Elections 2021: What does Coalville care about?

Coalville, as the name suggests, is a former mining town

Across the country, people will be heading to the polls to have their say in the local elections on Thursday.

Leicestershire County Council, which is currently run by the Conservatives, is one of 143 local authorities in England where seats are up for grabs.

We went to the former mining town of Coalville in Leicestershire to ask what matters to voters there, and what services they want to see supported as councils face unprecedented financial pressures.

'Where are social services?'

Publicans are famous for offering their customers an ear and some casual advice, but Gemma King, landlady of The Snibstone, feels she is having to step in for social services.

"A lot of my older regulars have been on their own during lockdown," she said. "I've done ring arounds weekly to make sure they're alive. We've given out food parcels, others needed someone to talk to.

"I'm a landlady though - what have the other organisations been doing during lockdown? Where are social services, the government-funded programmes?

"It's taken private people to support the elderly of Coalville. And that's not how it should be."

Ms King rescued Gizzy as an emotional support dog for visitors to the pub

She said she has also been leaving out fruit for children who may not get it otherwise, setting up family days at the pub to help parents, and signposting vulnerable customers to where they can get help.

But she said this is the sort of thing local authorities should be providing.

She added: "I'm basically a social worker as well as a landlady, and that's not how it ought to be."

A Leicestershire County Council spokesman said they had been working to support about 30,000 clinically extremely vulnerable people during the pandemic.

He added: "There's also been a 25 per cent increase in people receiving community-based support in their own homes, and more than 200 projects across Leicestershire have been awarded funding."

'Buses are a lifeline'

For some, it is difficult to reach the local facilities that are on offer.

Bus services have come under fire nationally as councils look to cut costs and passenger numbers decrease.

This is a particular problem in rural areas, where routes are the least lucrative and private companies often rely on council subsidies to keep them running.

It is some people's only way of getting around and so it is an important topic for them at the upcoming election.

Rob Turner, 62, lives in nearby Ibstock and needs a bus to get into Coalville as he can no longer drive.

He said: "If I can't use a bus I become more isolated. The service has already been reduced... which means I'm able to go out less frequently.

"I don't want it reduced any further."

Mr Turner said he can manage with the current level of service but worries buses might be cut further

Felicity Middleton, who set up a food bank in Coalville called Feed the Need, said a lack of transport is a serious problem for many of their would-be users who live in the surrounding villages.

She said the council has provided financial support for the food bank, but she would like to see bus services improved too.

She said: "There's at least a dozen people who would use our service but can't get to us.

"People walk long distances to get here, they're so desperate. Bus services are a lifeline."

Food bank user Kathryn Baxter said without it, she and her children would have gone hungry, but could only visit on the day we were there as she caught a lift

Arriva, which runs a number of local bus services, said it "works hard to ensure services reflect the changing requirements of the local community".

This has involved some services being increased, but others becoming less frequent to "better reflect the level of demand".

A spokesman for the council said almost all transport services are run by private companies and they accept some "have been modified, reduced or withdrawn".

"[We] recognise their importance and continue to provide support," he said.

"The county council also has to strike a balance between the financial pressures it faces while, at the same time, supporting services which help meet people's essential travel needs."

The county council's latest budget said these are "increasingly tough times".

It said they had to make £220m of savings in the last decade, and it will have to save millions more in the years to come.

Professor Pete Murphy said the way councils are financed needs to be reformed

According to Pete Murphy, a professor at Nottingham Business School, local authorities in England have lost 40% of their income in real terms since 2010, and council services have suffered as a result.

"These cuts are unprecedented," he said. "They are the most long-term and significant we have had to experience since the setting up of the welfare state.

"In an advanced western democracy such as the UK, reasonable and decent local services should be affordable.

"But we have not got ourselves organised to distribute fairly."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said they could not comment because of the ongoing council election campaign.

John Massey thinks the local library, which he has used for decades, is "brilliant"

The council continues to run some of the services that are most important to people, such as education, parks and libraries, and many we spoke to wanted to see these maintained.

John Massey, 75, has been checking books out of the library all his life, using them to do his homework as a child and more recently to keep entertained in lockdown.

He said he wants his elected representatives to make sure the service is kept to the same standard.

He added: "I use a lot of council services but they're always there, I've missed the library while it's been closed for coronavirus.

"The staff are absolutely brilliant, I've got friends I see in here.

"It would be sad if they reduced it."

And one of Coalville's newer residents, Oana Smaranda, 34, moved to the town from Romania five years ago.

She gave a glowing account.

"There's no rubbish," she said. "It's quiet here, which means it's possible for my son to sleep.

"It's safe because there are police on the streets.

"I'm happy here."

Ms Smaranda is happy to be living in Coalville

On 6 May across England millions of people will be voting for new councillors, mayors and police and crime commissioners. Register to vote here.