latest details on frequency information, stops and routes, providing public transport users with everything they need to plan their journeys.

There are 14 different guides, each covering a different area in Leicestershire. The leaflets cover Ashby de la Zouch, Blaby, Coalville, FossePark, Hinckley, Leicester hospitals, Loughborough, Lutterworth, Market Harborough, Measham, Melton Mowbray, Oadby, Syston and Wigston.

The new guides will be distributed to homes near to the featured bus routes.

There is also the county-wide Leicestershire Bus Map & Guide Network Map detailing all regular bus services to make travelling that bit easier.

The guides are also available to pick up from local libraries and service shops, to download from Residents and visitors can also sign up to a mailing list through the website to receive notification of changes to bus services in their selected areas.

Guides can be requested by calling 0116 305 0002 or emailing .

Food Fortnight

If you have a food or drink business in Leicestershire, don’t miss the opportunity of getting involved in this year’s Leicester and Leicestershire Food Fortnight.

Over 55 individual businesses took part in last year’s initiative to raise the profile of food and drink in the county – and there were a staggering 75 individual food-based events for people to visit. Businesses reported increased footfall and sales and more importantly their visibility in the community was raised with a national and local PR campaign, online listings on the dedicated website and entry into the Leicester Mercury Events Guide – which is all free to the businesses and community groups taking part.

Work on this year’s Food Fortnight has already started and Leicestershire County Council and Leicester City Council are calling for all food and drink businesses or community groups in Leicester and Leicestershire to get in touch. Could you hold a special event? Could you offer customers tastings of local produce or hold demonstrations? Could you offer a special offer or promotion during the Fortnight? What could you do to raise the profile of your business by being involved in this year’s Food Fortnight? Could you organise an event for your local community – perhaps celebrating its local or heritage foods? We are open to ideas and would love to hear from you.

For information about getting involved in this year’s event, please contact Rachel Dorsett, Silver Pear Communications on 01476 879215 or 07584 166629

New grant to support community buildings in Leicestershire

Leicestershire County Council is launching a £124,000 SHIRE Community Building Grant Fund to support Community Buildings across Leicestershire.

A maximum £6000 grant and or £4000 loan can be offered to constituted management groups who manage community buildings in Leicestershire.

There is a mix of funding available to cover both capital work – improvements for buildings – and support for business planning, advice and training - improvements in how the buildings are run.

Leicestershire County Council is looking to support costs of:

Major repairs, such as new roofs and floors:
Improvements that increase CommunityBuilding capacity or enable wider usage such as extensions and internal refits.
Acquisition of buildings (via purchase or long lease) in order to provide a community facility.
Construction of new Community Buildings.
Training and development of the committee members, volunteers and staff running Community Buildings
Support with strengthening governance, developing business plans and community consultation.

Pam Posnett, Lead Member for Community Engagement and SHIRE Grants at Leicestershire County Council said, “Community buildings such as Village Halls and Community Centres are highly valued facilities at the heart of communities. They provide local people with a place to meet where news, information and ideas can be exchanged, views expressed and actions discussed and agreed. They also provide the base from which services for the local community are offered, often by local community groups and where people meet for social, recreational and educational events and activities.

We look forward to receiving applications and supporting communities in managing effective, viable and sustainable Community Buildings.”

Applications will be considered by a Grants Panel. For applications to be considered by the first panel meeting in July, applications need to be submitted by Friday 28th of June.

For more details about the fund and how to apply, please visit contact Andy Hayes 0116 305 7269

Big Society Grant Fund

Leicestershire County Council’s Big Society Grant Fund (totaling £340,000) is intended to support grassroots, community and voluntary organisations to develop ideas, projects and initiatives which will help to make the Big Society a reality at a local level.

The first Grant Panel will be on 27thJune 2013 with a final closing date for applications and supporting information of 14th June 2013. Panels are expected to be held every other month.

