Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Clair was elected Chair for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillors Bhatti and Willmott.

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 was due to discuss a budget application put forward by a community group and one of the Councillors was a member of that group, they would not be able to take part in the decision on that budget application.

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.

There were no declarations of interest made at this time.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7^th April are attached to this agenda and Councillors will be asked to confirm them as a correct record following any comments that people may have.

This next part of the agenda covers items where input from you on issues that affect your community is welcomed.

RESOLVED:

that the Minutes of the Community Meeting held on 7^th April 2009, as previously circulated, were confirmed as a correct record.

Louise Holland will be attending the meeting to give a brief presentation on the Special Olympics to be staged in Leicester.

Lou Holland, Marketing Executive attended the meeting and gave a brief update on the Special Olympics event that was to take place in Leicester between 24^th and 31^st July. The event represented the biggest sporting event in the UK in 2009.

Lou stated that the Special Olympics were held every 4 years, the last games being held in Glasgow and the Special Olympics Great Britain had been formed in 1978. Training for athletes with learning difficulties was carried out throughout the year across the country.

Some 2700 athletes with learning difficulties were expected in Leicester over the I week period and volunteers to help the events run smoothly were coming from as far away as the USA and Greece.

Details of the events and venues were circulated at the meeting and it was stated that entry to the events was free, although certain venues had limited spectator areas.

ITV were filming the event and were producing some 80 newsreels that would be a great opportunity to showcase Leicester.

Mr Patel stated that he had heard of the Special Olympics but was not aware of the year round training for people with learning difficulties. Lou suggested that Mr. Patel visit the Special Olympics GB website www.sogb.org.uk.

Mr Thompson stated that he understood that the City Council were underwriting the event. Lou stated that the City Council had agreed to underwrite the event to a maximum of £1 million, but the final amount would depend on the amount of the final deficit.

Mr Thompson questioned what venues were being used in Rushey Mead and Lou stated that no venues in Rushey Mead were being used but that a number of athletes from the area would be involved in the Games.

In concluding the Chair stated that the City Council had struggled to win the bid to get the Special Olympics held here but that it was a great honour to stage the Games in Leicester and the event would bring a lot of recognition to Leicester.

Lou was thanked for her presentation.

John Dowson, Team Leader, Sustainable Transport, Leicester City Council attended the meeting and gave a brief presentation on the Sky Ride Cycling Event that was to take place in Leicester on 30^th August 2009.

John stated that Sky Television and British Cycling had, until this year, organised a mass cycle ride London each year. For 2009 it was decided to expand this concept and include several major cities, including Glasgow and Manchester. Leicester successfully bid to stage a Sky Ride event here and this would take place on 30^th August.

John stated that the proposed route of the Sky Ride would be Belgrave Road, Loughborough Road, Abbey Lane and Vaughan Way. The event would also take in Abbey Park, Belgrave Hall and the National Space Science Centre where special activities were planned, including bike maintenance and basic bike education facilities and other events, as well as food and drinks. 4 start points were included on the circuit and people were to be encouraged to ride as far as they wished and to stop at the many attractions or take part in the many cycle related events.

Consultation was about to start with people and businesses on the proposed route of the event in order that potential access issues could be addressed and to encourage as many people as possible to take part.

John was thanked for his presentation.

A presentation will be given on Highways and Transportation issues relating to the Rushey Mead area.

Satish Shah, Head of Transport Systems, Leicester City Council attended the meeting to give a presentation on Highways and Transportation issues. A copy of a Rushey Mead Ward Newsletter (July 2009) was circulated at the meeting. In addition copies of a report that set out the schemes included in priority order in the Central Leicestershire Local Transport Plan 2006 to 2011 – Capital Programmes 2008 to 2011 was also available.

Satish stated that two main priorities were that of tackling speeding traffic and junction improvements.

Certain housing estates were not able to cope with parking issues and to help cope with this verge hardening or the construction of lay-bys were options available, subject to priority and of funding available.

Regarding speeding traffic and road safety, the Council’s Traffic Impact Team visited reported sites and measured speed of traffic. If further action was deemed necessary action would be taken to reduce the speed of traffic by appropriate measures. Targets were in place across the City to reduce traffic related accidents and injuries. A programme of traffic calming schemes across the City was already in place.

The City Council were actively encouraging the use of public transport, cycling and walking to work. In looking to the future City Centre bus facilities were being looked at. Already in place was a Quality Bus Partnership with both Arriva and First and the Star Trak system, although beset with a number of problems, was in place to provide passenger information at bus stops..

Park and Ride was already in place at Meynells Gorse and a new site was being developed at Enderby that would come on stream at the end of 2009. Plans were in hand to develop further Park and Ride sites at Birstall and at Groby.

Repair and maintenance work on roads and pavements was currently being co-ordinated with the main utilities to try and ensure works were kept to a minimum. Regular highway inspections were carried out to assess the conditions of roads and footways across the City.

