Agenda and minutes

The Chair will introduce those present and make any necessary announcements.

The Chair and any other Councillors who are present will make any declarations as required by the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

Councillor Waddington as Chair, welcomed everyone to the Beaumont Leys Ward Community Meeting.  The Chair stated that she hoped that everyone liked the new meeting venue at Beaumont Leys Library and favourable comments were received from attendees.

There were no apologies for absence.

The Action Log is attached for information and discussion.

The Action Log from the meeting held 7 July 2015 was agreed as a correct record.

Progress on the Action Log from 7 July was noted as follows:

Item 3 – the proposed Speedway meeting would be taking place the next day, on Thursday 1 October. Councillors would report back at the next ward community meeting.

Item 5 – Transforming Neighbourhood Services - limited progress had been made on this. However a map of the new Beaumont Leys Ward boundary was attached to the meeting’s agenda.

Officers from Leicestershire Police will be at the meeting to provide an update on police issues in the Beaumont Leys Ward.

PC Craig Smith, from the Beaumont Leys Policing Team, provided an update on policing issues in the area. Attendees were asked to note:

·         Statistics for the last three months, compared to the same period last year, showed that there were fewer burglaries and robberies.

·         Thefts from motor vehicles for the last three months, compared to the same period last year, had fallen from 36 to 10.  PC Smith said this was due to a targeted response from the Police and the results demonstrated the success of this approach.

·         The number of incidents of criminal damage had increased from 69 last year to 106; the same targeted response was being used to tackle this problem.

·         Other issues included anti-social behaviour at Home Farm and Oronsey Close – the Police were working to tackle these problems. For example, there would be an increased Police presence at Home Farm where issues included criminal damage and youth who were congregating and climbing onto the school roof. The Police and their Crime Prevention Officer had been to the school and offered advice on how to prevent people climbing onto the roof. A request had already been submitted for anti-vandal paint and the Chair asked the Neighbourhood Development Manager to chase this up.

·         PC Smith stated that Police Officers were being given mobile phones in order that they could be contacted directly; although the 101 number could also still be used. The Chair asked that the Ward Councillors be given the mobile phone numbers for the relevant Police Officers in Beaumont Leys.

·         There were similar problems at Barleycroft, where there was also an increased Police presence.  They were working with the landlord there who had requested the removal of a wall in an effort to deter youths from congregating there. The meeting heard that the landlord also wanted to create a boundary hedge to separate the school from the public house.

·         A representative from Ur Choice stated that the organisation had worked at Barleycroft and carried out some outreach there. She asked for schools to signpost young people to them.

·         Attendees were asked to note that the next patch walk would take place around Oronsay Close, at the end of October. Anyone was welcome to attend this, if they were interested.

·         The Chair asked PC Smith to let the councillors know if the Police were carrying out any of their own patch walks in the area.

PC Smith was thanked for his update.

The City Warden will give an update on issues in the Beaumont Leys Ward.

Matthew Davinson, City Warden gave an update on the issues he had been dealing with in Beaumont Leys. Attendees were asked to note the following:

·         Most of the complaints received related to fly tipping; these were investigated and passed onto the Cleansing Department. Fixed penalty fines were issued where appropriate.

·         There had been problems with nuisance parking; these mostly related to repairing and selling cars on the highway. The problem had been dealt with and the situation had improved.

·         There had been no reports of dog fouling, though comments were made that this was a problem around Oronsay Close.

Matthew was thanked for his update.

There will be an update on local housing issues.

There was no update on housing issues as the relevant officer was not present. Councillors expressed their disappointment and said they hoped that there would be a representative from Housing at the next meeting.

Councillors commented on a worrying trend relating to evictions; he said that the Beaumont Leys Ward had the highest number of evictions of all the wards in Leicester.

A representative from the Community Advice and Law Service reported that the organisation provided support to people in relation to various issues, including help to those facing eviction. The service was based at Epic House, had a permanent desk at the County Court and also held sessions at the Beaumont Leys Library.  If members of the public were facing eviction, or had similar problems they were asked to contact the organisation for advice.

There will be a feedback session following patch walks that have taken place in the Beaumont Leys Ward.

Attendees were asked to note that the Ward Councillors’ patch walks took place every month around Beaumont Leys.  It was hoped that the whole of the Ward would be covered by the patch walks. Where problems were identified, the Councillors, Officers and the Police tried to solve them straightaway.

Actions included the agreement to install kissing gates around Castle Hill Country Park and Pitchens Close. These would be installed soon. A playground at the park had also been requested but there would be a need to find funding for this.

