Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Vi Dempster was chair for the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

The first main item on the agenda is Declarations of Interest where Councillors have to say if there is anything on the agenda 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 may have in the business on the agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applied to them.

No declarations were made.

The minutes of the previous Beaumont Leys Community Meeting, held on 1 September 2010, are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the previous Beaumont Leys Community Meeting held on 1 September 2010 be agreed as a correct record.

There will be a brief presentation outlining the current situation with regard to the City Council budget and some details about the effects of forthcoming budget reductions.

Jerry Connolly, Member Support Officer gave the meeting an overview presentation on matters relating to the current Council budget process.

-          Details were given about government cuts which had meant there was a need for Council budget cuts on a large scale.

-          Jerry outlined what the cuts would mean for the city, such as the cancellation of city centre regeneration projects.

-          It was noted that the Council received it’s funding. This was mostly from Government grants; also he explained how its expenditure was divided up for different services.

-          Details were provided of the measures which were being undertaken by the Council, such as looking at which areas to cut and the impact that would be faced.

-          In summary, Jerry noted that the Council had no choice but to make cuts, which would have a major impact on services across the city, but were seeking to protect the most vulnerable people.

Following the presentation Councillor Dempster made a number of points

-          Due to the number of lower rateable value houses in the city, the city received a comparably lower amount of its funding from Council tax, compared to other areas, such as Leicestershire.

-          Details of funding from the government had been received late and information has been incomplete.

-          A large amount of preparation and actions had already been undertaken in anticipation of these cuts.

-          The main focus was making reductions on back office functions and reviewing the numbers of support staff – whilst protecting frontline services.

-          Also being considered was the merger of services where there was overlap and using buildings for more than one service, such as happened at Barleycroft School.

Councillor Westley also made the following points, mainly with regard to housing:-

-          The government were now clawing back large amounts of rental income, as ‘negative subsidy’.

-          The government were also requiring Councils to increase rents at an average of 6.8%, but the City Council keeping this level to 5.9% and a commitment to maintaining the decent homes standard, which the government had removed.

-          Details were currently being considered with regard to the Government’s planned five year tenancies.

-          He noted that a number of other rules were being changed, such as the age increase from 25 to 35, for new single tenants, being able to claim housing benefit levels for a flat, rather than a room in shared house.

-          As Cabinet Lead, he had taken a decision to the expenditure of some local capital funding at Community Meetings.

-          As a result of the changes to housing rules, it was felt that homelessness would rise in the city.

Residents asked questions / made comments about the following matters:-

The government wanted people to take more responsibility for their areas, but would grants still be available to support initiatives?

In housing, it was noted that Supporting People and Supporting Tenants and Residents funding had been stopped, but the city Council was considering whether such support could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

A representative from Voluntary Action Leicester will give the meeting an indication of the likely impacts of future budget reductions.

Kevan Liles, Chief Executive of Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (VAL) gave the meeting a brief presentation on the view of the voluntary sector with regard to the forthcoming budget cuts.

-          VAL supported 1000 voluntary groups in the city from small to very large.

-          The Big Society – this was felt to be a branding exercise and that real voluntary activity was firmly already in place, and it would continue regardless of any particular government initiative.

-          It was generally felt that the Big Society was a means for making budget deficit reductions, by getting public sector roles undertaken for free, such as job clubs for the unemployed.

-          There were no resources to support the public having a greater say in decisions (ie planning permission), no planned structure to it.

-          As a community activist, Kevan felt that people would always help other people in need of a service. As an organisation VAL would always seek to help organisations and communities make a difference, particularly in this era of cuts.

-          20% cuts to funding couldn’t be made through efficiencies, but 80% funding still remained and political choices needed to be made about how that money was spent.

-          It was felt that there needed to be a fundamental rethink about how services were structured – the voluntary sector could help to make a smaller amount of money go further by running services cheaper and reflect what the community wanted better.

Questions / comments were raised as follows:

A resident noted that he was a member of the Friends of Castle Park, he queried whether this organisation could run the park?

