Agenda item

The City Mayor will answer questions raised by members of the Overview Select Committee on issues not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

The Leicester City Council Tree Strategy

Councillor Cleaver commended the City Mayor on the Leicester City Council Tree Strategy and in particular said she was pleased with the planting of London Plane trees on King Street, because they absorbed pollutants. Councillor Cleaver asked for more trees to be planted and questioned whether initiatives such as the ‘growing roof’ could be considered where appropriate in new developments.

The City Mayor responded that tree planting brought multiple benefits and had been more extensive in Leicester than elsewhere in the UK. The amount of woodland in Leicester had increased significantly.

Housing Tenancy Agreement Consultation

The Chair and Councillor Cleaver asked that a report with the findings of the Housing Tenancy Agreement Consultation be brought back to the Overview Select Committee.

The City Mayor responded that the consultation was being carried out because a review of the tenancy agreement had been overdue. He knew that the Assistant City Mayor would want to bring the consultation’s findings to the Housing Scrutiny Commission and he felt sure that the Assistant City Mayor would be pleased to bring them to the Overview Select Committee as well.

Councillor Porter expressed a concern that as part of the consultation, there was a large document that was only available in two areas of the city and he said that this document should be in every library around Leicester. Councillor Porter also expressed concerns that the agreement warned tenants that if they were a terrorist, they would be breaching their tenancy agreement. He said that there were better ways of expressing this.

Crowd Funding

Councillor Porter referred to a presentation on Crowd Funding that was given at the Aylestone Community Meeting where an officer had said that there were five members of staff working on the project. He questioned why that number of staff were working on Crowd Funding and expressed concerns about the process generally including the use of public money to employ people to do so. He also expressed concerns that the company behind crowd funding took 8% of the money raised.

The City Mayor responded that there were several members of staff who worked collaboratively to deliver crowd funding, but no one worked exclusively on this. The use of Crowd Funding provided a unique opportunity to raise funds and had been extremely successful. There was a cost however and this particular platform had worked very well elsewhere in the country and he was pleased to use it in Leicester. The City Mayor added that there were a number of ways the Council used money to fund projects in the community including through the ward community budget.

Councillor Cutkelvin praised Crowd Funding stating that it was a way of getting grass roots funding to help community initiatives and had been very successful in the Saffron Ward.

Proposals for a hotel in Churchgate

Councillor Porter referred to proposals for a hotel in Churchgate and queried whether this would impact on the Travelodge in the Haymarket to which the Council had put in £10m.  He had expressed views that this was a waste of public money.

The City Mayor responded that the Council had not given money to Travelodge but had invested the money in a scheme that would bring benefits to the city, including regeneration and a revenue return. This was no different to many other investments that the city made.

In response to a comment from Councillor Porter expressing concerns about the rate of return, the Director of Finance said that her advice was that the investment in the Travelodge was a wise investment and all due diligence had been applied. The investment in the whole package included the Haymarket car park which brought in significant income as well as the Travelodge.

Councillor Porter asked the City Mayor if he had genuinely been unaware that the Council had granted £150k to a business that his daughter later became involved with.

The City Mayor responded that, as he had explained many times, he had no part in that decision and knew nothing about it.  In addition, any interest that was expressed in the use of the building in question, by a company that was owned by his daughter, came many months later.

Local Plan

Councillor Cutkelvin asked about the current status of the Local Plan.

The City Mayor responded that in respect of the Local Plan, the Government required local authorities to go through a long process with a number of different stages. The Local Plan process was on track and he thought that there would be a further consultation before it came back to the Council for adoption towards the end of 2019.  After that there would be a public enquiry before the plan was finalised.

Councillor Cutkelvin asked if this timeline could be explained to Members of the Planning and Development Control Committee, as they were waiting for the plan’s policies on issues such as saturation areas for student accommodation.

The City Mayor said that he understood the frustration asked for an officer to provide the details of the time line for the Local Plan, to all Councillors. 

Councillor Dawood raised concerns relating to the number of empty shops that were being taken up by Takeaways or Betting shops.

The City Mayor responded that the Council had very limited ability to control the number of such establishments, but it might have more control if there were clear policies included in the Adopted Plan. 

Brexit

Councillor Dawood asked the City Mayor about the implications of Brexit for Leicester; including for example, how care workers and the NHS might be affected.

The City Mayor responded that he shared people’s frustration. Officers at the Council were doing their best to prepare for whatever Brexit might look like. A very useful report on this issue had been considered at the Audit and Risk Committee in December, and the City Mayor said he would ensure this was sent to Members of the Overview Select Committee.

Right to Buy

Councillor Dawood asked for the City Mayor’s views on the ‘Right to Buy’ policy.

The City Mayor responded that while there was such a desperate need for rented accommodation at a decent price with a responsible landlord, the ‘Right to Buy’ in areas such as Leicester, ought to be suspended at the discretion of local authorities. The City Mayor said that given the ability, he would want to suspend the ‘Right to Buy’ as the policy was putting some people into the hands of irresponsible landlords which left those people insecure and vulnerable.