Agenda and minutes

The Chair will introduce those present and make any necessary announcements.

The Chair and any other Councillors who are present will make any declarations as required by the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

Councillor Gugnani, Chair for the meeting, welcomed everyone and led the introductions.

ACTION:

It was noted that Knighton Neighbourhood Forum should be a standing item on the agenda.

Apologies were received from Kim Venables (Environment Volunteer presentation) and the City Warden.

Apologies were given to the Police for not sending the invitation to the meeting to the right officer.

Attached for information and discussion.

The Action Log from the meeting held on 21 November 2017 was received and noted.

·         Shanklin Drive Update

·         Speed Camera Update

Shanklin Drive

Councillor Grant provided an update on the installation of bollards on Shanklin Drive to slow traffic. It was agreed that residents would be consulted on whether they wanted to proceed with the bollards, and letters would be sent out to residents imminently.

The bollards would run from Meadvale Road, running up Shanklin Drive to the brow of the hill. The bollards would be dispersed at various points in the road, and would prevent cars driving down the centre of the road. A speed test had shown issues on the road, and there had been a number of accidents,.

Speed Camera Update

Councillor Moore informed the meeting the issue of speed cameras in the ward had been raised on numerous occasions, with money having been committed to have two speed cameras in various locations.

ACTION:

The Community Engagement Officer to chase, as the money had been taken from the budget.

It was noted the Police undertook mobile speed tests in various locations also.

Apologies were given for the agenda item, which would be brought to a future meeting.

It was noted the agenda item was omitted in error.

The following information was reported:

·         The Forum held its AGM on 15 February 2018. Current post holders of the Steering Group had been re-elected (Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer). There remained several vacancies, and the Forum would like to hear from anyone who would be interested in helping develop the  Neighbourhood Plan for Knighton.

·         The Community Interest Company was established, and was a properly constituted body and could claim funding.

·         The Transport Working Group had trialled a survey on transport issues. It would produce a smaller survey to distribute as widely as possible.

·         The second Working Group on Open Spaces was contacting local sports and leisure organisations based in Knighton.

·         The Forum was busy producing a directory of local organisations and businesses that would be hosted on the website.

·         A third Working Group on Housing and Planning would be launched in the near future, which could be consulted on housing planning.

·         The Forum maintained a website / Facebook page / twitter account / monthly newsletter, and asked residents to get in touch or leave an email address if they wanted to be informed about meetings and activities.

Officers from Leicestershire Police will be at the meeting to provide an update on police issues in Knighton Ward.

PC Jim Mungovin was present, and provided the following information:

·         There were 29 burglaries in January 2018, up on December, mainly near to the Welford Road Police Station / Gainsborough Road, Chapel Lane, Ratcliffe Road. A person was arrested and would likely be charged with handling stolen goods. The recording of burglaries included sheds (28 houses + 1 shed), and quite a lot were during the daytime;

·         At the beginning of February, a person was charged and remanded to prison for burglaries in the Shirley Road area and on Carisbrooke Road. As a prolific burglar, If he had not been caught there might have been a spike in the number of burglaries, but that pattern had now finished;

·         An attempted burglary took place at 3.00am on Gainsborough Road but the burglar was disturbed. Access had been gained through an unlocked gate;

·         A house on Asquith Boulevard was targeted for Asian jewellery, and access had been gained through neighbouring gardens;

·         Extra patrols took place every single day, and officers had been moved out of Wigston to look at the problem;

·         Theft of motor vehicles, believed to be linked to organised crime, and very difficult to keep up with, and predominantly on the South Knighton side;

·         In the past 50 days, there were 26 thefts from vehicles. CCTV had shown a person coming onto a driveway and trying car doors. The same advice was for people not to leave items on show in vehicles. Incidences usually occurred late at night;

·         There were no further issues to report at Lancaster Academy;

·         The issue with doorbells being stolen had been resolved.

Crime figures for any area could be found on the website www.police.uk Residents could also receive updates on their area by registering on the neighbourhood link on the police website.

PC Mungovin asked for Councillors to consider if anything could be done at the junction of Stoneygate Road and London Road, where people were turning right against regulations. Councillors agreed to raise the issue with Highways.

Residents wished to place on record their thanks to the Police for their hard work.

Katy Edge, Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Officer, was present and provided the following information:

·         There were seven crime and ASB officers that covered Leicester, and each had three areas to cover aligned with police beats;

·         Officers looked at ASB reports that came in on police systems;

·         The Team was a combination of LASBU and Community Safety, and also covered ASB reports for non-council tenants;

·         The Crime and ASB Team could be contacted by email at crasbu@leicester.gov.uk 

ACTION:

Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour would be added as a standing agenda item.

The City Warden will give an update on issues in Knighton Ward.

Apologies were received from the City Warden.

Councillors are reminded that under the Council’s Code of Conduct they should declare any interest they may have in budget applications

a)     An update will be given on the Ward Community budget; and

b)     A list of grant applications submitted for consideration at this meeting is attached.

A summary of the Ward Community Budget was reported.

The remaining balance was £12,279.

Five ward funding applications were received as follows:

·         Art House (joint bid) – NOT SUPPORT

·         Girls World – NOT SUPPORTED (private business)

·         Knighton Wild – SUPPORTED to the value of £197

·         68^th Leicester Scouts Group summer camp – SUPPORTED to the value of £1,200

Two further applications from Spark Arts (event on Knighton Park) and Leicester Progressive Jewish Community had not yet been considered.

Councillors wanted to commit the budget. A proposal was put forward for a number of trees (£400 each), a hanging basket scheme, speed activated cameras (funding from 2016/17 budget) and green space development.

Money had been committed to purchase secure bike stands at £140.

It was noted that application forms could be presented up to March 2018 end. Guidance, helpline number and an application form could be found online at https://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council/decisions-meetings-and-minutes/community-meetings/

·         Councillors had not yet been briefed with regards to funding for the environmental aspect for the city recently reported in the media. Residents report traffic calming as a contributor to increased pollution.

·         Highways priorities were accident blackspots which moved up the highways budget queue for funding. Residents were concerned with pavement parking and the damage it caused to pavements. Statistics had been sent to the Head of Highways of the number of people falling over.

·         Severn Trent had investigated sewers under Knighton, so now knew what was there. They were aiming to keep culverts clear to stop rubbish blocking pipes and causing flooding.

The meeting closed at 7.22pm.