Councillor Dempster responded to this question. She pointed out that it was an attractive idea to have groups run parks. There were however a number of complicated practical issues. There was an issue of timing where cuts would need to be made to free up resources to pay for the new arrangements because it would take time and effort to put new arrangements in place. The alternative would be to ‘twin track’ to allow new and existing arrangements to run alongside each other for a time, but this would cost additional money. There was also a concern about how fixed the arrangements could be if the park was run by volunteers or a community group; for example, people may move away from the area. It wasn’t impossible that services could be run by community groups, but there were difficulties with it.

Councillor Dempster also responded to the point regarding the voluntary sector being able to run services cheaper. Again, she pointed to the requirement to ‘twin track’ whilst arrangements changed. Also, where a small grant is given to a ward based organisation, if that is multiplied by 22, for each ward in the city, the amount soon builds up.

It was commented that enthusiasm in community groups was often there at the beginning of a project, but often groups would get smaller as people lost interest or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

There will be a brief presentation on the work of this young people’s project.

Kim Thorrington, Detached Youth Worker introduced three young people who came to the meeting to inform about their roles and the work carried out by the UR Choice Young People’s Project.

Simon – Board Member

-          The project was an independent project run entirely by young volunteers which started in April last year.

-          Being a board member was about being involved in a group in the local area.

-          The group was able to make changes and improvements in the local area.

-          He felt that being involved was good experience for his future career prospects.

Sophie - Chair of the project board

-          The aim of the project was to work with young people to develop projects to meet their needs and raise achievements for 13-19 year olds.

-          Up to 25 year olds were supported where they had particular needs.

-          Young people would lead the projects and they oversaw drop-in sessions each week.

-          A football group had been set up.

-          Sophie felt that the project was relevant because this was a key time for young people who were going through a difficult transition.

Tasha - worker on the project.

-          Since the project started 168 young people had been contacted.

-          Projects and sessions had taken place to inform young people how to stay safe whether that was in relation to sexual matters or drink /drugs. There had also been sessions on leadership.

-          Consultations had taken place with young people to seek their views on the things that mattered to them. Arising from this it was planned to do some work on issues related to gangs and violence, but also relating to identity in a multicultural society.

-          It was hoped that a café could be set up, which would involve disabled young people.

-          Generally it was hoped that the project would play an active part in the community.

Councillor Dempster commented that this was a great project. She noted that a similar project called Street Vibe had been operating in Braunstone. When the statutory service was reduced, the project was contracted to undertake more work. It was hoped that this model could be extended to projects like UR Choice. Projects like this were better able to be flexible and adapt quicker to local issues. She hoped that the project would continue its good work.

Sergeant Rich Jackson and PC Martin Birch will give an update on recent Police initiatives, successes and current developments.

Sergeant Rich Jackson gave the meeting an update on Police activities and successes.

There had been three key areas of focus for the Police in recent months.

-          Joint operations with the Fire Service at the Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre.

-          Astil Lodge Road area – problems with young people buying eggs and flour; this would be tackled over the next two weeks.

-          Butterwick Drive – an ongoing drug problem. There had been evictions and convictions in relation to this as well as the confiscation of the proceeds of drug dealing.

Residents requested that efforts be made to publicise the convictions of drug dealers to send out a message of no tolerance of this kind of behaviour. It was noted that the Leicester Mercury did look at the Police website where this information was published.

Cllr. Westley reiterated the Council’s willingness to evict tenants where there were drug problems. Sergeant Jackson said that this was welcome in support of the actions they undertook.

The issue of dog fouling was raised. It was felt that there should be publicity about fines which were given out for this. Barbara Whitcombe commented that details of court cases relating to this were provided to the Leicester Mercury, but they rarely reported on it.

It was requested that both of these issues be considered for inclusion in the One Neighbour Magazine.

A resident also raised concerns about the Black Pad which had particular problems with dog mess left in bags lying about. There were also problems with vandalism and poor lighting. It was requested that the Member Support Officer investigate the possibility of getting bins installed on the Black Pad.

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.

Members will be asked to consider the following budget applications:

Application 1

Applicant:       Barleycroft Youth Centre Young People Group

Amount:          £400

Proposal:       Production of Christmas Play

Summary:       The Youth Centre members have worked on a drama demonstrating the issues that have affected them on the Beaumont Leys Estate. The money will fund costumes, stage hire and transport.

