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For applications to place a structure/equipment within the highway, please see: Information and guidance and Apply for a structure licence.

Community level investment for flooding

Community Flood Grant is a funding initiative by Leicestershire County Council to support parish and town councils, and legally constituted community groups, to deliver small-scale projects that reduce flood risk or improve community flood resilience. The funding is intended to create community-wide benefit (benefiting more than one property) and cannot be applied for by individual residents.

The scheme supports practical, locally led solutions that help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from flooding, particularly in areas at higher risk. Funding for successful projects will be made available from April 2026, following an application window which opened at the beginning of January 2026.

Who can apply

Applications must be submitted by one of the following eligible bodies:

• Parish Councils
• Town Councils
• Legally constituted community or flood groups
• Third party organisations acting on behalf of a community

Note: Individual residents are not eligible to apply directly but can discuss issues with their local parish or town council.

What the grant can be used for

The grant can fund a wide range of small scale projects that reduce flood risk or increase resilience at a community level. All projects must:

• deliver benefit to more than one property
• create a clear community flood benefit
• not increase flood risk elsewhere.

We anticipate projects such as the examples below (please note this is not an exhaustive list):

• flow gauges
• rain gauges
• low cost Property Flood Resilience (PFR) measures (such as airbrick covers or similar) for multiple homes. This may include reasonable builder costs to fit PFR measures on more than one property
• natural flood management construction works
• natural flood management design work
• community resilience equipment, including flood sacks (FloodSax), puddle pumps and dehumidifiers
• flood lockers and/or shared community flood equipment
• culvert improvements on riparian owned assets
• flood bank creation on private land
• sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) pods
• smart water butts
• flood Mary and Flood Pod hire
• flashing flood warning signs and associated community alert infrastructure

FloodSax and community equipment

As part of the wider Community flood resilience programme, the Council is supporting the use of sandbag alternatives such as FloodSax to aid resilience in communities at risk of flooding. FloodSax are designed to hold back flood water to help protect homes and businesses, similarly to sandbags. They are lightweight, space saving, quick and easy to deploy, and can be used in both indoor and outdoor settings.

FloodSax or other resilience equipment may be purchased by communities using grant funding and distributed locally via town and parish councils or community flood groups, as part of a broader approach to community preparedness.

FloodSax demonstration and collection

We are holding a FloodSax demonstration where officers will provide practical guidance on:

• activation of FloodSax
• deployment during flood events
• safe storage

Date and time: Thursday 5 February 2026, 1 pm (approximately 1 hour, including Q&A).

Venue: Underground Car Park, County Hall, Leicester Road, Glenfield.

Attendees will have the option to collect boxes of FloodSax on the day for local storage and distribution. You can book your place by contacting communityfloodgrant@leics.gov.uk advising us who is attending and whether they wish to collect a stock of FloodSax.

Please note that a trial supply of FloodSax will be offered at this event. Should more be required then you are encouraged to purchase more yourself.

The Council is unable to recover any used FloodSax or sandbags and it is the responsibility of the homeowner to dispose of them safely and appropriately.

Further information and support

For queries about eligibility, suitable projects, or the application process, contact the Community Flood Grant team communityfloodgrant@leics.gov.uk.

Community Speed Watch 2026

We are pleased to announce a new process for submitting your interest in running a Community Speed Watch (CSW) scheme in your area in 2026. To apply, you must complete this Community Speed Watch online form.

Before starting the form, please ensure you have all the required information listed below. Incomplete submissions will not be accepted and will not be considered for a CSW scheme.

Location guidance 

CSW activity can only take place in areas with 30 or 40 mph speed limits. Each selected location must allow volunteers to stand at least 200 metres (656 feet) from the start, end, or change in speed limit.

CSW cannot be conducted in locations with:

• traffic calming measures (e.g. chicanes, speed tables, pedestrian islands, altered lane markings)
• average or fixed speed cameras
• enforced Community Concern sites (e.g. speed camera van locations)
• obstructions to clear line of sight (e.g. bus shelters, foliage)
• 20 mph speed limits
• inadequate footpaths (less than 2 metres wide) that prevent safe volunteer positioning

Training requirements

If your parish has received CSW training within the last three years and you feel confident delivering the training independently, please include the date of the last training you did with us. Please then let us know when you will carry-out the training, this must happen two-weeks before the scheme starts. If your application is successful, we will provide the necessary training resources.

Scheme support

Volunteers will be instructed to record vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 10% plus 2 mph, in line with National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) guidelines. This means recording vehicles travelling at 35 mph and above in a 30 mph zone, and 46 mph and above in a 40 mph zone.