Members of the public were encouraged to call the Customer Care number with all highway related issues and these would then be forwarded to the relevant section. The Customer Services phone number is 0116 252 7000.

At this point members of the public raised questions.

Cycle Racks

Mr Thompson stated that at a recent meeting of residents the question of the provision ofcycle racks had been raised at the following locations: -

            Ireton Road shops

            Barkby Road shops

            Rushey Mead Library, Gleneagles Avenue

Place of Worship

Mr Thompson stated that there was a building, located on Essex Road, just off Gipsy Lane, that was being used as a plave of worship and that the use was causing problems with car parking at times of prayer, with a number of cars parking on double yellow lines.

Mr Thompson requested that Civil Enforcement Officers patrol the area at the times of prayer and to ticket offending vehicles. Satish stated that he would pass this information  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Stewart Doughty, Parks Manager will be attending the meeting to give an update on the consultation carried out recently on proposed works to be carried out at Watermead Park.

Stewart Doughty, Parks Manager gave feedback on consultation that had been carried out regarding proposed works at Watermead Park, particularly the car park.

Stewart stated that the current surface of the car park was covered in stone that became very uneven over a short period of time and required regular maintenance to level out. The proposals had been to re-surface the car park and edge it and re-mark car park spaces these measures had been quite well received. A further option had been to implement a Pay and Display system for the car park but this had not proved to be popular.

Results of the survey were outlined and it was reported that a report had been prepared for the Leader and the Cabinet Lead and a decision was awaited on how to proceed with the proposals outlined.

RESOLVED:

                        that the information be noted.

To receive an update on Sports and Community facilities in the area.

Jerry Connolly, Members Support Officer reported that following the presentation at the last meeting on ‘A Community Vision for Rushey Mead’ the proposals had been referred to officers at the City Council. Officers had undertaken an initial assessment of the proposals but were not yet in a position to report back to the Community Meeting. Officers apologised that a full presentation was not available for this meeting and it was suggested that the next Community Meeting be held at Soar Valley College, where new sporting facilities had just been completed, the main theme of the meting being Sports Facilities.

The Chair stated that the proposals presented required full assessment in the light of the facilities required in this area and, once completed, would enable a full report to be given.

Mr Thompson stated that the only community facility in the Cromwell area was the Methodist Hall on Edgehill Road. The hall was not currently in use as it was deemed to be unsafe and the Church had not got sufficient funding to repair the Hall. Regeneration funding had been previously sought and this bid had not been successful although Councillor Willmott had stated previously that he would like to revive a project to get funding to either refurbish or rebuild the Hall. The Chair stated that he would speak with Councillor Willmott.

Jerry Connolly stated that this was worthy of discussion at the next meeting in October and that officers be asked to report on this facility as part of the wider review of Sports and Community facilities.

RESOLVED:

                        that the position be noted.

An update on local policing priorities in the area will be given.

It was reported that over the next few weeks consultation would be taking place locally to enable Local Policing Priorities to be set. Information on the consultation would be available on the Leicestershire Constabulary website, as well as on posters and local publicity.

Mr Thompson stated that he suspected that the local Police consultation meeting would be poorly attended and the Police should consider liaising with local groups and clubs where attendances were likely to be better. In response it was stated that the Government had specified that the Police would have certain public consultation meetings in each Local Policing area and this could not be changed.

RESOLVED:

                        that the information be noted.

Jerry Connolly, members Support Officer will be providing an update on the Budgets available to the Community Meeting in 2009/10.

Jerry Connolly, Members Support Officer reported on the budgets available to the Community Meeting for 2009/10. It was reported that three proposals had been received for funding and these were circulated at the meeting. It was stated that as the meeting was not quorate a consensus view would be sought at this meeting and the proposals would then be referred to the two other Ward Councillors for their comments.

i)          Ward Community Cohesion Fund

            Local Policing Team

            Summer Sports Activities for children of Rushey Mead                        £600

ii)         Ward Action Plan

            Santana Football Club

Football Associationcoaching costs for 7 members,                  £1950

Training Goals and Fruit/Milk for 30 children after training.

iii)            Community Fund

            Fairytales 18, 72

            Move and Groove – music, dance and vocal project                        £3250

            with young people.

RESOLVED:

that the three proposals outlined above be supported in principle by the Community Meeting and referred to Councillors Bhatti and Willmott for their comments, prior to being passed for payment.

Suggested dates for the year 2009/10 are set out below: -

            2009

            Tuesday 20^th October

            2010

            Tuesday 12^th January

            Wednesday 7^th April

The following dates of future meetings were reported: -

            2009

            Tuesday 20^th October

            2010

            Tuesday 12^th January

            Wednesday 21^st April.

RESOLVED:

                        That the dates outlined be agreed at a later date.

Allotments

A member of the public stated that he ahd heard that more allotments were to be created in the Rushey Mead area.

Jerry Connolly stated that an Allotments Strategy was being worked on and this would involve work with schools and also local initiatives and local composting. It was hoped that further information could be brought back to the next meeting.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 8.52 pm.