Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

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 Byrne as Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and made introductions.

No declarations were made.

There were no apologies for absence.

The Action Log of the meeting held on 18 November 2019, is attached and Members will be asked to confirm it as an accurate record.

The Action Log of the previous meeting held 23 March 2020 was agreed as a correct record.

Officers from the Local Plan team will be present to give an update on the draft Local Plan.

Grant Butterworth – Head of Planning was present at the meeting and gave a presentation on the Draft Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036) Public Consultation.

During the presentation, the Head of Planning drew particular attention to the following points:

·         The Government were consulting on a new approach to Planning; however the Planning White Paper would radically change the local plan process, national policies, a zoning approach and much more permitted development and changes to the way in which housing demand would be worked out.

·         Leicester City Council had decided to continue with their Local Plan as the timespan for the implementation of the White Paper could be two or more years.

·         The importance of the local plan which looked ahead up until 2036, sought to look at the Councils need for homes, addressing unemployment, shopping, and leisure facilities and allocate sites for the these.

·         The plan also set out a range of the Council’s planning policies (e.g. Climate Change and Public Health), encouraged investment & economic growth, facilitated place-making and set high quality design expectations.

·         Housing site draft allocations were noted, these made up a range of 5 main strategic sites and approximately 85 other sites. Other development anticipated was located in the city centre/ Central Development Area (CDA).

·         There were several non-strategic sites proposed for developments within the Abbey Ward including:

o   Birstall Golf Course adjacent to Astill Drive (green wedge site 472): 52 dwellings,

o   Birstall Golf Course south of Park Drive (green wedge site 474): 53 dwellings and,

o   Land adjacent to Great Central Railway (green wedge site 575): leisure/ tourism and potential dual park and ride use.

o   Land to the east of Beaumont Leys Lane (site 589): 30 dwellings,

o   Hadrian Road Open Space (site 687): 2.7ha employment,

o   Ingold Avenue Open Space (site 557): 47 dwellings and enhancement of remainder of open space,

o   Ranworth Open Space (site 647): 31 dwellings

o   Woodstock Road (site 992: 5 dwellings),

o   St Helen’s Close Open Space (site 675): 14 dwellings and enhancement of remainder of open space.

o   Land off Heacham Drive (site 1042): 45 dwellings

o   Former Bus Depot, Abbey Park Road – which was earmarked as a potential school site, but the funding application had now been withdrawn. However, this site may be appropriate for alternative uses e.g. housing.

Further discussion took place as to what services and infrastructure would be required to support the plan i.e. potential library, youth service, community halls, sports/ leisure facilities and health care provisions as well as other potential services.

The governments standard methodology which looked at population and was set around 18 months ago was explained. However, the government target was yet to be confirmed.

The Head of Planning expressed that allocations in the draft local plan were not currently fixed and it was requested that Ward Councillors and residents engaged in the consultation.

In terms of the next stages:

·         This public consultation started on 14^th Set 2020 and ended on 7^th Dec 2020, all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

The Abbey Ward Councillors will provide an update on the issues they have been dealing with in the Abbey Ward.

Abbey Ward Councillors provided an update on the issues they had been dealing with in their ward.

All to note:

·         There was a consultation currently taking place on the University Hospitals Leicester reconfiguration. Residents were encouraged to engage in the consultation.

·         Ward Councillors took part in a patch ward covering the Mowmacre and Stocking Farm areas of the ward. A discussion also took place with residents in relation to the St Helens area, feedback was provided.

·         Support had been provided to residents in the Mowmacre area in which they and Councillors had been carrying out food drops to residents.

·         Constituents were being provided with Covid-19 support in a number of ways.

·         E2, Mowmacre playground, Help the Homeless and Adhar project had also been supported.

A Police Officer will be at the meeting to provide an update on local policing issues in the Ward.

There was no officer present from the local policing unit to provide an update.

A local Housing Officer will provide an update on housing issues in the Ward.

Marie Murray – District Manager for Housing explained what service area involved and provided the following update at the meeting:

·         The tenancy management service and the STAR supporting tenants and residents, would continue to deal with urgent service requests. This was currently operating remotely. Home and estate visits would only be carried out for essential service requests.

·         Covid safe risk assessments were in place for all staff and a critical contact matrix had been developed.

·         In terms of tenancy management, fire safety checks continued through the lockdown periods.

·         Less urgent tenancy management checks would-be put-on hold.

·         Home visits were not envisaged to return to normal for some time, but upcoming information from central government would continue to be reviewed.

·         The service continued to deal with domestic violence, serious harassment and antisocial behaviour urgent requests.

·         Mutual exchanges and transfers would be progressed where tenants needed to relocate for urgent reasons.

·         The most vulnerable tenants would also be contacted to ensure they were able to access support and tenancy management support.

2020/21:

·         20/21 schemes in the Abbey Ward amounted to approximately £60k spend.

·         Some works had been put on hold but there was reassurance that these would be completed.

·         £72k spend for external painting and flats on Jersey Road and replacement of wooden board partitions on Marwood Road.

2021/22:

·         It was anticipated for a £40k spend for schemes in 2021/22 which included internal painting on five blocks of flats, bin store replacements and installing metal plates in bin store areas.

·         It was requested that £5k be added for clearance works.

The Chair queried the property on Ledbury Green which had reportedly been empty for several years.

ACTION: The local city warden present at the meeting reported that a notice had been sent to the owners in July 2020 and this would be followed up.

The City Warden will give an update on activities and enforcement issues taking place in the Abbey Ward.

Charlotte Glover – City Warden for the Ward was present and informed the meeting of the following details in relation to the activities and enforcement which had taken place in the ward:

·         Seven Community Protection Warnings (CPW) had been issued across the ward.

·         7 fly tips had been investigated, two of which were still ongoing investigations. In addition, 2 sites of untidy land had been dealt with.

·         The City Warden had been dealing with the recent flyposting issue which had been seen across the ward, many of the fly posts had now been removed and officers were trying to find the people responsible for the activity.

The City Warden explained her role to the meeting.

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

An update will be given on the Ward Community Budget.

Ward Community Engagement Officer (WCEO) – Anita Clarke gave an update on the Ward Community Budget:

Since the last ward meeting, a total number of 9 applications had been submitted, with 6 of those being supported totalling £4,535.00.

This gave a remaining total of £15,131.00 in the budget, with two applications awaiting a decision from Ward Councillors.

Successful applications had been received from:

·         Boxercise for health

·         Women 4 Change

·         Friends of Belgrave cemetery

·         Leicester Football academy

·         Mowmacre Clubs for young people

·         Sikh Community centre 

To apply for ward funding please go to: www.leicester.gov.uk/communitymeetings or telephone 0116 - 4541940 to discuss your ideas.

The meeting closed at 6.59pm.