Category: Leicester

Searches are being carried out at a lake in Leicestershire after a teenage boy was reported to have entered the water.Emergency services were called to Meynell Lake off Fosse Way, Syston, just after 13:30 BST on Thursday, Leicestershire Police said.The teenager is reported to have entered the lake, used for boating and angling, and both police and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service are at the scene.A police spokesperson said: “Searches are being carried out to locate the boy and officers are in contact with his next of kin.”

Plans for a battery energy storage system spanning about 82 hectares have been approved in Leicestershire.Applicant Enderby Energy Ltd was given full planning permission for the proposal, on land at Lambcote Hill Farm, in Swinford Road, Walcote.Alberto Costa, Conservative MP for South Leicestershire, said the proposal was a “gross overdevelopment” of the area when the plans were first put forward and wrote to Harborough District Council (HDC) to raise concerns.However, planning officers at the local authority approved the plans on 18 June with a number of conditions.The conditions included the development starting within five years of the agreement, a detailed battery safety management plan being delivered before development starts, and the development needing to be decommissioned after no more than 40 years from the date it started operating.HDC also approved outline plans for a transmission substation, which means it was agreed in principle with further, more detailed plans to follow.The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the site would span the equivalent of 115 full-size football pitches.In a letter of objection to HDC’s chief executive John Richardson last September, Costa said that while he was supportive of renewable energy, the proposal would need “extensive infrastructure” to connect to the National Grid, and a separate planning application for the new sub-power station, too. He added although consultation with the Walcote community had taken place, the potential “size and impact” of the substation was not made clear and raised concerns about fire risks.A total of six people were in favour of the plans and four objections were received. Regarding fire risk concerns, NatPower said Greenfire Solutions, which is led by former senior officers from the UK fire and rescue service, have been appointed to advise on the plans. The firm added the location for the site was of “sufficient” size to deliver on their proposals and with the operational wind farm was “supported through national energy policy on efficient use of land”.

24 June 2026

University of Leicester computer scientists have developed a ‘sense check’ to reveal whether an AI robot is acting on the right information. 
It will allow scientists to determine whether a robot’s actions are being influenced by irrelevant ‘distractions’ in the environment – whether it followed an instruction successfully or not.
Their latest research paper has been accepted to the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2026 in Seoul, South Korea, one of the world’s leading conferences in artificial intelligence and machine learning, taking place from 6-11 July.
The paper focuses on a central question in modern robotics: how can researchers understand why an AI-enabled robot chooses a particular action?
Vision-Language-Action models are an emerging type of AI system that allow robots to connect what they see, what they are asked to do, and how they physically act. They are a step towards more flexible and general-purpose robots, but their decisions can still be difficult to understand.
A robot may complete a task successfully in one setting but fail when the environment changes. This can happen when the model relies on unintended visual cues, such as shadows, background details, lighting conditions or textures, rather than information that is genuinely relevant to the task.
This new research, led by the Dynamics, Astronautics and Neural Intelligence Lab (DANi Lab) at the University of Leicester’s School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, takes a step towards better understanding this problem by introducing a way to analyse which parts of an image influence a robot’s actions. The work helps researchers examine whether a model is responding to meaningful task-related information, or whether it may be relying on unreliable cues.

This matters for the development of trustworthy embodied AI: artificial intelligence systems that can interact with the physical world. As robots are increasingly expected to work beyond highly controlled laboratory settings, researchers need better ways to understand when and why these systems may fail in new environments.
The research was carried out by second-year PhD student Hanxin Zhang under the supervision of Dr Daniel Z. Hao, Lecturer in AI and Robotics in the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences and founder and principal investigator of the DANi Lab. 
Dr Hao said: “Robot learning is advancing quickly, but success rate alone does not tell us whether a robot has learned the right behaviour for the right reason. A model may appear to perform well while relying on visual shortcuts that fail when the environment changes.
“Our research provides a way to examine what visual evidence actually influences robot actions. We hope this will help the wider robotics and AI community develop systems that are more interpretable, more reliable and better prepared for real-world deployment.
“Having our paper accepted to the International Conference on Machine Learning highlights the University of Leicester’s growing research strength in artificial intelligence, robotics and embodied machine learning, and its contribution to international research on trustworthy and generalisable robot learning.”

