Agenda and minutes

Councillor Lucy Chaplin explained that she would be Chair and welcomed everyone to the Stoneygate Community Meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Kamal. Members of the public queried why he was not present and the Chair explained that he had intended to come but had unavoidable work commitments which had prevented his attendance at this meeting. In addition, Councillor Kamal was also the Deputy Lord Mayor, a role which involved many civic duties and responsibilities which made it difficult for him to attend to some of the Ward issues.

Members of the public questioned the absence of Councillor Desai and the Chair explained that he was currently unavailable. Strong concerns were expressed that Councillor Desai was not present again at the ward meeting, that he could not be contacted and that he did not respond to emails. Comments were made that this was unfair on the local residents as whilst Councillor Chaplin was dealing with nearly all the ward issues on her own, it was felt that the local residents were not receiving the full support from the Councillors that they felt they needed. Members of the community added that this was not a complaint against Councillor Chaplin but asked what action could be taken to improve the situation.

The Chair responded that she would talk to the City Mayor about the concerns raised by members of the community. In addition, she would also ask if an out of office message could be added to Councillor Desai’s email address and enquire as to whether it might be possible to seek some help from a  councillor in another ward with general ward councillor work. 

Councillors were asked to declare any interest they may have in the business on the agenda, and / or indicated whether Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applied to them.

Councillor Chaplin stated that she had no declarations of interest, but she had received copies of the funding applications and these had been considered by her and Councillor Kamal prior to the meeting.

The minutes of the previous Stoneygate Community Meeting, held on 20^th March 2012, are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

The minutes of the Stoneygate Community Meeting held 20 March 2012 were considered and the following comments were made:

Minute item 40 and 46:

Under minute items 40 and 46, an amendment was requested for the ‘Evington Road Residents Association (ERNA)’ to read the ‘Evington Road Neighbourhood Association, (ERNA).

Minute item 46

Under minute item 46, relating to AK Fitness Dance and Drama, Easter Dance and Drama Project, a request was made to add the Resolution to the Budget application minute as follows:

RESOLVED:

                        that the funding application be supported to the value of £400

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the Stoneygate Community Meeting held 20 March 2012, subject to the above amendments, be confirmed as a correct record.

Officers will be attending the meeting to address issues around car parking  and speeding traffic in the Evington Road area.

POLICING UPDATE

Ps Danny Graham addressed the meeting and explained that he was now solely dedicated to the Stoneygate Ward and he worked alongside five Beat Officers and three Community Support Officers.  However a neighbourhood policing review and a shift review were currently in process.  Members of the community were asked to note that the Olympics would result in a drain on resourcing as officers from the Leicestershire Constabulary were being posted to London to provide support for the event.

Ps Graham made the following points:

·         Drugs monitoring had taken place in St Philips Road. Cannabis had been recovered and people were currently on police bail.

·         There had been house fire on St Peter’s Road  - the property in question had been used as a large scale cannabis factory and people had been charged and placed on remand.

·         A new CCTV camera had been placed on Upper Titchborne Street; this was good news as the Police had been trying to some considerable time to install CCTV there.  The Chair commented that she was aware that local residents were very grateful that the CCTV had finally been installed.

·         Lyme Road – arrests had been made in relation to sexual exploitation, trafficking and prostitution. Intelligence in respect of these arrests had come from local officers.

·         The safeguarding of vulnerable adults was now a large part of Police work in the Stoneygate Ward.

·         The Police had had some contact with the Probation Service with a view to arranging for some restorative justice work to be carried out in the Ward.  A clean up in Cedar Road, in conjunction with the Probation Service had already taken place and it was reported that the Evington Road Neighbourhood Association (ERNA) had also held two very successful clean up days. In the light of this, it was questioned whether the Restorative Justice scheme could team up with ERNA and the Chair asked to kept informed on this.

·         Ps Graham had taken a group of young people to the Outdoor Pursuits Centre, off Loughborough Road and the outing had proved to be very successful. Woody Wood commented that the Police involvement with the Evington Youth Project had been very much appreciated.

A question was raised as to the number of burglaries that had taken place in the Stoneygate Ward since January. Ps Graham responded that burglaries were lower in Stoneygate compared to some other Wards. However where there was a ‘spike’ in the number of burglaries, they tended to occur in the South Highfields area of the Ward. He offered to bring some facts and figures to the next meeting. The Chair also asked Ps Graham to bring some window alarms with him and suggested that if members of the community had any concerns they should contact the Police for advice on crime prevention and security.

CAR PARKING PROBLEMS AND ISSUES

Ps Graham then led a discussion on car parking and highway issues in the Ward.  He cautioned that he was unable to resolve all the parking problems  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Representatives from Leicester LINk will be attending the meeting to outline the forthcoming changes in Health and Social Care and of the setting up of 158 Health Watch’s across England who will gather the experiences of local people on health and social care services, but will also have powers to scrutinise and make referrals to Health Watch England and the Care Quality Commission.

John Gater and Barbara Czyznikowska from Health Watch (formerly known as LINk) gave a presentation to the meeting.  This presentation referred to the current changes in Health and Social Care arising from The Health and Social Care Act 2012, which was considered to be the biggest reform of the National Health Service since it began.

The meeting was informed on the principle provisions of the Act which included the change of the Local Involvement Networks (LINks) to Health Watch.  Other changes included the abolishment of Primary Care Trusts, which would become Clinical Commissioning Groups and the formation of Health and Wellbeing Boards.

