Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

The Chair will introduce those present and make any necessary announcements.

The Chair and any other Councillors who are present will make any declarations as required by the Councillors Code of Conduct.

Councillor Patel elected as Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and led introductions.

There were no declarations

Councillor Willmott, Anita Miles

The Action Log of the meeting held on 25^th August 2015, is attached  and Members will be asked to confirm it as an accurate record.

The action log of the meeting held on 25^th august 2015 was circulated and confirmed as an accurate record.

Matters arising:

• 3.4 Pavement parking on Clarke Street near Mellor School – There had been attempts to contact the school to arrange the meeting but there had been no response. The Neighbourhood Development Manager agreed to take this forward as an action.
• 7 Litter on Rushey Fields – City Warden confirmed he had contacted Parks Services. Park wardens were now in place and regular warden checks were being carried out. Bins were emptied to a schedule.
• 10 Sakhi Mandal bid – the group had written to say they would not be taking up the funding at this time and that money had gone back into the ward community budget.
• 10 Re bid for YOG magazine – it was confirmed this is a health magazine which would be available in the Belgrave and Rushey Mead Libraries.
• 11.2 Boundary Change – Mellor School was no-longer in the Rushey Mead ward, it was confirmed that the Polling Station was under review and there had been suggestions to use an alternative venue at future elections.

A Police Officer will be at the meeting to provide an update on local policing issues in the Ward.

Sgt Simon Walters gave an update on policing issues affecting the Rushey Mead ward and a comparison of reported crime statistics over the period 1 November to 1 December 2014 and 2015 were noted:

2014

Burglary of Dwelling:              19

Theft from Vehicle:                 1

Theft of Vehicles:                    11

Robbery:                                  0

2015

Burglary of Dwelling:               6

Theft from Vehicle:                  6

Theft of Vehicles:                     2

Robbery:                                  1

Sgt Walters reported that the robbery had taken place on 30 November on Gleneagles Avenue and police were confident they knew who the main perpetrator was.

Sgt Walters explained that time was being invested in officers on the ground and during the past year 2 prolific burglars had been dealt with leading to the reduction in this crime.

In relation to issues raised about Rushey Fields at the last meeting the police had been in contact with Jane Ushwell and a number of patch walks had been undertaken and there were plans to improve that area by reducing foliage, cutting back shrubbery and overgrown trees, improving the lighting in the area and generally opening it up to discourage people congregating for the wrong purpose. It had also been suggested that one pavilion building was to become a nursery and another would be demolished and the “mounds” would be removed too. The bowling green and play area would be focused on for removal of foliage and new benches and bins installed.

Residents were advised that Beat Surgeries would take place as follows:

• Saturday 5^th December between 10am and 12 noon at the Recreation Centre on Gleneagles Avenue
• 11^th December between 6pm and 7pm at Sainsburys.

Residents asked a number of questions which included the responses:

• Was the camera at the roundabout near Rushey Mead a traffic or crime camera? This was not a crime camera.
• Diwali firework went on very late into the night when should they have stopped? There were some exemptions to the Fireworks regulations on celebration nights such as Diwali, Chinese New Year, Christmas and New Year but on other nights fireworks should stop at 10.30pm.
• A petition had been presented to the council because of concerns about crime at Rushey Fields – Cllr Clair confirmed the petition would go through due process following presentation at full council last week.

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

Mo Patel, City Warden provided information leaflets to those present and gave an update on issues in the Rushey Mead ward.

