Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Paul Westley was elected as Chair for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Haj Kaur, Senior Youth Worker and Michelle Gamble, Inspired Youth Project.

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 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.

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 Finance Act 1972 applied to them.

There were no declarations.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2008 are attached to these agenda papers and Councillors will be asked to confirm them as a correct record following any comments that people may have.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2008 were attached to the agenda papers which were circulated prior to the meeting.

The Councillors on the Community Meeting were asked to approve them as a correct record.

They were approved.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer will give the meeting a brief overview of progress made on the Beaumont Leys Ward Action Plan. Details of this are attached to the agenda.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer introduced the Ward Action Plan for the Beaumont Leys Ward.

The meeting gave it’s support for the action plan.

It was also agreed to include an additional priority to look at services for older people.

At the last meeting of the Community Meeting. It was agreed to set up a Youth and Children’s Task Group to identify the specific issues in the ward and come up with proposals for spending the Ward Action Plan budget.

This item is for the meeting to receive a progress update on this work.

Kim Thorrington, Youth Worker circulated a brief report outlining proposals to take forward issues relating to young people as raised in the Ward Action Plan.

- He proposed to create a ‘Youth Action Group’ which would be led by young people, not adults.

- It would seek to include the views of young people who generally didn’t take part in organised youth activities.

- In the first instance details of all the facilities which were currently available in the ward would be collated and put on a list.

- Ideas would then be put forward for improving the services available.

Councillor Dempster welcomed the idea and recommended that Kim contact Sue North, Service Manager for Disabled Children to get ideas for the development of services which could be used by disabled children.

At the last meeting of the Community Meeting. It was agreed to set up a Street Cleaning Task Group to identify the specific issues in the ward and come up with proposals for spending the Ward Action Plan budget.

This item is for the meeting to receive a progress update on this work.

Steve Letten introduced the item relating to Street Cleaning. A number issues were then discussed by the meeting.

Beaumont Walk

Nik Krneta, City Warden noted that there were problems with waste in this area and that efforts as part of the recent environment action day were not sufficient and funding for CCTV was being sought to hopefully keep the area clear. Councillor Westley recommended that a bid for funding be submitted to the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership. Although the Neighbourhood Housing Manager was slightly sceptical that CCTV would make improvements to the area.

An environmental action week was also being proposed.

The Parks Officer commented that his team were looking to clear the area, but there was a problem with deep ditches.

Barleycroft Shops

The City Warden informed the meeting that he had visited the shops and tried to engage with the young people he met there. He received abuse and subsequently reported this to Beaumont Leys School.

Councillor Dempster asked that it be found out who owns the shops and they be written to with the request to keep area tidy outside their shops.

The Member Support Officer proposed that a small event be organised with the shops, the school and the healthy living centre to promote keeping the area clean.

It was also requested that the broken steps in the vicinity be repaired.

Bulky Items

Councillor Westley noted that the Council offered a bulky waste collection service. He queried whether this was promoted enough? Barbara Whitcombe, City Warden Manager commented that leafleting had been done in the ward and more was also to be done.

The Poppins

It was noted that was a big problem with littering and dog mess on the grass area at the back of the houses. It was even alleged that Council staff had thrown waste in the ditch. The Chair commented that this shouldn’t be happening. A resident offered to pick litter up himself if the filled bags were collected. It was requested that efforts be made to provide bins in the area and other measures be considered to help prevent the littering.

Prosecutions

The Chair queried whether any prosecutions had taken place for fly tipping / littering. The City Warden Manager stated that, none had taken place to date, but there were 20 cases pending. The Chair welcomed this.

-Patchwalk – Glebelands / Taverners Road

The Member Support Officer reported back to the meeting about a ‘patchwalk’ which local Councillors had attended last September.Most of the issues, such as clearing of litter, dog fouling and cutting back greenery had now been dealt with and those that hadn’t were largely due to issues where ownership hadn’t been established. The Ward Councillors would be writing to residents in the area and informing them of the progress.

Councillor Dempster commented that this had been a worthwhile exercise and offered that she and her co-Councillors would go to other areas, which covered two or three streets, to look at the problems which existed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chair invited the City Warden Manager and the Beaumont Leys City Warden to give a presentation on the activities of Environmental Services in the Beaumont Leys ward for the past six months. This included details of the fly tipping issues which had been tackled, the introduction of powers in relation to problems caused by dogs. He also noted that there had been improvements around Bennion Nature Pools and Beaumont Lodge Nature Garden. Information was provided with regard to levels of street cleaning, graffiti and recycling.

Residents raised the following issues:-

Trolleys from Tesco

- Residents noted that there was still large numbers of trolleys being dumped in the Beaumont Leys area.

- PC Martin Birch noted that this issue had created a great deal of frustration. He did however note that he had a contact who would come and clear trolleys away.

- The Chair requested that investigations be made as to whether fines could be levied upon Tesco because of their trolleys littering the area.

- A resident suggested that a Tesco representative be invited to the next meeting of the Community Meeting to discuss the issue.