Application 2

Applicant:       UR Choice Young People’s Project

Amount:          £6,660

Proposal:       Youth and Community Café at Home Farm Neighbourhood Centre

Summary:       The Youth Group would like to open a community café which will be open to the general public. This will be run with support from youth workers and will be open in the evenings and at weekends for young people to drop in. There will be opportunities for young people to obtain food hygiene certificates and other work experience and personal development.

This will also provide local young people with somewhere to go, to receive support and advice along with opportunities for getting involved in developing their own ideas for projects within the area.

It will be open initially for two sessions a week, one for community and one for young people. Once it is up and running and young people have gained their food hygiene certificates, it is intended to open the café more days in the week. The café will be advertised throughout the community with flyers, local partners and local media.

The funding will be used to cover kitchen improvements and equipment, training, advertising and provisions.

Application 3

Applicant:       Mrs Denise Richardson

Amount:          £80.40

Proposal:       Start up of a coffee morning for the Beaumont Leys community.

Summary:       To be held at Barleycroft Living Centre on Mondays 10.00am to 12.00pm, and would be open for anyone who wishes to attend. The coffee morning will be advertised in the community area.

The money will cover the cost of venue rent for three weeks.

Fast Tracked Applications Approved

The following applications were considered under the fast track process as they were under £500 and they were generally of an urgent nature and required a prompt decision. The meeting is asked to note the applications.

Application 4

Applicant:       Barleycroft Evergreen Club

Amount:          £500 (£925 requested)

Proposal:       Theatre Cost and Coach Travel

Summary:       The money will be a theatre trip and coach travel, to enable members to go out on a traditional Christmas lunch.

Application 5

Applicant:       Unity Boxing Club

Amount:          £300 (£400 requested)

Proposal:       The money will cover the purchase of new boxing gloves.

Summary:       Due to high membership current gloves are wearing out and more are needed.

Application 6

Applicant:       Barley Croft Primary School

Amount:          £450

Proposal:       The school is proposing to have a special community event,  linking up with the Barley Croft Healthy Living Centre and the Barley Croft Youth Centre.

Summary:       Over 400 people will be coming from  ...  view the full agenda text for item 34.

Councillors were requested to consider the following budget applications:-

Application 1 – Barleycroft Youth Centre Young People Group

This was an application for £400 for the production of a Christmas play.

RESOLVED:

that as the event did not go ahead, it would not be formally considered for approval.

Application 2 – UR Choice Young People’s Project

This was an application for £6,600, to set up a youth and community café at Home Farm Neighbourhood Centre.

The Member Support Officer reported that further work would be undertaken with this project to explore other ways of finding funding for this project as it was a substantial amount. It was also felt that it needed to be explored whether this was the correct venue for this project.

RESOLVED:

that the application be deferred for further discussions about other funding opportunities and venues.

Application 3 – Mrs Denis Richardson – Coffee Morning

This was an application for £80.40 to start up a coffee morning for the Beaumont Leys community, with the money being used to cover the venue hire at Barleycroft Healthy Living Centre for three weeks.

Councillor Dempster commented that it was often difficult to get events like this started up and that it should be investigated whether a rent free period could be provided.

RESOLVED:

that further work take place to explore whether a rent free period could be provided at the Healthy Living Centre.

Late Application

It was noted that a late application had been received from Beaumont Lodge Neighbourhood Association for £2,500 for some award ceremonies and some first aid training. This application was not considered as there was not enough funds left in the budget to support it.

Fast Tracked Applications

The following applications were included on the agenda for formally noting as they had been agreed by Councillors in between meetings under the fast track process.

Application 4 – Barleycroft Evergreen Club

This application was for £925 for a theatre trip, coach travel and a Christmas lunch.

This project was supported at £500.

Application 5 – Unity Boxing Club

This application was for £400 to cover the cost of boxing gloves.

This project was supported at £300.

Application 6 – Barleycroft Primary School

This application was for £450 to support a special community event, linking up with the Barleycroft Healthy Living Centre and the Barleycroft Youth Centre.

This project was supported at £450.

Application 7 – Income Management Team, Leicester City Council

This application was for £300 to support the ‘Stay Warm, Stay Solvent’ event at the Beaumont Leys Neighbourhood Centre which provided residents with a range of advice on money matters, benefits and other support.

This project was supported at £300.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 2^nd March 2011.

The date of the next meeting would be Wednesday 2^nd March 2011.