Issue - meetings

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

The Chair reminded members that he would prefer for all questions to be provided in advance, which can help in providing more detailed responses at meetings. The Chair accepted the following questions to be asked to the City Mayor:

1.     Councillor Cassidy asked:

From the reports that I’ve read, the Radio 2 in the Park festival was clearly a huge success and I’d like to thank all involved in contributing to a fantastic occasion for Leicester.  In terms of the rail travel problems that arose following the damage caused by storms, please can the City Mayor tell us a little about how the immediate response was handled, including the role of the City Council? 

The City Mayor agreed that the event had been extremely successful and that it reflected very well on both the city and the City Council.  There were very few issues of note throughout the weekend. 

In respect of the disruption to rail travel following the event on Sunday, he confirmed that follow-up discussions had taken place with East Midlands Trains who had been apologetic and have acknowledged that communication could have been better, particular in terms of informing the incident management team.  He was confident that lessons had been learnt by East Midlands Trains. 

Eashan (co-producer representative) asked questions 2-5:

2.    I know a local football club in my community has recently been shut down without explanation. The young people of the area of the area are concerned that they won’t have a space to play football. Can the city mayor please give us an update on going on as we are afraid that Rushey Mead will lose even more facilities for young people.

In response, the City Mayor confirmed that partnership arrangements had been established to provide facilities to cater for local sporting needs.  The Rushey Mead facility had been problematic in respect of other issues relating to the facilities that did not relate to the provision of football.  The existing tenants had been advised to use the facility appropriately, but that there has been no prevention by the City Council in allowing football to be played at the Rushey Mead facility. 

As Ward Councillor for Rushey Mead, Cllr Dave also confirmed that he had received assurances from City Council officers that the football activities would not stop and that pre-arranged fixtures have been taking place as scheduled.  He added that the building remained open and would not be closing.

3.    Have all e-bike scheme stands been removed? What’s going to go on their place?

The City Mayor confirmed that almost all of the existing stands had been removed and the remainder would be removed in the near future.  He explained that there had been difficulties across the country in implementing successful e-bike schemes.  It was hoped that suitable alternative models could be considered but that this should not be expected in the sort-term. 

4.    In young people’s council we’ve been consulted on the potential removal of one of the events during diwali. I’ve spoken  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27