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Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Brite Centre, 130 Braunstone Avenue, Leicester, LE3 1LE

Contact: Graham Carey tel: 0116 454 6356 

Items
No. Item

1.

INTRODUCTIONS

The Chair will introduce those present and make any necessary announcements.

 

The Chair and any other Councillors who are present will make any declarations as required by the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

Councillor Naylor welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cooke and Glover and from Anita Robinson and Gavin George.

3.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

Minutes:

Councillor Naylor declared an Other Disclosable Interest as a member of the Street Vibe Team.

4.

ACTION LOG pdf icon PDF 105 KB

The Action Log for the meeting held on 25 March 2014 is attached for information.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Action Log for the meeting held on 25 March 2014 was noted.

5.

WARD COUNCILLOR FEEDBACK

Ward Councillors will provide an update and feedback on any local ward issues.

Minutes:

Councillor Naylor stated that he was now an Independent Member on the City Council and explained his reasons for resigning from the Labour Party.

 

He also reported that a number of notices for the underpayment of Council Tax had been issued.   A number related to arrears accrued as a result of the changes to the benefits regime.

6.

BRAUNSTONE VIDEO

Elaine Halford and Paul Trunkfield will provide a briefing on the video.

Minutes:

Elaine Halford stated that a light hearted video to promote the positive aspects of Braunstone had been made by a group of local people passionate about their area.  Due to a technical problem with the DVD, a showing of the video was postponed.

7.

BRAUNSTONE PARISH AUDIT BRIEF pdf icon PDF 569 KB

Chris Birch from St Peter’s Church will give a brief overview if the Audit that was carried out in partnership with Coventry University.

Minutes:

Chris Burch from St Peter’s Church gave an overview of the Parish Audit Report 2013 carried out in collaboration with Coventry University.  A copy of the presentation is attached to the Action Log.

 

The Audit was based upon the 2011 census and followed a similar audit carried out 10 years previously.  Both audits can be downloaded from St Peter’s Church website www.stpetersbraunstone.org.uk.  The key messages for the Audit are contained in the attached presentation. 

 

8.

PAVEMENT PARKING ISSUES

Jerry Connolly, Scrutiny Officer, Leicester City Council will provide an update.

Minutes:

Jerry Connolly, Scrutiny Officer, Leicester City Council gave a presentation on pavement parking issues in the City and gave illustrations of examples of paving parking in the ward.  A copy of the presentation is attached.

 

NOTED :

·         that the issue had been considered by the Council’s Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission following complaints that wheelchair and mobility scooter users and people with push chairs were unable to use some pavements because they were blocked by parked cars. 

 

·         Good response to consultation on website 300 respondents and 150 people submitted photographs of examples of pavement parking.

 

·         Yellow line restrictions on a road also apply to the adjacent pavements.

 

·         If there are no yellow lines on the road – the Police have the jurisdiction to consider whether parking is causing an obstruction.

 

·         The Police issued 150 parking tickets for obstruction last year across the City. Figures for Fixed Penalty Notices issued by the Council were not available.   

 

·         Very few local authorities have strategies to deal with pavement parking.

 

·         The Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission were re-considering the response to the consultation the following week.

 

Public requested to notify any areas in the ward that needed to be targeted to the City Wardens.  Fulhurst Avenue by the shops was mentioned at the meeting.

9.

COUNCIL REVIEW UPDATE

To receive an update on the current reviews of Council services including the Children’s Centre and Adventure Playground.

Minutes:

Public noted an update on the current reviews of Council services including the Children’s Centre and Adventure Playground.  A decision on the future of adventure playgrounds had been delayed for 6 months to gather further information.  

 

10.

POLICE ISSUES UPDATE

Leicestershire Police will be at the meeting to provide an update on police issues in the Ward.

Minutes:

Councillor Naylor read out an update of policing issues in the ward on behalf of PC Oliver as he was unable to attend the meeting.

 

Noted that there were no specific issues arising from the crime statistics for the last three months in the Ward.  The Police had carried out a study of crime and ASB statistics over the last three years to identify ‘hot spots’ and these were known as ‘Tiger Territories’  There were three hot spots in the ward where over 30% of crime and ASB occur.  These were around Bendbow Rise, Heyford Road, Winforde Avenue and Webster Road and these areas would be targeted by the Police.

11.

CITY WARDEN

The City Warden will give an update on issues in the Ward.

