Agenda and minutes

To issue a welcome to those present, and to confirm if there are any apologies for absence.

The Chair welcomed those present to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Halford – Cllr Dr Barton substituted.

Apologies were received form Cllr Haq due to Council business – Cllr Porter substituted.

Members will be asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

Members were asked to declare any interests they may have had in the business to be discussed.

Councillor Dr Barton declared with relation to Item 10 on the agenda, that she had attended presentations from outside bodies regarding the café, however, these were non-decision-making, informal discussions, and she approached the issue with an open mind.

Councillor Porter declared with relation to Item 10 on the agenda, that he was a regular visitor to Leicester Museum and Art Gallery (LMAG) and had put forward the call-in.

The minutes of the meeting of the Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission held on 25 April 2024 have been circulated, and Members will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission held on 25 April 2024 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Chair is invited to make any announcements as they see fit. 

None.

Any questions, representations and statements of case submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures will be reported.

The Monitoring Officer reported that none had been received.

Any petitions received in accordance with Council procedures will be reported.

The Monitoring Officer reported that none had been received.

The Membership of the Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission is as follows:

Cllr Dawood – Chair

Cllr Mohammed – Vice Chair

Cllr Aldred

Cllr Halford

Cllr Singh Johal

Cllr Chauhan

Cllr Joshi

Cllr Haq

Members of the Commission are asked to note the membership of the Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission 2024/25.

The Membership of the Commission was confirmed as follows:

Cllr Dawood – Chair

Cllr Mohammed – Vice Chair

Cllr Aldred

Cllr Halford

Cllr Singh Johal

Cllr Chauhan

Cllr Joshi

Cllr Haq

The dates of the Culture and Neighbourhood Scrutiny Commission are as follows:

8 July 2024

22 August 2024

4 November 2024

16 January 2025

27 February 2025

3 April 2025

Members of the Commission are asked to note the dates for 2024/25.

The dates of the meetings for the Commission were confirmed as follows:

8 July 2024

22 August 2024

4 November 2024

16 January 2025

27 February 2025

3 April 2025

The Commission will be asked to note the Terms of Reference.

The Commission noted the Scrutiny Terms of Reference.

The Director of Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment submits a report to provide an update on the Executive decision taken by the City Mayor on 28 May 2024 relating to continuation of Phase 4 and 5 capital works programme at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery (LMAG).

The Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission is recommended to either:

a) Note the report without further comment or recommendation. (If the report is noted the process continues and the call in will be considered at Council); or

b) Comment on the specific issues raised by the call-in. (If comments are made the process continues and the comments and call in will be considered at Council); or

c) Resolve that the call-in be withdrawn (If the committee wish for there to be no further action on the call-in, then they must actively withdraw it. If withdrawal is agreed the call-in process stops, the call-in will not be considered at Council and the original decision takes immediate affect without amendment).

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report informing the Commission that the

Executive decision taken by the City Mayor on 28 May 2024 relating to continuation of Phase 4 and 5 capital works programme at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery (LMAG) had been the subject of a 6 member call-in under the procedures at Rule 12 of Part 4D, City Mayor and Executive Procedure Rules, of the Council’s Constitution.

The Chair clearly outlined the process that he would follow in determining how to resolve the call-in. The Commission was recommended to either:

a) Note the report without further comment or recommendation. (If the report is

noted the process continues and the call in will be considered at Council) or

b) Comment on the specific issues raised by the call-in. (If comments are made

the process continues and the comments and call in will be considered at

Council); or

c) Resolve that the call-in be withdrawn (If the committee wish for there to be

no further action on the call-in, then they must actively withdraw it. If withdrawal

is agreed the call-in process stops, the call-in will not be considered at Council and the original decision takes immediate affect without amendment).

The Chair invited the proposer of the call-in, Councillor Porter, to the table and allotted them five minutes to make their case. The proposer raised the following points:

• Reference was made to the precarious nature of the Council’s finances and the issues faced by residents of the city as a result of poverty.  This in mind it was suggested that there was a moral duty to challenge and scrutinise multi-million-pound proposals from the City Mayor.  It was further noted that the plans had bypassed all scrutiny commissions and had not been presented at full council and as such elected members had not been given the normal opportunity to see the details and voice their views on the proposal and it was suggested that this was detrimental to the democratic process in the city and did nothing to help the poorest and most vulnerable in the city.
• The current financial crisis raised the question of whether, with a limited pot of money, a new café was a priority in the hierarchy of needs.
• It was suggested that on a local level, money could be better spent on projects in wards.
• It was further suggested Council should focus on high-quality public services since the private sector could deliver a new café.

The Chair invited the seconder of the call-in, Councillor Joshi (the original seconder, Cllr Osman, could not attend the meeting), to the table and allotted them five minutes to make their case.  The seconder suggested that this was not aa priority given the economic issues faced in the city and the suffering it caused citizens.

