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 Hunter as Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and led introductions.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no apologies for absence.

The Action Log of the meeting held on 24 November 2020 is attached for information and discussion.

The Action Log of the previous meeting held 24 November 2020 was confirmed as a correct record.

There will be an update on the current situation concerning the Covid 19 pandemic and revised restrictions.

The chair stated how nice it was to have a meeting face to face again, now that restrictions had been lifted.

There were no specific Covid related updates. 

Officers from Transport Strategy will provide an update on highways issues and developments in the Ward.

Mark Govan, Planning, Transport and Development, was present to give an update on Highways issues in the ward.

It was reported that;

·       Road resurfacing works had been completed on Evington High Street in July.

·       Ward Councillors had added funds from the ward community budget to support traffic calming measures at Wicklow Drive, the works were due to be completed in 2023/24.

·       Five years on after a car crashed into a house on a junction between Ethel Road and Headland Road, a maintenance scheme had been put into place to replace barriers,  repair kerbs and add further traffic calming measures from Lindon Primary School to the junction.

·       In November 2021 a child was hit by a car on crossing between Downing Drive and the A47 junction. Temporary signs were put into place and work was completed to engage the County Council to support a safer 30mph limit on the A47 when heading into the County.

ACTION: Councillors asked for an update on the 30mph zone at the next meeting.

Residents shared concerns that there was a second incident in the same place during in the summer holidays and that the 30mph sign on Downing Drive wasn’t visible and large enough for road users to see, especially when behind a lorry.

Signs on Sedgebrook Road showed 20mph on one side and 30mph on the other. ACTION Officers to look into the signage and provide an update  at the next meeting.

Daniel Pearman, City Transport Director was present to give the meeting an update on the Safer Streets Healthier Neighbourhoods (SSHN) project.

It was noted that:

·       A draft questionnaire was sent out to a wide spectrum of people across the area and the data was being analysed ready for the consultation, which was due to start in November 2022.

·       A group of residents from the local area had been invited to City Hall for an engagement session where they also discussed the correspondence from the recent questionnaire in anticipation of the consultation. 

·       From December onwards the Highways Team were going to be conducting traffic data surveys at peak periods such as school collection and drop off times, to gain an understanding of  the obstructive and antisocial parking.

Officers from Housing Services will provide an update on issues in the Ward.

Kirsty Wright,  the Housing District Manger provided the meeting with an update on housing related matters.

It was noted that:

·       Over the last two years, work had been completed to deal with overgrown areas and anti-social behaviour on Illingworth Road, Thomson Road, Champion Road and Ambassador Road.

·       Patch walks had taken place around the ward and the findings were that the communal areas were plain and boring and there wasn’t a community field for residents to use.

·       The focus for the new financial year would be tackling littering issues and anti-social behaviour.

·       Rowlatt’s Hill housing offices had been improved this year.

·       The bin storage had been moved outside on Illingworth Road due to fire safety.

·       Hospital Close was run down with rubbish, due to works that involved removing a large amount of asbestos from the hospital and surrounding buildings and steps would be taken to address this.  

Officers from the Local Policing Unit will be at the meeting to provide an update on police issues in the Ward.

Sergeant Karl Burden was present to give an update on policing issues in the ward.

It was noted that:

·       There had been an increase in anti-social behaviour, public damage and disorder at Humberstone Park during the summer months.

·       Shop owners in the area had reported less crime in recent months.

·       A large amount of warrants had been executed across Rowlatt’s Hill resulting inr cash and drugs being seized  and a decrease in drug related crime had been seen in October.

·       The traffic calming protest on Davenport Road passed without major incident and only minor damage to bollards.

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

The City Warden, was not present.

The Ward Community Engagement Officer noted questions from the residents to pass on to the City Warden.

Residents were encouraged to report any issues for the City Warden service through customer services or via the app – full details available on the Council’s website

The Community Engagement Officer will provide an update on the Ward Community Budget.

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

The Ward Community Engagement Officer updated the meeting with details of the ward Community Budget.

It was noted that 21 applications had been submitted for consideration by the Ward Councillor’s, of which 11 applications had been supported for funding . 4 applications had not been supported and 8 applications were yet to be considered.

£5800 had been spent from the budget, with £12200 of the budget still remaining.  

It was noted on Hospital Close, that the shrubbery had grown all over the fence. Councillors advised they had contacted the Executive and no response had been received and they would chase again.