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 following questions were raised for the City Mayor

Grass Cutting

Councillor Porter asked if the Council had a schedule of work for grass cutting. He had received complaints regarding overgrown grass and weeds on pavements.

The City Mayor responded that the Council had reduced some of their environmental regimes. This had been necessary because of the need to make budgetary savings. The new schedule had made economies but importantly at the same time, it had protected and preserved the local ecology which had benefitted as a result. The City Mayor stated that details of how grass cutting and weeding etc was scheduled would be sent to all Committee members.

Shops near the Market Place that are due to be demolished

Councillor Porter said that he had read in the newspaper that there were five shops in the Market Place that were due to be demolished. He said that Leicester was promoted to be one of the most entrepreneurial cities in the Country and questioned whether the shops could be offered on a short term lease for start- up businesses instead, perhaps on a 18 months trial basis.

The City Mayor responded that the Council had acquired the shops and it had been suggested that they were demolished in order to provide  a link through to St Martin’s. There were no firm proposals so far, but if there were, they would be brought to Scrutiny for full consideration. The City Mayor added that while there were no firm proposals, he favoured the suggestion to make the link through to St Martin’s.

Leicester as a Welcoming City

Councillor Dawood referred to Windrush and incidences where Government legislation resulted in people having to leave the Country even though they had been born in the UK. He questioned whether more could be done in Leicester to show that it was a welcoming City and whether the City Mayor would support an event with the aim of promoting Leicester as a place of welcome.

The City Mayor responded that Leicester was a place where people were welcomed, and they wanted to make it clear that people were valued. He said that he would be happy to talk to Councillor Dawood about this and welcomed suggestions as to how this idea could be progressed.

Social and affordable Homes

Councillor Westley made reference to 1500 new homes that were to be built in Leicester and asked about the inclusion of social or affordable housing.

The City Mayor responded that there was a statutory definition of what constituted an affordable home. The Council had a commitment to make 1500 more homes available and the Council’s own Housing Company would be important in delivering this. The City Mayor added that he thought the Housing Scrutiny would want to look at this further and consider whether the need of people in desperate circumstances was being met.

In response to a further question, the City Mayor said that work was being undertaken to bring empty homes back into use and those empty homes were not included in the 1500 new homes.

E.U. Nationals and Elections

Councillor Joshi expressed concerns that on the election day, there were many E.U. Nationals who wanted to vote but were turned away.  He said that there was a need for the Council to be more pro-active in helping people understand the process.

Councillor Myers, the Assistant City Mayor for Policy, Delivery and Communications suggested that the most effective means to communicate about the election process was through Council Tax letters as these went to every household. It was agreed that this should be given further consideration.