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 of interest in the business of the meeting as required by the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

Councillor Clarke as Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and led introductions.

Councillor Porter declared an interest in the items on the agenda in that he had objected to the Putney Road scheme.

Apologies for absence were received from Noel Cazley (City Warden) and Ann and Alan Sturgess.

The Action Log for the last meeting held on 26 September 2018 is attached for information and discussion.

The Action Log of the previous meeting held 26 September 2018 was noted.

There will be a presentation by the City Mayor’s ‘CrowdFund Leicester’ team to highlight projects in the Ward.

Attendees were asked to note a presentation on Crowdfunding; a copy of which is attached to the back of the Action Log.  Francis Connolly, the Senior Support officer from the City Mayor’s Office explained how the scheme worked and gave examples of projects that had been helped through Crowdfunding.

Mixed views were expressed about the scheme, but residents were asked to contact the Crowdfunding team if they were interested in the project or had ideas for initiatives to enhance the community.   Action: Residents.

Further information may be viewed on the internet by clicking onto the following link:

https://www.spacehive.com/movement/crowdfundleicester

There will be an update on the Putney Road scheme.

Attendees were asked to note an update on the Putney Road scheme from Martin Fletcher the City Highway Director. He explained that he did not have all the details of the scheme because it was led by officers in Transport Strategy.

·         Martin explained that the scheme would connect Putney Road West to Saffron Lane and would help to ease the east to west journeys through residential streets. It was designed to help improve the road network around the city centre, reduce accidents and rat runs through residential streets. 

·         Concerns were expressed that the scheme would encourage more traffic on Aylestone Road and Martin responded that Aylestone Road was an ‘A’ road and the aim was to encourage traffic to use ‘A’ roads rather than residential streets.

·         Officers were asked to look at issues at the junction by Graham Goode Motors.

·         Strong concerns were expressed that the 24 hour bus lane did not work and officers needed to look again at this. Comments were made that traffic never used to queue back to Soar Valley Way, prior to the implementation of the bus lane. Views were expressed that the 24 hour enforcement of the bus lane was excessive and comments were made that officers needed to look at the road markings as people were cutting in to traffic.

·         It was questioned whether there were any legal constraints to prevent the Council from reducing the bus lane hours of enforcement.

·          An attendee commented that bus lane usage had decreased since the bus lane enforcement had been brought in and buses were late more often than before.

·         Martin said that travel was not going to get any easier and that buses were one part of the solution to ease congestion.

There will be an update concerning ‘rat-runs’ in the ward.

Attendees were asked to note an update on ‘Rat-Runs’ from Martin Fletcher, City Highways Director:

·         Officers had been trying to find an alternative solution in regard to Sanvey Lane / Marsden Lane as residents had said that they did not want bollards across Sanvey Lane.

·         A further letter had been sent out to residents and officers were now looking to put Give Way signs on Conaglen Road /  Marsden Lane and Franklyn Road / Marsden Lane.  A resident expressed doubts that this would work and suggested a Stop Sign was needed instead. 

·         Consideration was being given to putting a chicane feature by Enterprise Cars on Lutterworth Road.  These would be part of a temporary Traffic Regulation Order. 

·         A request was made for double yellow lines to be marked on the bend near to the Green on Marsden Lane / Sanvey Lane. People were parking there and concerns were expressed that it was dangerous.  Martin responded that this could be done as part of a temporary Traffic Regulation Order but care would need to be taken so as not to impact on residents’ parking.

·         It was noted that Enterprise Cars had submitted a planning application to vary their hours of work.  Councillors asked residents to submit their objections to the Planning Service by 22 February 2019, if they had concerns about their application to vary the hours of work.  Complaints were also made that Enterprise Cars were discharging water onto pavements which turned to ice in very cold weather. Martin was asked to put forward a representation from the Highways Department and he explained that he would need to check whether there were grounds to object and he would speak to Highway Development Control. Action: City Highways Director.

·         Martin reported that in relation to concerns about the ‘rat run’ on Milligan Road, the consultation had concluded, and the road would be traffic calmed.

·         Martin asked attendees to note that the temporary Traffic Regulation Orders allowed for schemes to be tested and adjusted where appropriate.

The Chair thanked the City Highways Director and said that Martin was trying very hard to find solutions to the traffic and highways issues in Aylestone.

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

There was no update on policing issues as the Police were not present.

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

Noel Cazley, the City Warden provided a written update as he was unable to attend the meeting. The update is attached to the back of the Action Log.  

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.

Attendees were asked to note an update on the Aylestone Community Meeting budget. 

Since the last Ward meeting in September, four applications had been supported:

·         Aylestone Local Action Group was awarded £2,258 for Aylestone Community Christmas Tree.

·         Spirit of Aylestone was awarded £1000 for Community Carol Singing in Aylestone

·         Spirit of Aylestone was awarded £500 for Messy Church

·         Leicester Environmental Volunteers were awarded £260

A balance of £2430.98 remained in the budget and some additional bids had been submitted.

Councillor Clarke said that the Age Concern shop was closing. Some Members of the public liked to call into the shop for a cup of coffee and tentative conversations were taking place about possibly using some community meeting funding to keep the building open so that local people would be able to continue to meet over a hot drink. Councillor Clarke asked people to talk to him if they were interested in trying to keep the building open for this purpose.   Action: Interested residents.

Outdoor Gym Equipment

An attendee requested that the outdoor gym equipment on the Aylestone Playing Fields be moved to an area more convenient for all Aylestone residents, such as in Aylestone Hall Gardens. He commented that the equipment was not being used in its current location.

Comments were made that the equipment was already in a suitable location and it was being used. It was also reported that residents had said that they wanted Aylestone Hall Gardens to remain a quiet space and would not want the gym equipment to be installed there.  Councillor Porter suggested that a suitable location would be at the top of Canal Street by St Andrew’s Football Ground.

A request was made for another set of outdoor gym equipment to be installed, in addition to those on the Aylestone Playing Fields. It was agreed to ask Adrian Edge, the Landscape Development Manager to come to the next meeting to discuss this further. Action: Community Engagement Officer to invite Adrian Edge.

Houses in a state of disrepair

A concern was raised relating to two houses that were in a serious state of disrepair. Councillors explained that the Council had been involved and doing what they could to help, but the people who lived there did not want to engage with the Council.

Doctor’s Surgery

The meeting heard that a new application for the surgery had been approved in which there was a plan to include a pharmacy.

Highways Issues

The following concerns were raised:

·         There were no traffic calming measures in place to slow down traffic on Aylestone Road. The speeding board by Duncan Road was not working.

·         The Leicester City Football Club were not effectively managing the flow of traffic leaving Belvoir Drive.

·         The number of birds nesting on the bridge on Middleton Street/ Braunstone Lane made the area very unpleasant for pedestrians.

The Chair thanked the Aylestone Baptist Church for hosting the meeting and closed the meeting at 8.45 pm.