Members of the community were informed about the Leicester City Commissioning Group and the Health and Wellbeing Board and the liaison work with the City Mayor where social need and aims and objectives were being mapped.  Community representatives and members of the public were asked to contact Health Watch with any areas where it was felt that a gap in service currently existed.  Members of the community were urged to contact Health Watch with their experiences of health and social care.

At this point in the presentation a feedback questionnaire was circulated to the meeting in respect to of the ‘Health Watch Leicester – Interim Vision’.  Attendees at the meeting were asked to indicate whether they agreed with the Vision Statement and the questionnaire included a section for completion where consultees were asked to comment on any suggested alternative wording.  An invitation to the Shadow Board’s engagement event was also circulated.  It was noted that the development of a Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Leicester had begun and the importance of this consultation exercise in the process was expressed. 

At the conclusion of the presentation attendees were invited to complete an evaluation sheet whereby they could indicate what they felt the principle values of Health Watch should be.  As part of the evaluation attendees were also asked to complete their contact details in order that they could be invited to future public meetings. 

The Chair explained that the changes were very important and for the first time the Council would have a statutory brief to scrutinise health and social care. She added that she had raised concerns with the City Mayor relating to customer care at the Glenfield Hospital. These issues included problems for visitors obtaining a cup of tea or coffee at the weekend and the change machines filling up very quickly in the car park so that it was impossible to obtain change to pay to park.

A member of the community also commented that in response to the Government’s proposal to increase consultation appointments to 15 minutes, there would be fewer appointments granted, therefore an increase in surgery times were needed to compensate.  He was asked to pass his details to Barbara as this request could be recorded and submitted. 

A further concern was raised from an attendee who stated that his GP had moved to Oadby from the City and he was unable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

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.

The following applications have been received and are to be considered at the meeting: -

1)         Security Light and Slabbing in rear alleyway                         £720

An application submitted on behalf of residents on Beckingham Road and Evington Road, Leicester, to provide a security light and concrete slabbing in an alleyway at the rear of 5-7 Beckingham Road and 117 Evington Road.

2)         Ajani Women and Girls Centre                                                   £2,550

An application to fund a Summer Playscheme 2012 that will be open and affordable to local children. The Playscheme sessions will run from Monday 16^th July 2012 to Friday 10^th August 2012, 7 hours per day (10.00am to 5.00pm) 5 days per week for four weeks.

3)         Mayflower Primary School – Working with                             £1,070

            Gifted and talented children at the school

An application to fund, during the Autumn term, two Science Workshops and two Art Days for children on the Year 6 and 7 registers. The outcomes will be measured by assessing the children’s attainment and progress and a mural will be produced for display outside the school building.

4)         Community Football Academy                                £250/275 per ward*

An application to fund an Open Evening/Awards presentation on 30^th June at Judgemeadow Community College involving children that have been trained in the Coleman, Evington, Humberstone and Hamilton and Spinney Hill areas, along with partner organisations.

*Funding is also being sought from the Coleman, Evington, Humberstone and Hamilton and Spinney Hill Community Meetings.

5)         Saffron Community Enterprises Ltd -                                       £2,280

            Wednesday Specials       

An application to fund staffing costs for 38 weeks to sustain the Wednesday Specials group, attended by people with special needs, mostly learning difficulties, and all of whom come from Evington Lane. Free use of the room at Southfields Sports Centre has been offered by the City Council, although so far SCEL has been unable to source a funding stream to pay for staffing costs.             

Kalvaran Sandhu, the Member Support Officer to the Community Meeting presented the community meeting budget. Kalvaran explained that as Councillor Chaplin was the only councillor at the meeting, he would contact Councillor Kamal outside the meeting to seek his views on the budget applications.

Security Light and Slabbing in Rear Alleyway

Submitted on behalf of the residents on Beckingham Road and Evington Road, Leicester.

Amount requested £720

Kalvaran explained that Councillor Kamal had indicated that he supported this proposal

AGREED:

that the funding application be supported  to the value of £720 in principle subject to the decision being ratified by Councillor Kamal.

Ajani Women and Girls’ Centre – Summer Play Scheme

Amount requested £2550

Representatives from the Ajani Centre were present to explain the proposal to the meeting. Members of the community indicated that they supported the proposal.

AGREED:

that the funding application be supported to the value of £2000 in principle subject to the decision being ratified by Councillor Kamal.

Mayflower Primary School – Working with gifted and talented children at the school          

Amount requested: £1070

It was agreed in principle not to support this funding application as it was considered that the school should be providing this sort out activity out of their central funding.

AGREED:

that the funding application be not supported, subject to the decision being ratified by Councillor Kamal.        

Community Football Academy – Open Evening / Awards Presentation

Bid submitted to several wards.

Amount requested: £250 / £275 per ward.

It was agreed in principle that this funding application should not be supported as there appeared to be very few, if any, children from the Stoneygate Ward who went to the academy.

AGREED:

that the funding application be not supported, subject to the decision being ratified by Councillor Kamal.        

Saffron Community Enterprises Ltd – Wednesday Specials

Amount requested: £2280

The Chair explained that the funding application did not give sufficient detail to enable Councillors to make a decision, and she proposed that the application be deferred so that more information could be obtained.

AGREED

that it be agreed that the application be deferred for the applicant to provide more information on the proposal.

The meeting closed at 8.06 pm.