BDC Spring News
In this issue...
- Gardening is good for you!
- Armed forces funding boost
- Latest hygiene ratings
- Important election news
- Subscribe to garden waste collections
- A helping hand for swifts
- Saving our green spaces
🌱 Let's get gardening!
It's clear gardens can be great for the environment and for wildlife - but they are also good for people too according to an increasing body of research. Which is why this month saw the annual celebration of people coming together to exercise their green fingers with Community Garden Week.
Blaby District Council has its own community garden, A Place to Grow, at the rear of Enderby Leisure Centre. Created specifically to help residents who might be finding life challenging, A Place To Grow aims to support positive mental health and well-being.
People can get involved in being physically active, learn new skills, produce and share healthy food and meet others in a friendly, informal and safe environment.
Anyone who lives or works in the District can join in with A Place to Grow. You may have a long term health condition, learning disability, be recently bereaved, feel isolated and lonely or just want to get more active and get closer to nature.
Read this Royal Horticultural Society article on gardening being good for you: Why gardening makes us feel better and to find our more about our community garden use the link below:
👍 Future of Armed Forces Coffee Mornings secured
We are delighted to announce a grant boost of £11,790 from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust which will safeguard our Armed Forces Coffee Mornings for the next 12 months.
The funding has come from the Trust's Force for Change programme and means we can continue to bring in specialist support during our events as well as provide interactive activities and quizzes.
The coffee mornings run on the first Wednesday of every month from 10am to noon at the Council offices in Narborough, providing a safe and welcoming space for all members of our armed forces community, their families and carers.
If you would like to attend or would appreciate more information on the Armed Forces Coffee Morning then please email vcshub@blaby.gov.uk
You can also find further information by using the link below:
🍔 Check out who is meeting hygiene standards
Here are some of the latest hygiene ratings from our inspectors in the environmental health department:
Rated 5 - Hygiene standards are very good
- The Bald Indian, private address
- Saffron Dynamo Football Club, Cambridge Road, Whetstone
- Leicester Lions, Westleigh Rugby Football Club, Lutterworth Road, Blaby
- Heat Horse, hot sauce manufacturer and retailer, private address
- Say Express, 74 Faire Road, Glenfield
- Cini Restaurant, 26 High Street, Enderby
For more information on hygiene standards and ratings use the link below:
🗳️ Important election news
Candidates for the Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner election on Thursday 2 May have been announced. They are:
- Fizza Askar - One Leicester
- Aasiya Bora - Green Party
- Rupert Matthews - Conservatives
- Rory Palmer - Labour and Co-operative Party
- Ian Sharpe - Liberal Democrats
There are important registration deadlines looming for this election. Here's what you need to know:
- You must be registered to vote to cast your ballot in this election. The deadline to register is midnight on Tuesday 16 April. You can register here: Register to vote
- To vote at a polling station you will need to show an acceptable form of ID. If you don't have one you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate (VAC). The deadline to apply for a VAC is 5pm on Wednesday 24 April. Find out what counts as an acceptable form of ID and how you can apply for a VAC here: Voter ID requirements
- If you are unable to get to a polling station on 2 May, you can apply for a postal vote. The deadline to apply for a postal vote is 5pm on Wednesday 17 April Visit: Apply postal vote
- If you are unable to get to a polling station and want someone that you trust to vote on your behalf you can apply for a proxy vote. The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is 5pm on Wednesday 24 April. For information and to apply visit: Proxy voting
🍃 You can still sign up for our garden waste service
It's still not too late to sign up to our garden waste service and get your bin sticker to ensure your garden waste is collected every fortnight.
There are two bin sizes available and online prices for 2024-25 are:
- 140-litre small bin - £30
- 240-litre large bin - £44
Subscribers can pay online by debit or credit card. You can also sign up and pay by phone but there is an extra £2.50 charge for this.
For more information, to check if you already have a subscription and to subscribe, use the link below:
🙂You can help swift numbers recover
Residents across Blaby District can do their bit to help boost swift populations by getting involved in a county-wide project.
Leicestershire County Council (LCC) has received a £77,000 grant to fund its Swift Action for Swifts scheme.
The funding is part of a £14.5 million Natural England initiative supporting 63 projects across the country which aim to help 150 rare and threatened species.
Swift numbers are in severe decline across the UK, down by 53% between 1995 and 2016, because of breeding site loss and fewer flying insects due to insecticide and pesticide use and climate change.
The Swift Action for Swifts project aims to reverse the decline in the numbers of these migratory birds by helping householders across the county to provide nesting sites.
LCC will provide and install specially-built swift boxes and 'callers' to encourage the birds to locate the boxes and make their homes in them.
If you want to find out more about the project and how you can get involved, email: environmentteam@leics.gov.uk
🍀 Nurturing nature
People are being asked for their priorities to help shape an ambitious new nature strategy for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland - the Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
Less than 1% of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland has a high biodiversity score and only around 6% is covered by woodland, compared to the national average of 13%. The area suffers from surface water flooding, pockets of poor air quality, poor quality soils, mineral exploitation and pests and diseases.
If we can recover habitats, we can help tackle these problems. That's why Blaby District Council is working with Leicestershire County Council and key stakeholders in developing the strategy.
Residents can have their say in a dedicated Making Space for Nature survey with responses required by Sunday 28 April. Find the survey for residents here: Residents Make Space for Nature
To read more on Making Space for Nature use the link below:
Posted: Wed, 17 Apr 2024