This is a default template, your custom branding appears to be missing.
The custom branding should be at https://www.leicester.gov.uk/cabinet-pages-template/ if you cannot load this page please contact your IT.

Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Fosse Library, Mantle Road, Leicester

Contact: Jason Tyler 229 8816 or email  jason.tyler@leicester.gov.uk  Julie Harget 229 8809 or email  julie.harget@leicester.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

ELECTION OF CHAIR

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Cassidy was elected as Chair and welcomed everyone to the Fosse Community Meeting.

2.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Marie Murray, Area Manager, Housing and the Police.

 

Members of the community were advised that any queries for the Police would be noted and passed on to them.

3.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

The first main item on theagenda is Declarations of Interest where Councillors have to say if there is anything on the agenda 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.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

4.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING pdf icon PDF 142 KB

The Minutes of the previous Fosse Community Meeting, held on 5 July 2012, are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the Fosse Community Meeting held on 5 July 2012 be confirmed as a correct record.

5.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Minutes:

Minute item 8: City Warden Update

 

Councillor Waddington explained that at the previous meeting held on 5 July 2012, there had been a complaint from a member of the community relating to litter in an alleyway. She had been concerned that she would have to pay for the removal of litter which had been left there by somebody else.  There had also been complaints relating to fly tipping.  Both the problems had been satisfactorily resolved with the help of Jethro Swift, the City Warden and Street Cleansing and the member of the community who had been concerned about being charged had not had to pay.  Councillor Waddington thanked everyone who had worked to resolve the issues.

 

Minute item 5: Police Update

 

At the previous meeting there had been a discussion relating to the use of mosquito alarms as a deterrent against anti-social behaviour. It had been agreed to invite the relevant officer from the Council to provide an update at a future meeting but it had not been possible for an officer to attend this time. It was hoped that there would be an update at the next Fosse Community Meeting.

6.

POLICE ACTIVITY - UPDATE

PCSO Serena Kaur will be in attendance to provide an overview of police activities within the Ward.

Minutes:

Members of the community were invited to raise any queries and issues for the Police, which would be forwarded to them as none of the officers were able to be present. No queries or issues were raised.

7.

CITY WARDENS - UPDATE

Jethro Swift, City Warden, will be in attendance to provide an update on activities within the Ward.

Minutes:

Jethro Swift, the City Warden provided an update on street scene enforcement issues in the Fosse Ward. Jethro made the following points:

 

·         The entire Fosse Ward was being monitored for rubbish bins being left on streets. Fixed penalty notices had been issued.

 

·         6 Fixed penalty notices had also been issued for littering.

 

·         Abandoned buildings in the Ward had been monitored.

 

·         The manager of a business on Beatrice Road had been spoken to because of the amount of cash dispenser receipts that had been littering the pavement. A receptacle for collecting the receipts had now been put in place.

 

·         Jethro had also been involved in a number of projects outside of the Fosse Ward.

 

·         In respect of dog fouling, Jethro explained that he did carry out patrols but catching the culprits who allowed their dog to foul was very difficult. Members of the public were advised that if they reported any dog mess to the Cleansing department, they had a special machine to clean up the mess.

8.

LIBRARIES - UPDATE

Adrian Wills, Head of Libraries, will be in attendance to provide an update on Fosse Library.

Minutes:

The Chair explained that there had been no further developments in relation to Fosse Library since Adrian Wills, Head of Libraries had provided his update at the July meeting.  The changes to the library had been agreed in principle and Councillors were seeking confirmation that funding was available to finance the work.

9.

RALLY PARK - UPDATE pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Rob Hincks, Senior Officer, Development Team, will be in attendance to give a presentation on the development of Rally Park.

Minutes:

Rob Hincks, Senior Officer, Development Team was at the meeting and gave a presentation on the development of Rally Park. A copy of this presentation is attached at the back of the minutes.

 

Councillors congratulated Rob and the team for the improvements that had been made to the park. The meeting heard that Rally Park was considerably improved and more people were using the facility. Members of the community also expressed their thanks and appreciation for the work that had been carried out. The following comments were made:

 

·         The park is much improved, though the railway needed clearing. There was originally going to be a train in the park but that never materialised.  I am now able to access the park using my mobility scooter, which I was not able to do before the development.

 

·         Would it be possible to have the children’s play area fenced in as this would keep the dogs out.

 

Councillor Waddington responded that she had spoken to local people in the park and the general consensus had been that they felt that a fence around the play area was important to improve the vitality of the park. There were numerous dogs there which resulted in dog mess and in addition they were frightening to the children.  Councillor Waddington explained that it was not the Council’s general policy to fence off play areas, but she felt that there was a safety issue at Rally Park because of the number of dogs. The meeting heard that the fencing could cost approximately £10,000.

 

Councillor Waddington also suggested that adult gym equipment at the park would be a welcome addition; there was adult gym equipment at Evington Park which was very well used.

