Agenda and minutes

Councillor Dr Chowdhury was elected to Chair the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mohammed Dawood.

There were no declarations of interest. 

The minutes of the previous Spinney Hills Community Meeting, held on Monday 4 July, have been circulated and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

 

In respect of minute 39 ‘Police and Community Safety Update’, it was confirmed that Grove Road was covered by the Spinney Hills and not the Hamilton Local Policing Unit.

 

RESOLVED:

                        That subject to the amendment detailed above, the minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2011 be agreed as a correct record.

Steve Letten, Service Manager, Admissions & Exclusions, Leicester City Council, will be in attendance to provide a brief over view of the School Admissions service.

Steve Letten, Service Manager, Admissions & Exclusions, Leicester City Council, was in attendance to provide a brief overview of the School Admissions service.

 

Steve’s presentation included the following points:

 

·         The timetable of applying for a school place for the 2012/13 school year was described.  It was made clear that offers would be made to parents by the week-beginning 16 April 2012.

·         In respect of starting junior school, parents would only need to apply for a junior school place if their child was in Year 2 of an infant school, but that there was no automatic right for a child attending an infant to school to transfer to any junior school. 

·         Parents were encouraged to apply now for children currently in year 6 who would be transferring to secondary school in Autumn 2012.  The deadline for this was 31 October 2011. 

·         General Application Forms had to be completed if parents wished to transfer their child’s school mid-term.

·         A robust set of criteria was used for allocating pupils to a particular school with priority given firstly to children in care of the local authority. 

·         Parents were asked to indicate three preferences when applying for schools.  It was stated that it was vital for applicants to rank the schools in an order of preference.

·         Late applications were considered after those received on time.  This often resulted in such applicants not receiving places at their preferred schools. 

·         An independent appeals panel was in place to consider cases of those who did not receive their preferences. 

 

Further clarity was sought on the appeals process.  In particular, it was enquired who formed the panels.  In response, Steve confirmed that the panels were operated independently by the Council’s Legal Services division.  As they were independent to the Admissions and Exclusions teams, it was made clear that the appeals panel were permitted to overrule initial decisions.  Steve agreed to provide further information in relation to the composition and powers of the independent schools appeals panels. 

 

A question was asked in respect of the percentage of applicants who were allocated their first preference.  In response, Steve confirmed that 85.5% of applicants were allocated their first preference for secondary schools last year and that 93% in total were allocated one of their first three preferences. 

 

RESOLVED:

            That further information be provided in relation to the composition and powers of the independent schools appeals panels

Officers from Environmental Services will be in attendance to give a presentation on the new orange bag recycling scheme, which is shortly to be implemented across Leicester.

Mark Porter, Biffa Operations Manager, was present and gave a presentation on the new orange bag recycling scheme, which was shortly to be implemented across Leicester.

 

Mark stated that the new orange bag scheme would replace the existing green box recycling scheme, which had generally low participation rates.  There were restrictions around permitted contents of green boxes, whilst residents could place several types of recyclables into the new orange bag. 

 

Mark explained that a pilot study for the scheme had taken place within four areas of Leicester, and following its success, a decision had been taken by Cabinet to extend the scheme to the whole of the city. 

 

Although most properties in Leicester would receive the service by October, Mark explained that the programme could not be immediately rolled out to the whole of the City and that the programmes would be phased over the next twelve months to include all properties in Leicester.

 

A resident enquired how a new roll of bags could be obtained.  In response, Mark explained that a sticker was included towards the end of each roll of bags which residents were asked to attach to their next bag to request an additional supply of bags.  It was also confirmed that there was not a limit to the number of bags a resident could fill per week.

 

It was further reported that although the day of the week in which collections were taken would not alter, the time of the day for collections could potentially change. 

 

Following a question, Mark confirmed that it was not planned to remove any existing recycling banks in Leicester.  

Officers from Regeneration, Highways and Transport will be in attendance to give an update on the issues raised at the previous meeting and to discuss any new matters.

Chris Middleton, Traffic Management, Leicester City Council, was in attendance to provide a brief update on Highways matters.

 

Chris reported that progress had been made in respect of the removal of double yellow lines along Gwendolen Road, between Dorothy Road and Gedding Road.  He explained that a number of different lengths of parking restriction along Gwendolen Road had been removed during recent years.  In terms of the new proposed removal, Chris stated that the work would be advertised on 3 October 2011, and that a three week period for objections would commence from this date. Should there be no objections put forward to the proposal, it is likely that work would commence in January 2012. 

