East Leake
FESTIVE LIGHTS. Residents in East Leake are this year missing out because of the continuing coronavirus pandemic situation on the annual festive event supported by hundreds of people to witness the switching on of the Christmas lights along the main road through the village.
But the lights are still appearing without the official switch on and will it is hoped be creating the usual excitement as Christmas –albeit this year in a different form because of the pandemic ituation—approaches.
The annual event organised by the village Traders Association, always attracts an all-age-range of many locals and, from at least a youngsters point of view, signals the first appearance of the year of one very important person, Father Christmas. He arrives in the village centre which is packed solid with those there to give him a good old East Leake welcome.
The event would have traditionally been held this coming weekend and always tied up with a well supported Craft Fair in the village hall and, in recent years, the Santa Fun Run around Meadow Park. The village centre festivities would include a visiting band, there to perform an array of the well known festive music that helped to make the ceremony so successful.
The switch-on event also included the annual presentation of the East Leake Community Award when someone’s efforts on behalf of the village is marked with the handing over of the trophy. which aims to highlight the work in the village of the recipient.
CROSSING VACANCY. There is a vacancy for a school crossing warden at East Leake Brookside school on Station Road. Anyone interested is asked to ring Notts County Council / Via on 0115 9774373 for information. The job offers payment of £9.30 an hour.
COUNCIL VACANCY. Following the resignation of Coun. Len Simmons there is a vacancy in the East Leake Woodgate Ward for a parish councillor.
FLOODING. Over the last 12 months East Leake suffered its worst flooding in 36 years, says a report compiled by Rushcliffe MP Ruth Edwards.
Several areas of the parish suffered problems, with the children’s play area and the Co-operative car park being among those affected, both of which were at times being completely submerged in contaminated water and sewage. Residents had to step overused condoms and sanitary products to take their children to nursery.
The Kingston Brook overflowed and overwhelmed the pumping station. This then flowed into Meadow Park, flooding it repeatedly with contaminated water, with residents reporting the smell of sewage from a considerable distance away.
The report also claimed there were also increased instances of gastrointestinal disease in dogs who had been walked in the area.
Drains overflowed along Brookside, Main Street, Costock Road and Gotham Road discharging both drainage water and sewage, with sewage pushing up through manholes to flood roads and residents’ properties. Ditches and drains that run along the field edges, roads and culverts along Leake Lane were blocked, leading to flooding over the road and limiting access in and out of the village.
The Rushcliffe MP said in her comments there are significant local measures that need addressing, with manholes on Brookside, Costock Road and Gotham Road, where sewage was reported and flooding frequent, and which are inadequately sealed.
In addition, road drains are insufficient on both Gotham Road and at the junction of Brookside and Main Street.
It is also suggested in the report that drains on Gotham
Road are not believed to have been cleaned and while the intersection of Main Street and Brookside had been cleared it was not to a regular schedule.
Kingston Brook flooded due to heavy rainfall conditions although the control of sluice gates on a private stretch of the brook may have contributed and needs examination. The Drainage Board needs to clear blockages downstream from Meadow Park towards West Leake.
The latest building on land on the South side of the village is on a steep slope. Recent flooding of the Sheepwash Brook onto Brookside and Main Street show that the measures to collect surface run off are not working.
The report says the conditions caused disruption to both residents and public transport, mentioning particularly the South Notts Number 1 bus which runs from East Leake to
Loughborough.
“Local issues which I have raised with the relevant agency is that the village has quadrupled in size in the last 30 years and the pumping station cannot cope. A new pumping station for the village is needed urgently.”
But the MP says conversations with Severn Trent Water have not resulted in any action on the issue of the pumping station and the water company has made clear that there are no current plans to upgrade or replace the pumping station.
“I will seek an urgent meeting with Severn Trent and will ask them to explain why they feel the current pumping station is sufficient to cope with demand now and in the years ahead. I will also seek a meeting with Rushcliffe Borough Council to discuss whether changes can be made to their Local Plan to insist that any future planning permission in East Leake will have conditions to upgrade current sewerage capacity.
“Manholes which flooded, and are reported to do so frequently, are not adequately sealed or repaired. If the foul water system is not properly sealed across the village, sewage enters flood water and presents a health hazard to the entire population.
