The recent Belvoir Community Forum, chaired by Cllr Peter Holbrook took place at Waltham on the Wolds Village Hall, 19 Goadby Road, Waltham on the Wolds LE14 4AG on Monday 26 September 2011.

Papers for the meeting are available by clicking on the above link.

The County Council, Melton Borough Council and Voluntary Action Leicestershire are holding an event to support Village Halls and Community Centres in Melton on 28th June, 5.30pm - 9.00pm.

It is free to attend.

To book a place please contact Paul Goodman on 0116 3058015 or click on the link above.

The last meeting was held at Waltham on the Wolds Village Hall and was attended by 50 people.

An informal networking and information session took place from 6.30 until 7.00pm in which people met and talked to local councillors, and viewed exhibitions from Melton Borough Council, Leicestershire County Council, Neighbourhood Watch and Census 2011.

The main agenda item was an interactive discussion which canvassed opinion and views on local green spaces. Local residents from the Forum area indicated on maps provided the green spaces they value and why they value them. The results will be collated and this will help to inform local policy and planning processes as well as our response to emerging national policies. People present were concerned that those not able to be used the opportunity presented by the consultation online, available until 15th April 2011.

There were updates on policing in the Vale of Belvoir and the opportunities that the Localism Bill, when it becomes law, will present to local residents and communities.

Peter Holbrook, chair of the Forum, thanked people for coming and repeated his request that they provide him with issues that they would like future meetings of the Forum to consider.

To access the papers for the meeting please click on the blue link above.

The last meeting was held at Long Clawson Village Hall, Back Lane, Long Clawson starting at 7.00pm.

Some 23 people attended the meeting and considered presentations on Improving broadband, a recent Youth survey, actions to tackle rural crime, Winter maintenance of the road network, Public Sector budget setting, and recent NHS consultations.

Please click the link above to access presentations.

The next meeting will be on 15th March 2011. Please make a note of this date in your diaries.

The last meeting of Belvoir Community Forum was held at Belvoir High school in Bottesford.

Some 34 people attended the meeting and discussed progress on the projects that had arisen through the Forum's participatory budget process. A recommendation was accepted by the Forum to fund the following projects:

Long Clawson Youth Project (to rebuild a skatepark)£8,000
Scouting in the Vale (to set up a new scout group in the Vale of Belvoir) £1,000
Vale of Belvoir Transport Project (to train some volunteer mini-bus drivers) £3,000
Community Access to Defibrillators (to place life-saving equipment in the Vale of Belvoir) £8,000

The necessary arrangements to make the money available for the projects will now commence.

To view all papers from this meeting please click on the link above.

An Extraordinary meeting of the Belvoir Community Forum took place at Harby Village Hall.
Following on from this meeting there is now a chance for ALL residents in the Vale of Belvoir to inform service providers about problems you are having with Broadband, internet access etc. Further details follow at the end of this article.

At the Belvoir Community Forum meeting, the single item of discussion was the provision and quality of Broadband in the area and the whole meeting was devoted to this issue because, at previous meetings of the Forum, the problem had not been resolved. This time representatives of both BT and Openreach attended.

David Mell, of Stathern, was one of the 37 residents at the meeting. "We wanted to get across the reality of the performance of the Internet. In this day and age it isn't acceptable." Mr Mell feels that the lower speed and level of access to broadband in the Vale is disadvantaging individuals and small businesses and he hopes the meeting will lead to something being done about the problem.

Richard Downing, Community Engagement Manager from Leicestershire County Council, thought people made good points and their message got through to BT. Central Government stated recently that by 2012 everyone in the UK should have internet access with a minimum speed of at least two 2Mbps. In the Vale it is our understanding that people get nothing like this speed regularly, and that where service is provided it is intermittent and variable.

The issue is now in the hands of BT and Openreach but the Forum provided a major opportunity for people to air and seek resolution to an issue of great importance to them.

