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 Tuesday 10 March 2009 are attached to these agenda papers and Councillors will be asked to confirm them as a correct record following any comments that residents may have.

Please note, if people who presented items at the last meeting are present, they will be asked, where possible, to give a brief update on matters discussed.

Minute 9 – Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour

Osprey Road Area

- Residents raised concerns about kissing gates having been installed off Osprey Road. It was hoped that consultation would’ve taken place with the local Neighbourhood Watch before they were installed.

- Concern was also expressed about the level of overgrowth on the Astil Lodge Footpath. Parks Officer Stefan Cabaniuk agreed to look into getting this cut back.

- The Chair noted that a patchwalk had taken place in the local area and a range of issues were being addressed. A meeting of those who attended would be convened in the future and they would be updated. It was intended to invite Neighbourhood Watch representatives.

Illegal use of motorbikes

- A range of concerns were raised and Councillors agreed to have this as a substantive discussion item at the next meeting.

- PC Martin Birch explained about the current Police tactics, which were being used against the illegal use of motorbikes. He noted that there had been a number of successes taking motorbikes off the streets in recent weeks.

- PC Birch further commented that the best way for the Police to stop illegal motorbikes was for them to receive good quality information from local residents about where the motorbikes were being kept. The Police could then go and confiscate them.

- A resident spoke positively of what he thought was a recent reduction in problems with motorbikes.

Minute 6 – Youth and Children’s Working Group

- Kim Thorrington, Youth Worker, Widening Participation outlined for the meeting a number of projects he was progressing with the funding provided by the Community Meeting, as follows:-

- Social support group for young people who experience mental health issues, supported to £500.

- Youth Action Group, to develop young people to have more of a say in the political processes that affect their lives, supported to £500.

- Support for young parents, such as first aid training and a camping residential which would include educational and fun activities and networking opportunities. This is to be supported to approximately £1000.

- ‘Last chance’ programme for young women in danger of criminal behaviour – to include visits to prisons and Young Offenders Institutions.

- Setting up a football team in the ward – funding for kit and facilities hire.

- Young people ‘mentoring’ adult service providers in the ward to let them know of the issues affecting them. 

- An Independent living project, teaching young people life skills.

The Chair commented that there should be an agenda item at a future meeting to have feedback from the projects which were funded.

Councillor Dempster suggested to Kim that the City Council’s Children and Young People’s Services could pay for Criminal Records Bureau checks which needed to be done. She also suggested that the Primary Care Trust could assist with funding for the mental health project.

Representatives from the City Council’s Regeneration, Highways and Transportation Department will give a presentation on traffic related issues in the local area.

Mark Wills, Head of Transport Strategy was in attendance at the meeting to give a presentation on the Council’s Highways and Transport services and facilities.

The presentation covered the following areas:-

Parking Problems – much of the city was built without cars being taken into account. Strategies to address this were verge hardening and laybys, residents’ parking schemes, and parking enforcement.

Speeding Traffic and Road Safety – strategies to address this were traffic speed surveys, vehicle activated signs, safety cameras, traffic calming, pedestrian crossings and reduced speed limits. Leicester was one of the first areas to introduce 20mph speed limits.

Public Transport – it was noted that the Council had limited control over bus services as they did not own them, but the Council had regular discussions with bus companies and the Council did provide subsidies for certain routes which were not profitable.

The Condition of Roads and Paths – there was now a rapid response team which could be called out to deal with urgent problems.

Residents raised the following issues following the presentation:-

- The roundabout at the junction of Bennion Road / Heatherbrook Road was felt to be in the wrong place. People would often go around it in the wrong direction and there had been a number of accidents on it.

- It was commented that the traffic on Anstey Lane could be very bad and was likely to get worse as a result of the Ashton Green development. It was felt that Transport Officers should be able to comment on these proposals. Mark commented that Transport Officers were consulted, but they couldn’t stop developments. There would be 25% growth in housing in the city and he felt the best way of addressing transport problems was better public transport.

- It was felt that there should be consultation on the proposed chicanes on Bennion Road. The Chair commented that there would be full consultation.

- The situation with ‘The Black Pad’ was considered to be problematic as there seemed to be a range of different agencies with different responsibilities for maintenance. The Chair agreed that it was frustrating as ward Councillors faced the same problems. It was felt that the Path was un-adopted, probably because the Council had not taken it on from developers due to uncompleted legal issues.

- A concern was expressed regarding the level of satisfaction of service provision for bus users. It was further queried whether the comments of the community were taken into account when deciding routes, ie for suitability to get to doctors / dentists etc. Mark commented that Mori undertook surveys for the Audit Commission on bus services and there was currently 70% satisfaction rate. The Council would raise issues with bus companies about where to provide services, but they were under no obligation to provide them if they weren’t profitable. 

- Concern was expressed about Gipsy parking on Bennion Road.The Chair commented that before Gipsy’s could be moved on, there would need to be assessments undertaken and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Nicola Newman from the City Council’s Customer Services will be present to give details of the Customer Services which are available for local people.

Nicola Newman from the City Council’s Customer Services was present at the meeting to give information about the different ways in members of the public could access the City Council’s services.

In a brief presentation, Nicola informed the meeting of the ways in which people could contact the Council:-

- By visiting one of the five Customer Service Centres.

- By telephone to the Customer Service Lines (Mon – Sat, 8am – 8pm)

- By using the ‘Telly Talk’ interactive service at Beaumont Leys Library.

