Parish Council news

Help us provide Warm Spaces this winter

December 2022 The Parish Council is putting together a Warm Spaces Network to ensure that there is a safe warm space for residents during the coldest part of the year. Working together we can provide somewhere warm and safe to go. A guide to where Warm Spaces can be found and when they are open is being compiled, listing where to go to get warm during from January to April 2023.

The venues we have earmarked so far are:

Groby Library

The village hall

United Reform Church room

Groby Community Centre

Groby Ex-Servicemen’s Club

Groby Parish Council Rooms

The Stamford Arms.

The spaces need to be inclusive for all and able to offer warm drinks, biscuits and advice (leaflets, signposting websites or by the presence of volunteers from local concerns such as Age UK). We also need a supply of books, jigsaws and games to keep people entertained, and more importantly company for those who feel alone.

The role of the Parish Council will be to pull all the information from groups together and deliver details in a leaflet to every home.

We need offers of suitable spaces, volunteers and donations. The Parish Council can advise on Borough Council grants for individual groups. There is some Parish Council money from the Christmas budget to fund additional fuel costs for opening or extending a space to be used as a warm space. Can you support this initiative by offering a space, or donating items such as refreshments, books, games, jigsaws, blankets, new hats, gloves, scarves or volunteering to help keep the spaces open?

If you are a facilitator of one of the earmarked venues listed, please contact us ASAP to discuss if you are able to support the project and we can work out what support you will need.

If you can help in any way, please contact the Groby Parish Council Office, Village Hall, Leicester Road, Groby, Leicester. LE6 0DQ. Tel: 0116 2876 985 Email: parishclerk@groby.com

Many thanks for your time

The Groby Warm Spaces Network Working Party.

Parish Council responds to escalating household costs

October 2022 As household costs soar, many residents will not only face a struggle with shopping and energy bills this winter, but also higher interest rates and rents. For many, wage rises, pensions and benefits will fall below the inflation rate.

Groby Parish Council members acknowledged these difficulties at their October meeting when they had to consider the renewal of the Christmas lights contract for the next three years. Everyone agreed that the lights do lift the spirits of residents in the depths of winter, but couldn’t escape the comparison of twinkling lights in the street whilst some residents shiver at home. The energy cost of the lights borders on the insignificant, with the major part of the cost relating to their rental, installation and removal.

Options such as reducing the number of lamps decorated were considered, but it was thought that this might look like an economy version. It was decided to investigate concentrating more resources into the heart of the village in the area of the Stamford Arms, library and village hall. This could halve the budgeted cost and release funds to find ways of mitigating the cost of living crisis for struggling residents.

In the summer many are decorated with hanging baskets which, this year, have been particularly eye catching and have drawn many favourable comments. Unlike the baskets some years ago the latest versions come with water reservoirs which are topped up by the suppliers to ensure that the display is always looking good, though with October just days away they have past their best.

2010 Christmas lights -Consultation results

October 2010 Following the consultation earlier this year Groby Parish Council has now approved a scheme for Christmas lights next December. The lights will cost around £7700.

April 2010 Villagers have overwhelmingly endorsed the policy of Groby Parish Council to spend money on street lights and decorations at Christmas. Although only 142 voted in the consultation which closed on April 16th fewer than 20% were against spending money on lights. A majority of the 80% who supported the lights want the Council to increase spending next Christmas up to the £10,000 that was provided for in the 2010/2011 budget.

With this support the Council will now be able to move forward with plans to improve the display this year.

Christmas lights - You still have time to vote

The postman probably has no complaints about the response of the residents of Groby to the public consultation organised by the Parish Council on the question of Christmas lights in the village. There has been no sack of mail too heavy to carry and no heap of questionnaires in every corner of the sorting office. And with only 83 responses by March 29^th it would not be surprising if the Parish Council was disappointed.

No surprise

But no-one should be surprised, as although the people of Groby will respond magnificently on issues like housing development, travellers, football pavilions or buses through the housing estates, they have often not been as enthusiastic to get involved with less controversial issues. The Speedwatch campaign to try and increase road safety locally only needed 200 signatures to get it started but by the initial closing date it only had fourteen supporters. A consultation by the Borough Council on teenage play provision in Groby in 2007 attracted responses from just 3% of households and only 2 Groby residents attended a presentation by the Borough Council on the Core Strategy and Local Development Framework which has been the subject of so much subsequent controversy. Perhaps most share the view of the resident who told a Parish Councillor that villagers elected councillors to take care of these decisions.

