Agenda and minutes

Councillor Desai was elected Chair for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Mustafa Kamal, Sgt. Danny Graham (Leicestershire Police), Cynthia Mackay (ERNA) and Martin Fletcher and Ed Kocik (Leicester City Council).

The first main item on the agenda is Declarations of Interest where Councillors have to say if there is anything on the agenda 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.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

Councillor Chaplin disclosed an Other Disclosable Interest in respect of the discussion that was to take place around Leicester’s City of Culture Bid as she was a City Of Culture Champion in Leicester.

The minutes of the previous Stoneygate Community Meeting, held on 2 july 2013, have been circulated, and Members will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the Stoneygate Community Meeting held on 2nd July 2013 be confirmed as a correct record, subject to the following amendments:

Minute 5 – Matters Arising

(A) Heading should read – Former Varsity PH.

i)          Minute 5 - Matters Arising

            (A)       Former Varsity PH

It was reported that an appeal by Sainsburys against the City Council’s decision to refuse a premises licence was to be heard in Leicester Magistrates Court on 15^th and 17^th October.

ii)         Minute 6 – Subsidised Bus Services

Councillor Chaplin that, although a number of City Council subsidised bus services, or part services were to be cut, the 81 service (Leicester City Centre – Highway Road via Evington Road) would not be affected.

iii)        Minute 7 – Cleaning of Evington Brook

It was reported that the planned clean-up would take place next year with an update due to come to the next meeting.

iv)        Minute 8 – Police and Community Safety Update

The Chair requested that a written report, setting out the statistical information, be provided for circulation.

The City Mayor will be attending the meeting to give an update on the City of Culture Bid.

Sir Peter Soulsby, City Mayor attended the meeting and gave a brief presentation that gave an update on the City’s bid for City of Culture 2017 status.

Sir Peter reported that 11 cities had submitted a bid in the first round and these had been shortlisted to a final 4 cities, of which Leicester was one. Much work had been undertaken by a team of staff, in conjunction with various partners, to ensure that the final bid put in was good. The team included people that had been involved in the previous successful Liverpool bid.

The key features of the first bid were identified as follows: -

·         The vision for Leicester 2017

·         The artistic vision

·         The principles of the Programme

·         Build-up opportunities

·         The legacy for Leicester

·         Step changes

·         Phase 2 bid process (Bid to be submitted by 5.00pm on Monday 30^th September)

·         Objectives for UK City of Culture

·         Engagement and Consultation

Sir Peter stated that the hardest part would come after Leicester had been awarded City of Culture 2017 status. At this point engagement with communities across the City would commence to ensure that the ideas put forward were put into action.

In response to a comment from a member of the public regarding quality of some street lighting and levels of public transport within the City Sir Peter stated that the City Council were looking to replace some of the current street lights with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Regarding powers to specify the quality, frequency and type of bus services within the City these powers were available to the Mayor of London but not elsewhere.

A member of the public stated that the levels of cross bonding of communities across the City was not currently that successful and there was a desire to see localism promoted, it was important that links within communities were important. Sir Peter stated that a lot of good things were happening in Leicester and work on cohesion/bonding was work in progress. It was intended to use the City of Culture bid to build on some of the City’s achievements.

A member of the public questioned whether there was likely to be any consideration given to support wider communities to gain access to community facilities. Sir Peter stated the City recognised the inconsistencies across City Wards regarding the provision of community facilities and, in order to gain a strategic overview of the current position, a review had been started.

A member of the public questioned the legacy left in Leicester, following the year of the City of Culture, what would be left in the City after 2017 that had not been in place prior to 2017. Sir Peter stated that the City of Culture status would be used to raise the profile of Leicester, create more jobs and create more sustainable facilities in the City, together with better use of existing facilities.

A member of the public questioned how the City of Culture Bid was being funded. Sir Peter stated that the cost was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Officers will be in attendance to respond to parking and traffic issues identified on Evington Road.

Councillor Chaplin stated that this item followed on from previous discussions and also followed the Patchwalk held on 19^th August 2013. Sue Castle, representing Traffic  Enforcement attended the meeting to respond to issues raised.

Sue reported that, over the previous 3 months, some 167 visits had been made to Evington Road by Traffic Enforcement Officers and this had resulted in just over 30 tickets had been issued. Vehicle Driveaway tickets were in the process of being introduced to combat those drivers who have parked illegally and had driven off before a penalty ticket could be issued. Currently, in Leicester if a vehicle was parked on a double yellow line subject to no restrictions, there was a requirement that there was a 5 minute observation time prior to issuing a penalty ticket, hence the implementation of a Driveaway Ticket.

Parking outside schools was a problem across the whole City and work was being carried out by the Police at several schools whereby officers were working in liaison with the schools and parents in an effort to dissuade them from parking initially, followed by letters to individual parents, then leading to penalty tickets being issued for failure to follow advice given. It was hoped that this would be rolled out across the City. Further problems of parent parking were around the parking in bus stop bays and this had been raised at the Bus Users Panel.

The Chair questioned how many enforcement officers actually patrolled Stoneygate on a regular basis. Sue stated that this would vary on a daily basis and was dependant on the staff rotas for a particular day. The plan was that the City Centre was patrolled every day and the surrounding areas were covered on a rota basis, some 3 visits per week.

Councillors Desai and Chaplin stated that they would put in a request to try and get the 5 minute observation period changed and also request that an observation day at Mayflower School and Evington Valley school be undertaken by traffic enforcement officers. It was further stated that Wards bounding the City Centre and not subject to Residents Parking had permanent car parking problems that needed addressing.