‘Embodied Interpretability: Linking Causal Understanding to Generalization in Vision-Language-Action Models’ was authored by Hanxin Zhang, Mingshuo Xu, Abdulqader Dhafer, Shigang Yue, Hongbiao Dong and Daniel Hao. Further details about the paper, code and examples are available on the project page.

Scott White, one of the new officers, told the BBC “The single biggest issue is the street lifestyle.”It’s trying to get groups of people to engage and to trust us. “A lot of people see the uniform and they think we’re the police.”We’ve been called spies [but] we’re not here to punish everyone and we’re not here to enforce every time. “We are actually here to help people.”Soulsby said he was proud only a “tiny” number of fines had been issued so far.”The order is particularly aimed at persuading people, not fining them, or seeking to take them to court or anything of that sort.”It’s to try to get them to act in a way that makes a life for everybody else in the city centre reasonable and bearable.”City centre police inspector Ryan Ludlam said: “We welcome the coordinated approach of this new team, which will play a valuable role in deterring anti-social behaviour in the city centre and further aiding crime reduction in the area.”Currently the PSPO rules apply to the city centre, but the council is carrying out a public consultation on proposals to expand them to surrounding neighbourhoods.It is expected to make a final decision on the move later in the summer.

Drivers are being warned of road closures as a £1m programme of road repairs and resurfacing across Leicester began this week.On Monday, Wilne Street in Spinney Hills closed for two days of resurfacing.The full length closure is the first in a timetable which will see more than 28,500 sq m (306,700 sq ft) of 10 streets worked on until the end of August.The council said diversions will be signposted while repairs are carried out, and added work has been planned over the school summer holidays when there is less traffic.After Wilne Street, work moves to King Newton Street on Wednesday and Thursday.Overnight works are planned for Heron Road at its junction with Kingfisher Avenue, in North Evington, on Friday.The next project is then on 11 and 12 July, when part of Gwendolen Road, between Dorothy Road and Constance Road, is resurfaced.Morley Road, in Wycliffe, is due to be resurfaced over three days from 13 July.Butterwick Drive in Beaumont Leys will see its full length resurfaced over a fortnight, beginning on 20 July, followed by 12 days of resurfacing along Leycroft Road from 1 August.

British Transport Police has confirmed that eight people remain in a critical condition in hospital today (22 June), following the train crash close to Bedford on Friday evening (19 July).Officers were called to the line by Elstow, Bedfordshire at 5.15pm on Friday following reports that two East Midlands Railway trains had collided. A major incident was declared and a significant emergency service response took place – with support from our colleagues at Bedfordshire Police, the local Fire and Rescue and Ambulance Services and the National Police Air Service.Over 100 people have received treatment at hospital. 53 of those remain in hospital today and eight are in a critical condition. These numbers are changing frequently and are likely to continue to change as the week moves forward.Tragically, the driver of one of the trains was pronounced dead at the scene. Shaun Burton’s family paid tribute to the 60-year-old yesterday and are being supported by specialist officers from BTP.Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said: “First and foremost, the thoughts of everyone at BTP are with the driver Shaun Burton’s family and colleagues, and all those injured and affected by the collision on Friday.“This is a priority investigation for BTP and our experienced senior investigating officer is working in parallel with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch to establish the full circumstances of how this incident came to happen. We have recovered personal property from the two trains and will shortly be providing an update on how affected passengers can retrieve their belongings.“Friday evening witnessed an awful incident that presented complexities and challenges for all those who responded.  I have been humbled by the actions of passengers and staff who were on the trains, and by the professionalism of our officers, the wider emergency services and partners.“The recovery operation is now underway, and work continues this week to remove the damaged trains and carriages and allow the railway to reopen.“Lastly, our investigation team are looking to speak to everyone who was on the affected trains at the time of the collision. I would urge anyone who hasn’t already spoken to police to get in touch with BTP.”