There already exists a Rural Development Programme for England, 2007-13 (RDPE). This is jointly funded by the European Union and Central Government. The Regional Implementation Plan (RIP) sets out the principles, priorities and delivery arrangements for the delivery of this Programme in the East Midlands. The first RIP was published in 2008 following a period of stakeholder consultation. There is now a refresh of the RIP being conducted in order to take account of various policy developments, and this will include measures to support rural broadband.

Through “Digital Britain” the Government has made a Universal Service Commitment to ensure that all households have access to broadband of at least 2Mbps by 2012.

To coincide with publication of this the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) published “Mind the Gap: Digital England – a rural perspective”.

http://www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk/files/CRC104%20Digital%20Inclusion%20Report1.pdf.

This identified that the lack of access to digital technology, inadequate broadband and mobile telephone coverage combined with lack of engagement with digital technology all contribute to a complex set of issues for rural communities and lead to disadvantages. Broadband provision is a particular concern of businesses and communities within rural Leicestershire. There are a number of points which can be identified in respect of rural Leicestershire.

• Lack of high-speed broadband coverage stifles business innovation, social opportunities and innovative and integrated service delivery

• Broadband has been identified anecdotally as a concern through Community Forums including the Belvoir Forum in Melton

• Within “Mind the Gap” the CRC has published national maps showing areas which have broadband connectivity below 2Mbps and no alternative service to BT. Within Leicestershire areas include the Vale of Belvoir, as well as south of Melton Mowbray, Osgathorpe/Whitwick, Desford/Market Bosworth, and north west of Market Harborough. There is a need, however, for more accurate mapping.

As a part of this process, it would be helpful for people living in the Vale and other affected areas to provide comments about the problems they experience so that these can be fed into our consultation response.

The deadline for responses is 9th December 2009.

For more information, or to provide comments for the consultation, please email Richard Downing

richard.downing@leics.gov.uk

The last meeting of the Belvoir Community Forum was held at Long Clawson Village Hall.

More than 50 members of the community attended this special, workshop-style, meeting and discussed their ideas about how they think the Forum budget of £20,000 can best be used to improve the local area within the following priorities;
Improving opportunities for children and young people
Improving access to services
Creating a safer environment

There were a number of lively and interesting discussions around the workshop tables and the project ideas, and the proportion of votes they attracted, can be found by clicking on the links below. The four most favoured projects were a Long Clawson Youth facility, Scouting in the Vale, Community Access defibrillation and Vale of Belvoir Youth minibus (proposed by Scouts).

Most people seemed to have enjoyed the meeting and are looking forward to the development of the ideas. Comments included "I enjoyed the sharing of information about needs in the Vale" and "I enjoyed discovering how many worthwhile local projects are planned".

If you would like more detailed information on the process, please click here.

For further information please contact Richard Downing on 0116 3055823(or email rpdowning@leics.gov.uk) or Paul Goodman on 0116 3058015 (or email pgoodman@leics.gov.uk).

The last meeting of the Belvoir Community Forum took place at Waltham on the Wolds Village Hall.

Papers for the meeting are available by clicking the blue link above.

The last meeting of the Belvoir Community Forum was held on Tuesday 24th March 2009 at Belvoir High School, Bottesford.

The issues discussed included services and opportunities for young people in the area, and how to expand them, problems with access and speed of broadband and how to address them, partnership working to improve community safety in the Vale, and an opportunity to get involved in the planning and running of a community-based arts project called Valefest. Members of the Forum were invited to ask questions and suggest issues that they would like to see discussed at the next Community Forum.

This meeting started at 7.00pm. The venue was the Village Hall in Long Clawson, Leicestershire, LE14 4NA.

Agenda items included:
• Updates on the Parish Plans for Long Clawson,Eastwell, Stathern and Waltham.
• Community Speedwatch and whether this could be a solution to speeding traffic in the area.
• Influencing the Big Budget in Leicestershire

Attendees at the forum were invited to raise their concerns and queries about what's being done to improve their local area and their local services.