Agenda and minutes

Councillor Clair was elected as Chair for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Umesh Patel (Headteacher of Herrick Primary School), Shobna Patel (Development Officer, Community Safety with Leicester City Council) and Councillor Willmott.

No declarations were made.

The minutes of the previous Rushey Mead Community Meeting held on 15 March 2012 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2012 were agreed as a correct record.

Representatives of Sainsbury’s will be at the meeting to discuss the recently submitted planning application for the development on Melton Road.  City Council Planning Officers also will be present.

Notes of the discussion about this development at the Community Meeting held on 12 January 2012 are attached at Appendix B for information.  Notes of the discussion at the meeting held on 15 March 2012 are included in the minutes of that meeting attached at Appendix A.

Tim Watkins, of Sainsbury’s, explained that a planning application had now been submitted for the development of a new Sainsbury’s store on the former GE Lighting site.  It was proposed that this store would be approximately 80,000 square feet, (making it approximately the same size as the Sainsbury’s store at Fosse Park), and would sell food and non-food items.

In addition, approximately one-third of the site had been reserved for B class uses.  This included industrial businesses, but as there currently was no demand in the economy that part of the land would be held until it became viable to provide these businesses.  Consequently, this aspect of the proposal was an outline planning application.

A high quality design was proposed for the new store, using a lot of glazing.  Most of the building would be timber clad, (excluding the service yard), and there would be comprehensive site landscaping.

The customer and staff restaurants had been relocated since the first design proposals had been made and would now face on to Troon Way.  They previously would have faced a blank wall, so the view would be improved and opportunities for anti-social behaviour reduced.

Environmental technologies would be used in the construction of the building, which it was hoped would combine to save 32% of the energy used.  For example:-

·           A ground source heat pump would be used to gather heat from approximately 200 metres down;

·           Waste cold air from the fridges would be captured and used to cool the store;

·           Natural daylight would be used in the building;

·           Rainwater would be harvested;

·           A Sustainable Urban Drainage Scheme would be introduced to alleviate potential flooding issues, (for example, from the large car park);

·           Waste food would be sent to anaerobic digesters, so none would go to landfill sites; and

·           The car park would have cycle lanes and six charging points for electric cars.

It was anticipated that 300 new jobs would be created through this development.  140 of these would be offered to staff currently working at the Belgrave Road store.  As many staff as possible would be employed from the local area.

It was explained that:-

·           Sainsbury’s offered various training and educational opportunities and had developed six food colleges around the United Kingdom, which offered accredited City and Guilds training;

·           Sainsbury’s always supported a local charity and had a “local heroes” scheme to recognise colleagues who did charity work;

·           Products were sourced locally where possible, to reduce road miles;

·           Small producers were encouraged to approach the supermarket with new ideas; and

·           It was proposed that petrol would be sold at the new store.

Concern was expressed that there was only one entrance to the proposed store and that it could be dangerous to have cars and lorries using the same one.  Steve Gosling, (a transport consultant working with Sainsbury’s), explained that it was preferable to limit the points of access.  As there were significant levels of transport adjacent to the site, it was proposed that there would be one access point,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

The City Warden will give an update on issues in the Rushey Mead Ward

Chirag Ruda and Bharat Patel, the new City Wardens for the Rushey Mead Ward, introduced themselves, explaining that both would be covering the work in this Ward as well as the Belgrave and Latimer Wards.  Their main area of operation was in regard to environmental matters.  Although they were not parking wardens, they were able to deal with the sale of cars on the road.

.

They advised that beat surgeries would continue on Gleneagles Avenue and they would be working closely with the Police to combat anti-social behaviour.  Other work would include monitoring Watermead and going in to schools to educate pupils on issues such as litter.

A resident noted that all schools except three had participated in the recent smoking cessation programme.  One of those not participating was Soar Valley College and it was asked if the College could be encouraged to do so.  PC Rob Pountney, (Leicestershire Constabulary), advised that he had been asked to participate in assembly at the college on smoking and drugs during the coming week.  He offered to raise its lack of response to the NHS programme during that time.

A resident suggested that it could be useful to involve youth and/or young adults in outreach work, such as school assemblies, as it could be difficult for professionals such as the City Wardens to come across well to that age group.

The following points also were noted:-

·           Concern had been raised about rats on Cotton Street.  The Wardens undertook to visit the area and, if necessary, undertake education work on the street to explain how rats could be discouraged;

·           A resident explained that they were working with Herrick Primary School to create garden spaces in public areas.  The Wardens suggested that it was possible they could help with providing materials for this;

·           Bags of dog waste were being left on the green area on Troon Way opposite the proposed Sainsbury’s site.  The Wardens confirmed that this area was monitored regularly, but they would not always be there when people were doing this; and

·           An old tree had been cut down at the Chinese House.  It was not known if it had had a Tree Preservation Order on it, but this would be investigated.