Multiple crews are tackling a large fire in a field in Leicestershire.Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) said the blaze started on Monday in Kegworth Lane, outside Long Whatton.Pumps from Loughborough, Shepshed and Castle Donington stations are at the scene, with support from Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service.Local residents should remain indoors and close windows and doors to avoid smoke inhalation, LFRS added.With temperatures high and rising, LFRS has urged people to report any fires in the open by calling 999, and help crews locate the fire by downloading what3words to your smartphone.

Emergency services have issued a renewed warning about the dangers of swimming in open water as warm and sunny weather continues across Nottinghamshire.Police said officers were previously called to Holme Pierrepont, in May 2026, after reports of groups jumping into the water.There were also reports of people entering the River Trent from both sides of the water close to Weir Fields Recreation Ground, Beeston Rylands.Neighbourhood officers attended and gave advice to those at the scene, with both locations being monitored.Emergency services are reminding people that open water can be dangerous, even during hot weather.Almost half of accidental drownings happen during the warmer months and often involve people making a spur-of-the-moment decision to enter the water.Risks include very cold water temperatures, even in summer, strong underwater currents, sudden changes in depth, debris, weeds, pumps and other hidden hazards.Inspector Tim Cuthbert, neighbourhood inspector for Rushcliffe, said: “It’s going to remain very warm and sunny this next week and people will obviously want to be out and about enjoying the start of summer.“People will want to be keeping cool but jumping into open water puts yourself and other people’s lives at risk.“The Trent and other rivers and canals around Nottinghamshire may look incredibly enticing but you won’t know the dangers that lurk beneath the surface.“There are no lifeguards, you don’t know how deep it is, or what’s in the water.“You could get tangled up in weeds, land on discarded items, or seriously injure yourself.“Even with the hot weather, the water could still be cold and cause cold water shock.“No matter how strong a swimmer you believe you are, or if your mates are jumping in, or you’re following a trend on TikTok and egging each other on – remember the dangers.“I’d also urge people not to be a bystander. If you see anyone putting themselves at risk, tell them they could get seriously hurt.“Please enjoy the good weather but don’t go jumping or swimming in open water. It’s really not worth the risk.”Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Community Engagement and Partnerships Manager, Natasha Neale, added: “We would reiterate the safety advice from our colleagues in policing.“Water, especially deep water, can be much colder than the air temperature, even after prolonged hot weather spells.“However enticing it can be to cool off in open water, cold water shock can make swimming difficult. Coupled with potential unknown objects under the water’s surface and currents, even strong swimmers can get into difficulty quickly.“If you see someone in difficulty in the water, phone 999 and ask for the fire service. Give an accurate location using what3words or landmarks and instruct the person to float on their back. Never enter the water yourself.”

Some temporary lane restrictions will be required and nearby residents have been warned there could be noise disturbance, the council said.Letters have been delivered to nearby homes and businesses to give notice of the forthcoming work, which may be noisy.Geoff Whittle, assistant city mayor for transport and environment, said: “This extension to two existing red routes is being introduced to tackle the problem of cars and lorries stopping illegally along this busy road.”It will help cut congestion, keep traffic moving more efficiently and improve journey times for all road users on this important route in and out of the city.”Officials said there were no current plans to install fixed enforcement cameras on the red route, but the new rules would be enforced by the city council’s CCTV camera car.

A man has been been taken to hospital in a serious condition following a van fire at a petrol station in Leicester.Leicestershire Police said emergency services were called to the station in Uppingham Road at 13:19 BST on Saturday. The force said a man in his 60s had suffered burn injuries and was taken to hospital, but no other people were injured.A 62-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, police added.Officers said part of Uppingham Road was closed, but has since reopened and the petrol station remained closed for investigation work.