 

Councillor Dr Chowdhury explained that the ward councillors had received a number of enquiries from residents during recent months around parking and traffic concerns in the Gwendolen Road area, and that this proposal encompassed some of the issues raised with the councillors. 

 

Yagnesh Antunes, City Warden for Spinney Hills, will be present to provide an update on his recent activity in the ward.

Yagnesh Antunes, City Warden for Spinney Hills, was present to provide an update on his recent activity in the ward.

 

Yagnesh stated that he had spent a significant amount of time tackling nuisance parking along East Park Road.  Notices would now be placed on offending vehicles. 

 

It was noted that instances of fly-tipping had remained constant over the past few months, and that he had recently issued three penalty notices.  A number of fixed penalty notices had also been issued for littering offenses on Melbourne Road. 

 

Yagnesh explained that he had posted leaflets through letterboxes to promote the Council’s bulky waste collection service with the aim of deterring residents from dumping large items.

 

It was acknowledged that there was significant dog fouling on Cank Street, Derwent Street and within Spinney Hill Park.  Residents were encouraged to report instances of dog fouling which occurred on the  public highway to the Council’s customer services.  In order to curtail the problem, Yagnesh confirmed that he had increased his patrolling in the early morning when such offenses were more likely to occur. 

 

A resident stated that there were problems with the amount of waste being left outside a particular shop on the corner of Dronfield Street and Mere Road.  Yagnesh agreed to investigate this matter and to talk to the businesses concerned. 

 

A resident raised concerns in respect of the level of cars parked for sale along East Park Road and stated that many had been situated there for several weeks.  Yagnesh confirmed that this was illegal and agreed to investigate this matter the following day.   

 

The meeting heard that Yagnesh was to leave his position of City Warden for the Spinney Hills Ward.  The Councillors paid thanks to him for his work undertaken within the ward. 

 

 

Officers from Spinney Hills Local Policing Unit and the Community Safety Team, Leicester City Council, will be present to provide an update on policing, community safety and anti-social behaviour issues in Spinney Hills.

Sergeant Chohan was in attendance to provide an update on policing, community safety and anti-social behaviour issues in Spinney Hills.

 

Sergeant Chohan raised awareness of the website www.police.co.uk website which provided information about crime and policing within particular local areas, and provided an insight the places where crime frequently occurred. 

 

The meeting was informed that several arrests had been made in connection with anti-social behaviour that had occurred at Spinney Hill Park, and with regards to the significant disorder which took place on the St Peters’ Estate, Sergeant Chohan explained that up to seventeen people would potentially be charged as a result. 

 

It was explained that instances of anti-social behaviour along Grove Road had declined following the installation of the alley-way gate which was partly supported by the Community Meeting. 

 

It was acknowledged that there were sports facilities within the ward (including ball courts) which were under-utilised, and it was generally felt that more work was needed to encourage young people to participate in sporting activities, in an effort to reduce the numbers of young people who congregated on streets. 

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.

 

Anita Patel will give an update on the latest position with the Community Meeting budget.  A copy of the Spinney Hills Ward Meeting Budget is attached for information.

 

The following applications for grants are submitted for consideration.

 

Application 1

 

Applicant:      Mr Andrew Roberts – Sequence Carnival Troop

 

Amount:         £2,000

 

Proposal:       Caribbean Carnival 2011

 

Summary:     The carnival is celebrated annually to coincide with the Emancipation of Slavery, and is a celebration of freedom for all ages, gender, religions and race groups.  The Troop bring different communities together to build positive relationships.  The Carnival usually attracts 60,000 spectators and businesses.

 

                        This year we are looking to raise the performance, costumes and participation.

 

                        Sequence Carnival Troop has been running for five years now and in that time we have attended 35 carnivals across the country. 

 

                        The application is for materials for making costumes.

 

Application 2          

 

Applicant:      Highfields Community Association

 

Amount:         £6,000

 

Proposal:       Caribbean Carnival 2011

 

 

Summary:  please see overleaf.

Application 3

 

Applicant:      The Stoneham Project

 

Amount:         £539

 

Proposal:       Life Skills Training

 

Summary:     The project targets homeless people who primarily but not exclusively live at Swithland House, Lincoln Street.  The central idea is to 7 clients who wish to take part.  The training will offer a wide range of life skills to help them access further training, work and a move to their own accommodation.  All aspects of the course would be accredited. 

