News in Oakham

Oakham has scooped a Silver Gilt Award in the town category of the 2019 East Midlands in Bloom competition.

The results were announced today (Weds) and the group's Facebook and Twitter pages posted news of its success tonight.

A new self-serve vending machine delivering fresh organic milk direct to customers from the farm has been launched at Gates Farm Shop in Cold Overton.

A steady stream of customers are collecting their daily supplies of the white stuff from the vending machine installed by PrOganic, a new enterprise launched by the Armitage family.

Victims of sexual and domestic abuse are being asked for their views on how help and advice can best be offered in future.

The current arrangements for providing these services across Rutland, Leicester and Leicestershire are due to expire at the end of March 2021.

A new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) facility at Uppingham Community College has taken a step forward with the appointment of a developer to undertake the works.

Steele and Bray, which has been established since 1946 and undertaken a wide range of projects across the private and public sectors, has been selected after a competitive tender process.

Rutland County Council has welcomed the 2019 Spending Round announced by the Chancellor earlier this month and its promise of additional funding for local government, schools and police.

But, until funding allocations are announced, the county councils says it is 'too early to assess the full impact for Rutland'.

Rutland Police is staging a knife crime information evening on Friday (20 Sept).

The event is being organised by Oakham Police's PC Joe Lloyd, but will be led by Sgt Darren Richardson, Neighbourhood Team Sergeant for Rutland.

Purse snatchers targeted a blind 89-year-old pensioner from the Oakham area as she was shopping in Stamford town centre this morning (Tues).

Police are appealing for witnesses to the theft which happened in, or around, High Street.

Oakham residents objecting to McDonald's plans to open a fast-food outlet in the town have been branded 'snobs' by a national newspaper.

An online article published by The Sun last night (Mon) has the headline: "Rutland McDonald's – Snobs in the only county without a McDonald's fight plans for new branch – claiming it will bring 'riff raff'."

A 19-year-old man is due to appear in court charged with criminal damage after a spate of graffiti vandal attacks in Uppingham.

Lloyd Griffiths, of HMP Nottingham, is due to appear at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Friday, 4 October charged with nine counts of criminal damage and four counts of breaching a restraining order.

More than half the successful applications for help from Rutland households facing homelessness in the last year were made by someone in paid work at the time.

Under the Homelessness Reduction Act, which took effect in April 2018, councils are required to take preventative measures where households are facing a homelessness crisis, and relieve it when it occurs.