Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Willmott and Sue Bishop (Leicester City PCT).

Councillor Bhatti welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were given.

The first main item on the programme is Declaration of Interest where Councillors have to say if there is anything in the programme they have a personal interest in. For example if a meeting wanted to talk about digging up a road and one of the Councillors lived on that road, he or she would have to say they have a personal interest in that.

Councillors are asked to declare any interest they may have in the business on the agenda, and/or indicate that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

No declarations were made at this time.

Members are asked to agree the minutes of the meeting on 3^rd April 2008, as previously circulated, as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the Minutes of the meeting of the Rushey Mead Community Meeting, held on 3^rd April 2008, be confirmed as a correct record.

Adrian Russell, Environmental Services, will give a presentation of the Environmental Services work carried out in Rushey Mead and invite suggestions for the 10,000 Trees Project.

Adrian Russell, Service Director, Environmental services gave a presentation on Environmental Services in the Rushey Mead Ward.

Adrian stated that there were a wide range of services offered in areas such as those of waste management, street cleaning, environmental health, trading standards, licensing and building control and parks and green spaces. He added that a newsletter had been produced that would provide further information, and this would be available to take away after the presentation.

The Community Meeting to receive an update from officers on the current situation regarding the GE Thorn Lighting Site.

Jerry Connolly, Members Support Officer, gave a brief presentation on the future of the former GE Lighting site on the corner of Melton Road/Troon Way. Jerry reported the current situation on the site as received from Regeneration and Culture Department as follows: -

“Sale of Land/Timetable

The site is currently for sale for employment use. The first round of bids to buy the site closed on 28^th March. The second round of bids is currently taking place, where further information is being submitted to the vendor.

A decision on which bid has been successful will be taken by the owner over the next few weeks. The City Council expects to be engaging in further pre-application discussions imminently and then to receive a planning application by the end of 2008.

Use for Housing

I understand that the sale particulars inform that a restrictive covenant will be placed on the land preventing the site’s redevelopment for residential use. There is no pressing need to bring this site forward for residential development.

Need for Employment Land

Leicester’s Employment land Study 2006 demonstrates that there is likely to be a future shortage of employment land with the worst case scenario of up to 60ha. being needed to fulfil future need by 2016. Losing 7.6ha. of top quality employment land would be adding to this shortage.

Jobs/Top Quality Employment Land

This site is assessed as being part of the best quality employment land in the City, by Leicester’s Employment Land Study. It is around 7.6ha. in size, so is very important for its contribution to the future employment needs of the City. It therefore has a very valuable role to play in terms of future employment provision. At its peak, it is understood that around 3500 people were employed there. It has the potential to provide at least 500 future jobs.

Detailed background Information

Future Employment Use

Consideration would need to be given in terms of any redevelopment to the relationship with the houses on the northern boundary. The site has been in General Insdustrial Use (B2) since the 1950’s.

Any future planning application would give us the opportunity to require modern high quality design and layout. Employment uses would have restrictions placed on them to minimise any impact on neighbouring homes.

Major applications such as for the redevelopment of this site have to be accompanied by full Transport Assessments as well as Design and Access statements. Applicants are also encouraged to carry out consultation with local communities.

The ’green’ area in the bottom right corner of the site (as indicated on the plan available at the meeting) is full of mature trees. A Tree Preservation Order has recently been confirmed there. A Bat survey will also be required.

Need for Housing Land

An adequate supply of housing sites has been identified to meet both current Local Plan and emerging draft Regional Plan housing requirements.

At 31^st March 2008 there were outstanding commitments for about 20,000 new homes in the City. This  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Jerry Connelly, Members Support Officer, will present the findings from the Priority Cards that people were invited to fill in at the first meeting and will explain the next steps in producing the Ward Action Plan. A copy of the Draft Ward Action Plan will be available at the meeting.

Jerry Connolly, Members Support Officer presented a draft report that set out the outcomes of the completion of the ward action plan forms at the first meeting of the Community Meeting on 3^rd April.