The Chair invited Assistant City Mayor for Culture, Libraries and Community

Centres, Councillor Dempster, to respond and the following points were raised:

• The Council were not spending £3.6m on the café alone, it was a complete project,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73.

Directors will give a presentation providing an overview of the Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission.

Directors gave a presentation providing an overview of the Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission.

The Director of Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment gave a presentation using the slides attached with the agenda pack and noted that reports could be brought at the request of the Commission.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services gave a presentation using the slides attached with the agenda pack, he added the following:

• The largest division of the department was Neighbourhoods as it was very diverse in the way it supported residents across the city such as through the library service, leisure centres, parks, which supported people’s mental wellbeing, waste management services and bereavement services.
• Partners for Neighbourhoods included the police and fire service and the Council departments for Education and Adult Social Care were also closely worked with.
• Neighbourhoods Services supported volunteering and visitors.
• Many children used the library service and the Learn to Swim programme.
• Compliance visits helped to keep people safe.
• The Ward Funding Scheme helped to support over 600 projects.

The Committee were invited to ask questions and make comments. Key points

included:

• Waste management fell under the profile of the Deputy City Mayor for Housing, Economy and Neighbourhoods.
• With regard to waste management, contract arrangements were being considered.  The government recycling programme was being considered in terms of how it could fit into the contract.
• One of the standout options with regard to waste management was food waste as it constituted around 37% of what gets put in household bins.  There were possibilities for this to be composted or used to create gas which could generate power.
• The Ball Mill waste centre had been in place for 20 years.  This centre separated out organics to be taken to an anaerobic digestion plant to create gas.  In future it may become more effective to separate waste at source.

The Director of Corporate Services introduced himself and noted that his department was relatively new and managed Human Resources, emergency management, customer services, equalities and corporate communications.

AGREED:

1) That the presentation be noted.

2) That comments made by members of this commission to be taken

into account by the lead officers.

During the consideration of this item the Chair needed to leave.  The Vice-Chair took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

The Director of Corporate Services submits a report providing an overview of the advancements and future direction of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Engagement Strategy.

Members of the Commission are recommended to note the report and provide any comments or recommendations to officers.

The Director of Corporate Services submitted a report providing an overview of the advancements and future direction of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Engagement Strategy.

The Assistant City Mayor for Communities, Adult Learning introduced the report.

Key points included:

·       When the strategy was introduced, there were six pledges.  This plan had a number of plans and actions to cover the six pledges.

·       This was a four-year strategy.

·       The first priority was to understand how the different departments could deliver as there was a large area of work which needed a clear picture of how much engagement existed between the departments.

·       The second priority was to engage with the voluntary sector to establish which services were being delivered, what their needs were and how they could become sustainable.

·       It was desirable to have a clear system in place whereby it should be possible to measure what was being delivered.

·       There would be quarterly, six-monthly and annual reviews and there would be milestones and measurements along the process.

·       There would be challenges, but this work would ensure that there was a sustainable VCSE sector in the city.

·       An event to bring the business sector and voluntary sector together had been interrupted by the general election, but it was hoped that this would take place in August.  Members were encouraged to attend.

The Committee were invited to ask questions and make comments. Key points included:

·       The financial contribution made by the Council to voluntary organisations was small and covered the two staff in the engagement team and also infrastructure support such as Crowdfund Leicester and other necessary infrastructure support.

·       These groups made an impact to the lives of people in the city and provided services that the Council could not.  Therefore, such groups were important to support.  They were very cost effective and do not take a large amount of the budget.

·       Any money given to the organisations was purely for furthering the objectives of the organisations and was not given to individuals.

·       Organisations needed initial support in order to be able to access crowdfunding.

·       In response to a comment about the importance of benefitting smaller grassroots organisations, it was noted that it was hoped to create a service whereby organisations could contact the council directly so that they could be advised and guided in order to help them in terms of their basic infrastructure. 

·       It was recognised that it was important to focus on smaller organisations and it was hoped that Councillors could act as a bridge between organisations in their wards and the Council.

·       In terms of the budget, members were directed to section 4.4 of the report which explained that the budget was not solely for Crowdfund Leicester.  The cost to access Crowdfund Leicester was approximately £19-20k.  This was specifically aimed to target people in the civic space.  The money was used on different initiatives and money had been raised from communities and businesses to contribute to organisations through Crowdfund Leicester, so it was good that there was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

Members of the Commission will be asked to consider the work programme and make suggestions for additional items as it considers necessary.

A Grassland Maintenance Report was added to the workplan to include areas for sports and recreation.

The work programme was noted.

There being no further items of urgent business, the meeting finished at 19:26.