Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Harshad Bhavsar was elected as Chair for the meeting.

No apologies for absence were received.

The first main item on the programme is Declarations 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.

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 Act applied to them. 

Councillor Marriott declared and prejudicial interested on the funding application for Stocking Farm Library, as his wife was a committee member of the Mowmacre Tenants and Residents who had submitted the bid.  He agreed to leave the room during that item.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2008 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting of the Abbey Community Meeting dated 25 June 2008 were circulated and Members were asked to approve them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the Abbey Community Meeting held on 25 June 2008 at the Tudor Centre, be agreed as a correct record.

Adrian Russell, Environmental Services, will give a presentation of the Environmental Services work carried out in the Abbey Ward and invite suggestions for the 10,000 Trees Project.

Adrian Russell, gave a presentation on the work that Environmental Services had carried out in the Abbey Ward between January and June 2008.  A newsletter was also available, which provided supporting information to the presentation.

Adrian explained that Environmental Services were responsible for a variety of different services, which included the following:

Waste and Recycling – Leicester City achieved a waste composting and recycling rate of 33% and 9% recovered for use as fuel in 2007/08.  It was noted that each household was entitled to have five bulky items collected for free and that missed bin collections in the City were at a 0.05% rate.

In response to questions Adrian explained;

·  that Biffa had signed a 25 year waste and recycling contract.  There was to be a 10 year review when the City Council and Biffa could discuss if any changes were needed. 

·  that the City Council were not transporting their waste to India, as indicated in the local press.  The contract with Biffa had proscribed routes that did not include destinations abroad, this was checked by the Council’s Auditor.  As only 18% of the City’s waste was from domestic use it was though that the waste found in India had been transported through private contractors from trade waste.

·  that when recycling had been hand sorted items could be donated to youth groups for educational activities, however this was not possible using the Ball Mill.  Adrian suggested that young people could visit Biffa’s recycling centre instead, as Biffa often carried out projects for young people.

Street Cleaning – This service dealt with various issues including fly tipping, abandoned vehicles, discarded needles, and graffiti removal.  The Abbey Ward was below average on these occurrences.  An incident of building material being fly tipped into the Grand Union Canal resulted in the culprit being fined £1,500.  Adrian explained that a new service had been provided in removing graffiti from Cable Boxes, with financial assistance from Virgin Media who own the boxes. 

In response to a question Adrian explained that it was not possible to have the street sweeping after the bin collection.  This was because there was only 4 days a week that bin collection took place, which then could not be matched with the street sweeping timetable.

Pest Control Services –  Adrian stated that statistics showed that in the period between January and June 2008, Abbey Ward mostly had fewer problems with pests, than elsewhere in the city. 

Dog Control Orders – A range of new powers were being introduced. For example, dogs would be restricted from certain areas such as children’s play areas and fines could be levied against irresponsible owners for not cleaning up mess. 

In response to a question Adrian explained that this would be enforced through Dog, Park and City Wardens.

Noisy Neighbours – Information was presented on the services provided by the Noise Control Team, who supply a call-out service until 2.00am seven days a week.

SmileSafe Scheme – This was where businesses selling food and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Members will present the findings from the Priority Cards that people were invited to fill in at the first meeting and will explain the next steps in producing the Ward Action Plan.

Steve Letten referred to the main issues for the Abbey Ward that had been identified by residents in the priority card exercise at the first meeting and also subsequently handed in.  A document giving a summary of these issues had been given to members of the public at the start of the meeting.  The top five issues were:

1 Roads and pavements

Residents agreed that highways was a key issue with a number of uneven pavements that needed attention.  It was also felt that more money was needed within the Highways budget.

It was suggested that meetings take place with young people to obtain their views. 

Steve reported that a final draft version on the ward priorities would be submitted to the next meeting, following consultation with a wider range of stakeholders.

Steve Letten, Members Support Officer will introduce and explain the different funds available to the Community Meeting. 

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.

A budget proposal has been received for ‘Stocking Farm Library Books’, attached at appendix B.  Members are asked to consider the application.

Steve Letten, Members Support Officer, gave the meeting a brief presentation on the budget available for the Community Meeting to spend in the local area.

There were three types of budget available:-

Ward Priority Fund £6,700 in 2008/09 (£10,000 in 2009/10) – to fund projects to support the Ward Action Plan being developed by the meeting.

Community Fund £3,300 in 2008/09 (£5,000 in 2009/10) – to fund projects to help the community at large or individual groups.

Community Cohesion Fund £2,000 in 2008/09 – to fund projects to; support or reinforce community integration; build links involving young people; and build confidence and a sense of belonging.

Funding Application - Stocking Farm Library Books

Having declared a prejudicial interest Councillor Marriott left the room for the consideration of this item

The Chair reported that there was an application submitted for books for Stocking Farm Library.   A member of the Mowmacre Tenants & Residents association explained that the requested £2,500 was needed for books targeted at visually impaired people and children.  Members felt that the application fitted the Community Fund criteria, however they did not want to allocate a large amount of the budget on one project at that early stage.

RESOLVED:

                        That it be agreed that £1,250 be granted to the library.

Members will explain how local people can become community partners and therefore be more involved in the Community Meetings.

Steve Letten, Members Support Officer, reported that there were opportunities available for a member of the public to become a ‘Community Partner’ for the Community Meeting.  That person would act as a link, be involved in ward action planning, sub groups, patchwalking and/ or help to publicise the meetings.  Consideration would be given to invite a community partner to join the Members to assist with Abbey Ward Community Meetings and that person would need to be a member of a constituted group.  Skills needed were, to be keen and genuinely interested, to work effectively in a team, to communicate effectively, to be able to chair and convene meetings, have problem solving skills and have available time.

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.

The meeting closed at 8.15pm.