 

Rob responded that adult gym equipment had been considered along with the cycle track and children’s play equipment but there had only been sufficient funding for two of the three items, and a decision had been made to install the cycle track and the play equipment. However he thought that there might be some S106 money remaining and it might be possible to put that money towards either a fence or the gym equipment.  Rob confirmed that the fencing was contrary to Council policy but he felt that if it could be demonstrated, perhaps with a petition, that the community really did want a fence there, this might work in their favour.

 

·         The children would like an area to play football or basketball. If money becomes available, I think that should be more of a priority than adult gym equipment.

 

Rob responded that this was subject to funding but was something that could be considered in the future.

 

The Chair concluded the discussion and stated that it was clear from a recent community fun day that Rally Park was now very popular; that the fence was something that members of the community wanted and also that the adult gym equipment would be an asset.  He suggested that it would be helpful for an officer from Parks  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

SQUARE MILE UPDATE pdf icon PDF 678 KB

David Hollis, DE Montfort University, will be in attendance to provide an update on the project.

Minutes:

David Hollis, Operations Manager for the Square Mile Project gave an update on the project. A copy of the presentation is attached to the back of these minutes.

 

The presentation was well received and the Chair reiterated the importance of engaging and encouraging the involvement of people in local communities.

 

Deepak, a member of the community expressed his gratitude to David that the Square Mile project had sponsored him to become a gym instructor (level 2). David responded that Deepak had been of significant help at the local fun day on Rally Park.

 

The Chair asked whether the Square Mile Project was a long term initiative and David responded that a great deal of investment had been put into the project and it was hoped that it would not just be a short term plan. He added that the project had targets to meet, such as the number of residents who were involved and he hoped that this would be a successful year for the initiative and that the Fosse Ward would be part of its success.

11.

DERELICT BUILDINGS - UPDATE pdf icon PDF 62 KB

An update on derelict buildings and sites within the Ward is attached for information.

Minutes:

The Chair explained that at the previous meeting it had been requested for a written update on derelict buildings to be brought to future meetings. The update had been attached to the agenda for the meeting.

 

There was some discussion surrounding the derelict church adjacent to the Empire Public House, and comments were made that the church or land may have been sold at auction, although a resident reported that a ‘for sale’ was displayed there.

 

A member of the community reported that an application had been submitted to the Square Mile Project to have the planters by Premier Screw painted.  There were 10 businesses which had expressed an interest in providing funding for plants there.  He added that consideration was also being given to erecting a hoarding on the wall of the Premier Screw building, possibly using a history montage. This had been done on Sanvey Gate and had been very well received.

 

Councillors expressed concerns that the written update which had been provided included information that was not up to date. It was agreed that the Planning Service would be contacted for more comprehensive information. It was also suggested that it would be useful to contact the Leicester Regeneration Board.

 

Action to be taken

Officer identified

Deadline

For more comprehensive information on derelict buildings in Fosse Ward be sought from the Planning Service and the Leicester Regeneration Board.

Surinder Singh, Member Support Officer

In time for the next meeting.

 

12.

WARD COMMUNITY BUDGET

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.

 

Surinder Singh, Members Support Officer, will present the latest position with regard to the Fosse Ward Community Budget.

 

The following application has been approved under the Fast-Track procedure and is reported for information:

 

Applicant:      Sharon Bromley (Organiser)

 

Amount:         £500 (£300 approved under the Fast-Track procedure)

 

Proposal:       Woodgate Halloween Party

 

Summary:     A large street party (estimated attendance 300 people) to be held in part of Central Road on 31 October 2012.  All residents in the surrounding area are welcome to attend.  Trick or treat sweets and gifts to be provided for the children attending.

Minutes:

The meeting heard that the following funding application had been fast tracked and approved for payment:

 

Woodgate Halloween Party

Submitted by: Sharon Bromley (Organiser)

Amount Supported: £300.

 

Councillor Waddington explained that it was aimed to use the community meeting funding towards good projects within Fosse Ward, and not purely on parties. Members of the community were reminded to submit funding applications where any good community projects were being planned.

 

The meeting heard that there was approximately £16000 remaining in the Community Meeting Budget.

13.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Minutes:

WOODGATE ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND

 

Members of the community heard that to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the Woodgate Adventure Playground, there would be an open day on Saturday 2 September on the Rally Park.

14.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Minutes:

The next Fosse Community Meeting would be held on Wednesday 12 December at a venue to be confirmed.

 

Action to be taken

Officer Identified

Deadline

 

To confirm a venue for the next Fosse Community Meeting;

 

The venue was later confirmed to be:

 

The Woodgate Resources Centre, 36 Woodgate, Leicester.

 

 

Julie Harget, Democratic Support Officer

 

 

 

As soon as possible.

 

15.

CLOSE OF MEETING

Minutes:

The meeting closed at 7.35 pm.