Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Shah was elected Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Shah welcomed those present to the meeting.

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.

Councillors were asked to declare any interests they might have in the business on the agenda, and/or indicate that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act applied to them.

Councillor Shah disclosed a personal and non-prejudicial interest as a serving member on the Board of Governors of Hope Hamilton School.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2008 are attached at Appendix A and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 26^th November 2008 were confirmed and agreed as a correct record.

There will be a brief update by Nick Goffin, Principal on progress with the new Gateway College.

Nick Goffin, Principal attended the meeting and reported that the new development was going well and was running slightly ahead of schedule. It was expected that the building would be handed over during early August.

The wind turbine was already operational and was providing power for the site cabins, with the bio-mass boilers expected to go on line later this week.

Work with Tesco was ongoing and the new footbridge across Hamilton Way would remain closed until the Gateway site had opened.

The first new pupils would be interviewed on 26^th August and ready to start in September, staff would be in by 17^th August to prepare for the opening in September.

The new 51 Bus service, operated by Thurmaston Bus, was already operating and the tendering process for the direct schools services from the County had just been finalised.

A member of the public questioned whether there would be public sports facilities available at Gateway. Nick stated that there would be but these would be available initially only on Monday evenings, although an assessment of how the school was working would be undertaken after September. Nick stated that 2 Community Rooms would be available at Gateway and there would not be a swimming pool, due to the way by which the school was funded. The school football pitch was in place together with the MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area). Adult Education classes would not be held at the school, again due to the way the funding was allocated. Discussions were underway with the Library Service and consideration was being given to holding numeracy and literacy courses.

RESOLVED:

                        that the information be noted.

Representatives from Tesco have been invited to attend the meeting to give a brief update on their development proposals at the Maidenwell Avenue store.

Councillor Mugglestone gave a brief update on development proposals at Tesco Hamilton. Terms to sell a small parcel of land to Tesco had recently been through the City Council Cabinet process, following detailed discussions with the Council.

An assessment had been made to provide a bus layby and also the revision of traffic flows around the car park. No detailed plans were yet available, although a meeting would be arranged soon with the local store to discuss their proposals in greater detail.

A member of the public stated that there was an ongoing problem with Tesco trolleys being abandoned in front gardens and in the street on a regular basis. Children often used the trolleys to play with and this was dangerous. Councillor Mugglestone stated that the City Council had collected a number of Tesco trolleys from around the area a couple of years ago but when the Council had asked for payment Tesco had refused to pay, and instead bought more new trolleys. It was agreed that the issue of abandoned Tesco trolleys would be raised with Environmental Services.

It was further stated that Tesco had so far held 2 consultation meetings regarding bus provision and had said that residents had objected to buses entering the site at the furthest entry from Hamilton Way, with the existing retail units being demolished. As an alternative it was proposed that buses would pick up and drop off in Maidenwell Avenue but there had been a number of objections to this on the grounds of road safety. Tesco were now proposing to install a bus layby but there were still a number of concerns as people will be dropped off/ picked up further away from the Tesco Store than currently. There were strong feelings that there were plans in the pipeline to build further retail units elsewhere on the current site.

RESOLVED:

                        that the information be noted.

Officers will be present to invite tenants and leaseholders to become members of a grants panel to assess bids for spending the local Housing Environment Budget in the area.

The Community Meeting  Netherhallwas informed that the City Council’s local Neighbourhood Housing Office were seeking tenants/leaseholders from the Netherhall / Humberstone Village / Morton and Northfields areas who were prepared to sit on a grants panel and consider grants for suggested improvements to Council owned properties and land in the area. Councillor Potter stated that she would take the information reported back to the Netherhall tenants.

RESOLVED:

                        that the information be noted.

Jeff Miller, Service Director, Regeneration, Highways & Transportation, will give a presentation on highways work in the area.

Jeff Miller, Service Director, Regeneration, Highways and Transportation attended the meeting and gave a brief presentation, stating that the City Council spent approximately £2m per year in maintaining it’s highway assets.

Parking – area of concern with inconsiderate/illegal parking and people being ticketed. Many Council estates were not designed for mass car ownership and now the Council’s Environment Budget was being utilised to provide verge hardening/laybys, subject to priority. Should lack of parking be an issue then consideration could be given to providing residents parking schemes, enforced by the City Council.

Speeding Traffic – can undertake traffic surveys and, if necessary, take action to reduce the problem, the Police were also able to take action. Vehicle activated signs were one method being used to reduce traffic speeds but traffic cameras were not always a popular choice and more traffic calming measures were being followed up such as pedestrian crossings linked with 20 mph zones.

