News

A range of summer activities is on offer for children, young people and families in Charnwood.

The borough council’s Active Charnwood team has put together a range of events and sessions at various locations in the area.

New for this year are abseiling, archery legends, beginner’s taekwondo, hockey and indoor bowls.

Activities will run from Monday, July 16 to Friday, August 24 at locations including Loughborough, Birstall, Mountsorrel, Shepshed and Syston. Bookings are being taken from Monday, June 18.

Zoe Griffiths, sport and active recreation manager at the council, said: “There is a lot on offer and as well as some great new activities we’ve also got firm favourites like cricket and tennis.

“Our holiday programme provides a number of opportunities to get active this summer and with 33 different activities and 100 sessions we are sure there’s something for everyone.”

Activities also include boxing, climbing, dodgeball, forest schools, geocaching, laser quest, yoga and more.

Sessions start at £3 and discounts are available for Wild Card holders. If you are aged five to 16, or have a disability, and live or go to school in Charnwood, you may be able to sign up to the Wild Card scheme by visiting www.charnwood.gov.uk/wildcard

For a full list of activities available this half-term, please visit www.charnwood.gov.uk/holidayprogrammes to book, call 01509 634561 or email active.together@charnwood.gov.uk.

The borough council is planning to make changes to bring sites across Charnwood to remove a duplication of service and save taxpayers around £20,000 a year.

The Council is removing 79 glass and aluminium recycling banks at a number of locations as they are no longer necessary as the materials can be recycled in the Council’s kerbside scheme.

The plans do not affect charity recycling banks which often collect clothing, shoes and books or the household waste and recycling sites operated by the county council.

Matt Bradford, head of cleansing at the borough council, said: “The reality of the situation is these recycling banks simply duplicate the kerbside recycling service so we are confident there will not be any impact on recycling levels in the borough.

“To retain them means using taxpayers’ money to pay for something we do not really need and they were introduced 20 or 30 years ago when council recycling services were much more limited.

“We will make the savings on collecting the materials, some of which have no recyclable value, and on cleaning the sites.

“We also have to remember this decision has been made against a backdrop of the borough council receiving far less funding to run the recycling service. We now receive £540,000 a year less in funding from Leicestershire County Council to operate the recycling service than we did last year which means we need to run a very lean and efficient service.”

There are 70 bring sites across the borough:

• eight are owned by the council, which are mainly car parks, and seven glass and four aluminium can banks will be removed. Six textile banks will remain.
• there are a further 62 sites which are owned by third parties, such as parish councils, and 49 glass and 19 aluminium can recycling banks will be removed. It will leave 12 glass, one aluminium and 12 textile recycling banks plus a small number of other charity banks.
• the Council also organises the collection of a further three paper/cardboard banks on private land with a private operator. The Council anticipates the banks will continue under new arrangements between the landowner and the private operator.

The move will leave 34 bring sites with recycling banks for textiles, glass and some other items.

Residents can request bags to put extra recycling in if necessary.

The banks will be removed in August or September and the Council will be using the media, social media, its website and notices on the sites to inform residents about the changes.

Rearsby Roses Neighbourhood Watch has changed their name to East Goscote Neighbourhood Watch on Facebook.

Join the facebook page to keep up to date with all the news.

A new exhibition from Charnwood Arts and Loughborough University comes to two Loughborough venues in the coming weeks

Called Re-Making History, this is the fourth project that Charnwood Arts has run with Loughborough University’s School of the Arts English and Drama.

The resulting exhibition features contemporary textiles design inspired by the industrial and social history of the Loughborough area.

This year the first year textiles students were given a brief to explore Loughborough and the surrounding area, seeking out its rich heritage in UK textile production along with other industries such as bell founding and transport.

Around 90 students undertook the project and 31 were selected for the exhibitions. The work on display includes pages from the students sketch books and final samples.

The exhibition can be seen over two venues in Loughborough:

The first runs at Charnwood Museum, Granby Street, Loughborough from 16^th April – 10th June

The second can be seen at the Martin Hall Gallery, Loughborough University: 25th April – 23^rd May

2018 marks 100 years since the Representation of the People Act gave voting rights to some women for the first time. Charnwood Arts, in partnership with Chorus Theatre, have created the “Deeds Not Words Festival” to celebrate this landmark moment in British history through theatre, music, talks and walks.

This project has been made possible thanks to support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and will run in various venues throughout Loughborough from May 2nd-6th.

The “Deeds Not Words Festival” offers an eclectic mix of talks, music and storytelling to bring this fascinating section of history to life.

More details on 01509-822558 or info@charnwoodarts.com.

The garden waste collection provided by Charnwood Borough Council will cost £40 per year from May 1, 2018.

The Council says the service provides excellent value for money and it plans to freeze the cost for the next two years.

The Council says the charge is in line with many other authorities and the increase is necessary to make up for a shortfall of funding from other sources and ensure the quality of service is maintained.

Cllr Leigh Harper-Davies, lead member for the performance of major contracts, said: “The garden waste scheme is a high-quality service and an extremely popular one with over 34,000 subscriptions.

“However, in order to maintain that quality and make up for shortfalls in our funding, we believe it necessary to increase the charge.

“We accept the increase for 2018 is larger than in previous years but these are challenging times for local government funding.

“In 2015 we lost a significant amount of funding when the county council withdrew recycling credits worth around £300,000 a year which was used to help cover the costs of the service.

“We’ve had to increase the charge since then to help make up that shortfall and cover increases in the costs of providing the service.

“There are further challenges ahead as recycling credits which contribute to the general household recycling service are being withdrawn by the county council this year, a loss of £500,000 to the borough council. Despite this we will still offer free bulky waste collections to Charnwood residents while many other authorities charge £15 or more.

“And while we are fortunate to be very financially stable, we need to manage our finances carefully and sensibly.

“Garden waste collection is not a service we have to provide, nor do people have to subscribe, but we do believe it is an excellent service, value for money and one people want.”

The new charge will come into effect on May 1 so anyone subscribing for the first time before then can take advantage of the existing charge of £28. Existing subscribers will be informed directly about the new charge two weeks before their subscription ends. 

To sign up for the garden waste service, visit www.charnwood.gov.uk/gardenwaste

Keep East Goscote Greener are offering some drop in sessions at the Library on the following dates;

Saturday 7th April 10.00 am – 1.00 pm

Tuesday 10th April 5.00 – 7.00 pm

Saturday 14th April 10.00 am – 1.00 pm