We appreciate your commitment to improving road safety in your community and look forward to receiving your application.

Recycling and waste

As of the 1 October all waste sites will return to their standard winter opening times which is 9 am - 4 pm.

All details regarding opening times/days are available at Waste and recycling. The council continues to encourage residents to avoid busy periods such as weekends, especially bank holiday weekends, and to check the council’s website before setting off.

Illegal parking Report it form

We now have a way for customers to report illegal parking online, see Parking enforcement. This is to improve the way parking is reported.

Composting workshops

Find out about future composting workshops. These workshops are free and open to any Leicestershire resident who is keen to start composting at home or wanting to further their knowledge. Please share this information with colleagues, friends and family who are Leicestershire residents. 

Muddy roads

Farming work is an important part of our rural economy in Leicestershire, but ongoing poor weather conditions can make it difficult for farmers to avoid leaving trails of mud on roads throughout the autumn and winter months.

Muddy roads can be difficult for road users, and we want to reassure you that the National Farmers’ Union regularly provides advice on this issue to farmers directly. They encourage the use of ‘Slippery Road Surface’ and ‘Mud on Road’ warning signs, cleaning vehicles before driving them on public routes, as well as including road sweeping and cleansing in their routine ploughing, spraying and harvesting operations.

Where required, district councils will cleanse muddy roads as part of their environmental duties. The county council may provide additional warning signage for motorists when needed and may even serve notice to those who continually muddy roads as a last resort, as well as recovering expenses incurred, in line with the Highways Act 1980.

If you notice a muddy road which has not been cleansed in your area, please contact us via Report a road problem online form or by email cscparishes@leics.gov.uk so that an assessment can be carried out.

Battery recycling campaign

We need your help to reduce the risk of serious fires by encouraging battery recycling. Where possible, please raise awareness of the following key messages:

• Always recycle batteries and electrical items separately from other types of waste.
• Batteries and unwanted electrical items should not go into kerbside recycling collections, unless there is a dedicated separate kerbside collection service for these items – please check with your local district council.
• Find suitable recycling points near you.
• Recycle your batteries and electrical items at Recycling and Household Waste Sites across Leicestershire.

More and more everyday items such as children’s toys, wireless headphones, mobile phones, laptops, electric toothbrushes and disposable vapes contain non-removable batteries. These batteries can become crushed or damaged in bin lorries or at waste sites if they are not recycled appropriately and can lead to fires which are hazardous, environmentally harmful and which cause costly damage and disruption to waste systems and infrastructure.

When crushed or damaged, lithium-ion batteries can be especially dangerous to the public, waste operators and firefighters as they cause fires that are very challenging to tackle. They can lead to explosions and chemical exposure. Once ablaze these batteries can keep reigniting; prolonging incidents with smoke and fumes affecting the air quality of neighbouring areas and communities, sometime for long periods of time.

As the rise of portable battery-powered devices leads to more lithium-ion batteries ending up in the bin, the number of fires caused by batteries in waste has increased accordingly:

• There were 700 fires caused by batteries in the UK waste system in 2022, and 1,200 in 2023 an increase of 71%.
• 1.6 billion batteries were thrown away in the UK over the last year; over 3,000 a minute, including over 1.1 billion electrical items containing hidden lithium-ion batteries.
• The National Fire Chiefs Council says that “Fires involving lithium-ion batteries are a disaster waiting to happen”.

Research by Material Focus (an environmental campaign group) revealed that last year, UK residents binned at least 24 batteries per year on average, including 15 electrical items containing batteries and nine loose batteries per year. This included 260 million disposable vapes.

Nearly half of the UK adults involved in this research did not know or had not heard that electrical items containing chargeable built-in batteries can catch fire if crushed or damaged, or that these batteries / electrical items therefore need to be disposed of or recycled separately to other types of waste.

Find out more information about never binning batteries and how to recycle batteries from Less Waste.

If you have any queries, please contact wasteprevention@leics.gov.uk 

Local Transport Plan 4

The councils current Local Transport Plan, LTP3, is coming to an end in 2026, and no longer accords with national planning, transport, and environmental policies. It also has a limited focus on health and well-being and the potential benefits that active travel provides Leicestershire for local communities. We have taken the decision to update it with a new Local Transport Plan which will know as LTP4.

For more information visit Local Transport Plan.

The Environment and Transport Department is also working to develop supporting strategies, including Leicestershire Highway Design Guide, Electric Vehicle Strategy and Cycling and Walking Strategy which allow more opportunities for you to feed in your thoughts and views.