Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Marriott was elected as Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Marriott welcomed everyone to the first Abbey Community meeting.

No apologies were received.

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 wanted to talk about digging up a road and one of the Councillors lived on that road, he or she would have to say they have a personal interest in that.

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.

No declarations were given.

Councillor Byrne will give a brief presentation on the new Community Meetings and what this will mean for residents in the Abbey Ward.

Councillor Byrne gave a presentation on the new Community Meetings.  She introduced Councillors and councillor officers who would be involved in the meetings and explained how the new system would work. The key features of the new Community Meetings were as follows:

• The meetings provided an opportunity for local people to get more involved in what was happening in their local area.
• Community partners and key agencies such as the Primary Care Trust and the Police would be invited to participate, as the meetings were not just about Council services.
• There was a possibility that some meetings could be held in the day- time and that these might take the form of a patch walk around the Ward.
• There would be a minimum of four meetings per year; possibly more if residents wished.
• The second part of the meeting would consist of information stalls, which would vary each meeting.
• The meeting’s initial task was to identify and prioritise residents’ issues or concerns within their ward.
• The aim was to use these ideas to develop and design a Draft Action Plan that will then be formulated into the Ward Action Plan.  

Adrian Russell, Service Director Environmental Services, explained that the process for the Community Meetings was to involve the residents in decision-making.  For example the Council intended to plant another 10,000 trees in the City and would like the residents to suggest where they would like to see them located.  In addition the meeting could be used to identify the enforcement priorities for the new City Wardens.

Members of the public will also have an opportunity to discuss what priorities they would like to see in a Ward Action Plan.

At this point of the meeting the public were invited to split into groups to identify ward priorities for inclusion in the Draft Ward Plan.  Attendees completed the priority cards, and each table reported their main priorities which were summarised as follows:

Young people binge drinking/ Antisocial behaviour

Youths on minimotos

Lack of provision for under 12s

Lack of Social activities for older people

Lack of Police on the beat

Parking/ Highways Issues

More landscaping in green spaces

All the priority forms received were to be analysed and developed into a draft ward action plan which would be reported back at the next meeting.

Evan Davies, Team Manager Pollution, Leicester City Council will give a presentation and consultation on extending the Leicester Air Quality Management Area in the Abbey and corridor.

Evan Davies, Team Manager Pollution, reported that Leicester City Council had set air quality targets and created an air quality action plan, which had been extended to incorporate more houses in the Abbey Area.  The main pollutant was Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), which was primarily emitted from road traffic.  Evidence needed to be gathered to establish the levels of NO2 in the air and Abbey Lane was being monitored due to the high levels of traffic in that area.  Evan displayed images of the monitoring station on Abbey Lane and a map that identified polluted areas in Leicester. 

Evan stated that the targets set for 2010 to lower the amount of NO2 in the air were reliant on a decrease in the amount of traffic on the Abbey Lane corridor, however this was predicated to increase.  A number of other factors that could influence a rise were increased levels of ozone, and an increase in diesel cars, light vans and four-wheel drive vehicles.  This issue was being addressed by the Climate Change Board which had an integrated approach towards air quality, climate change and sustainability.  Evan described measures that could be taken to reduce pollution such as avoiding unnecessary journeys (especially where walking or cycling were an alternative), better public transport, reduction in food miles with goods sourced locally, reduced need to travel through Town Planning and better maintained and efficient vehicles.

Attendees were invited to speak to Evan during the Information Session.

Future meetings will take place on 24 September and 26 November at 6.30pm.

It was reported that the date of the next meeting had changed to 16 September 2008.

The following information stands were sited in the room.  Members of the public visited the stands and were given an opportunity to meet Councillors and Council staff and to bring enquiries and raise issues.

Table 1            Ward Councillors

Table 2            Emergency Planning

An officer was present who was responsible for the effective co-ordination and management of civil emergencies.

Table 3            Waste Collection and Recycling

An officer for recycling and the removal of household waste was present.

Table 4            Sure Start

                        A representative from Sure Start was present.

Table 5            Anti-Social Behaviour

Officers were present who were responsible for the co-ordination of action to address issues around anti-social behaviour.

Table 6            Housing Repairs Service

An officer responsible for the co-ordination of action to address issues around housing repairs.

Table 7            Air Pollution

An officer responsible for the monitoring of air pollution was present.

Table 8            Community Centre and Healthy Living Centres

                        Information was available on facilities and services.

Table 9            Mowmacre Tenants and Residents Association

A representative from Mowmacre Tenants and Residents Association was present.

Table 10            Primary Care Trust

Two representatives were present from the Primary Care Trust to discuss GPs Surgeries

Table 11            CHAOS

                        Information was available for CHAOS.

The meeting closed at 8.15pm