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Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Beaumont Leys Library, Beaumont Way, Leicester LE4 1DS

Contact: Laura Burt. Ward Community and Engagement Officer. Tel 454 1876.Email  laura.burt@leicester.gov.uk  Anita James. Democratic Services. Tel: 0116 4546358 Email:  anita.james2@leicester.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

25.

INTRODUCTIONS

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.

Minutes:

Councillor Westley, Chair for the meeting led introductions and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

There were no declarations of interest.

26.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Ramila Dhobi, Neighbourhood Housing Team.

27.

ACTION LOG pdf icon PDF 875 KB

The Action Log of the previous meeting is attached and Members will be asked to confirm it as an accurate record.

Minutes:

The action log of the previous meeting held on 4 October 2017 was agreed as an accurate record.

 

Progress on actions:

John Calvert Court

The housing association owners of John Calvert Court had previously indicated their intention to demolish the building and put forward proposals for a new development but no plans had been seen.

ACTION: CEO to contact the housing association to ask what their plans for the site were and to request that they arrange a meeting with ward councillors and public to update and consult on their proposals.

28.

WARD COUNCILLORS FEEDBACK

UniverWard Councillors will provide an update on issues within the ward.

Minutes:

Councillors reported that:

·       Patchwalks had been conducted across the ward with housing officers, the frequency of ongoing Patchwalks would be reviewed and it was likely that future Patchwalks would only take place during spring and summer months as people were less inclined to engage during the winter months.

·       Councillors continued to try and support community activities within the ward

·       Additional councillor surgeries had been arranged to listen to concerns of residents across the wards.

Details of Councillor Surgeries as follows:

Beaumont Leys Library, Beaumont Way, LE4 1DS

First Saturday of each month 10.30am - 11.30am

All Councillors in rotationMarch - Councillor Rae Bhatia, April - Councillor Waddington, May - Councillor Westley etc,

 

E2 Training Centre, 2-4 Home Farm Close LE4 0RU    

Each Friday 11.00am – 12 noon

Councillor Waddington – NB: No surgery 30 March, 6 April and 29 December 2018

 

Barley Croft Community Centre, Malham Close, LE4 0UT (from 16 March 2018)

Each Friday 9.00am – 10.00am

Councillors Rae Bhatia and Westley – NB: No surgery 30 March, 6 April and 29 December 2018

 

·       A new food bank had been created to fill a growing need in Beaumont Leys and help people in crisis referred from agencies or by workers in the area who worked directly with children and families that needed support. The Food Hub was operating from the E2 Training Centre at Home Farm Square and distributed food on Fridays from 11am to 2pm. It was also hoped that a food kitchen could be set up to help local people with cooking skills.

·       Litter complaints continued to be received for areas across the war in particular Lismore Walk and the Home Farm area. Regarding Lismore Walk there was some improvement near the school who had engaged in litter picking and Matalan had arranged to remove flytipping near the car park but there was still a lot of litter on piece of land that no-one had claimed responsibility for and work continued to address the issue.

·       Expressions of gratitude were forwarded to the housing department who during very bad weather had dealt with over 500 calls to properties regarding frozen boilers and lots of families without heating and hot water. Engineers had worked around the clock to deal with backlog of calls and councillors were very grateful for all their hard work.

·        In relation to proposals to introduce a bus lane along Groby Road, Councillors understood that funding had been procured from the government but the proposed works were not scheduled this financial year. Councillors had sought assurance that before this was brought into any programme of works that Councillors, residents and road users should be consulted. Councillors had also asked for details of the benefits of a bus lane being introduced there.

29.

UNIVERSAL CREDIT

To provide information and invite discussion on Universal Credit.

Minutes:

Bharat from DWP gave an outline of Universal Credit during which it was noted that:

·       Universal Credit is being introduced in stages across UK, the Live date for being introduced to Leicester will be 13th June 2018,

·       Universal Credit is 6 benefits all rolled into one and replaces child tax credit, income support, housing benefit, income-based Jobseekers Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Working Tax Credit,

·       Initially Universal Credit will be for new claimants or anyone who has a major change to their claim,

·       Target 2022 for all claimants to be migrated onto Universal credit,

·       Universal Credit was operated through a fully digital service and measures were being put in place to support customers making claims,

 

In response to questions it was noted that:

·       New claims took 5 weeks to be processed for payment however if certain criteria were met claimants could ask for upto 100% advance on payments

·       Repayment of advances was taken over a 12 month period.

·       Availability of an advance was identified during the online application process

 

Concerns were expressed that other authorities had seen a link between the introduction of Universal Credit and a significant increase in build-up of rent arrears leading to increase in evictions. Bharat responded that processes were being put in place offering support where required to avoid issues of debt/evictions arising. The DWP were working with partners, support groups and local councils to provide the support necessary.

 

Concerns were also expressed that council resources were stretched and the burden of support should not fall from DWP onto the council.

 

It was commented that Universal Credit was paid direct but a lot of people in receipt of benefits had poor financial management skills. Bharat reiterated that DWP was doing its upmost to work with providers and councils to support vulnerable people to avoid issues arising.


ACTION all to note that further details about Universal Credit can be obtained from the DWP website.

30.

HOUSING UPDATE

A housing officer from the local housing team will provide an update on housing works and issues within the ward.

Minutes:

Alison Morrish, Neighbourhood Housing Officer provided an update on matters across the Beaumont Leys Ward.

