Churchill Close / Chapel Street Parking

Double Yellow LinesThank you to residents of Churchill Close and Chapel Street who have given us their views on County Council proposals for double-yellow lines on parts of their street.

Local residents came up with ideas to improve parking, including opening the lower floor of the parking garage and bringing in parking permits. Views were fairly mixed about whether the double yellow lines should go ahead without other measures to improve parking.

There will be a public meeting to discuss the issue at:

Wednesday 18th April @ 2.00 in the Common Room at Chartwell House.

What is the proposal?

Double Yellow Lines would be put along one side of Churchill Close, around the end of Churchill Close near the Urgent Care Centre and a small area of Chapel Street near to the start of Churchill Close. This means no waiting or parking at any time.

What is the reason for this?

The restrictions are to allow clear access for emergency vehicles and refuse collection to houses, flats and business and provide passing places for vehicles.

What is happening next?

The County Council have now opened a public consultation on the plans which are on the County Council’s web site.
You can also submit your views directly to the County Council (by 4th May), quoting JM/HTWMT/3869 by either:
  • using the online form on the County Council’s web site here
  • Using the email address in the Proposal Notice
  • writing to: Lauren Haslam, Director of Law and Governance, Leicestershire County Council, County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester LE3 8RA
Image Asphalt Double Yellow Line by Christopher Sessums is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Oadby Schools Lose Free Waste Collections After Conservative Cuts

The latest fallout from government cuts is that Oadby schools will lose free waste collections. This means more pressure on school budgets as they have to find the money for this basic service.

Up to now, Liberal Democrats on Oadby and Wigston Borough Council had been able to provide free rubbish collections for schools, helping them to spend more money on educating our children rather than on paying for recycling to be taken away.

A long history of recycling in Oadby

Oadby and Wigston had been able to continue to provide free recycling collections from schools, where other local councils had not, because the Liberal Democrats had ensured that the council was one of the first to offer kerbside recycling collections.

By being one of the first, the Liberal Democrats were able to set up the council’s own sorting centre. This allowed the service to make money, which was used to help provide the funds for extra services like free school rubbish collections and free garden waste collections for residents.

Theresa May’s Conservative government continue to make huge cuts to local council funding and Council Tax is not allowed to be increased enough to cover this loss.

As a result, Conservative-run Leicestershire County Council decided to change how they funded recycling, which has meant Oadby and Wigston won’t be able to keep the recycling sorting centre.

This, together with cuts to Oadby and Wigston’s money from the government has meant that the council can no longer afford to keep school waste collections free.

We should be encouraging recycling, not charging for it

The Conservatives on County Council are in a complete mess on this. Tory cabinet member Blake Pain is promoting recycling in schools but at the same time, he voted for the changes that led to Oadby schools having to pay to get it collected.

With the damage caused by plastics in our oceans and the need to recycle as much of our rubbish as we can, these actions show how unimportant our environment is to the Conservatives.

Schools Face Money Pressures

The news comes as independent research shows over 1 in 14 primary schools are running deficit budgets in the East Midlands. Our Oadby schools will have even less money to spend on teaching as a result of cuts by Theresa May’s government and decisions by the Conservatives at County Hall.