Agenda and minutes

Councillor Bayford was elected as Chair for the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

No declarations were made.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the meeting of the Knighton Community Meeting, held on 18 August 2008, be confirmed as a correct record.

The draft ward action plan will be circulated at the meeting.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer circulated the draft ward action plan and provided an update. Steve commented that he had spoken to a further a 52 people in addition to the 55 he had already spoken to. He had travelled to various locations and organisations across Knighton to get further ideas from the different people in the ward. The Community Meeting was informed that from the new responses received, youth provision was likely to move up the list of the priorities. 

A member of the public raised concern that there were several areas of depravation in Knighton and these areas had not been consulted. Steve commented that other ward Community Meetings had just consulted at their meetings and had not visited the different areas of their wards. Steve commented there had to be a cut off point to the consultation otherwise the consultation would be going on forever.

A member of the public raised concern that some people did not know how to fill in forms online and could not get their views across. Steve commented that he had sat down with people and filled out forms with them if they had not been able to themselves. 

Concern was raised that only groups could apply for funding. The Chair commented that anyone could apply for funding irrespective of whether they were in a group or not.

A member of the public queried why couldn’t a survey be done about the priorities of the people of Knighton. A Councillor commented that the results of a residents survey that had been conducted of all the wards in Leicester would be released soon.

A Councillor commented that the ward priorities process was not just about spending small amounts of money, it was about identifying larger issues and then trying to get the different Council departments to spend on those issues. It was important to try to get the Council working better for the people.

A representative from the group Friends of Holbrook Hall requested that Steve visit the group so that the group were able to be involved in the consultation. Steve agreed to visit the group in January.

A member of the public commented that it was important for residents in the ward to be productive and pass on the message to other residents of getting priorities identified for the ward as well as the Councillors. She queried when the deadline for suggestions to be submitted for the action plan would be. Steve commented that he had hoped to finalise the action plan by the end of the meeting however it was possible to extend the deadline a short while upto January 2009. However it would be the final deadline for the action plan. He added that the common concerns that were being identified by people in the ward were anti social behaviour, traffic issues, youth services and environmental issues.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer informed the Community Meeting that there had been 2 bids for funding submitted however the Councillors were not able to approve the bids as they had been tabled at the meeting. The Meeting was informed that the view of everyone would be taken on the applications and the Councillors would make a decision after the meeting.

The first application was submitted by Dawson Residents and Parks Users who were requesting £200 for planting schemes. The Councillors were in favour of this application.

The second application was submitted by the Stoneygate Shops Association who were requesting £5,500 for the supply and installation of festive lighting in Allandale Road and Francis Street for the Christmas period.

The Chair commented that he was recommending that £2,500 be given as the shops were like the ones on Queens road and they had also spent £2,500 on their shops. The traders had agreed to have lighting on every other shop which had brought the cost down by half. In future years the cost would be reduced and the traders would be able to erect the own lights as they would have the Christmas lights available to them.  A Member commented that Knighton had been classified as the most affluent ward in the city so they received less funding from the City Council. He added that he felt the bid submitted was a worthwhile bid and the shops were very important to the community.

A member of the public commented that there had been no funding provided to the shops on Aberdale Road. Councillors commented that they would welcome a bid from Aberdale Road however they only received a funding bid from the Stoneygate shops.

A member of the public queried what was the total budget available to the Community Meeting. She added that local shops had been closing in the ward and the post office had closed as well. It was important to support the local shops to prevent them from closing. Steve commented that there was £6,700 available to spend on the identified ward priorities, £3,300 available to spend from the community fund and £2,000 to spend from the community cohesion fund. A Member mentioned that the money was unable to be spent until the third Community Meeting.  Steve commented that the Ward Action plan fund would increase to £10,000 next year.

The Councillors supported the request from the Stoneygate Shops Association for the supply and installation of festive lighting in Allandale Road and Francis Street for the Christmas period. They agreed to recommend that £2,500 be allocated to the scheme from the Community Fund with the caveat that the Association would pay the annual cost of erection, dismantling and storage of the lights in future years. The cost in 2009 would be £700.

A member of the public raised concern at the traffic problems on Guilford Road. He commented that vehicles were frequently speeding in the area and that the City Council only recorded incidents where people got injured. He added that it was proving to be a major problem and he hoped to get traffic calming measures installed through the Council. A Member commented that there was increased traffic on London Road, which then lead to more traffic on Guilford Road. He suggested that a possible option would be for the Members to write a combined a letter requesting action to be taken. Statistics were read out which stated the results of from the ‘Community Speed Watch’, that residents had conducted on Guilford Road, the main concern that were raised was speeding.  

The Chair stated that if any measures were introduced they needed to be introduced for the nearby roads as well. A Member commented that this issue needed to get on the priorities list for the Highways department. Steve Letten, Member Support Officer commented he would take the information mentioned and put it on the ward action plan. Steve added that he would also raise the issue with Highways department and ask them to have a look at the issue. The member of the public who raised the query commented that he had also received a response on the issue from the Leader of the Council. Another member of the public commented that there were also problems with Shanklin Drive and Carisbrooke Road as they suffered similar problems.

The Chair commented that there was an idea for a meeting had been suggested which would discuss the new proposed Eco town in Pennbury. The meeting would include the Coperative Group who were proposing the new eco town and Campaign Against Stoughton Co-Op Eco Town (CASCET) who were against the proposal. He requested the opinion of the Community Meeting as to whether it would be useful to have a meeting. A member of the public stated that there needed to be a wildlife survey done in the area.

A member of the public queried whether there would be someone invited from national government or an MP. A Member commented that they could be invited.

A Councillor stated that when the Co-op had performed that consultation they had not held meetings in the ward.

The Community Meeting was in favour of holding a joint meeting with all parties concerning the eco-town.

A Councillor commented that there had been a request for a Flora and Fauna survey. Steve informed the member of the public to write to him stating what type of survey the person wanted conducting.

The meeting closed at 8:45pm.