It was reported that, following analysis of the returns the top priorities for Rushey Mead Ward Action Plan would be: -

i)                   Leisure and Community facilities

ii)                 Traffic improvements

iii)               Litter

Before a Ward Action Plan was approved it was recommended that local people should specify: -

i)                   the nature of Community and Leisure facilities

ii)                 the siting of litter ‘hot spots’.

It was further recommended that the Thorn Lighting site issue be the subject of a future Community Meeting, with the possibility of a site visit as one way of assisting the community to understand the issues better.

From the returns received there were also references to the requirements of older people, including, for example, facilities such as Yoga classes plus Housing for older people.

RESOLVED:

That an update on the Ward Action Plan be brought to the next meeting of the Community Meeting and that a future meeting should include an item on facilities and services for older people, preferably in partnership with the Leicester City Primary Care Trust.

Jerry Connelly, Members Support Officer, will introduce and explain the different funds available to the Community Meeting.

1)            Community Meeting Budgets - General

Jerry Connolly, Members Support Officer presented information on how the budget for the Community Meeting would be structured.

Jerry commented that there were three types of funding available.

• Ward Priority Fund

The Ward Priority Fund would be used to deal with the agreed Ward Priorities, and there was £6,700 available in this fund.

• Community Fund

The Community Fund would be used to fund Community Projects in the area, and there was £3,300 available in this fund.

• Community Cohesion Fund

The Community Cohesion Fund would be available to spend on any Community Cohesion projects in the area, and there was £2,000 available in this fund.

Comments from the public present made reference to the fact that there were very few places locally where children could play in safety and it was questioned why schools did not make available their facilities out of school hours. Officers reported that following the completion of works at Soar Valley College and at Rushey Mead School there would be facilities available for the community to use.

Reference was made by the public to the fact that there was a project in the planning stage for play facilities at Rushey Fields but that support was required to enable these plans to be brought to fruition.

RESOLVED:

that information on the facilities that would be made available by schools in the area would be provided for the next meeting.

2)            Application for Funding – Community Fund

Jerry Connolly, Members Support Officer circulated details of a Budget Proposal that had been received as follows: -

Applicant:                             Highfields Rangers

Purpose:Community Soccer Initiative, targeted at young people (5 – 16 yr olds) in the Rushey Mead, Soar Valley and Belgrave areas. 6weeks scheme commencing in August 2008, based at Highfields Rangers.

Funding Requested:£300 – Coaches /Tutors

                                                £400 – Facility Hire

                                                £600 – Equipment

                                                Total Requested: £1,300

Following discussion it was generally agreed that whilst support should be given to the proposal tabled that approval be given to cost of Coaches/Tutors (£300) and the cost of Equipment (£600) only on the basis that Highfields Rangers already had their own pitches an therefore the Community meeting were not prepared to contribute towards accommodation costs.

RESOLVED:

That Approval be given to support the Proposal from Highfields Rangers for a Community Soccer Initiative to a total of £900.

Jerry Connolly, Members Support Officer presented information on the role of Community Partners and how they could be involved in the Community Meeting.

It was stated that the role of a Community Partner would be to act as a link person between the public and the Councillors representing the Ward, be involved in Ward action planning, be involved in Sub-Groups of the Community Meetings, participate in activities such as patch walks in the area and help publicise the Community Meeting to get a greater number of people to attend meetings.

The skills required for a Community Partner include being keen, having a genuine interest in the area, capacity available to carry out the tasks, the ability to work effectively in a team, communicate effectively, have the ability to chair meetings when needed and have good problem solving skills.

Publicity

The general feeling amongst residents present at the meeting was that publicity for Community Meetings needed to be improved and it was stated that there had been certain difficulties in getting the widespread distribution of publicity material achieved. Several volunteers offered to assist the in the distribution of local publicity and it was agreed that their details would be recorded.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Community meeting would be held in October 2008, on a date to be agreed.

The meeting closed at 8.26 pm.