Need to know

But sometimes your councillors feel they need to know how residents feel when they are considering issues which involve additional expenditure on new or existing services. The Groby Christmas lights fall into this category, for although for years the Council has supported the Carols around the Tree the trend for smaller villages to erect lights at Christmas is relatively new. At one time it took a trip to the larger towns or cities to see the lights but technological advances have brought displays within the grasp not only of smaller councils but also keen householders. At the Parish Council members have compared notes on what they have seen in other villages and which was the best and decided that Groby was getting left behind when it came to bringing a bit of Christmas cheer to those dark days of December. So last year a plan was hastily put in place to provide lights for the village and carry out a consultation afterwards to assess the feelings of villagers. Councillors had no reason to anticipate that a handful of the enterprising young people of Groby would steal the tree and, it is said, one of them would climb inside and walk up Leicester Road. The walking tree was recovered and re-erected at a cost of £150 but may be out of the running for next Christmas if residents opt for illumination of the trees next to the library instead.

How much are the lights worth to you?

The expenditure figures are approximations but the lights are said to have cost around £2 per household last year. Provision has been made to double this amount to £4 next Christmas if residents approve. To put it into perspective a typical Groby household will pay between £50 and £60 this year to the Parish Council in Council Tax.

The questionnaire is designed to discover not only what residents thought of the 2009 lights and to determine if they feel that taxpayers money should be used for lights, but also to find out how much they think the Council should spend each Christmas. So you can choose to freeze the budget for the 2010 lights at the Christmas 2009 level(£5,000) or increase it to £10,000, the amount the Council has set aside just in case this is your preference. You can also indicate how much you would be willing to pay for future years.

A cautious approach or enjoy a mid winter boost?

Some residents may not want to spend anything or may feel that they are happy with just £5,000 after comparing it with other things the Council spends money on. “At £10,000 the cost of the lights for a few weeks would be more than three times the money the Parish Council gives the Groby in Bloom volunteers and twice what the Council plans to spend on footpath improvements,” said one local resident who had clearly examined his Council Tax bill.

Although there are few certainties in life one of them is that whichever party wins the general election cuts will follow and taxes may rise to deal with the aftermath of the banking crisis. Council taxpayers may have less disposable income. So the more cautious may argue that now is not the time to increase spending on the lights as there may be more pressing needs if financial pressures increase.

But on the other hand many householders may feel that they don't mind whether the lights cost them £2 or £4, as they bring some Christmas cheer to the darkest days of winter in a period of economic gloom. For anyone who doesn't travel far from the village it may seem a small amount to pay to be taken out of the daily routine in the run up to the Christmas holiday. “Let's not forget the children,” said a local mother, “what price seeing the joy on the face of a young child when the lights are switched on and the tree illuminated?”

The Council needs your help

It is important for as many residents as possible to participate in the consultation that the Parish Council has set up. Coucillors need your guidance on how you think they should proceed and the amount they should spend on lights. If you want more spent on the lights and haven't voted by the closing date don't be dismayed if the consultation result says 'no thanks'. If you don't want Council Tax money being spent on lights at all but haven't voted don't complain if the majority of votes are in favour of maintaining or even increasing the expenditure.

The closing date for returns is 16^th April, so it's not too late. The Council is happy to accept the original page from the Spotlight, a photocopy, or a response by email. If you no longer have your March Spotlight you can download the questionnaire from www.groby.comfollowing the link to 'news'. You can then send in or email your response.

Time to think about Christmas

August 2009 At the end of August the stores discretely start slipping their Christmas lines onto the shelves. Halloween seems just around the corner with bonfire night in hot pursuit. Einstein might not agree but for the rest of us we are getting to that point of the year when time suddenly seems to accelerate. Part of the Christmas tradition has been that the Parish Council has discussed the issue of the Christmas tree and the carols service just when it has become too late to make any changes.

Last year the Council resolved to review the subject much earlier and at this month's meeting the Council set up a working party to report back to members. The Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee compared the village with Christmas decorations at Anstey and suggested to the meeting that Groby could do better, a view shared by many councillors. The Chairman of the Parish Council reminded members that they were dealing with public money and that when the working party reported back they should not only consider the cost of buying lights but also the infrastructure needed to support them.