Buses – better bus patronage across the City was being sought. A step change in public transport was being planned with a new Bus Station to be built in the City Centre and there was a possibility that a tram route would be built to link the City Centre with the proposed Pennbury development. It was stressed that the City Council did not have control over the bus companies regarding route provision but did subsidise certain services that were not deemed to be commercially viable.

A member of the public stated that he was aware that since the implementation of the Transport Act 1968 Councils had little control over bus companies but wishe to state that the buses in this particular area were felt to be of poor standard. The officers stated that the Council were working with the 2 major bus companies as part of a Quality Bus Partnership. Arriva had recently invested heavily in new vehicles for the City and it was suggested that a representative from Arriva could be invited to attend a future meeting, this was agreed.

Potholes – the condition of roads in the City was deemed to be fair, with unclassified roads satisfactory. Limited funding was available to repair roads but that if potholes were reported and found to be dangerous then a Rapid Response Team would act within 3 days to repair them. Regular Highway Inspections took place to assess the condition of the City’s roads. Following the bad weather last winter it had been apparent that the gritting programme had been felt by some people to be lacking in outer areas, this was due to the fact that principal routes and the City Centre were prioritised for gritting.

A member of the public questioned why the top part of Gipsy Lane was badly potholed as nothing seemed to be done. The officers stated that they would take details and respond.

Tesco - A member of the public stated that it seemed as if Tesco at Hamilton were seeking to consolidate their land holding in the area by purchasing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

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.

Peter Cozens, Members Support Manager, will give an update on the budget and introduce the following proposal that has been received: -

Applications for consideration:

Ward Community Cohesion Fund

B1 – Humberstone Community Village Forum

        Humberstone Carnival, Sunday 3^rd August.

Peter Cozens, Members Support Manager introduced the Budget and reported that the following funding would be available for 2009/10: -

            Ward Action Plan                                        £10,000

            Ward Community Fund                           £5,000

            Ward Community Cohesion Fund               £2,000

Peter reported that one proposal for funding had been received as follows: -

1)                 Ward Community Cohesion Fund

Humberstone Community Village Forum

Bid for £1,040 to part fund the staging of Humberstone Carnival on Sunday 3^rd August 2009, at Monks Rest Gardens.

RESOLVED:

that the bid for funding from the Ward Community Cohesion Fund from the Humberstone Community Village Forum in the sum of £1,040, be APPROVED.

2)                 Baton Twirler    

Councillor Mugglestone stated that he was aware of a local baton twirler who was looking to get some support. It was suggested and agreed that the person be encouraged to go to Humberstone Carnival in August and give a demonstration and have a fund raising stall.

3)                 Monks Rest – Tennis

It was reported that the local Area Parks Manager had secured £44k of funding to re-furbish the tennis courts at Monks Rest and had also arranged some tennis coaching courses.

4)                 Positive Action for Young People

It was reported that Fiona Weston, Children and Young People’s Services had an amount of funding available to bid from.

i)          Local Dentist Practice

Councillor Mugglestone reported that he was aware of a local dentist who was wanting to start an NHS surgery in this area and was seeking support to petition the local Primary Care Trust. The 3 Ward Councillors present at the meeting expressed their support for this surgery and agreed to assist in the collection of signatures.

ii)            Football Pitches/Pavilion

A member of the public questioned what was the position regarding the recent planning applicationsubmitted for the provision of 3 Football Pitches and a Pavilion in Hamilton. The officers stated that the application had passed the first stage and was now awaiting the second stage for funding.

iii)        Local Facilities

A member of the public stated that when they moved into the area they had been told that a Public House would be provide near to Tesco. Councillor Potter stated that approaches had been made to Tesco but they had expressed their opposition to a Public House near to their store on the grounds that it would encourage anti-social behaviour.

It was stated that there was a vacant plot of land almost opposite Hope Hamilton Primary School and questioned its future use. Councillor Potter stated that feedback would be provided when information was available.

A member of the public stated that a Community Centre was urgently required in the Hamilton area to enable services to be provided for all sectors of the local community. Councillor Potter stated that the Council were aware of this request but that there was no funding available to enable such a facility to be provided locally, although the Ward Councillors would continue lobbying for the provision of a Community Centre in Hamilton. The Sure Start mobile unit would shortly be coming to the area and be based at Kestrels Field Primary School to provide services for young people.

Wednesday 12^th August 2009.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Community Meeting would be held at 6.00pm on Wednesday 12^th August 2009.

The Meeting closed at 8.07 pm.