Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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.

There were no declarations of interest. 

The record of the meeting held on 15 December 2008 is attached and Councillors are asked to agree that it is a correct record.

This next part of the agenda covers items where input from you on issues that affect your community is welcomed.

The record of the meeting held on 15 December were agreed as a correct record.

Paul Commons, Transport Development explained that a petition containing the names of 400 objectors had been received in respect of there-opening of the Melbourne Street / Melbourne Road junction to vehicular traffic.  He stated that the Council’s Planning and Development Control Committee would now make a decision based on all of the evidence that had been put forward. 

A Member of the Public stated that the recent road maintenance work had led to increased congestion during peak times, particularly along Melbourne Road. 

Councillor Dawood reported that additional streets would be considered to be included in future phases of the programme. 

The local City Warden will be present to provide an update of environmental services work in the Spinney Hills Ward.

Barbara Whitcombe, City Warden Manager gave an update on environmental services work in the Spinney Hills Ward.  Barbara circulated the latest Spinney Hills environmental services newsletter. 

She summarised the incidents that had been reported to cleansing services and reported that 2 out of the 22 abandoned vehicles in Spinney Hills had been removed.  It was also stated that there was a high level of satisfaction with street cleanliness inspections.  However, it was acknowledged that the total number of pest control incidents was high in relation to the city average. 

Barbara explained that there had been problems with residents obstructing public footpaths with domestic rubbish bins, and appealed for such incidents to be reported to the Cleansing Team, who could authorise fixed penalty notices for such behaviour. 

Steve Chang-Leng, City Warden for Spinney Hills and Stoneygate was also in attendance.  He informed that meeting that he had been recently been taking photographs of vehicles for sale on streets as this had been a particular problem.  Steve added that it was difficult to altogether prohibit the sale of vehicles on streets as the law states that the transaction of money had to occur on the street to constitute an offence.  However, traders could be punished for displaying an illegal advert under the Town and Country Planning Act. 

A Member of the Public stated that they had witnessed a clear reduction in the amount of litter on footpaths since the introduction of the City Wardens, and wished for the positive effect to continue. 

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.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer will present the Spinney Hills Community Meeting Budget. The following applications have been submitted.

·        Balanbal Development Association–Community Event, £434 - Appendix B1

·        Kidmah Organisation – Kidmah Men’s’ Community Event, £3,500 – Appendix B2

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer introduced applications for funding from the Community Meeting budgets.

Steve outlined the position of the three separate budget streams, and stated that there was £2,333 remaining in the Ward Community Fund with £2,000 and £5,477 left in the Community Cohesion Fund and Ward Action Plan Fund respectively. 

The applications were dealt with as follows:

1)                 Balanbal Development Association – Community Event – request for £434

To cover the cost of room hire, refreshments and speaker expenses for a community event.

AGREED: £434 to be funded from the Ward Community Fund, with photographs and minutes of meeting to be submitted to the community Meeting.

2)                 Kidmah Organisation – Men’s Community Event – request for £5,850.

To fund a community based celebration of the community living in the area which will be celebrated through a sports and social activities day.

            It was noted that the applicant had also sought funding from other             community meetings.

AGREED: £3,000 to be funded from the Ward Action Plan Fund.

3)                  African Heritage – Carnival Procession – request for £800

To hold three neighbourhood meetings, including room hire, speaker costs, co-ordination, publicity, evaluation report and filming

AGREED: That the application be not supported at this stage and further information be requested from the applicant. 

4)              Ansaar - Special Olympics Community Project – request for £2,300

To help integrate, recognise and value contributions of people with Learning Disabilities in the wider community. 

Part of the application was for internal staff recruitment.  The Chair stated that this could not be funded by the community meeting. 

AGREED: £1,000 to be funded from the Community Cohesion Fund

5)               Mr Ismail Saleh – CKI Cohesion Strategy – request for £7,500

To stage a community event for 2500 people.

Councillors encouraged the applicant to submit a similar proposal to neighbouring wards where club members resided. 

AGREED: That the application be not supported at this stage, but that the community meeting has a strong desire to support next year.

6)                 KAINE Management Group – Multi-cultural Awareness Project – request for £998

To organise a cultural awareness day, comprising of two workshops. 

AGREED: That the application be not supported at this stage, but that the community meeting has a strong desire to support next year.

7)                 Leicester Swahili Speakers Association – Swahili Socio-Economic Awareness Event – request for £580

To fund venue hire, volunteer expenses, publicity and refreshments for this event.

AGREED:  £580 to be funded from the Ward Community Fund

8)            Phoenix Supported Housing – Community Cohesion Workshops –             request for £2,900

To fund tutors, resources, costumes, marketing, photography and room             hire for the workshops.

AGREED:  £566 and £741 to be funded from the Community Cohesion             Fund and Ward Action Plan provided that some of the workshops take     place in the Spinney Hills Ward.

9)                 Shubaan – Hire Charges for HYCC – request for £1,500.

To fund hire charges of Highfields Youth and Community Centre for 30 weeks.

It was noted that funding half of the requested amount should  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

The Chair will outline the position in terms of electing community partners.

Councillor Dawood explained that the process of considering potential community partners was ongoing and encouraged further applications to be submitted.

The Chair agreed to accept several items of urgent business. 

1.                  Petition re Prostitition and Drug Trafficking in the Maidstone Road area of Highfields.

A petition was submitted in respect of problems around prostitution and drug trafficking in the Maidstone Road area of Highfields.  Several Members of the Public commented that the police were not quick to respond to such issues.  It was also felt that the problems had escalated recently.

The Chair agreed that a letter be sent on behalf of the Community Meeting to Inspector Shane O’Neil that detailed the concerns of local residents and councillors in relation to the problems of prostitution and drug trafficking in the Mansfield Road area.  It was agreed that the letter would also request the police to attend the next Community Meeting to provide a response to the petition.

2.            Temporary loss of power to shops on St Saviours Road

      As Member of the Public stated that the power supply to shops on St Saviours road was lost on 9 February, and was not restored by the supplier EON for two days.  It was reported many businesses lost a large amount of income due to the loss of power supply and that EON did not respond to the many complaints made by those affected.  The Councillors agreed to write to Peter Soulsby MP to state their concerns in respect of these events. 

            RESOLVED:

That a letter, on behalf of the Community Meeting, be sent to Peter Soulsby MP in respect of the recent loss of power supply to shops on St Saviours Road and the response to the occurrences by EON.

3.         Pest Problems

A Member of the Public informed the meeting that there had been an increase in problems with mice infestations within the tower blocks on the St Peter’s Estate.  In response to this, Kamina Rughani, Neighbourhood Housing Manager acknowledged that the infestations posed a significant problem, but that the Council had allocated resources to fund block treatments, and that all of the tower blocks on the estate had been treated for cockroach infestations.

The meeting closed at 8:10pm.