Covering the key issues in politics, health, planning...

Local democracy reporter making sure the big issues are reported for all

RepORTiNg on decisions made by councils and other public organisations has been a staple subject for local news providers since our inception.

That is a tradition that continues to today as a result of a unique partnership between the BBC and the local press.

The local democracy reporting service was created in 2017 as a result of an agreement between the BBC and the News Media Association, which represents the majority of the UK’s regional press.

The BBC agreed to help fund a dedicated team of reporters to work for other news providers on local democracy stories, which could then be shared among newsrooms across the country to ensure the decisions made by official organisations on every patch are opened to public scrutiny.

Since then the impartial and unbiased stories written by local democracy reporters have been shared with 900 local news partners across the UK and formed the backbone of our local political coverage.

The Mercury/LeicestershireLive runs the franchise on our patch.

Our local democracy reporter Amy Orton works alongside our politics reporter, Dan Martin, to ensure the public has the opportunity to find out what they need to know about the goings on at local authorities.

in the last year alone, Amy has produced an array of stories which have been widely reported, not only on LeicestershireLive, in the Mercury and by the BBC, but also by other news organisations on our patch. These include:

PlaNs For just oNe couNcil For leicestershire

At the moment, the city and county councils are the biggest two local authorities in the county, with Leicester City Council overseeing all council services on its patch and the county council divvying up responsibilities with the districts and boroughs in the rest of Leicestershire.

However, this all could soon be set to change after Leicestershire County Council leader Nick Rushton penned a letter asking for government permission for Leicestershire County Council to submit plans to scrap itself and all of the district and borough councils and replace them with one council for Leicestershire.

Family’s battle with chaotic healthcare system

The issues affecting the NHS and hospitals are also part of a local democracy reporter’s work and in March we shared the story of Dave Towers and Kate Lambert’s battle to secure health and social care support for their dad, Alan, after their mum Heather died.

Dave told the Mercury the hospital called him to tell him their mother had died, believing they were calling his sister.

Then after they broke the news, they were unable to tell him about what he needed to do next.

They faced a major struggle to get support for Alan, who has a series of health issues.

Kate said: “All you want to do is get the help and support and do the best for your elderly parents, but there are so many obstacles and challenges.

“You find yourself with no way of knowing how to access support, what people are entitled to, who you need to call to get it, how it’s funded.

“We’ve spent hours on the phone or on hold to care companies, wards, district nurses, the list is endless.”

Nimby Neighbour blocks coNstructioN site eNtraNce Stories about planning applications regularly get people hot under the collar and that was certainly the case when a self confessed “nimby neighbour” blocked the entrance to a construction site claiming workers were breaking planning rules.

The man, who did not want to be named, told the Mercury he had “army-rolled” under the gate to take photos proving rules had been broken.

He then parked his car in front of the site entrance in Monsell Drive, Aylestone, to make the workers aware of his concerns, before he was moved on by police.

Work was then halted at the site after planning officers found what they called a minor breach in the regulations covering the removal of protected trees.

But the neighbour said: “This is not a minor breach, it’s a major breach.”

a child’s jourNey iN care system cost £280k iN a year One of the major issues facing local authorities is how they pay for social care.

We unearthed a report which showed one child in Leicestershire had been moved eight times to different carers, at a total cost of £280,000.

The case was cited in a report which aimed to secure more public funds to help vulnerable children with the most complex needs by creating four specialist units, which, it is hoped, will stop young people being moved round the system and, in the long-term, save money.

Jane Moore, director of children’s and family services at Leicestershire County Council, said: “We have an increasing number of young people with complex needs coming into the system.

“One of the primary drivers of this is around how we can best meet the needs of those children and young people.

“At the moment we can’t always find the places we need for these young people, and certainly as a result of the complexity of these young people, so what we want to do is have a system where we are able to offer those young people with the most complex issues in the county a place where we can adequately assess them and then meet their needs.

“We want to make sure we have the right sufficiency of places for those young people and that we are getting positive outcomes for them too.“ eNderby gategate

After it emerged the residents of a caravan site in enderby had installed an electronic gate, speed bumps, boulders, a concrete wall and a street light on a public road without permission, they were ordered to remove them by Leicestershire County Council.

But the residents flatly refused, saying the gate made them feel safe and without it the road could become a rat-run or magnet for flytippers.

it’s not coming down,” said Andrew Field, site manager and resident of Field View Farm, Kirk Lane.

“With everything that has happened in the village lately we wouldn’t feel safe without that gate, it’s for our security.

“it’s going nowhere. The council might have lawyers but we’ve sought our own legal advice and been told we don’t need to remove it so we’re not going to.”

coroNavirus aNd leicester’s local lockdowN

The Covid-19 pandemic has by far and away been the biggest issue of this year – particularly in Leicester, which has now been in local lockdown for 100 days.

From the daily infection figures to reporting on the causes of the local lockdown itself, we have been covering the crisis daily since it started – and will continue to do so.