Ridgeway Ramblings from Mike Preston

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2010. I hope you all had a great Christmas and are having a good start to the New Year and are also coping with the weather conditions.
Kerbside Textile collections
A new kerbside textile recycling service is being launched in Charnwood on January 12. Charnwood Borough Council has teamed up with the mental health charity Mind to offer the new and improved service. Previously, residents were being asked to put wearable clothes, paired shoes and usable household linen into a plastic bag, and leave it out for collection on their recycling day. This system sometimes resulted in the materials getting wet, or even being taken to the recycling plant along with the plastics, glass, cans etc. A dedicated Mind recycling bag was delivered to all properties in Charnwood in December. When materials are collected from the kerbside of residential properties in the borough, they will be taken to the Mind warehouse in Blaby where the items will be sorted by a volunteer team and then distributed to the charity’s shops in the region. People are asked to put their bag out next to the green recycling box, rather than in it, and it will be taken away by the collection crews – who will also leave a replacement bag.
True Grit
The County Council has 17 gritters which spread roughly 150 tonnes of salt each night, covering 1,200 miles of highway. When ice is forecast, 45% of the road network is treated including most A roads, some B and C class roads, major commuter and bus routes and as far as is possible, at least one route through all villages. On the subject of gritters the County ran a competition to name our gritters. We are now pleased to announce the list of winning entries!
True Grit (Katie Hurst, aged 9)          Walter the Salter (Emily & James Langley, aged 8 and 5)
Gritty Gritty Bang Bang (George Walker, aged 10)           Mac the Gritter (Robert Skelton, aged 6)
Winter Wanderer (Ellis Partner, aged 6)                               Gritterbelle (Simon Longworth, aged 11)
Alexander the Grit (Eleanor and Summer Lapworth, aged 8 and 5 and Teddy Grainger, aged
Snowy Owl (2^nd Loughborough Brownies)                           Grumpy Old Grit (Thomas Shorthouse, aged 6)
Ice Warrior (Shivam Rao, aged 8)                                        Dan De-icer (Dan Middleton, aged 10)
Veruca Salt (William Neal, aged 5)                                       Gritney Sprayers (Clarke Griffiths, aged 4)
Well done to all.
County Council and Charnwood Budgets
Proposals to meet spending pressures, tackle a £66 million funding gap over four years and freeze Council Tax have been unveiled by Leicestershire County Council. The Council is proposing, following public consultation, to:• Freeze Council Tax in 2011/12-2013/14 – but this is dependent on top-up funding, if a Conservative Government is elected. The main aspects of the budget are Make £47 million of efficiency savings and increased income and save £19 million from its services, to meet an expected funding shortfall. In addition Invest £46 million to meet extra spending pressures, mainly in Adult Social Care and Waste. Please use the following link to view a full copy of the Draft Budget Report and let us have your comments.
By the time you receive this newsletter Charnwood will have published its proposed budget please look on www.Charnwood.gov.uk  for more details and let us have your views.
Highest Point of Christmas
Yet another highlight of my time at Charnwood, after the Fair last month, was when I was asked to judge the annual Christmas tree competition at Southfields. This completion is open to the staff from all departments at Council. The theme for this year was films. The judging team assembled and we set out to tour the building to find the 14 entries. There were a number of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” I guess the popularity of this theme was that you can eat the tree trimmings after the judging. James Bond was another popular film with “Quantum of Solace” many plastic guns and gambling chips were in evidence. Appropriately the Waste Departments theme was “Wall-E”(About a robot which keeps a deserted earth tidy). The last entry turned out to be the winner where the film was “Bridget Jones Diary”. The tree was decorated with diaries and a number of items of ladies underwear. The prize presentation was at the lunchtime party the next day. A great time was had by all and it made a super start to Christmas.
Charnwood Borough Council is to build its first council houses in 19 years.
Following a successful funding bid Charnwood will benefit from a slice of £122.6m made available from the Government’s second round of funding for new council housing. The council submitted proposals to build nine homes on five sites across the borough – and each of these successfully received funding despite the programme being oversubscribed by £200m. The council, which received a total of £405,776 in grants for the housing, now has until March 2011 to complete the homes in Shepshed, Barrow upon Soar and Thurmaston.
Mike Preston
Contact Details:
If you want to get into contact with me then please use one of the following methods:
Telephone:      01664 424647 Fax      01664 424647 (Please Telephone First)
E-Mail Mike@mepreston.com or Try www.telmike.com