The ‘Big Society’ Grant will make funds (maximum £15,000) available for projects which:

enable communities to identify and meet their own needs – “helping them to help themselves”
provide the best local solutions to tackle local problems
demonstrate local community commitment and involvement
create active and empowered citizens

Projects which also meet the following key Leicestershire Together and Leicestershire County Council strategic priorities will be strongly considered for funding:

An ageing population (including vulnerability and mental health)
Supporting Leicestershire Families
Tackling Unhealthy lifestyles
Economic Growth (including worklessness/unemployment)

The Grant is available to constituted community groups, charities, parish/town councils and other organisations which operate on a “not for profit” basis such as social enterprises and community interest companies.

Un-constituted groups can apply but are limited to a maximum grant of £1000 and should ideally be seeking to become constituted.

Successful projects have included: community consultation exercises; extensions to or new community buildings; training for volunteers and specialist support to help community organisations with business planning and feasibility studies.

Contact details:

Email:

Telephone: (0116) 3057269

Rural Capital Grants Programme 2013-14

Rural Leicestershire businesses can apply for a share of a £100,000 fund, which is being offered by the county council. The grants are open to small companies working in the land based, food and drink, tourism and creative sectors which want to grow. They are issued by the Leicestershire Rural Partnership as part of its work to boost the rural economy and jobs, with a bidding deadline of Wednesday 10th July.

County cabinet member Pam Posnett, chairman of the Leicestershire Rural Partnership, said: "Small firms are the life-blood of our economy and I hope that rural businesses will take advantage of the grants, to help them develop and grow."

Rob Morton, proprietor of the Hallaton-based Bottle Kicking Cider Company, received a grant last year. He said: "The assistance the Leicestershire Rural Partnership has given us has been invaluable. We have been able to carry out our expansion plans with confidence, and we are now in a position to fulfill the increased demand for our cider."

For further information concerning the rural business grants, please download an application form and accompanying notes from or phone Peter McLaren on 0116 305 3910.

LeicestershireCounty Council Parish Clerk’s Highways Newsletter – Issue 2 June 2013

Issue 2 of the LCC Parish Clerk’s Highways Newsletter is now available, here:

School Crossing Patrol Wardens wanted

Vacancies are now available across Leicestershire for School Crossing Patrol Wardens.

Leicestershire residents can increase their earnings by taking on a few extra hours a week to ensure the safety of children travelling to and from school in their local community.

Wardens will be provided with:

·Full training and uniform
·£6.38 per hour
·Paid school holidays

Areas available include Kegworth,Thringstone, Barwell,Broughton Astley,Glen Parva, Wigston and Burbage.

For more information about the vacancies available, please contact the Road Safety Education Team on 0116 305 6579 or visit:

Transform a child's life - join the top 40 and become a Leicestershire foster carer

If you could make space for a child, why not pick up the phone and find out more about becoming a Leicestershire county council foster carer? Foster carers transform lives and are needed for children of all ages following a family crisis, if their parents become ill or if their family home is unsafe. This could involve caring for them for anything from a few days to right through the rest of their childhood.

The council is launching a 12-month recruitment drive to find 40 extra carers able to offer youngsters a secure and loving home. The move has been sparked by a 25 per cent rise over the past two years in the number of children in care in Leicestershire - this figure mirrors the national trend.

Fostering a child is one of the most challenging but also rewarding things you can do and anyone can make a success of fostering. It doesn’t matter whether you are married, cohabitating, single, gay or straight and we are looking for foster carers from all racial, religious and cultural backgrounds.

To find out more, visit or contact the Family Placement Team on 0116 305 0505 or email:

Safer Driving with Age

Why not try the Safer Driving with Age (SAGE) assessment?

We are giving older drivers help and advice so they can remain safe motorists.

If you are aged 60 or over, you can book onto a 60 minute Safer Driving with Age course.

More people are driving later in life and our sessions give you the chance to correct bad habits and boost confidence on the roads.

Why not test your driving abilities on a simple and enjoyable drive on the roads in Leicestershire. Try a 1 hour assessment with a friendly approved driving instructor on local roads for only £25. More »

Jake Atkinson

Chief Officer

May 2013