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.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were given.

An apology for absence was received from Ms Sara Fletcher, Principal, Babington Academy.

The Action Log of the previous meeting held 20 June 2018 is attached for information and discussion.

The Action Log of the previous meeting held 20 June 2018 was noted.

John Calvert Court site

The Chair asked attendees to note the following update which had been received from Rob Harborn at Sanctuary Housing:

·      The site had come to Sanctuary Housing from ASRA Housing when the two organisations merged. Sanctuary and ASRA had now separated, but Sanctuary had retained the site.

·      The supported living scheme that had operated from the site had closed because Sanctuary did not have any other scheme or offices in the local area.

·      The plan was to redevelop the site and turn it into affordable rented housing. The team were looking to talk to Leicester City Council Housing to identify the type of housing that was most in need (i.e. one bed, two bed flats) and then start the development process.

The Chair said that this was good news and it was agreed to hold a meeting with Housing officers and Sanctuary Housing to discuss what was most needed. Action: Community Engagement Officer to inform the Housing Development Manager.

The Councillors will provide an update on ward related matters.

There was no discussion under this item.

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

Attendees were asked to note an update from PC1899 Peter Brown. Points made during the update included the following:

·      The beat priorities over the last few months remained the same; i.e. drugs, anti-social behaviour and work around the Knife Crime Reduction Initiative.

·      There had been a reduction in complaints relating to people riding motorbikes, but this was usual for the time of the year.

·      The Joint Services Day event on 17 August 2018 had been very successful.

·      The Beat team had hosted a visit from the Police and Crime Commissionaire Lord Willy Bach. Lord Bach had participated in two patch walks.

·      Pc Brown explained that there was a slight reduction in hate crime compared to the previous two years. Of all the hate crimes reported between July and September 2018, the vast majority had a racist element. In response to a question, the meeting heard that the Police would investigate incidents where there was sufficient information and where they believed on balance that a hate crime had been committed. The victims would also be given additional support.

Councillors requested that more detailed crime figures comparing current year to the previous year be brought to future meetings.

A local housing officer will be present to provide an update on housing related issues in the Beaumont Leys Ward.

Attendees were asked to note the Housing update from Marie Murray, the Housing District Manager. Points made included the following: 

·      16 improvement schemes within the Environmental Budget had been approved; 13 had been completed and 3 were in progress.

·      Approval was being sought to improvement schemes for 2019/20. There would be approximately £58k in next year’s budget compared to £64k for 2018/19.

·      There were currently 30 voids.

·      There had been an increase in Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) and neighbour issues during the summer months.  Marie added that Housing statistics differed to the Police statistics as not all cases of ASB escalated to the Police.  An attendee asked whether it would be possible to have a comparison of the numbers of ASB cases in the current year compared to the previous year.

Councillors expressed concerns that in relation to anti-social behaviour relating to noise nuisance, there was a six month wait for the machines that were needed to collect evidence of noise levels.  It was suggested that the wait might be due to a lack of resources. The Chair asked for an officer from the Noise Team to come to the next Beaumont Leys Community Meeting, to explain what the problem was and how the issue could be addressed. Action: The Community Engagement Officer to inform the Noise Team.

Councillor Waddington publicly thanked Ramila Dhobi, the Neighbourhood Housing Team Leader saying that Ramila always responded to Councillor Waddington’s case work emails.

·      An attendee raised a personal issue relating to a family whose privately owned property had been badly damaged by a fire that started in a next door council owned house. Marie said that she was aware that two officers had been dealing with this case, but she would talk to the Director of Housing and take up the issue with the service that dealt with private residentials. The Ward Councillors asked to be kept informed. Action: the Housing District Manager to forward the concern to the Director of Housing and relevant officers.

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

The meeting received an update from Charlotte Glover, the City Warden on street enforcement issues. The City Warden’s written report was circulated at the meeting for information and is attached to the back of this action log. Councillors asked that the report be attached to the agenda so that it would be circulated in advance in future. 

Councillor Rae Bhatia expressed concerns about the time it took for city wardens to respond to issues raised and Charlotte explained that she had three wards to cover. A senior City Warden who was also present responded that many of the issues raised were forwarded onto Cleansing and the wardens dealt mainly with the criminal element and enforcement. Issues relating to private land took a long time to resolve because of the procedures that needed to be followed. There were also times when it was not obvious who owned a particular piece of land, but the different agencies were working together more to resolve issues and complaints.

Councillors expressed some frustration as they said that they and residents could not see that progress was being made. Councillors suggested that they met with the City Warden and Housing officers to progress the concerns raised. Action: City Warden

The Senior City Warden commented that the wardens used to have a priority list of issues that mattered the most to the residents and he suggested that it might be appropriate to re-instate that list.

Gillian Jillet, will be present to provide information about Healthwatch Leicester and Leicestershire.

Attendees were asked to note an update on Healthwatch Leicester and Leicestershire from Gillian Jillet.  Points made included the following:

·      Healthwatch was funded by the Department of Health and its services were commissioned by local authorities.

·      The Healthwatch team (which was very small) attended meetings with the Clinical Commissioning Groups, University Hospitals of Leicester and the Leicestershire Partnership Trust, scrutiny commissions and meetings such as this to listen to and represent the views of residents.

·      Healthwatch carried out ‘Enter and View’ visits to care homes and GP Practices and where appropriate, made recommendations on their findings.

·      They had been instrumental in establishing a NHS emergency dental service which was open days a week.

·      Gillian asked attendees not to be offended if they were unable to make an appointment to see their Doctor, as G.P.s needed to prioritise their workload. Patients might be offered an appointment with a different health professional rather than a Doctor.

·      Anyone interested in volunteering was asked to contact the Healthwatch team, which operated from Clarence House, Humberstone Gate, Leicester. Further information was on their website: www.healthwatchll.com

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 Ward Community Meeting budget.

Attendees were asked to note an update on the Beaumont Leys Community Meeting budget from Punum Patel, the Community Engagement Officer. The following applications had been supported:

·      Cameroon Leicester Association – family day event. £500

·      The Straight Path Resettlement Project Leicester – to support prisoners on release from prison: £1500

·      E2/ The Cooke E Learning Foundation – The Food Hub. £500

·      Bling – Beaumont Leys Spooktacular Event: £500

·      Beaumont Lodge Neighbourhood Association – Senior Citizens Christmas lunch, games and gardening project: £500

·      The Magpie Media Hub – Mirror, Mirror on the Web. £498

·      Stokeswood Allotment Society – improve area around the pavilion. £3000

·      Krishna Bahba – Bench and plaque for my son. £400

·      Maureen Gee – Christmas parties for senior citizens and children. £1000

·      Unity Boxing Club -  New equipment. £500

·      Beaumont Leys Policing Team -  Beaumont Leys emergency services day. £500

·      Cooke E Learning Foundation (t/a E2) - summer holiday activities. £500

·      Bradgate Heights Community Fete – community fete 2018. £401.20

·      Leicester District Woodcraft Folk – Asylum Seeker/ refugee and Woodcraft Folk coming together. £500.

A balance of £4442 remained in the community meeting budget and attendees were asked to note that any money left in the budget by the end of the financial year would not be carried forward this time. In response to a question, Punum said that an application could be made this year for an event in the new financial year.

The meeting closed at 7.01 pm.