Councillors are reminded that they will need to declare any interest they may have in budget applications, and/or indicate that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

a)      An update on the 2011/12 Community Meeting budget will be provided.

b)     The following grant applications are submitted for consideration:-

Project:         Ladies Milan Mandar

Applicant:      Mrs Kundanben Tejura & Kamlaben Shah

Amount requested:     

The following amounts are for 6 months:

Summary:    

The group is currently based at Rushey Mead Recreation Centre.  It meets two evenings a week, for 2 hours per meeting, for 6 months of the year.  There are approximately 100 members, all of whom are aged 60+.

Funding has been requested to enable the group to take trips around its local area to temples and other religious outings.  Some support also is requested for the evenings, for group meals and celebrating religious festivals.

The group also would like to invite speakers to talk about health and wellbeing, and enquiries have been made about having a yoga instructor.

Project:         Sakhi Milan Ladies Group

Applicant:      Smita Radia & Ramila Puparell

Amount requested:     

Summary:    

Women aged 30 plus will be attending the group, which will be meeting at Rushymead centre on Fridays 6.30 – 8.30 pm.

The group:-

·           encourages ladies to come and talk about problems and to socialise;

·           celebrates festivals;

·           runs exercise workshops with professional people;

·           holds health and safety sessions;

·           promotes a better understanding of wider communities; and

·           organises cooking workshops and promotes healthy eating and well being.

If funding is approved, the group would like to:-

·           arrange some trips and outings;

·           use outside catering, possibly using voluntary organisations such as The H Café;

·           purchase some equipment, such as a CD player, so that dance sessions can be held to help people keep fit; and

·           buy a toasty maker and disposable plates and cups.

Applications for grants were considered as follows:-

Ladies Milan Mandar

AGREED:

1)    that the request for funding of £660 be not supported, due to the religious focus of the events for which funding was sought, contrary to the funding policy; and

2)    that the Members Support Officer be asked to liaise with the applicants to explore alternative projects for which funding could be sought.

Sakhi Milan Ladies Group

It was queried why this application was being considered at this meeting, as the applicant lived in the Belgrave and Latimer Community Meeting area.  In reply, it was explained that the Group was based in Rushey Mead and used facilities there.

Some concern as expressed that this Group was very selective in who it allowed to join and so was not an open organisation.

AGREED:

That this application be deferred to enable the Members Support Officer to investigate the membership policy of this group.

Rushey Mead Diamond Jubilee Event

As this application had been received after the agenda had been circulated, it was tabled at the meeting.

It was noted that:-

·           This was a “drop in” event, that would be held over one afternoon; and

·           The applicants would welcome being able to borrow any decorations from the Council that could be made available for this event.

AGREED:

1)    That the request for funding of £500 be supported; and

2)    That the Members Support Officer be asked to liaise with the City Council’s Festivals Unit to see if any items such as banners, or other decorations, could be loaned to the organisers of this event.

</AI7>

<AI8>

a)    Wild Fowl Feeding Awareness Campaign

FIELD_SUMMARY

Paul Barker, (from Leicester City Council’s Parks Service), explained that Watermead Park had become overrun with geese, largely due to the amount of food that was being left for them.  This caused various problems:-

·           The geese could be intimidating to some people;

·           There was a large volume of droppings in the car parks, which could be slippery;

·           The grass at the park was being destroyed by the geese;

·           The water was becoming polluted with goose droppings and uneaten food;

·           There had been a big increase in the rat population, due to the amount of uneaten food there; and

·           Other wildlife was being pushed out.

Paul Barker explained that much of the food being left for the geese was not good for them.  For example, bread could be given in small amounts, but it did not contain any nutrients.  Cooked food was sometimes left, which was poisonous to the geese, as it contained salt, which they could not metabolise.

As a result of these problems, staff would be on site for four weeks in June to talk to people to encourage them to use the right food.  Temporary and permanent notices giving advice about this also would be put up.

The Meeting welcomed this initiative, but questioned how it would be monitored.  In reply, it was noted that staff would be on site from about 7.00 am and then for most of the rest of the day.  Parks Wardens and the City Wardens could issue fines to people who continued to feed the geese inappropriately.

b)   Police Update

The Meeting welcomed Inspector Ed McBryde-Wilding, who had replaced Steve Rowley as the Keyham Lane Local Policing Unit Commander.  He introduced himself and encouraged anyone who had a problem to contact the Police, as this helped them analyse where problems were occurring.

PC Rob Poutney advised that Operation Sapphire had seen a significant reduction in the number of burglaries in the Ward.  For this operation, two marked vehicles had been parked, or used for patrols, in high visibility areas.  As a result, there had been five burglaries in the last month, compared to twelve in the month before.  In the same month in the previous year there had been eleven.

PC Poutney explained that overall there had been a slight reduction in the number of crimes recorded.  The number of thefts from cars had reduced from ten to seven and theft from shops was down.  However, there had been an increase of one in the number of bike thefts.

Residents noted that not many people were aware of the 101 telephone number that could be used to report problems.  Suggested places for publicising this included local radio stations and putting posters on the front gates of schools and community centres, or at local shops, such as those on Nicklaus Road. 

PC Poutney explained that he was passing on information about this when he could, but the scheme was run by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.