An opinion was expressed that the Housing Association, Babington College and Beaumont Leys schools were not fulfilling their role in the community as much as they could.  A suggestion was made that the head teachers from the above schools should be invited (one at a time) to the next two community meetings. Attendees were also asked to note that a meeting was being arranged between Councillors and ASRA, as they had homes that were currently standing empty.

The Chair invited residents to contact the Councillors if they had any suggestions for future patch walks.

Councillors are reminded that under the Councillors’ Code of Conduct they should declare any interest they may have in budget applications.

a)    An update will be given on the Ward Community Meeting budget; and

b)    A list of grant applications submitted for consideration at this meeting is detailed as follows:

Babington Community College - Community Cricket

£1716.67 has been requested to install an artificial cricket wicket on school grounds.

Community Advice and Law Service - Advice Sessions

£1500 has been requested to continue to deliver free advice sessions at Barleycroft Community Centre, to people living in Beaumont Leys

Sarah Louise Raymond – Barleycraft Community Computer Pod

£1000 has been requested to purchase four laptops available to the public for use for universal credit, job searches, citizens’ advice etc.

The following fast trick bids have been approved since the last meeting.

Beaumont Lodge Neighbourhood CIC – Community Family Fun Day

£500 has been approved for a family fun day for people living in Beaumont Leys, with food, music and entertainment for all.

Dwight Hove – Maker’s Group

£400 has been approved for a new group that meets at Beaumont Lodge Neighbourhood Centre. The group focus on design, technology and build robots through the use of computers and electronics.

Self Advocacy in Action – Men’s Group – Men’s Health

£500 has been approved to run sessions on health and hygiene for men with learning disabilities.

Councillors were reminded that under the Councillors’ Code of Conduct they needed to declare any interest they may have in budget applications. No such declarations were made.

The Neighbourhood Development Officer gave an update on the Ward Community Meeting budget and stated the following fast trick bids had been approved since the last meeting.

Beaumont Lodge Neighbourhood CIC – Community Family Fun Day

£500 approved for a family fun day for people living in Beaumont Leys, with food, music and entertainment for all.

Dwight Hove – Maker’s Group

£400 approved for a new group that met at Beaumont Lodge Neighbourhood Centre. The group focused on design, technology and build robots through the use of computers and electronics.

Self Advocacy in Action – Men’s Group – Men’s Health

£500 approved to run sessions on health and hygiene for men with learning disabilities.

The following bids were presented at the meeting, after which there was a short adjournment whilst the Councillors made their decision on each funding application.

Babington Community College - Community Cricket

£1716.67 had been requested to install an artificial cricket wicket on school grounds.

It was agreed to support the application in full to the value of £1716.67, on condition that some community events would be held over the next two years, to which the Ward Councillors are to be invited. The full details of this would be arranged after the meeting.

Community Advice and Law Service - Advice Sessions

£1500 had been requested to continue to deliver free advice sessions at Barleycroft Community Centre, to people living in Beaumont Leys.

It was agreed to support the funding application in full to the value of £1500.

Sarah Louise Raymond – Barleycraft Community Computer Pod

£1000 had been requested to purchase four laptops available to the public for use for universal credit, job searches, citizens’ advice etc.

It was agreed to support the funding application in full to the value of £1000.

Late Bid: Ur Choice Young People’s Project – Christmas Event

£500 had been requested for a Christmas event for young people and their families to have a sit down Christmas dinner and hopefully a visit from Santa.

It was agreed to support the funding application in full to the value of £500.

Councillors also proposed that £2000 of the remaining ward budget be spent on a community newsletter which would be delivered to every house in the ward. Attendees indicated that they supported this initiative. It was suggested that the newsletter could include information about the Community Advice and Law Services sessions and also the cricket pitch community sessions once these had been planned.

It was agreed to support the funding application to the value of £2000 for a community newsletter.

Attendees were asked to note that the next Beaumont Leys Ward Community Meeting would be held on Wednesday 9 December.

Intermediate Care Facility

A resident requested information about a rehabilitation centre which he heard was going to be built on a local park.

Councillors commented that they thought this related to a new Intermediate Care Facility which would help prepare elderly people, after their discharge from hospital, to return to their own home. Councillors stated that an area of land had been ear marked for this facility. They offered to find out what was happening and let the resident know.

Funding application from the African Catholic Chaplaincy Leicestershire for organised trips – feedback from the event.

Fr Nwalozie thanked the community meeting for the funding that had been given. He said that the young people were very grateful and had thoroughly enjoyed their trip.

Councillors commented that they appreciated receiving the feedback on the project. They asked that in future there should be a standard item on the agenda for receiving feedback from applicants on the ward funding they had received.

The meeting closed at 7.30pm.