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 Westley as Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and led on introductions.

Apologies were received from Councillor Dempster.

Councillor Westley declared that he was a member of the Police and Crime Panel.   

The Action Log of the previous meeting held 21 July 2021 is attached for information and discussion.

The Action Log of the previous meeting held 21 July 2021 was confirmed as a correct record.

Councillors will provide an update on ward information.

Beaumont Leys Ward Councillors gave the following update;

Councillor Rae Bhatia:

·       The Councillors were planning to recommence patch walks to get out in the community and connect with residents.

·       The bus stop on Tilling Road, had been moved forward for a safer pick up and drop off for bus users.

·       All bus stops around the ward were being replaced.

·       Beaumont Park Football Club – Councillor Bhatia updated the meeting, that he had asked a question at the Council meeting on 7^th July to ask for support with the issues. In response to the question asked, The Deputy City Mayor Councillor Clarke responded that the issues that were raised and noted that it had been raised with Highways. They visited the location on 4th June but there were no cars which required a penalty notice at the time. He felt that there were unlikely to be any issues until the new academic year and it could be considered in more detail at that point, in consultation with Councillor Rae Bhatia.

·       Improvement requests for a zebra crossing on Beaumont and Krefeld Way.

·       A Duck crossing at Thurcaston park had been confirmed to be actioned in early August.

·       Speeding dirt bikes on Castle Hill Country Park were still a continued problem and residents were encouraged to report ASB related to the bikes to 101.

·       The new bus lane on Groby Road had opened on Wednesday 20^th July, extending the 30mph zone for the length of the bus lane.

Councillor Westley:

·       Leicester was running out of land to meet housing build targets and keep green spaces.

·       Support had been asked for from the County to taking commitments to build more social housing.

·       Leicester currently had a 1,500 social housing manifest and more was needed.

There had been an update at the last Housing Scrutiny, which considered the case for the introduction of Discretionary Licensing within Leicester, to encourage private landlords to join a scheme to support suitable rental accommodation throughout the city. The scheme would be monitored by the Council and give them the power to introduce, in a given area, licensing for all tenures in the Private Rented Sector. Pilots had been suggested for Fosse, Woodgate, Stoneygate and Castle ward.

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

Insp Michelle Zakoscielny and Sgt Wayne Chapman were present and gave an update on Police issues in the ward. It was noted that:

·       An overall update was given on staffing at Beaumont Leys Station. Pete Foal had recently retired, Adam Woolman had now left. The current beat was made up of 4 constables and 6 PCSO’S.

·       There had been issues of antisocial behaviour at Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre. The six main perpetrators had been spoken to.

·       Motorbikes were an ongoing issue across the county. Officers were limited in resources but were receiving intelligence. Drone’s had been used in the previous weeks which had identified a bike of interest in a garden.

·       Over the last three months there had been 657 crimes versus 662 the same three month period in 2021.

·       Motor vehicle crime had decreased.

·       There had been four knife crimes, but only two incidents had a knife identified. However as a knife had been reported initially it had to be recorded as such. There were seven knife crimes reported in the previous year. One person had been charged with robbery and being in possession of a knife.

Councillor’s raised concerns about the level of knife crime and asked the officers if it was possible to get a quarterly report on the crime statistics for the Ward. Officers advised the data was available on the Leicestershire Police website and crime in the area could be searched via postcode.   

An update will be given on highways issues in the ward.

Rupert Bedder – Highways Network Asset Manager was present at the meeting and provided an update on actions from the previous meeting and a general Highways update of works taking place. The following was noted.

Update on actions from previous meeting:

·       Pothole repairs had been completed on Cornwallis Avenue. Highways inspectors had been completing checks on estate roads every 6 months.

Highways update:

·       Ongoing issues on Ashton Green Road, worst elements were between Greengate Lane and Deacon Road. The budget had already been committed for the forthcoming year. Development had been held back, to combine works for minimum disruption.

