Parish Council - Our Latest News as of 7 January 2021

The most appropriate greeting from the Parish Council at the beginning of this New Year is to wish you all well and safe as we move forward through a difficult winter with some hope for a healthier future and much uncertainty about what will be the new ‘normal’ lives when the restrictions on our lives can be lifted.

In the meantime your Parish Council continues to work on your behalf and we can start with some good news.

Funding for Munday’s Close Community Park: We have secured a grant from FCC Communities Funding, a grant giving body funded by the landfill operator FCC Environment, for over £50,000 which together with a small contribution from our funds will enable us to renovate and improve the equipment in our Community Park. The aim is to provide equipment which will enable a greater range of age groups to enjoy activities in the park.  We would really like your help deciding exactly what equipment we buy and install. There is a short survey on our website (www.langham-pc.gov.uk) which shows you the equipment we are thinking about and asks for your views. PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AND COMPLETE THIS SURVEY BY 1 FEBRUARY.

Parish Precept 2021/22: More good news!  After careful consideration of the Parish Council’s budget for the coming financial year we are pleased to tell you that we have decided that we will not need to ask households to contribute more to the costs incurred in our parish.  There will be no increase in the amount of money raised for this Parish Council through your Council Tax in 2021/22.

Lock on Gate to Munday’s Close Community Park and Burial Ground; After the last Parish Council meeting in 2020, which was held in November, we became aware of an imminent risk that the land could be occupied by trespassers and we needed to take swift action to deter such occupation despite any inconvenience caused. We decided locking the gate and displaying a phone number for those who needed to gain access was the sensible response. Our January 28^th Parish Council Meeting will be the first opportunity to formally discuss the risk assessment and determine appropriate action going forward.

Virtual Parish Council Meetings: As you will be aware, we are holding virtual Parish Council meetings on Zoom.  Please attend and also speak at the meetings if you want to.  Details on how to join our Zoom meetings are published with our agendas displayed on Notice Boards around the village and on our Website www.langham-pc.gov.uk

Verges Bio Diversity Project: Volunteers have prepared and planted the first verge with wildflower seeds, to the north side of Mickley Lane.   Verges that have been planted are marked with small blue heart shaped signs.  Progress has been delayed elsewhere after discovering we need an Environmental Licence from RCC to plant the other selected verges around the village.  We expect to receive this licence shortly.  Extra volunteers to help with the project would still be very welcome.  If you are interested please contact Marian Markham or Cllr Richard Besant, their details are available from the Parish Clerk.

Langham Neighbourhood Plan (LNP) Review The 5-strong Steering Group set up by LPC to review the Langham Neighbourhood Plan has started work. The five have managed two ZOOM meetings and are in a position now to keep you all regularly updated with progress and to call on you all for essential help. So please keep checking the LPC website Langham-pc.gov.uk and the Langham News for their updates.

Brenda Palmer

Chairman – Langham Parish Council 

Vehicle Access to Munday's Close, Burial Ground and Community Park

The vehicle access gate to Munday's Close area will from now on be shut and locked at all times for security reasons. Pedestrian access is not affected.

There is no public vehicular right of way along Mickley Lane and is restricted to the landowners. Anyone with a genuine need for vehicle access to Munday's Close, the Burial Ground or the Community Park should call the number on the notice affixed to the gate to get the combination. The combination will be changed weekly.

Allotments - the offical car park for the allotments is at Burley Road end. LPC have recently paid to have the area cleared of bushes and scrub, although it is still a work in progress. There is currently room for at least 3 cars to be parked there.

Future Healthcare Survey

The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) are proposing changes to the healthcare provision for the area.

You can have your say on the changed by taking this survey www.betterhospitalsleicester.nhs.uk - Have Your Say!

Community Park Update

With today's announcement by the Prime Minister Langham's Community Park will reopen on Saturday July 4th

Abstraction of water from Langham Brook

The brook running through Langham is owned by each riparian property and we thank each of you for fulfilling your responsibiites with regard to the maintenance of the bank and water course.

The recent warm, dry spell has left the water level very low and we felt it was important to remind riparian owners that, whilst the abstraction of water up 20cubic metres per day or less does not require a licence from the Environment Agency, amounts in excess of this may do so and should be referred to them.

A reminder of riparian duties:

• Pass on the flow of water without obstruction, pollution or diversion affecting the rights of others.
• Maintain the bed and banks of the watercourse and to clear any debris, whether natural or artificial, to keep any culverts, rubbish screens, weirs and mill gates clear of debris.
• Be responsible for protection of land from flooding and cause no obstructions, temporary or permanent, preventing the free passage of fish.
• Accept flood flows even if caused by inadequate capacity downstream, but there is no duty to improve the drainage capacity of a watercourse.

