Latest Borough Councillor Report

Martin Cartwright's report May 2021

COVID Pandemic

The next phase of the lockdown easement is due to take place on May 18th. Since my last article in the Spotlight the Government has made it clear it is not going to continue the legislation that allowed Councils to hold meetings virtually.

This was challenged by Hertfordshire County Council in the High Court, a challenge that failed.

Groby Parish Council held their AGM on May 4th 2021 two days before the rule change so were able to conduct their AGM by Zoom.

The Borough Council’s annual general meeting AGM (Mayor Making) is on May 18th and will have to take place at a single venue with COVID compliance. This is not possible at Hinckley Hub so the Borough Council are looking at bigger venues in order to hold meetings for the foreseeable future.

Groby Parish Council – Parish Councillor Resignation

There could well be a second election process taking place in Groby following the County Council & Police & Crime Commissioner elections in order to fill the vacancy on Groby Parish Council.

At least ten names of the Groby Electorate have been submitted to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council meaning that if more people apply for the vacant post than the seats being contested, an election will take place.

You could well be filling in postal votes and or calling at the Village Hall to cast your vote this time around for Groby Parish Council.

Now that the first part of the legislation has been satisfied the latest date an election can take place is Thursday June 16th 2021

Heritage Watchdog Historic Buildings at Risk Register

It is of no surprise that Bradgate Stables again feature on the Heritage Buildings at Risk Register.

The latest Heritage watchdog historic Buildings at Risk Register has just been published for all the District Councils. In Hinckley & Bosworth the register includes:

· Bradgate House Stables, Groby

· St Edith’s, Orton-on-the-Hill

· Holy Trinity, Twycross

Dot Bell

In August 2020 Dot Bell of THE GROBY NURSERY SCHHOL officially retired. You may recall the drive by that was done for her on her retirement celebration.

It is with great sadness to say that Dot has passed away in April 2021. Condolences to her family, friends and all the children that Dot has dedicated her talents to over decades

Litter – Fly-Tipping

As sure as day turns to night and back again the discarded litter and fly tipping continues.

I have received questions regarding the litter specifically on the A46 and A50 through Groby

The litter alongside the A46 and A50 is shocking. I absolutely agree with all of those who have contacted me on this.

Firstly his is as a result of mindless idiots throwing it onto the verges from cars etc.

The situation has been made worse by the fact that the vegetation has been cut back by machinery that has shredded much of the waste into much smaller pieces. You carry out one job and create another one.

In terms of the fix, as this is a major fast moving road, it needs a road closure to be put into place in order to litter-pick. This is both expensive and regulative whereby permits have to be sought from Leicestershire County Council Highways although it is Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council’s responsibility to clear a small section of the A46 and a larger section of the A50.

Blaby District Council is responsible for part of it in their patch too. The rest in respect of the A46 down to the Hobby Horse is Charnwood District Council’s nightmare to deal with.

Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council are responsible for the A46 as well as from the A50 Groby entry roundabout all the way up to Markfield.

Taking each major road in turn the A46 is litter picked twice a year with the next scheduled litter-pick due to take place in July 2021 subject to the requisite permits for road closure. We are working with Blaby District Council who will litter pick their section at the same time reducing the costs to both authorities in respect of the permits by working together and the road is closed once not twice as a result of team work.

With the A50 the next scheduled litter pick is due in May 2021 subject to the permits and road closure agreement and is also completed twice a year.

Sadly, in both cases once the works are completed it is not very long before it looks a mess again due to the constant tipping of rubbish from passing vehicles.

The route to stop this and much less costs on local authorities is the behaviour of people in the first instance.

There are calls, for which I support, for fast food outlets to print registration numbers on the bags so that offenders can be traced. Trouble is unless this is on every item then simply the items without the registration number will be chucked instead. It is a huge unsightly issue which is very expensive to deal with the after effects.

Thankfully, our volunteer litter pickers continue to mop up after everyone and a great deal of gratitude is due to these people who give up their time and energy in order to improve the environment for everyone’s benefit.

An indication of the scale of the problem:

Every day an average of 32 piles of rubbish are dumped across Leicestershire. New figures published by the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs show there were 11,550 cases of fly-tipping recorded across the county in 2019-2020. However the figures also show just 13 people were prosecuted for fly-tipping in the same period.

Last year Councils in Leicestershire spent £146,716.00 just on clearing the instances of large scale fly-tipping.

That’s Leicestershire; nationally the number of fly-tipping instances rose to 975,631 costing an estimated 58 Million pounds to clear up. How many nurses could that fund instead for instance?

I am here to help you

Should you have any comments or problems you would like me to mention in my article please get in touch. Please remember if I can ever be of help to you or your family please do not hesitate to contact me. My contact details are listed above.

Keep safe, take care. Kind regards, Cllr Martin Cartwright Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council – Groby ward

Executive member for: Licensing, Environmental, Climate Change, Rural Issues & Klondyke Community Hub

Martin Cartwright's report March 2021

Leicester Road Groby, Speed Camera Van, Speeding Offences Recorded