It was reported that:

• Kincraig Road Garages – the owners had been contacted and all rubbish removed and a new garage door put in place making a positive difference to the area.
• Meadow Way – a large fly tip was being dealt with, following a patch walk land owners had been contacted and agreed to clear the rubbish and replace damaged fencing. Contractors had also been engaged to put new fencing on the boundary of the land on Meadow Way.
• Bath Street – damaged fencing would be repaired.
• Bird Feeding – the number of complaints had dropped and a lot of work had been done to inform local residents of the problems with bird feeding. The situation would continue to be monitored.
• Dog Fouling – remained a very big issue for the ward, most complaints related to Harrison Road and Kincaple Road. An educational day was planned in the area with bags to be handed out to dog owners. Early mornings patrols were continuing but there were limited resources and only 1 warden covering two wards. Residents were encouraged to report all incidents of dog fouling and provide any information they could about the people or dogs they saw so that (i) it could be cleaned quickly (ii) wardens could get a picture of incidents occurring and try to tackle that directly. Wardens had the power to issue fixed penalty notices of £80 but could do this if they witnessed it or had proper evidence.
• There had been an increased use of the bulky waste and recycling facilities since a 500 information letter drop to local residents.
• The City Warden was thanked for dealing with an issue of black bags in a garden.
• Residents were encouraged to report any matters such as graffiti, litter, fly tipping, dog fouling etc to the City Warden using the Love Leicester app which could be downloaded easily on to most mobile phones.
• Alternatively residents could contact City Warden on 0116 4541001 or by email: citywarden@leicester.gov.uk

Councillors are reminded that under the Council’s Code of Conduct they should declare any interest they may have in budget applications.

An update will be given on the Ward Community Budget together with details of grant applications submitted for consideration since the last meeting.

Councillors were reminded that under the council’s code of conduct they should declare any interest they may have in the budget applications.

Applications fast tracked since the last meeting:

• Shree Sarvodaya Samaj – Family Fun Activity, hire of venue. Application £190. Grant £190 Fast Tracked.

Applications considered at the meeting:

• Rushey Mead Milap Group (1597) – a bid to help with hire charges of room hire. Application £2703.68 – Councillors agreed to support 50% of the bid to cover the charge to the end of this financial year. The group were asked to look at contributions they could make to offset against funding in the future as the council could not continue to provide 100% funding. Grant £1351.34 Supported.
• Rushey Fields Residents Association (1537) – Garden Group, a bid to purchase tools, equipment and plants to improve the community garden at Rushey Fields Recreation Ground. Application £490 – Grant £490 Supported.
• Dance Blast (5110) – To run a twice weekly dance fitness class. Application for £250. Deferred for more information to be provided
• Art of Relaxing (1572) – To start a relaxation art group 2 hours each week.  Application £416.92 – Deferred for more information to be provided.
• Active Learning -Get It Checked Out – Cancer Awareness Project to produce a small information leaflet. Application for £625. Councillors wanted more information. Deferred for more information to be provided.
• Highfields Rangers – Application £2500. This was a late application received on the day of the meeting. Further details required to support application. Deferred for more information to be provided.

The Chair confirmed that the community ward budget was to help organisations with funding but it was important not to create dependency and groups should aim to be looking for match funding and to become self-sufficient in future as the funds were limited and were intended to be spread across the community and to give new groups an opportunity to become established.

AOB 1 Feedback from previous funding recipient:

Jeetesh Chauhan thanked Cllrs for supporting the Soar Valley fun day with £450 from the community ward budget. The day was very successful and they had used 2 rooms at Soar Valley college with a range of stalls offering health themed services. 276 people had attended and there had been a variety of activities for people to take part in such as Yoga, Body Pump, face painting, mehndi, and penalty shoot-out, food and drink stalls and feedback from those attending was very good and it was hoped the day could be repeated next year.

AOB 2 A resident raised concerns about the junction between Pain Street and Melton Road where inconsiderate parking was causing problems.

Sgt Walters agreed to pass concerns on to enforcement officers.

AOB 3 A resident asked what had happened to the open gym that had been promised for Rushey Fields. Cllr Clair confirmed that funding had been put in place for this however there had been some issues with the procurement process and the suppliers had been unable to provide equipment so the procurement process had to be restarted. It was confirmed that although there was a delay there would be an open gym installed as soon as possible.

The next meeting to take place on Monday 7^th March at 6.30pm.

There being no other business the meeting was closed at 7.54pm.