Agenda and draft minutes

Item 43: First Paragraph 249 hours should read 249 houses – 388 not 288 houses.

Item 44: Flooding – Flood questions to be noted here when available. Answered after Minutes published.

“All riparian landowners have been consulted” – not all have as some are not identifiable.

“A query was raised regarding how the Council monitors the level of the Washbrook”. - Severn Road Bridge gauge belongs to the Environment Agency – data for the previous two years has also been made available.

No update available due to no representation.

County Council Elections – Oadby Division results have been circulated to Residents at the start of the Forum. Cllr. Gamble expressed how grateful he is to have been re-elected and introduced his new County Councillor colleague. The Lib Dems campaigned in the elections to prevent Oadby and Wigston joining the City, and this work will continue, with the Lib Dems looking to raise an emergency motion at a County Level to scrap the previously proposed LCC Devolution Plan – they were advised not to do this at the meeting that took place today as it was “largely ceremonial” to select cabinet chairs etc. The leading group at the County Council are open to discuss removing this plan however. The districts continue to pursue their plan for a North and South divide of Leicestershire and Rutland. S Haq updated residents that feedback from the initial devolution plans from the Government is still awaited, with a delay in place due to the large number of plans submitted nationally. There are hopes that the new County administration will now support the Districts devolution plan. Public consultation will take place under Government Lead on the selected plan or plans prior to a finalised decision in November 2025.

Flooding

M Smith read through Planning’s response to the questions posed, with agreement to circulate the responses to residents within these minutes as an appendix. Cllr Gamble has asked for a Section 19 response from LCC regarding the two previous flooding occurrences in the Borough, and remedial works taken to date, as details are yet to be made available to the Council to date.

Community Grants

Two queries were received ahead of the Forum which are detailed below;

1. Harborough District council has made available grants to residents who were severely impacted by the flooding on 5^th January 2025. Why has OWBC not offered similar support to its own residents?

2. Harborough District Council offer grant funding to community groups. Why do OWBC not do the same?

No response to these queries were available at the time of Forum taking place. A request was made for a response to be provided at the next meeting of the Forum.

Brocks Hill Toilets

Public toilets are accessible through Jennos. There is no signage highlighting the toilet facilities available at Jennos, as noted by some finds by litter-pickers, so an increase in signage is recommend. The availability of toilets is linked to Jennos’ opening hours 9am – 7pm (5pm Sundays).

Pavement Parking outside Bru, Oadby

This is still an issue – has their been any progress on the provision of bollards along the Parade? S Haq notes that she has sought funding from the UKSPF budget for planters; the UKSPF budget is not available to the Council as yet but the request is in place. Civil Enforcement Officers cannot enforce against pavement parking if there are no double-yellow lines on the road itself. Cllr. Kaufman that where there are TROs in place the CEO’s employed by the Council to monitor car parks should also be enforcing in these areas. It was noted a lot of these vehicles are displaying blue badges meaning the enforcement is believed to become a police responsibility. Residents noted that this behaviour has increased significantly since the introduction of parking charges within the Council’s car parks. Parking permits on Sandhurst Street for residents did not work as parking from 6pm, at the end of restrictions, becomes incredibly difficult. The parking charges are not objected to by residents as long as enforcement, to change the problematic behaviour, is made. Parking schemes cost an initial £10,000 just for the first assessment study of the scheme’s suitability. Residents proposed that revenue from car parking charges may be used to fund these studies; it was also proposed that this revenue may also be used to fund educational approaches for residents / parkers. S Haq noted that conversations with the Police have highlighted that feedback from the Oadby Forums is acted upon by the Beat Teams. It was proposed that information around reporting pavement parking concerns to the Police is promoted by the Council to encourage further reporting. New Street, Oadby has been noted as an area of concern, as has Primrose  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

None raised.

Thursday, 10 July 2025 – Brocks Hill Council Offices (Provisional)

Thursday, 10 July 2025 – 18:30 – Brocks Hill Council Offices, Oadby