Update on Household Waste Recycling Centres.  

 

Bulky waste collection service.

RCC will resume its bulky waste collection service from Monday 4 May.

The bulky waste service offers to collect and remove large household items such as furniture and white goods.

The cost for removal is £32 for up to four items. All bulky waste items must be left outside of properties, where they can be easily collected and removed.

Bulky waste operatives cannot currently enter people’s homes to remove items, meaning assisted collections are unavailable.

Bulky waste collections can be booked by calling RCC’s customer services team on: 01572 722 577. A limited number of collection slots are available each day.

Household Waste and Recycling Centres will remain closed for the time being

Household waste collections continue as normal but due to the extra waste generated by people being at home they are unable to take any additional waste. If it isn't in a bin it wont be taken.

Both of the RCC Household Waste Recycling Centres are currently closed. Please store any items destined for the 'Tip' for the time being.

Crossing the A606

Attached is a questionnaire, sent by RCC at LPC's suggestion, to test how many people in Langham avoid crossing the A606, or are fearful of doing so, because it is dangerous. The data collected will add to measures RCC have already made of volume of traffic and number of people actually using the existing crossing point near Burley Road. This to help RCC ascertain whether we need a Pelican Crossing as shown.

It is targeted at those south of Melton Rd and along Cold Overton Road, but is relevant to every resident who has or had need to cross the A606 at the existing crossing point near Burley Road junction. If that applies to you, then you should feel free to respond, irrespective of where you live in the village

UPDATE: With the help of our RC Councillor Oliver Hemsley we are hoping to extend the survey to the whole of Langham. Look out for it dropping through your door early in the new year. This may be our one and only chance to get a light controlled crossing on the A606 so if you get a survey please take a few minutes to fill it in and return it to RCC.

The volunteers of Munday's Close Working Group (MCWG) will be planting an Oak Tree in the Munday's Close wildlife area around 10:30am on Saturday 30th November as part of the Woodland Trust Big Climate Fightback. All Langham residents are invited to come along and show their support.
The Big Climate Fightback is a campaign to get one million people to join the fight against climate change by pledging to plant a tree by Saturday 30 November 2019. https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/46713/data/1

We have just received the annual inspection report on Munday’s Close playing field. Due to age, wear and tear, we are going to have to dismantle the multi- slide and repair the swings and in the longer term its time we replaced and upgraded all the play equipment. SO WE WANT AND NEED YOUR HELP TO DECIDE WHAT AGE RANGE WE SHOULD CATER FOR AND WHAT TYPE OF PLAY EQUIPMENT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE INSTALLED. Parents, grandparents reading this will be familiar with other play areas and their equipment and know what their children, at various ages, enjoy – please share your experience, knowledge and children’s favourites with us so we can make informed choices about new equipment. All ideas to would be very welcome.

Traffic Group

The efforts of a small group of residents and a Parish Councillor (know as the Traffic Team) continue in order to try to get further improvements to the A606, such that it can, at least, be crossed safely - which is not the case at present.

RCC are working with us on this and are carrying out a Traffic Survey in the w/c 11th November. The results of this survey will be taken into account when RCC decide on what further, if anything, needs to be done to the A606 in Langham. We understand that RCC will also be carrying out a survey of all householder to assess people's feeling and opinions about the safety of the A606 through our village. This provides a 'softer' more subjective measure to add to the 'harder' more objective data from the Traffic Survey.We will let you know when that is due to happen - and the results will also add to Langham's case for crossing improvements.

Bus Route 113

As part of Leicestershire County Council’s restructuring of passenger transport and a new Passenger Transport Policy and Strategy, all contracted services across Leicestershire (including cross-boundary) are being reviewed.

As a result they have decided to integrate service 113 (Melton Mowbray to Oakham) with service 100 (Melton Mowbray to Leicester) with a change to route, timings and frequencies, and therefore the 113 will no longer serve Langham, Barleythorpe and Oakham.  This change will come into effect from 21^st December 2019.

Leicestershire County Council will be holding a series of Community Engagement Meetings to discuss all the outcomes of this review and the course of action. Details of the meetings can be seen below.

 

The Refernce Guide to Planning Applications produced by the Langham Parish Council Planning Committee and distributed to all households in Langham in August 2019 is now available to download as a PDF document.

Reference Guide to Planning Applications PDF Download

Dog Waste Bins

Did you know....if you are walking your dog you can put bags of dog waste in the normal litter bins! Current RCC policy is not to provide dedicated dog waste bins