 

 

Application 4

 

Applicant:      Build Community Development

 

Amount:         £500 (from each of Coleman, Spinney Hills and Stoneygate wards)

 

Proposal:       Play-scheme in the Park

 

Summary:     The event will be held in Spinney Hill Park on 27^th July 11am till 3pm.

 

                        The aims of the event are;

 

a)            To engage with young people from the wider area

 

b)           Develop togetherness and a sense of belonging through activities that challenge young people physically, socially and emotionally.

 

c)            To promote integration and celebrate diversity within the wider community.

 

d)           To improve overall health and mental wellbeing by promoting physical activity within BME communities.

 

e)           To promote the local park, its facilities and activities to the wider community.

 

f)             To encourage activities that promotes cohesion between networks of people and their families.

 

g)           To develop local partnership working to identify and address issues affecting local communities.

 

 

h)           To promote physical activity and improve overall health and wellbeing of the communities of Leicester.

 

 

 

The aim of Build is to engage with and influence positive behavioural changes amongst young people within the wider areas. The young people we are targeting do not engage with mainstream services, this event will encourage inter active participation through fun & challenging activities. This event gives us the opportunity to engage with those young people in an informal and comfortable setting as well as developing a rapport.  The activities are chosen to involve young people in educational and recreational activities that  ...  view the full agenda text for item 52.

Anita Patel, Member Support Officer to the Spinney Hills Community Meeting gave an update on the Community Meeting budget.

 

Anita reported that the budget for the year was £15,000.  To date, a sum of £3,953 had been spent leaving a remaining budget of £11,047.

 

Anita explained that ten funding applications had been received and had been included on the agenda.  Councillors had considered the applications in detail prior to the meeting.

 

1)    Caribbean Carnival 2011– Sequence Carnival Troop

 

Amount requested: £2,000

 

It was explained that this application had been deferred from the previous meeting. 

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be rejected.

 

2)    Highfields Festival Event – Highfields Community Association–

 

Amount requested: £2,000 from each of Spinney Hills, Castle and Stoneygate Wards

 

 

RESOLVED:

that the application be supported to the value of £1,000.

 

 

3)    Life-skills Training – the Stoneham Project

 

Amount requested: £539

 

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be rejected.

 

4)    Play-scheme in the Park – Build Community Development

 

Amount requested: £500 from each of Spinney Hills, Coleman and Stoneygate wards.

 

Anita explained that a new date had been set for the event since the application was submitted.  In light of this, the Councillors had proposed to defer consideration of the application. 

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be deferred following the re-scheduling of the event.

 

 

5)    Education and Confidence Building – Upper Tichbourne Homeless Hostel Residents Group

 

Amount requested: £1,200

 

RESOLVED:

That the funding application be deferred following the re-scheduling of the event and that the application be forwarded to the Stoneygate Ward members for their consideration. 

 

6)    Boxing Club Equipment – Champion Boxing Club

 

Amount requested: £1,120 from each of the Spinney Hills and Stoneygate Wards.

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be supported to the value of £1,000.

 

7)    Summer Holiday Scheme– African Caribbean Centre

 

Amount requested: £1,500

 

            Anita reported that this scheme had already taken place, but that the Councillors had agreed to fast-track a sum of £500.

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be supported to the value of £500.

 

8)    Football Club for Victoria Park – Leicester Zim Warriors Football Club

 

Amount requested: £360 from each of the Spinney Hills, Beaumont Leys, Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields, Castle and Westcotes.

 

            Anita reported that this scheme had already taken place, but that the Councillors had agreed to fast-track a sum of £360

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be supported to the value of £360.

 

9)    African Caribbean Achievers Awards – African Caribbean Citizens Forum

 

 

Amount requested: £2,000

 

RESOLVED:

that the funding application be supported to the value of £500 on the condition that this be spent on trophies for the event.

 

10)  Community Family Fun Day – Highfields Rangers Football Club

 

Amount requested: £1,000

 

Anita explained that bid was for compensation for an event which was unable to take place.  It was stated that community grants could not be used as recompense and that the club was also based in the Rushey Mead ward.

 

RESOLVED:

That the funding application be rejected.

 

            Following the pledges made by Councillors at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

There will be Spinney Hills Community Meetings on the following dates:

 

Monday 28 November 2011

Monday 12 March 2012

It was noted that future Spinney Hills Community Meetings would take place on the following dates:

 

Monday 28 November 2011

Monday 12 March 2012

 

The meeting closed at 7:58pm.