Barrow upon Soar is lucky to have hardworking Parish Council staff who, although few in number, are pro-active in bringing about positive changes to the village. For every new project hundreds of emails and scores of complex forms have to be completed to get permission from different groups such as highway authorities, or from Borough or County councils. And in these days of consultations getting feedback from a wide range of groups before a final plan is put forward takes time but ensures that a project will be a success eventually. As residents, we just see the end results but we should bear in mind the mass of red tape that has to be patiently worked through to achieve anything. Knowing this, I was very pleased to be able to interview our parish clerk, Alice Gardam, and learn what improvements have taken place recently.

Perhaps the most obvious change to the street scene has been the arrival of Vehicle Activated Signs – VAS signs. There have been a few teething problems with them, which will be overcome as soon as solar power is set up to provide the energy, but until then batteries light up the green smiles when a car approaches below the speed limit, or a frowning red face when driven too fast! I think they’re fun and an excellent way of influencing driver behaviour.

 The money to pay for them came through Leicester County Council’s Highways Members’ Grant Fund. As well as the VAS signs, this source of funding also paid for the new village entry signs which look like wooden farm gates. An example can be seen on Nottingham Road. The surprise is that they are not made of wood at all and are hollow not solid! They are made of Durapol which is a composite of several different materials including melamine resin and chopped recycled glass. Eventually these new village signs will be installed in both Cotes Road and Melton Road. Wherever possible the Parish Council staff try to choose local companies to carry out the work and in the case of the ‘gates’ they have been successful.

There are more village hanging baskets this year than ever before. They are ‘self-watering’ and you can see them all along South Street and into Bridge Street as well as three new ones at the war memorial where planters have also been sited. This was a Parish Council initiative to add more colour to the village. There are so many hanging baskets that watering them all has become too time-consuming for one man so the work has been outsourced to a company. This company waters them once a week, or twice, if the weather is extremely dry. Each basket has a ‘hidden’ reservoir beneath the bowl which keeps the plants hydrated for seven days.

Have you ever heard of Section 106 money? For many years I hadn’t but to any parish council it’s a valuable source of income. It’s money that a property developer has to hand over to be spent by the local council for the good of the community. The most recent example of this is the sturdy new play equipment on the grassy mound in the children’s area of King George V Recreation Ground. Now, the reshaped mound is much more exciting for little ones as they have different ways of getting to the top - if playing King of the Castle - and a choice of ways to come down including very gentle slides. The £36,000 it cost came from the S106 payment from David Wilson in relation to the new estate built on the land off Nottingham Road which was formerly a kennels. The wonderful Mill Lane children’s play area, opened last spring, was also a result of S106 funding. And there’s the new cemetery extension and the restoration of the footpaths in the Millennium Park but I must stop as I’ve reached my word limit. I just wish to end by once again thanking the Parish Council staff for persistently chipping away at the problems holding back improvements in the village.

Gaynor Barton