Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Scuplak was elected as Chair for the meeting.

The Ward Councillors and officers then introduced themselves to the meeting.

The first main item on theagenda 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.

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.

No interests were declared

The minutes of the Thurncourt Community Meeting held on 5 July 2010 have been circulated and Members are asked to approve them as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2010 were approved as a correct record.

a)      Chrissie Field, Leicester City Council’s Area Housing Manager for Humberstone and Rowlatts Hill, will be present at the meeting to talk about her role.

b)      Suzanne Collins, Property Lettings Manager with Leicester City Council, will give a presentation on the Council’s Choice Based Lettings system.

HOUSING ISSUES

a)     Housing Management and Refurbishment of Properties

Chrissie Field, (Leicester City Council’s new Area Manager for Humberstone and Rowlatts Hill), introduced herself to the meeting, explaining that area management of the City had been reorganised, so that Team Leaders were now the first point of contact on housing matters.  As Area Manager, Chrissie was responsible for writing an Area Plan for her areas of responsibility.  She also had to try to attract external funding to the service, although it was recognised that this was difficult in the current economic conditions.

Chrissie Field then gave an update on the City Council’s kitchen and bathroom refurbishment programme for its housing stock:-

·            Various criteria had to be met, including whether a property was 30 years old or more and whether significant repairs had not been done recently.  Specific repairs were listed in the criteria that disqualified properties from bathroom and kitchen refurbishment;

·            To date, 346 Leicester Standard kitchens and 377 Bathrooms for Life had been installed;

·            As part of the 2010/11 Capital Programme, it was hoped to install 29 further kitchens and bathrooms; and

·            A problem had been encountered with the shape of one type of kitchen in certain bungalows, in that some bathroom space had to be used to accommodate the kitchen.

The following points were made during discussion on this and in response to questions:-

·            Dave Pate, (Director of Housing Services with Leicester City Council), explained that the amount of redecoration grant that was given to people who had had refurbishment work done was reviewed every year as part of the Housing Revenue Grant, although it had not increased for a number of years. It would be considered again this year as part of the budget process;

·            Chrissie Field undertook to find out whether the bungalows referred to above, which had a difficult shaped kitchen, were mixed in with other types of housing, or whether they were all located together;

·            Kitchens usually would be refurbished when properties were void, to avoid disrupting tenants;

·            It would not be possible to let the Council’s workers redecorate properties they refurbished, due to budget constraints.  (The Council had stopped doing internal redecoration work some years ago, which was why the redecoration allowance now was given);

·            Dave Pate explained that, if contractors did not do their work properly, or created problems for tenants, the Council needed to be told about it.  The Council then would consider what had happened and find the most appropriate way to resolve the situation;

·            Tenants were advised by operatives that having three ad hoc items replaced in their kitchen could mean that they had lower priority for a full refurbishment.  The possibility of introducing a standardised leaflet to remind people of this would be considered;

·            If repairs to work were needed within a guarantee period, the Council would do these and recharge the contractor;

·            Cases would be assessed on their individual merits when requests for work were receoved.  Each case was given points based on need and work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Officers will be at the meeting to discuss Highways and Transportation issues, including:-

a)           Road Re-surfacing – Leicester City Council’s general policy, including short-term pothole repairs and longer-term resurfacing works;

b)           Traffic Calming in Nursery Road;

c)            Accidents at the junction of The Parkway and Havencrest Drive; and

d)           Relocating the unused bus shelter in Bowhill Grove

a)     Road Re-Surfacing

Alan Adcock, (Head of Highway Maintenance with Leicester City Council), gave a presentation on Highway Maintenance, a copy of which is attached at the end of these minutes for information.

During the presentation, Alan Adcock drew particular attention to the following:-

·            Priorities for the Council were changing, moving away from a focus on main roads to a focus on local (residential) routes;

·            The roads in the City were valued at approximately £1.2 billion, making them the City Council’s largest asset and largest liability;

·            The City Council had a statutory obligation to maintain the roads in a safe condition;

·            Changes in the Local Transport Plan meant that it now was more focussed on sustainability, air quality and cycle routes;

·            Government accounting procedures required the Council to show that it was spending enough to maintain the asset;

·            Due to the current financial situation, the Council only had enough funds to implement the Transport Asset Management Plan (TAMP) objectives of optimising the safety of the network and focussing on the user.  This meant it was unable to fulfil the TAMP objectives of optimising network serviceability and sustainability;

·            The Council had received £200,000 Winter Damage Emergency Funding from the Department for Transport, but this was not enough to make much difference to the Council’s budgets;

·            Climate change meant that the country was experiencing more extreme weather events and that these would get more frequent, (for example, the amount of rainfall and high temperatures, which could damage road surfaces);

·            Although an additional £1 million had been agreed for the highway maintenance programme, other highway schemes had been lost;

·            The Thurncourt Ward currently did not have any urgent highway maintenance schemes outstanding;

·            Fewer complaints were received about concrete roads than other types of roads, as they did not get potholes, although they could collapse.  The main cause of problems for most road surfaces was water getting under the surface and then freezing and thawing, but water did not usually get in to concrete roads;

·            If problems were encountered with concrete roads, the short-term solution was to fill them as quickly as possible.  The long-term solution was to resurface them;

·            Exposed granite setts usually could be repaired by patching, as they often were only approximately 20 millimetres below the surface;

·            The City Council had not run out of grit during the exceptional weather during the winter of 2009/10, although supplies had been low.  In addition:

·              the City Council worked very closely with the County Council on various matters, including the winter gritting of roads, but as much as possible was done in-house.