“I will seek an urgent meeting with Severn Trent to discuss sealing the system and monitoring any future flood incidents for sewage contamination.”
The MP has pointed out that concerns have been raised by the parish council about the impact of new housing on flooding in the village and that the Borough Council has done a huge amount to protect communities and prevent development which exacerbates flooding problems.
“I have requested a meeting with Rushcliffe to discuss the impact of new housing on flood issues across the constituency and whether national policies need to be amended to do more to prevent development exacerbating flood issues.”
The reports comments on ‘over-pumping’ system of foul water from the pumping station into Kingston the brook at times of high water.
“The practice of water companies being allowed to over-pump is not environmentally friendly and can cause problems if sewage enters flood water or pollutes areas used by residents. It is an outdated method of dealing with excess water. I will seek a meeting with Ministers in Westminster to discuss the issue of over-pumping and push for changes to legislation” says Mrs Edwards.
MEADOW PARK. Invasive Himalayan Balsam has become a problematic plant for the Friends of Meadow Park in East Leake.
Himalayan Balsam can flower up to October and the explosive seed pods can jettison seeds up to ten metres from the parent plant. The rivers and streams can carry the seed for miles.
When the problem was assessed in the Park it became clear that the plant was well established. A Friend of Meadow Park who lives in Costock said it was growing in the brook at the back of his house. It can be found miles away along Kingston Brook.
Initially Mr. Conrad Oatey, the then Chairman of East Leake Parish Council thought a small group could get to grips with the problem, but increasingly it became clear just how extensive the Himalayan Balsam was in the Park.
Mr. Oatey contacted the Trent Valley Internal Drainage Board and it is hoped they will soon be able to tackle the growing problem.
Meanwhile the volunteers intend is to deal with the Himalayan Balsam problem in the Park. They will not uproot it as that damages the riverbanks but will take off all the flowers and cut it back where possible.
Colonising rail and riverbanks, wastelands and woodlands, Himalayan Balsam was introduced to the UK in 1839 by Victorian plant hunters who were keen on its beautiful pink flowers and exploding seed pods. The
plant has had plenty of time to establish in the UK and, over the last 50 years, has spread rapidly.
But Himalayan balsam is a problematic plant. It competes with native plants for light, nutrients, pollinaters and space, excluding other plants and reducing biodiversity. It dies back in the winter, leaving riverbanks bare and open to erosion. Dead leaves and plant debris from the weed block waterways and lead to flooding.
Traditional ways of controlling the plant, either by pulling it up or spraying it with chemicals do not or cannot always work, because the plant often grows in difficult to reach places and delicate river sites and it spreads quickly.
Like most non-native plant species, Himalayan Balsam arrived in the UK without any of the natural enemies that keep it in check in its native range – in this case, the foothills of the Himalayas in Pakistan and India, and western Nepal.
Without these natural enemies, the plant has an advantage over native species and grows more aggressively than it normally would. It is also expensive to manage. In 2003, the Environment Agency estimated it would cost £300 million to eradicate Himalayan balsam from the UK entirely
BELL RINGING. Bell ringing at the churches in the United Benefice of East Leake stopped once parishes in the group entered Tier Two of the Government’s Covid-19 regulations followed by the total current lock down.
As most of the churches in the Group were raised to Tier three bell before the November lockdown ringing continued to be off-limits.
Church bell ringing is only permitted in Tiers Two and Three if all the ringers are members of the same household. Few bands, including the East Leake parishes’ group, meet such a criterion.
After the first lockdown was lifted in late spring the bellringers were able to ring for services but only in a limited way because the rules on social distancing and indoor activities.
Prior to the introduction of the Tier system the group was able to ring each week for the church services at Stanford on Soar and Normanton on Soar. They have also been able to ring for the twice monthly services at Rempstone and Gotham.
The team is also very pleased to have rung the bells for three weddings – one each in Normanton on Soar, Rempstone and Gotham.
John Cooper, the Tower Captain says that hopefully the area will revert to Tier Oner or there will be changes in the rules before too long so that they are able to make the Church’s presence heard in All the local villages.