- The City Warden Manager said that Tesco would be introducing a new system of restricting trolleys at the edge of their boundaries in the near future, which would hopefully deal with some of these problems.

At the last meeting, crime and anti social behaviour was identified as a key problem for the ward as part of the ward action plan. It was agreed to work with the Joint Action Group to identify ways of addressing concerns in the ward.

This item is to give an update on progressing on this issue.

PC Martin Birch outlined for the meeting the crime figures for the Beaumont Leys Ward. Overall he noted, compared to the city as a whole, the ward was not a high crime area and that crime was not rising overall.

Motorbikes

- One of the major issues for both the Police and the public was the illegal use of motorbikes by young people on parks and pathways.

- Many residents outlined experiences they’d had where they’d faced danger or anti social behaviour from motorbike riders. One resident noted that his daughter had been hit by a motorbike.

- PC Birch outlined the difficulties which the Police faced in trying to catch people on motorbikes. They were generally going fast and could make their way down walkways, therefore they could evade capture.

- PC Birch urged people to let the Police know if they knew of people who kept motorbikes at their properties, where they stored them and any other details. This intelligence could be acted upon and the bikes could be seized. He also noted that it wouldn’t be possible for Police to chase the riders on quad bikes.

- It was noted that there was a particular problem with motorbike riders entering Osprey Road. Councillor Westley commented that there would be a patchwalk in that area in the near future. It was suggested that kissing gates could be looked at to prevent access.

Representatives from the Beaumont Sports Consortium, who are looking to develop a wide range of facilities on Beaumont Park, have been invited to give the meeting an update on progress of the development of these facilities.

David Hemsley from S&P Architects was present at the meeting to give a brief presentation on the progress towards the development of the Beaumont Sports Complex.

David outlined what was proposed at the complex. This included five a side football, cycling facilties and speedway.

A new pavilion in the park was also proposed; this would be free for community use during the day.

There would also be an education facility, similar to only one other in the city, which was very well used. 

He felt that there would be a wide range of benefits, such as health, well being, employment, economic, tourism, community development, education, engaging young people and the provision of a well designed facility.

The timetable to be followed included securing planning approval, private investment and British Cycling investment. It was intended for the facility to be ready for the 2010 speedway season.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer will give the meeting a brief update on the current budget position.

There have been no budget requests received at the time of producing this agenda.

If there are any late budget requests, which Councillors agree to consider at the meeting, they will be circulated at the meeting.

It is expected that a budget application will be forthcoming regarding a pathway in the Beaumont Lodge area.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer introduced the Community Meeting budget item. He detailed what the breakdown of expenditure had been up until the meeting and what was proposed.

The following budget requested were considered as follows:-

Football Fun Week

This item was to report that £400 was approved by Councillors as an urgent item to support the football fun week held in February 2009 from the Ward Action Plan budget.

Developing the Youth Priorities Identified in the Ward Action Plan

This item was a budget request for £4000 to support the work of the Youth Action Group created by the Community Meeting. The Youth Action Group would report to the Community Meeting on regular basis on its activities including how the money was being spent.

This application was approved. Members also indicated that they wished to support the Youth Action Group with any of the remaining funds in the Ward Action Plan budget. Steve Letten indicated that this would increase the amount to around £5000. (exact figure £5,262)

Pilot Training for New Members and Improve Existing Pilots

This item was an application for £408 to purchase equipment for the Beaumont Leys Flying Club, who fly remote control planes and helicopters. The equipment would be used to assist with the training of new members.

This application was approved. Members also indicated that they wished to support this application up to £500.

Provision of New Improved Path – Beaumont Lodge Nature Garden

This item was an application for £1405 to provide a new stone, timber edged path through the existing nature garden, linking Astil Lodge Foot Path (‘Black Pad’) with Beaumont Lodge Shopping Centre.

This application was approved.

On a related matter, a local resident commented that Leicester in general was poor at submitting bids for lottery funding and recommended that more people do this.

The Member Support Officer also requested that the Councillors give their approval for him to allocate the approved funding from the correct budget fund. This was approved.

Neighbourhood Housing Office – Action Plan

Marie Murray, Neighbourhood Housing Manager reported that the Housing Office, as part of their action plan had considered tenants satisfaction with the condition of local streets. She asked the meeting whether they agreed with the proposal to increase satisfaction by 3% in approval ratings.  This was agreed for inclusion in the action plan.

INFORMATION SHARING – ‘CAROUSEL’ SESSION

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

Ward Councillors

Local Ward Councillors were present and available to discuss local issues.

Area Housing Office / Housing Repairs

Officers were present to provide advice on local housing matters.

Grounds Maintenance / Parks

Officers were in attendance who were responsible for the maintenance of hedges, grass verges, trees and local parks.

Community and Healthy Living Centres

Details were available regarding the local services that were provided.

Police

Local Police were in attendance for residents to raise matters of concern.

Sure Start

Details were provided of the local services which were available.

Beaumont Sports Centre Complex

Representatives were present to give information about the proposals for a range of new sports and leisure facilities in Beaumont Park.