During discussion on the presentation, Alan Adcock gave the following replies to questions:-

·            in recent years the Council had not had sufficient resources to be able to seal joints in concrete roads to prevent water getting in and weed growth;

·            statutory undertakers who could need to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

The City Warden will be present at the meeting to give an update on issues in the area.

Darren Evans, (City Warden with Leicester City Council), gave a verbal update to the meeting on his recent work, including the following points:-

·            Progress was being made on removing graffiti from Averil Road and Ocean Road;

·            His work in the coming months would focus on reducing dog fouling and would include an increase in the number of patrols made around the shops on Thurncourt Road, to try to reduce the amount of dog fouling there;

·            He would be working more with the Police on issues of concern to residents;

·            Over the winter, he would be available at the Thurnby Lodge Youth and Community Centre on a daily basis, to discuss issues of concern with residents.  A notice of the times at which he would be available would be put up as soon as possible;

·            The bins causing problems at the flats in St Austell Road had been removed; and

·            He would welcome the opportunity to make a full presentation to the next Community Meeting on what had been achieved over recent months.

A resident thanked Darren Evans for the prompt way in which graffiti in the area of the Park Way shops had been dealt with.  Darren Evans confirmed that work to remove graffiti from other areas was ongoing.

Sergeant Daniel Graham of Leicestershire Constabulary will be at the meeting to discuss policing matters in Thurncourt Ward and provide a breakdown of crime statistics for the Ward.

Sergeant Danny Graham, (Leicestershire Constabulary’s new Neighbourhood Sergeant for Thurncourt), introduced himself to the meeting and outlined his career to date. 

Sergeant Graham gave a verbal report on policing issues in the Thurncourt Ward, highlighting the following points:-

·            The Neighbourhood Team for the Ward comprised two Police Community Support Officers, two Beat Officers and Sergeant Graham;

·            There had been 701 crime reports, which was significantly less than the number in most other Local Policing Units;

·            Of these, 238 were classified as “non-crimes”, leaving 463 crimes.  This was the lowest out of the five neighbourhood beats in the Spinney Hill Park Local Policing Unit;

·            The highest number of reported crimes in the Ward were for assault and harassment;

·            There had only been one case of grievous bodily harm and an offender had been charged to court for this;

·            The Neighbourhood Policing Team worked with partners to reduce issues such as anti-social behaviour, damage and graffiti.  The Police and their partners tried to clean up quickly after incidents such as these, as it had been found that this reduced the risk of other offending behaviour arising in the same location;

·            52 burglaries had been reported, including 12 attempted burglaries.  These were investigated by a dedicated team, based at the Hinckley Road Police Station, not the Neighbourhood Team;

·            Anti-social behaviour had reduced by over 10% on last year’s figures.  Previously, anti-social behaviour had not been recorded in a crime management format, but changing to do so had proved to be a useful tool;

·            Recorded crime was low and had reduced by 25% on the same three months last year and by nearly 50% over the year; and

·            The Police now had GPS on their radios.  In addition, a way marker had been set up in St Austell Road, so it was possible to direct patrols there and monitor when they had been there.  This had been very useful in helping to reduce crime figures.

Sergeant Graham then advised that one of the issues on which the current Problem Solving Plan focussed was anti-social behaviour, in particular parties at the flats in St Austell Road.  However, an acceptable behaviour contract had been issued to the people concerned and it was hoped that this would resolve the problems.  As not much anti-social behaviour was being reported now in the area of the shops in Thurncourt Road, this would no longer be included in the Plan. 

Other issues included in the Plan were criminal damage, (in particular at Willowbrook Primary School and Thurnby Lodge Primary School), and problems associated with young people gathering in Kinross Avenue.

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.

a)      The Members Support Officer will give an update on the latest position with the Community Meeting budget.

b)      The following applications for grants are submitted for consideration:

Application 1

Applicant:       Application completed by Shelly Osborne, Community Development Worker, Thurnby Lodge Children’s Centre

Proposal:       Parents get active in Thurnby Lodge!

Amount:         

Summary:       Four week taster sessions were organised at Thurnby Lodge Children’s Centre and free child care was offered to the parents during each session.  These sessions saw 15 regular parents each week and a waiting list of parents wanting to be part of the sessions.

Taking these sessions forward, the parents would like a more long term solution on their journey to lead a more active lifestyle so linking in with Leicester City Council’s 3x30 Pledge Campaign.

