Agenda and minutes

INFORMATION FAIR

The following information stands were sited in the room. Members of the public visited the stands and were given an opportunity to meet Councillors, Council staff and the local Police and to bring enquiries and raise and issues.

          General Council Matters and other issues

          School Attendance

Advice was given on how and when to apply for school places.

          10,000 Trees

An opportunity to comment on tree planting in the area.

          Housing and Housing Repairs

Details were available with regard to the management and repair of Council housing stock.

          Special Olympics

Information was available with regard to volunteering opportunities at the Special Olympics.

At the conclusion of this informal session members of the public were invited to take their seats and take part in the formal session of the meeting.

FORMAL SESSION

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Naylor was elected as Chair for the meeting.

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 wanted to talk about digging up a road and one of the Councillors lived on that road, he or she would have to say they have a personal interest in that.

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.

Members were asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed and/or indicate that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applied to them.

No declarations were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Cooke.

Councillor Naylor welcomed those present to the meeting.

Members are asked to agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 15^th July 2008 as a correct record.

Members of the public referred to concerns raised about the timing of the meeting and suggested that these comments had not been reflected.  Members noted this omission and stated that as details of this meeting had already been circulated it was not possible to change the timing, however it was planned that future meetings would meet at a later time.

The minutes of the meeting of the Castle Community Meeting dated 23 July 2008 were circulated and approved as a correct record.

Steve Letten, Members Support Officer, will present the analysis of comments gathered from the Priority Cards that people were invited to complete at the last meeting, these will be broken down between Braunstone and Rowley Fields.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer gave details of the issues arising from the ward priority cards received.  It was noted that 21 responses had been received.  The issues raised in the priority cards had been scored and ranked for those issues relating to the Rowley Fields area and for the rest of the ward.  In relation to the Rowley Fields area traffic / parking and community facilities issues had been ranked the highest whilst across the ward litter and fly tipping had been ranked the highest.

Members suggested that an appropriate way forward might be to examine the top ranking 3 or 4 issues for both and from that to define what to concentrate on.  It was also necessary to be realistic about what could be achieved.  Members also noted that there had not been a full response from residents of the Braunstone Park area.  Also a community meeting in Rowley Fields might be needed.

Members of the public drew attention to issues relating to

• graffiti,
• mini motos,
• parking and:
• the need for more community facilities.

It was noted that as part of the Building Schools for the Future project community facilities would be created and suggested that the head teacher of Riverside Community College be invited to a future meeting to give details of the work planned.

To consult on the following proposed programme of meetings. The actual date and times of the meetings are yet to be agreed and views will be sought: -

            2008                           Venue

            December               United Reformed Church

            2009  

            March                         Blessed Sacrament 

            June                            Brite Centre

            September               Cort Crescent Community Centre

            December               United Reformed Church

            2010

            March                         Blessed Sacrament

It was agreed that meetings be held 5-7pm.

Steve Letten, Members Support Officer, will introduce and explain the different funds available to the Community Meeting.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer gave details of Community Meetings budget and the process to be followed in applying for funds and assessing requests.

Steve Letten, Member Support Officer gave details of the role of Community Partners and the process for applying and approving volunteers.

Adrian Russell, Environmental Services, will give a presentation on the Environmental Services work carried out in Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields Ward, and invite suggestions for the 10,000 Trees Project.

Adrian Russell, gave a presentation on the work that Environmental Services had carried out in the ward between January and June 2008.  A newsletter was also available, which provided supporting information to the presentation.

Adrian explained that Environmental Services were responsible for a variety of different services, which included the following:

Waste and Recycling – Leicester City achieved a waste composting and recycling rate of 33% and 9% recovered for use as fuel in 2007/08.  It was noted that each household was entitled to have five bulky items collected for free and that missed bin collections in the City were at a 0.05% rate which equated to 1 in 2000.

In relation to garden clearing action could only be taken where neighbours were affected through the dumping of food waste or an accumulation of rubbish.  

In relation to problems of rubbish outside shops members of the public were encouraged to let Adrian know where problems occurred.

Street Cleaning – This service dealt with various issues including fly tipping, abandoned vehicles, discarded needles, and graffiti removal.  The ward was below average on these occurrences except in relation to graffiti removal where the level was higher which was partly due to recent work with Virgin Media cable boxes.

In relation to fly posting a member of the public asked why the Council could not ring the number on the poster and stop the delivery.  Adrian stated that legally it did not mean that they were responsible for placing the poster.  However the City Wardens that were soon to start would be able to remove any fly posters.

Pest Control Services –  Adrian stated that statistics showed that in the period between January and June 2008, the figures for the ward where broadly similar to the citywide average. 

Dog Control Orders – A range of new powers were being introduced. For example, dogs would be restricted from certain areas such as children’s play areas and fines could be levied against irresponsible owners for not cleaning up mess. 

Noisy Neighbours – Information was presented on the services provided by the Noise Control Team, who supply a call-out service until 2.00am seven days a week.

SmileSafe Scheme – This was where businesses selling food and drink were inspected and given a rating of their hygiene. 20 businesses had been checked in the ward, Adrian highlighted businesses that scored the best The Grey Ferrers Nursing Home, Priestly Road, Queensmead Community Primary School, Winstanly Drive, KFC, Narborough Road.

Special Olympics

The Chair welcomed Angela Sansome to the meeting to give a brief presentation on volunteering opportunities at the Special Olympics being held in Leicester in July 2009.

Angela noted that the Special Olympics would be held from 25 July to 31 July in 2009. Volunteers would be required for a range of areas, ie first aid or tea makers. This would be the second time the Special Olympics had been held in Leicester.

The events would be held in a range of venues across the city and the swimming events would be held at Braunstone Leisure Centre for example.

There would be opportunities to volunteer for specific events. There would also be more management level opportunities as well.

There were however some requirements for volunteers, they need to be over 16 and be willing to go through an enhanced criminal records bureau check. Certain, more serious offences would bar people from taking part.

Angela noted that the current Lord Mayor’s appeal was fundraising for the Special Olympics, therefore this was another good reason to get involved. In addition each ward had been asked to raise £1500 towards the costs.

Angela urged as many people as possible to get involved.

Travellers

It was noted that travellers had encamped on St Mary’s field. Adrian Russell noted that contact had been made and it was expected that they would move soon.

The meeting closed at 6.18pm.