·       Meetings had been held every six months with the City Mayor to improve the ongoing issues at Beaumont Football Club. Officers had been out previously and would attend again once the new football season had commenced.

·       LEW (Local Environment Works) had been completed on the junction with Bennion Road with Knights Road for traffic calming measures.

·       Road humps were to be added on Strasbourg Drive, near to Buswells Lodge Primary School in October Half Term. 

·       Calver Hey Road area had implemented a 20mph zone between Heacham Drive and Anstey Lane.

·       Santander Electric Bike docking station was now at Glenfield Hospital.

·       20mph zone came into place at Glebelands School on 21^st February 2022.

·       Replacement bus shelters were to be fitted in the Ward from August.

Residents and Councillors concerns:

·       One way traffic experiment on Lomond Crescent, had not been adhered to and traffic had been driving on the wrong side of the road and not taking notice of the signage. The highways officer advised that temporary barriers could be put into place whilst the consultation was still ongoing.

·       The speedbumps on Ashton Green Road were damaging suspension.

·       Temporary bike lanes on Beaumont Leys Lane had narrowed the road and weren’t being used.

·       Residents reported parking issues at Beaumont Lodge Car Park, Astill Lodge Road. Mr Bedder advised he would find out the correct contact as this wasn’t a Highways matter.  

An update will be given on housing issues in the ward.

Mandy Smith, District Housing Manager gave an update on housing matters across the ward which included the following comments:

·       Since the start of the pandemic housing officers had been working from home. They had recently gone back into the office and will be available to speak to in Beaumont Leys Library on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.

·       It had been currently taking 108 days to turn around properties.

·       The repairs team had been facing issues to complete in a timely manner due to struggling to recruit new staff.

·       This year had seen 29 cases of anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the Ward. ASB monitoring was to be moved to a separate team with recruiting due to begin at the end of August. This would allow housing officers more time for welfare support with tenants.

·       CRASBU team worked together to monitor ASB with Beaumont Leys and Mansfield House Police Stations.

·       From 2^nd August housing repairs could be reported and tracked online at https://housingportal.leicester.gov.uk/ords/houlive_selfserv/f?p=13000:101:

The City Warden will give an update on issues in the Beaumont Leys Ward.

Kelly James, City Warden informed the meeting that she would be taking over from Charlotte Glover and would be looking after Beaumont Leys Ward. (please see her contact details attached.)

An update on issues in the ward was given. It was noted that:

·       Loose dogs had been sighted on Amadis Road. Residents were urged to contact the dog wardens if sighted.

·       Fly tipping issues – due to lack of evidence the City Wardens had been unable to take further action.

·       Residents were encouraged to use the Love Leicester App. https://love.leicester.gov.uk/reports/home  

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

An update will be given on the Ward Community Meeting budget.

The Ward Community Engagement Officer provided an update on the Ward Community Budget.

It was noted that since the last meeting the following applications had been received:

·       Heathley Park Residents Association. £200.00 towards annual summer event.

·        Pieces of Heaven. £490.00 towards memorial garden.

·        Little Tykes Playgroup. £500.00 towards room hire at Tudor Centre.

·        Money had been set aside for table tennis equipment on Upper Temple Walk.

The remaining balance in the community budget was noted as being £9000.

Councillors noted that the 2020 budget had been used for tangible assets to support the community. This included three defibrillator’s at Heathley Park, Heatherbrook Primary School and Barley Croft Primary School. Free training was available for residents in the area and there was funding for three more, with support from Sport England. They were registered on the NHS App and ambulance crews were able to give residents the code for them, if they were required to be used.   

A resident updated the meeting that the community space inside Tesco, Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre had reopened.

It was also noted that there were two defibrillator’s in the shopping centre, one located inside Tesco and one in the Mall.

There had been a lot of abandoned shopping trolleys within the Ward and residents were urged to report them via the trolley wise website or app.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 08:03pm.