Rupert Bedder, representing Highway Maintenance reported that he had recently been liaising with local Ward Councillors to assess what work was required and had identified plenty of issues relating to drainage and provision of bollards to prevent parking in certain locations.

Residents Parking Schemes were under consideration on several streets in the area, including Kimberly Road and Evington Valley Road. Footway maintenance was planned for Stanley Road. Victoria Avenue was to be adopted as a public highway and issues around street lighting on Evington Footpath would be looked at. Following the Patchwalk officers had been asked to look at amending the existing one-way systems on the south side of Evington Road and look to introduce a similar system on the north side of Evington Road. The speed cushion on Kimberley Road was to be looked at with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Ward Councillors will provide an update from the Patchwalk held on 19^th August 2013.

Copies of the notes of the Patchwalk held on 19^th August 2013 were circulated at the meeting.

RESOLVED:

                        that the notes of the Patchwalk be noted.

Representatives from the Local Policing Unit to attend the meeting to give an update on local policing issues.

Pc. Charlotte King and Pc. Jasmin Johnson attended the meeting and provided an update on local policing issues.

It was reported that 2 Local Beat Officers were permanently allocated to Stoneygate along with 5-6 other officers that, although allocated, were able to visit at times when not required elsewhere.

Since 2^nd July the main activities for the Police in the area had been: -

·         Drugs raid in Bartholomew Street

·         Several arrests across area

·         Drugs offences and further arrests

·         Liaising with City Council regarding extension of No Drinking Zone

It was reported that there were 2 Local Beat priorities in the area: -

·         ASB Issues

·         Looking to maintain high level police presence on Evington Road

Local police were also supporting the Road safety Unit at schools in an attempt to stop parking outside schools.

It was suggested that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicester and Leicestershire should be invited to attend a future Community Meeting. It was further suggested that information regarding the setting up of a Neighbourhood Watch be also brought to the December meeting.

It was reported that there had been a number of ASB issues around Devana Road and it was requested that this was picked up by the Police beat officers in order to prevent a spiralling problem.

RESOLVED: -

                        i)          that the information be noted

                        ii)         that the Police and Crime Commissioner be invited to                                                attend a future Stoneygate Community meeting

                        iii)        that information regarding the setting up of a                                                    Neighbourhood Watch be brought to the December                                        Stoneygate Community Meeting.

The City warden to provide an update.

Darren Evans attended the meeting and provided an update of the work he had undertaken since the last meeting.

Darren apologised for work that had not been carried out as promised, such as the Cedar Park Clean-up. The Clean-up would happen, but it just needed more time to put the arrangements in place.

Darren stated that he would be giving a full presentation on forthcoming changes to the City Warden Service at the next Stoneygate Community Meeting in December, this included the gaining of additional powers.

Darren stated that he had ben addressing a number of issues on Mere Road, including fly-tipping and the feeding of birds. All properties in the area with a rear entrance had been leafleted about fly-tipping and litter problems and, following an inspection earlier in the evening, no litter or fly-tipping had been observed on Mere Road and only 8 wheelie bins were on the street, the day before collection day.

RESOLVED:

                        that  the information be noted.

Kalvaran Sandhu, Scrutiny Support Officer, reported that the current balance remaining in the Ward Community Meeting budget was £14,557.

The following applications had been received since the last meeting and, following advice received the decision on all three applications is set out below: -

                                                                                                                           £

i)          Somali Advice and Information Services (SOMINFOS)        1,424

Application received to enable the empowerment of inexperienced Somali male and females who are unemployed.

ii)         Somali Advice and Information Services (SOMINFOS)        1,395

Application received to enable empowerment of inexperienced Somali male and females who are unemployed.

iii)        Leicestershire Somali Women and Families Association   1,670

Application to part fund 26 sessions to enable Somali women and families to meet and to socialise.

RESOLVED:

                        that the 3 applications be Refused for the following reasons:-

·         The Community Meeting has previously funded advice sessions that were similar to the applications received

·         There needs to be greater collaboration of all of these projects

·         The project lasts 26 weeks which goes against the criteria that this fund is used for one-off projects and it does not seem sustainable

·         All the other Wards have turned down the applications therefore the project may not be viable with just Stoneygate Ward funding

·         The applications have been referred to our advice services in the Council to see how they can work with the applicants.

The following applications were tabled at the meeting: -

iv)        Exotics 60 Plus Group – Building Renovation                       3000

Application received  to part fund the renovation of a building on the Ajani Centre site to provide meeting, event and general space for several groups.

RESOLVED:

that the application be deferred to enable further information to be obtained from the applicant around the actual use of the funding applied for.

v)         Stoneygate 2 Youth Club                                                             710

Application received to fund the purchase of some keyboards, board games and to help provide additional craft activities and female boxing.

RESOLVED:

That the application be supported to a maximum of £1000.

Councillor Chaplin suggested that £1,500 was being ‘ring fenced’to provide larger litterbins on Evington Road and £500 to fund a poster campaign for shops in the area, regarding the disposal of litter.

RESOLVED:

                        That the ‘ring fencing’ of £2,000 as outlined above be                                    agreed.

Dates of Future Meetings

3^rd December 2013

4^th March 2014.

December Meeting

It was suggested, and agreed, that the Agenda for the December meeting would comprise the following: -

·         Lord Mayor’s Appeal (café style meeting room setup to allow stalls to be included allowing the sale of items in support of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal to be accommodated.

·         Play Street in Knighton – street closure achieved and women responsible will be attending the meeting to explain how this was achieved

·         Evingtion Brook – clean up

·         City Warden

·         Feedback from Ward Budget

Please Note:

Since the meeting St. Philips Centre, Evington Road has been booked for the 3^rd December 2013 meeting of the Stoneygate Community Meeting.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 8.52pm.