Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record.

Item 48. Budget

A resident queried the funding allocated at the previous meeting towards repairing potholes in the ward, as the Government had allocated funding for pothole repairs. In response the Chair explained that the funding agreed by ward councillors and the meeting had been approved by the cabinet lead. The funding that had been provided by the Government was not sufficient to meet the demand for pothole repairs within the city. The issue of potholes had been raised as a big concern by residents and it was felt a legitimate spend of the remaining Community Meeting budget. The meeting went on to discuss speed bumps as a cause of potholes and damage caused to cars. The Chair commented on the reasons for speed humps and suggested that an item on road safety could be taken at a future meeting.

Members reported on work they had been involved in within the ward as follows:

·         Councillor Cleaver had met with the events committee who had recently organised ‘Picnic in the Park’.

·         The Community Association had been carrying out tremendous work.

·         The Community Centre had been upgraded, with important input from the Community Association and the City Mayor had visited. There was a new lunch club at the centre, with places available on Fridays and a few spaces on Mondays. In addition the Police and Housing Services had an officer there. It was suggested that the Community Association give a presentation to a future Community Meeting about their role in the Community Centre.

·         Members had carried out ward walks with council officers and there had been a good commitment from the housing officers.

·         Councillor Cleaver had discussed Cooper House Care Home in Council meetings to add support.

·         There had been a 100 year birthday at a local church which had brought the community out together.

·         Councillor Cleaver had brought to the attention of the Forum For Older People Consultation Group that the Council did not have a charter for older people. This was been created and was included in the 100 days programme.

·         Councillor Cleaver was a governor at Rolleston Primary School where there was to be an event.

·         Local schools were working to encourage children to do more exercise. This encouraged children to be calmer during their classes and work better.

·         Invincible was demolished and work on that projected continued.

·         Litter picking activities had taken place on Saturdays.

·         The police had launched a DVD on antisocial behaviour, which was funded through the Community Meeting.

·         Thanks were given for support to Members and to the other candidates in the local election.

A resident expressed concern regarding uneven paving slabs outside the pharmacy at the Exchange as a lady had a fall. It was asked if this could be rectified. Further concern was expressed regarding the lack of drop kerbs in the area which made mobility difficult for wheelchair users. The Chair suggested that an accessibility audit be carried out around the estate.

It was raised that certain roads within the ward were not part of the Eyres Monsell estate and were therefore often overlooked. In particular with information about activities, bin collections and bus services. The Chair acknowledged that ward boundaries related to electoral boundaries and did not recognise communities. The Council were working towards changing their approach so not to be restrained by ward boundaries. It was noted that the Monsell mail was a voluntary paper which was geared towards the estate. The Community Meetings were moving location around the ward to try and include all areas of the Eyres Monsell ward.

A resident discussed the council forum called the Forum for Older People Consultative Group and expressed concern that it was not advertised widely. The Chair agree this would be looked into.

Sgt Andy Partridge attended the meeting and reported the following:

·         That funding from the Community Meeting had been used to create a DVD on anti-social behaviour. The DVD was used in schools to try and engage with young people and explained the consequences of anti-social behaviour. The DVD was launched at Samworth academy which was attended by the area commissioner and the City Mayor. The DVD was shown to the meeting.

·         Due to a number of bike thefts Fix My Bike were organising a postcode bike events and work was carried out with all schools.

·         The Eyres Monsell crime figures were down by 10%.

·         There had been three reported thefts of handbags in the ward. The meeting discussed that there had been two other thefts. The police had been carrying out extra patrols and was discussing different ways to tackle the problem.

·         There was an office based at the Community Centre for the local police. This would not be occupied all the time due to beat work, however paper work would be completed there and surgeries would be held there 11am-1pm every mid-Wednesday of the month. The next surgery would be 14 July.

It was queried if the perpetrator of the arson attacks had been apprehended. In response it was noted that there was no evidence on the suspect, however work was being carried out with the housing office.

A resident reported receiving a letter from Severn Trent regarding increases in cost and queried if this was a scam letter. It was noted that Severn Trent had sent out letters as they were adopting responsibility of sewage ways for individual properties. It was added that if someone received a letter they suspected as being a scam it could be brought into the community centre and then checked with Trading Standards.

In response to a question it was explained that the police on bikes wore head cameras to gather evidence of people riding motorbikes illegally.

Concern was expressed regarding the amount of time police spent of beat patrols. There was a management tool available which allowed the tracking of the patrols and how much time was spent on each beat.

Louise Cox,Community Safety Development Officer, reported that the Council was working with the police on crime prevention.

·         In hotspot areas a campaign would be set up with preventative methods.

·         The team would work with residents to find out local concerns.

·         Louise would be a link to bring together the different agencies, such as police and City Wardens.

·         Investigate how to engage with young people not taking part in youth activities.

·         Louise would use the Community Centre.

·         Investigate why certain areas were being targeted.

Matthew Copley, City Warden, distributed information regarding key issues addressed in the ward over the last year. He outlined some of the achievements of the wardens, these included:

·         Initiatives that reduced the number of vehicles sold on the highway.

·         Reducing the number of bins left out on non-collection days.

·         Reducing dog fouling incidents.

·         Four fixed penalty notices were given out for littering.

·         Wardens worked with the betting shop on Swinford Avenue to ensure litter caused by customers was cleaned up.

·         Wardens were able to remove small graffiti tags from street furniture with graffiti wipes and had young people remove graffiti from rails and sign.

·         Worked with the police on an illegal motorbike riding campaign.

·         Through the youth offending service young people who had caused anti-social behaviour were able to give something back to the community.

·         The wardens were on Twitter and Facebook.

A resident expressed concern that bins needed to be left out for longer when there had been a mis-collection.

Concern was expressed regarding problems in the local park. Matthew asked that problems were reported to them to identify when problems are occurring. This could then be covered by the park wardens.

The Chair noted that this item would be addressed at a future meeting. It was noted that the Community Meeting was effective when handling immediate issues, however larger problems needed to be addressed over the long term. It was important to identify what was needed in the area in ten years and the project to create a strategic plan would work with the community association and be supported by Demontfort University.

The dates of future meetings were noted.

A resident queried why the picnic benches on the local park had been removed. The Chair agreed to investigate.

The meeting closed at 7.50pm.