The Ward funding would go towards two weekly sessions in Thurnby Lodge over a period of 15 weeks. The money will go towards a larger venue to enable more parents to attend these sessions.  In turn the Children’s Centre will continue to offer free child care during one of these sessions, to overcome the barrier of child care. The two sessions we are looking to fund are Aerobics, to be held at the Thurnby Lodge Neighbourhood Community Centre, and the third session will be a led buggy walk, where parents and their children can take part.  We will be looking for a parent to take a Walk Leader course (at no cost to them) to then deliver this session weekly from the Sure Start Centre. This will mean parents attending these three sessions will be hitting their recommended 3x30, which will enable them to receive the rewards associated with this scheme. The parents have agreed to contribute £1.00 per session, so this would go into a pot for the group to continue to sustain the sessions after the Ward funding has finished.

The funding also will help towards venue hire, equipment for the group and Instructor costs.

The success of this application can be monitored through the 3x30 pledge campaign as users can be tracked at each completed stage over a 36 week period.

If this application is successful, the work to get the sessions up and running would happen straight away. These sessions will be open to all the community in Thurnby Lodge, with the option to parents from Thurnby Lodge Sure start Centre to use the free crèche facilities if required.

Application 2

Applicant:       Christchurch PCC

Proposal:       Refurbishment of Chairs at Christchurch, Thurnby Lodge

Amount:          £1,500 + VAT

Summary:       The church chairs at Christchurch are badly in need of  ...  view the full agenda text for item 22.

a)     Ward Budget 2010/11 – Latest Position

Mary-Louise Harrison, (Members’ Support Officer with Leicester City Council), updated the meeting on the Ward budget for 2010/11, as follows:-

13,835 remained for the current year, which was broken down as:

·        £9,860 in the Ward Action Plan;

·        £2,000 in Community Cohesion Fund; and

·        £1,975 in Community Fund

Mary-Louise Harrison also explained that expenditure to date included £140 that had been fast-tracked since the last meeting for weed killer for use on the allotments at Colchester Road. 

b)     Grant Applications

i)      Parents Get Active in Thurnby!

The meeting was reminded that this application had been considered at the last meeting, but a decision had been deferred, as more information was needed, (Minute 11(d), “Budget – Parents Get Active in Thurnby!”, 5 July 2010 referred).

It was noted that the current bid was significantly lower than the previous application, being for £1,173 towards the cost of two weekly fitness sessions in Thurnby over a period of 15 weeks.  Shelley Osborne, (Community Development Worker at Thurnby Lodge Children’s Centre), advised that these sessions would be available to Thurncourt residents.  However, as she was employed to work with residents from the Humberstone and Hamilton Ward, the crèche would have to be open to these residents as well, although it was felt that, due to the distance they would have to travel, they would be unlikely to attend.

The meeting considered that it should only be supporting activities that were of benefit to the residents of the Thurncourt Ward.  It therefore was

RECOMMENDED:

that funding of £1,173 from the Ward Community Fund be supported for the provision of two weekly fitness sessions over a period of 15 weeks by “Parents Get Active in Thurnby!”, on the condition that this be only for residents of Thurncourt Ward, this to be achieved through using a venue in Thurncourt and using people’s post codes to ensure that residents live in the relevant area.

ii)     Christchurch Parochial Church Council

The meeting was reminded that an application from the Christchurch Parochial Church Council for funding for the refurbishment of chairs had been circulated with the agenda.  Examples of the current condition of the chairs and how they looked after refurbishment were shown to the meeting.  It was noted that the chairs had been second hand when bought and had been well used since then, both by church members and members of the community who hired the premises for various functions.

It also was noted that the cost of new chairs had been calculated as £1,405, plus VAT.  A breakdown of these costs was tabled at the meeting and is attached at the end of these minutes for information.

To date, approximately £500 had been raised through voluntary contributions from church members.  Fundraising activities already were undertaken to meet normal running costs of the church, so it was difficult raise funds for special projects such as this.

RECOMMENDED:

                                  that funding of £1,405 from the Ward Action Plan be supported for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

The Members Services Officer will provide an update on the Thurncourt Ward Action Plan.

In view of the lateness of the hour, this item was deferred.

Further Thurncourt Community Meetings will be held as follows:-

Monday, 17 January 2011

Monday, 4 April 2011

The Information Fair at each meeting will start at 6.00 pm and the main meeting will start at 6.30 pm.

The meetings will be held at Thurnby Lodge Youth and Community Centre, Thurncourt Road, LE3 2NG.

NOTED:

that further Thurncourt Community Meetings will be held on Monday, 17 January 2011 and Monday, 4 April 2011 at Thurnby Lodge Youth and Community Centre, the information Fair at each meeting to start at 6.00 pm and the main meeting on each date to start at 6.30 pm.

Proposed Demonstration by English Defence League

Sergeant Danny Graham, (Leicestershire Constabulary’s Neighbourhood Sergeant for Thurncourt), invited people to speak to him after the meeting if they had any concerns about the proposed demonstration by the English Defence League in Leicester City centre on Saturday, 9 October.

The meeting closed at 9.09 pm