 

It was noted that:

·       The number of ASB incidents across Beaumont Leys had reduced since the last meeting and compared to the same period last year,

·       The Environmental Budget was being put to good use and a large programmes of works had been scheduled including new bin areas, fencing, new cladding on houses in Lime Grove Close area,

·       Flytipping continued to be an issue across Beaumont Leys and several areas had been targeted for clean ups including Bishopdale Road, Bishopdale Close, Beaumont Leys Close.

·       Open space at bottom on Beaumont Leys Close was to be gated to prevent flytipping and a playground was to be installed.

 

Concerns were expressed about the issue of flytipping and the drain on resources. The Skip Scheme that had operated successfully in the area some years ago and prevented flytipping occurring to the extent it did now was discussed and Councillor Westley asked officers to explore the feasibility of reintroducing a Skip Scheme across the ward.

ACTION: Ramila Dhobi/Alison Morrish to explore feasibility and cost effectiveness of introducing a skip scheme with a comparison of the costs incurred in clearing fly tips in the Beaumont Leys Ward.

 

Councillors expressed their gratitude towards the Beaumont Centre management for the steps they had taken in improving community areas and addressing issues such as litter.

31.

SECTION 106 FUNDING pdf icon PDF 227 KB

To provide information on Section 106 funds in the Beaumont Leys Ward.

Minutes:

An officer was not available to present this item, however an information sheet was circulated to those present at the meeting (as attached).

32.

CITY WARDEN UPDATE

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

Minutes:

Charlotte Glover, City Warden provided a brief update on issues across the Beaumont Leys Ward and circulated an information leaflet to those present on steps taken since the last meeting.

 

It was noted that:

·       Flytipping at Pankhurst Road – this had been cleared and the person responsible identified from CCTV leading to a successful prosecution had followed,

·       Work was ongoing with Matalan to clear car park and walk ways in the Lismore Walk area.

·       Home Farm littering – City Warden now had a list of contact details for areas that were not covered by the council cleansing services dept.

·       Keep Britain Tidy Clean up event would be taking place on 20/3/18 and 15 local schools would be taking part.

 

ACTION: Invite Cleansing Services Team officer to future meeting to provide an update on their work across the ward.

 

33.

POLICE ISSUES UPDATE

Officers from Leicestershire Police will be at the meeting to provide an update on local policing matters across the Beaumont Leys Ward.

Minutes:

Sgt Ian Parker gave an update on local policing issues across the Beaumont Leys Ward.

It was noted that:

·       Last year the city had recorded 18 murders and there had been 4 murders so far this year.

·       Officers from Beaumont Leys had been involved in assisting with the Hinckley Road incident.

·       An individual had recently been dealt with by the Crown Court for deliberately running over 2 people in the Butterwick Drive area last September.

·       Police continued to work with groups to provide reassurance in the area.

·       Overall crime statistics showed an increase of 20% however changes to the way in which incidents were reported had impacted on those statistics and there was some fluctuation.

·       Amadis Close burglary – police had made an arrest following identification from CCTV footage

·       Knife point robbery in January – police had identified an individual who had been arrested, charged and remanded into custody.

·       Knife Crime Reduction Initiative was continuing, police had developed strong links with schools and visited to present talks and classroom interventions. Habitual knife carriers were being monitored and visited.

 

The meeting was reminded that police held regular Beat surgeries on alternate Fridays at the Home Farm Neighbourhood Centre, next to BLM Mosque.

 

The Chair thanked the Sgt Parker for the update.

34.

COMMUNITY WARD BUDGET

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

 

 

An update will be given on the community ward budget.

Minutes:

The Community Engagement Officer informed the meeting that Councillors had supported the following applications since the last meeting:

 

·       Saturdads - £490 supported towards annual Christmas party

·       Saturdads Utd - £497 supported towards 6-a-side football league 17/18 season

·       Christ the King Church - £500 supported towards Food Bank and cookery training

·       Bling - £360 supported towards youth action supporting homelessness

·       The Cooke E-learning Foundation - £400 supported towards creation of an art space/workshop

·       Beaumont Lodge Neighbourhood Association - £800 supported towards self-defence for all project

·       Cameroon Leicester Association - £500 supported towards Cameroon National Day event

·       Girls World - £374 supported towards school lunch club dance programmes

·       Stocking Farm & Beaumont Leys PCC - £500 supported towards Reality youth bus at Home Farm

·       Angels and Monsters - £117 supported towards young parents workshops

·       Belgrave St Peters Primary School - £500 supported towards an outdoor learning and resilience programme

·       Irish Cultural Activity Programme - £800 supported towards workshops with local schools/senior citizen groups

·       Beaumont Leys Ward Councillors - £1000 supported towards producing a newsletter for distribution across the Beaumont Leys Ward.

 

To note:

Community Ward Budget Allocation 2017/18: £18,000

Total balance remaining 7/3/18: £0

 

Recipients of previous ward funding briefly addressed the meeting:

 

Saturdads had put money received towards a successful Christmas party tailored for the children but to also say thank-you to all those involved with the group and making it a success

 

Saturdads Utd were putting money received towards membership of powerleague which was a 6-a-side football league, the group had now reached an agreement with De Montfort University to use the Beaumont playing fields for a set time.

 

Stocking Farm and Beaumont Leys Parish Churches were using funding received to 1. provide cookery lessons supporting those who used the foodbank, 2. provide a Reality bus for young people in the area to access.


ACTION: Beaumont Leys Ward Newsletter to be circulated by email to all bid applicants.

 

 

35.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Minutes:

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.10pm