- By the Internet, www.leicester.gov.uk, providing many online services

- By email to customer.services@leicester.gov.uk

- By post to:

Leicester City Council

Customer Services

Leicester City Council

Welford Place

LE1 6ZG

It was aimed to respond to any queries within five days and it was aimed to find a resolution to any Council based query.

Nicola agreed to look into a question emailed to Customer Services send by a resident.

The Chair noted that any complaints, which were submitted to the Council were monitored by an Assessment Panel. Where there were a number of complaints about an issue, action would be taken.

The Chair thanked Nicola for her attendance.

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

The meeting will consider the following budget applications:-

B1) Beaumont Town Football Club – an application has been received for £332 for football kit.

B2) Bennion Pools Angling Club and Friends of Bennion Pools – an application has been received to fund dog waste refuse.

B3) Football Fun Week – an application has been received for £2000 for costs associated with the football fun week, such as staffing, trophies, promotional material etc.

B4) Heathley Park Annual Gathering – an application has been received for £300 for costs associated with the annual gathering ie bouncy castle, food and drink, newsletter etc.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer gave the meeting a brief update on the current situation with the Community Meeting Budget.

He noted the final position with regard to the financial year 2008/09. He outlined the projects which had been funded. He also detailed the funding which was left. There was no money left in the Ward Action Plan fund, £37 in the Ward Community Fund and £1200 in the Community Cohesion Fund. The Council’s Cabinet needed to confirm whether funds left from the previous financial year would be available to spend in this year.

He also noted that there was new funding available for the current financial year of £17,000. This was £10,000 for the Ward Action Plan fund, £5,000 in the Ward Community Fund and £2000 in the Community Cohesion fund.

The following bids were submitted to the meeting for funding:-

- Beaumont Town Football Club – an application for £332 for football kit.

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported.

- Bennion Pools Angling Club and Friends of Bennion Pools – an application had been received to fund dog waste refuse bins. Councillors requested that more details needed to be obtained regarding the costs and the servicing of the bins.

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported up to £500 to get the project started.

- Football Fun Week – an application had been received for £2000 for costs associated with the football fun week such as staffing, trophies, promotional material etc. Councillors sought the views of the residents present, a vote was taken and they were in favour of supporting the Fun Week.

Councillors also commented that would not be willing to support the application in future and expected the Fun Week to produce an exit strategy from using Community Meeting funding.

RESOLVED:

                        (1)            that the application be supported to £1500; and

(2)that the applicant to note the Councillors’ comments as above.

- Heathley Park Annual Gathering – an application had been received for £300 for costs associated with the Annual Gathering, i.e. bouncy castle, food and drink and newsletter.

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported.

- Police – Litter Picking – an application was received at the meeting for £200 to assist with a litter picking day. Councillors said that they wouldn’t consider this application at the meeting as it was received on the day. Councillors and residents commented that they felt it was a good idea.

RESOLVED:

(1) that the project not be supported at this meeting; and

(2)that consideration be given to widening the project in the area.

- Beaumont Lodge – a further application was received at the meeting relating to flower planting around the Beaumont Lodge shops.

RESOLVED:

(1) that the project not be supported at this meeting:

(2)that consideration be given to the project under the ‘fast-track’ procedure, so that it didn’t have to wait until the next meeting.

You are asked to note the following dates of future meetings:-

15 September 2009

3 December 2009

1 March 2010

It was noted that future meetings of the Community Meeting would be held on:-

15 September 2009

3 December 2009

1 March 2010

It is currently anticipated that these meetings will be held at 3.30pm.

Housing Capital Receipts Initiative

Nev Senior, Neighbourhood Housing Manager was in attendance to give details of funding available for ‘capital’ projects.

- £620,000 available across the city for general capital projects, i.e. projects which provided physical improvements to an area (such as fencing or verge hardening) without an ongoing funding commitment.

- £180,000 available across the city for environmental capital improvements.

- Proposals for projects needed to be of benefit to Council Tenants, but not necessarily a bid put in by a Council Tenant.

- Bids were welcomed to be made to the Beaumont Leys Housing Office.

- Officers would work the proposals up, people submitting bids didn’t need to undertake detailed work.

- The decisions on what to spend the money on would be taken by a panel of Council Tenants.

- The deadline would be 15 July for proposals.

Friends of Bennion Pools

The meeting was informed that the Friends of Bennion Pools had won a Green Life Award.

Speedway Stadium

The Chair reported that the planning application would be considered by the Planning and Development Control Committee in the near future.

Beaumont Leys Flying Club

It was reported that the equipment paid for by the Community Meeting had been ordered, but the transmitters were still awaited.

Concern was also expressed that the flying club didn’t have anywhere suitable to fly their planes. A number of suggestions were considered but were mostly felt to be inappropriate. The Chair requested that the Member Support Officer look into contacting the Council’s Property Services to get them to speak to the club about any potential available sites.

Beaumont Lodge Centre

Concern was expressed about security issues at the new centre which was being opened. It was felt that CCTV was required to keep the building safe. It was requested that the Councillors give consideration to using the underspent £1200 from the Community Cohesion budget could be used for this purpose. Councillor Dempster commented that the Council’s Property Services and Community Services had spent a great deal of money on the centre already. There were procedures to go through with regard to the expenditure of the £1200. Councillor Dempster further explained that she was in discussion with the Head of Community Services on this matter.

The Member Support Officer noted that there had previously been some funding allocated at the Area Committee for CCTV at the Centre and he would investigate what the situation was with this money.

The meeting closed at 6.35pm.