|  | Monthly News from Neil O’Brien MPFebruary 2024 | Hello,
Welcome to my first e-newsletter where I will be providing monthly updates about what I have been doing both locally here in Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, as well as my work in Westminster. You are receiving this as you have previously signed up to receive updates via my website. If you don't want to get it, just click unsubscribe at the bottom. I hope you find it useful.
Harborough tip saved! |  | Our campaign to keep Market Harborough Tip open has succeeded!
This is a big victory for people power, and I’d like to say thanks to the thousands of residents who put in their opposition during the consultation.
It is good that the council have listened to residents on this.
I was one of 40 MPs pressing the Chancellor to give more money to local government, and I know that the extra £500 million that the Chancellor announced for local government days ago has helped to make this decision possible.
Overall this is great news. It’s a facility I use myself, and loads of people were in touch with me wanting it kept open. So I am glad the council have come to the right decision on this.
Oadby public meeting with Police |  | I have recently been contacted by residents regarding burglaries and anti-social behaviour in the Borough. I have been working with the local Police and the Police & Crime Commissioner, Rupert Matthews to address this.
The Police have launched a special operation to fight burglaries. This has resulted in an increase in patrols across the Borough, and arrests being made.
I thought it would be useful to host a public meeting to look at how we can deter burglaries and deal with antisocial behaviour. It will be attended by local Police, the Police Commissioner, and local councillors. It would be great if you could attend. Details of the meeting are below:
Date: Friday 16th February 18:00
Location: Brocks Hill Council Offices, Washbrook Lane, Oadby, Leicester, LE2 5JJ
If you are interested in attending, please do RSVP by emailing me at [email protected]
Improvements to local bus services |  | For the past year, I have been pressing for improvements to be made to local bus services in Harborough, Kibworth, Great Glen and Oadby. I am pleased to say that significant changes have been made in the last month.
Early last year I convened a meeting with both Arriva and Stagecoach to see how they can work together to improve bus journeys for residents. As a result, changes were made to timetables to better coordinate the two services between the Arriva X3 and the Stagecoach X7, which connects Market Harborough to Leicester via Kibworth, Great Glen and Oadby.
However, thanks to further changes which have just been introduced, bus users are now able to benefit from a fully coordinated, half-hourly bus service along the A6. In Oadby, new bus stops are now in place around the 31/31A route thanks to work undertaken to remove hedges by Leicestershire County Council.
These changes are hugely welcome. I remember only just a few months ago, the X3 and X7 were not coordinated at all, which led to frustration when the two services arrived at bus stops at the same time, often leaving a gap of up to an hour between buses. That has now changed, with both the bus companies entering an enhanced partnership which is a formal arrangement recognised by law, which has resulted in a half-hourly service between the two services.
There are still improvements to be made, and I will be contacting the bus companies about increasing the frequency of buses in Great Glen and improving reliability of services in Wigston.
Details of all the timetables mentioned above can be found at the Arriva and Stagecoach websites.
Stop the Great Bowden Biomass Power Plant |  | Plans have been submitted to build an Anaerobic Digestion power plant to replace Marigold Farm on Welham Road, just outside Great Bowden.
Trucks carrying 9,000 tonnes of poultry manure would be arriving every year, along with 24,000 tonnes of solid digestate, 30,000 tonnes of liquid digestate and over 15,000 tonnes of straw. In the peak period during October and November they would also be bringing in about 500 tonnes of maize every day, and I am concerned about lorries coming through Great Bowden.
Where such things have been built elsewhere in the country there have been problems with bad smells for nearby residents.
You can register your objection in two ways: | | |
Meeting to discuss recent flooding |  | I convened a meeting with the County Council and Environment Agency today to discuss the response to recent storms and flooding. I presented them with a list of all the people who responded to me to say they have been affected. Here are some of the things we discussed: Individual compensation
The Government has made available grants for homeowners and businesses to offset some of the damage they have experienced where water has come into the property. Grants for resilience
The government has provided funding to help people being flooded in future. The County Council will be administering the Property Flood Resilience Grant. People affected by flooding during Storm Babet or Storm Henk will be able to get £5,000 towards measures to reduce flood risk: run off containers; floodproof doors and the like. The council will open the scheme to applications shortly and I will post details here. Formal Flood investigations and planning
Where more than five properties have had water come in, the County do a formal investigation which can lead to a bid for Environment Agency or other funding. There is work underway at the moment on the area around Morwoods / Rosemead Drive in Oadby. An investigation into flooding in Kibworth a while back is due out soon, and some protective measures for the schools are due to start at Easter.
We discussed my list of affected properties in Fleckney, Glen, Market Harborough, Lubenham and Oadby & Wigston. The County Council is still deciding on how they will do the formal investigations - I will keep you posted. Wider planning and prevention
The County will soon produce a new flooding plan. There is also a bid pending for Natural Flood Management Programme Funding for the upper Welland. We should know the outcome soon. The bid was led by East Mercia Rivers Trust, supported by Environment Agency, LCC, HDC, and Harborough Woodland. Works would provide benefits to the communities of Lubenham, and the south of Market Harborough, including Little Bowden.
Pharmacy First launched |  | Pharmacists have been given extra funding and powers to see and treat NHS patients, which will free up as many as 30 million GP appointments per year.
Under the new NHS “Pharmacy First” scheme, people can visit pharmacies to receive treatment for simple and common illnesses, instead of seeing a doctor. People are able to walk into more than 10,000 chemists in England for consultations without needing to book an appointment, under the scheme. Pharmacists are able to treat and prescribe medication for seven conditions: earache, sore throats, sinusitis, shingles, impetigo, urinary tract infections and infected insect bites and stings. They will also be able to offer treatments, including antibiotics.
I was the Minister responsible for drawing up this new scheme, which I think will bring big benefits to people in Harborough, Oadby and Wigton.
The government is investing £645 million in creating what is effectively a whole new NHS service. You can now walk into the overwhelming majority of pharmacists - more than 10,000 chemists in England - and they are able to treat and prescribe medication for many less serious illnesses, all on the NHS. They are also trained to know when to refer on more serious conditions to a GP or hospital.
This new NHS scheme is a win-win-win: it makes it more convenient to get treatment for minor illnesses, let pharmacists use the full range of their skills. You can find out what is available in which chemist by searching “NHS pharmacy finder” online, or by walking in to your nearest chemist.
| Keep in touch
As ever, you can follow the work I am doing on my Facebook page. Please do consider forwarding this to anyone living locally, and if I can be of any help, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.
With best wishes, |  | Neil O’Brien Member of Parliament for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston | | | |
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