RCC Parish Briefing Jan 2020

View the latest copy of RCC's Parish Briefing

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.

RCC have now received a planning application for a Solar Farm to be built on the land at Ranksborough Farm. The planning application can be found here Solar Farm Planning Application

The deadline for responses from members of the public has been extended to 6th January 2020 at the request of Langham Parish Council.

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

Its that time of year again! time to check our boundary trees and hedges do not impede the passage of pedestrians or vehicles on our village paths and roads. Please check and if necessary get your secateurs or loppers out or even a spade to clear the brash that is spreading over the path outside your home. Some of you may receive a letter from the Parish Council asking you to trim a hedge or cut back some branches – please accept them, as they are intended, as helpful prompt about an odd job that needs doing to ensure the safety of pedestrians and vehicles around the village.

Our Traffic Working Group (to whom we are very grateful) is still working with Rutland County Council (RCC) to improve road safety along the A606 and, by the time you read this, as part of their on going work RCC should have conducted a traffic and pedestrian count in the village.  Separately, RCC is now asking us whether we are interested in setting up a Community Speed Watch scheme under which a team of volunteers would be lent equipment to monitor vehicle speeds at their chosen location in the Parish over a week or 2 week period.  The survey results would be fed back to RCC and could lead to improved speed safety measures.  If anyone is interested in joining a Langham Speed Watch Team please let the Parish Clerk know.

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

Welcome to our new Councillors

At the Parish Council meeting on 23rd July 2019 the following people were co-opted.

Richard Besant

Andy Bird

Alexandra (Alex) E J Marshall

We would like to thank those unsuccessful candidates for their interest.

Chairman's Report for Langham News July 2019

A chance to speak with your Parish Councillors: So you can find out what your Parish Council is doing and raise any questions or concerns you have about life and living in Langham a member of Langham Parish Council will be at the Coffee Mornings in the Village Hall on the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

Update on new Parish Council: We have started a co-option process to fill the 3 vacancies we have on the Council. Please contact the Parish Clerk () if you are interested - we hope you are! Applications close on 12 July 2019. Co-options will take place at the Parish Council meeting on 23 July.

Solar Farm update: As requested at the Parish Annual Meeting, a survey has been conducted to assess how many households within 1km of Elgin’s proposed site received their notification, in January 2019, of an exhibition about their proposal. The results raise a few concerns. All efforts to get Elgin to hold another public meeting have to date been unsuccessful. Elgin have said they will address the issues that have been raised by residents under the Q & A section of their website: http://ranksboroughsolarpvproject.co.uk. Whilst they have not responded to most of our concerns from the questionnaire, they have looked at the preferred route of the bypass and offered a suggestion as to how they could give back the land should the bypass project become live some years down the line. This suggests that they are listening to us, which is a good thing, but they are not listening to everything we say, which is disappointing. Also at the Parish Meeting it was suggested that as many of us as possible responded to the offer from Pegasus (the company working with Elgin) on their website, to visit any of us at home should we want to learn more about the Solar Farm proposal. Of the people we have spoken to (including some of us in the Parish Council) who did exactly that, whilst our requests were acknowledged by Pegasus, to date no-one has received a visit, or a date for a visit. The Parish Council will be keeping a sharp eye out for the submission of any planning application and following developments closely with your concerns in mind.

Pamphlet/Leaflet delivery volunteers: We will shortly have a Pamphlet to deliver to every home in parish and from time to time have leaflets etc. to distribute. If you could help us with any of these deliveries it would be greatly appreciated. Volunteers please contact the Parish Clerk ().

Brenda Palmer
Chairman – Langham Parish Council

1 July 2019

Get to know your Councillors

SENIOR LUNCHES

A member of Langham Parish Council will be attending the Senior Lunches on the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

On the 21st May 2019 it will be Cllr. Gail Palmer and on 18th June Cllr. Pat Ovington the Parish Council Deputy Chairman.

Find out what we've been doing for the village and raise any questions or concerns you have about life and living in Langham.

July: Cllr Jennifer Maskell

August: Cllr Brenda Palmer (Chairman of Langham Parish Council)

September: Cllr Steve Catlin

Langham Parish Council Chairman's report for Langham News - May 2019

THE LANGHAM PARISH COUNCIL FACEBOOK PAGE was launched on 4th May! ( https://www.facebook.com/LanghamParishCouncil/ )Yes! we really are catching up with the 21st century and social media – all in an effort to be in closer touch with you! You can now follow and engage with fellow parishioners and your Parish Council on our Facebook page called ‘Langham Parish Council’, as well as on our website, www.langham-pc.gov.uk, and on Nextdoor Langham. Letters, emails and phone calls are still also welcome. We are here to serve you and we can only know what you want and think if you tell us.

Not enough of you stood for election to the Parish Council to create the need for an election. What does that say?! Two long serving councillors, Janet Higgins and Roy Hosmer have retired after many years committed service benefiting our community and Jane Sweeney has had to stand down because of family commitments. Pat Ovington has also stood down after over 8 years of service and unprecedented leadership on some important community issues. We would not have a ‘made’ Langham Neighbourhood Plan if it were not for Pat and I am pleased to say she will continue to lead the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. 5 people have been automatically appointed as your Parish Councillors, Gail Palmer, Steve Catlin, David Lissaman, myself and 1 welcome newcomer, Jennifer Maskell. We have 4 vacancies! So, if you would like to step forward, have your say, be involved, serve the community, please contact the Parish Clerk. We will be looking to co-opt people to make up our numbers.

Many of you will be keen to hear the latest on the Solar Farm Project. The results of the questionnaires, you filled at the Information Evening, have been posted on our website and Facebook page and a copy has been sent to Elgin Energy and Rutland County Council. We have repeatedly e-mailed and telephoned Elgin to fix a date for the community meeting with them that was requested on 11th April – with no response. We have just received a letter from a company called Pagasus, who refer to Elgin as ‘their client,’ saying that they want to continue to engage with our community and asking us to await their next contact. Let us hope we will get a date from them in the near future – we will keep pushing on your behalf.

Brenda Palmer
Chairman –Langham Parish Council

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