Minutes:

Noel Cazeley, City Warden gave an update on local ward issues.  The service had recently had new powers to deal with environmental eyesores involving abandoned buildings, blocked alleyways and overgrown gardens.  The process for dealing with issues could be lengthy as notices had to be served on all parties who had an interest in the land.  If those served with notices did not clear or tidy the sites as requested, the Council could carry out the work and recharge the interested parties.  The following had been dealt with or were being dealt with under these new powers:-

 

·         Winchester Road /Lavender Road - fly-tipping on abandoned property.

·         Raven Road – fly-tipping – Section 215 Notice served – could take until August to enter land and clean up fly-tipping and board up property.

·         Webster Road – abandoned asbestos sheets.

·         Hayworth Road – number of properties where help needed to tidy up front gardens following complaints from allotment holders.

 

Some problems re-emerging with motorbikes on the Park.  Police requested to address this issue.

 

3 City Wardens would be based at the Stables from 1 July 2014 so will be nearer to the Ward.

 

Noted that a number of successful prosecutions had been obtained and 1 prosecution for fly-tipping is in progress.  Court prosecutions can be viewed on the City Wardens website at http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/cl/street-cleaning/city-warden/court-results/

 

12.

WARD COMMUNITY BUDGET

Councillors are reminded that under the Council’s Code of Conduct they should declare any interest they may have in budget applications

 

To receive a budget statement from the Neighbourhood Development Manager on the outturn of last year’s community budget and the allocation of Community Ward Budget for 2014-15.

 

The following grant applications will eb considered at the meeting:-

 

Applicant

Description of Application

Amount of Grant Application

Braunstone Spring Clean 2014

The annual Braunstone Big Spring Clean takes place on Braunstone Park on Wednesday 7th May from 10.00am until 12.30 pm. Part of the Big Spring Clean will include painting work to spruce up the parks furniture eg bollards, height barriers

£203.50

Coalpit Lane Spinney Pals

Proposed fencing work to secure the spinney site and to provide an attractive area of open amenity woodland and improve the wildlife value to enable local residents and schools to visit the site for general recreation and education

 

£500.

Mary Green – Fullhurst Community College

A program of activities for 30 Free School Meals pupils in Year 8 to improve their attendance. The day would be comprised of  a trip to Madam Tussauds and a matinee performance of a musical, ideally Shrek the Musical. Yew Trail Outdoor Classroom - 15 pupils to yew Trail Education Centre in Markfield to do den building and study ecosystems.

£491

Rowley Fields Community Association

The Braunstone Community Carnival is an annual event and will celebrate its 14th Anniversary this year.  The event has been supported by the Braunstone Foundation (formally BCA) for the last 13 years and has been made possible by the voluntary support of many local groups and residents.

£482

Braunstone Foundation (T/A B-inspired)

The Braunstone Community Carnival is an annual event and will celebrate its 14th Anniversary this year.  The event has been supported by the Braunstone Foundation (formally BCA) for the last 13 years and has been made possible by the voluntary support of many local groups and residents

£1,000

 

 

FEEDBACK ON PREVIOUS GRANT AWARDS

 

The following have been invited to the meeting to give feedback on the their activities and projects which benefited from a Community Ward Grant:-

 

Anita Robinson – Leicester City Parks Service

 

Gavin George – Checkpoint Advice

Minutes:

The total of grants approved in 2013/14 was £17,204.30 and £1,055.27 was carried over to the current year and the opening balance for 2014/15 was £19,055.27.

 

Noted that the following grants had been approved by Councillors under the fast-track procedure (grants of £500 or less) since the last meeting:-

 

Application 1018 for grant of £203.50.  Braunstone Spring Clean on Braunstone Park including painting work to spruce up the parks furniture, e.g bollards and height barriers.  £203.50 APPROVED.

 

Application 1022 for grant of £500.  Coalpit Lane Spinney Pals for fencing work to secure the spinney site and provide an attractive area of open amenity woodland and improve the wildlife value to enable local residents and schools to visit the site for general recreation and education.  £500 APPROVED.

 

Application 1048 for grant of £482.  Rowley Fields Community Association for a community BBQ on 5 July 2014 and Open Air Carol Singing on 18 December 2014.  £482 APPROVED.

 

Application 1050 for a grant of £491.  Fullhurst College for a programme of activities for 30 free school meals pupils in Year 8 to improve their attendance.  £491 APPROVED.

 

The following applications were considered by the meeting and Councillors Cooke and Glover’s had submitted their views on some applications:-

 

Application 1049 for £1,000.  B- Inspired for the Braunstone Community Carnival.  £1,000 APPROVED.

 

Application 1058 for £1,170. CTC National Cycling Charity for half the cost of having a storage container moved and a concrete base to put it on.  Application Deferred in view of Councillor Naylor’s interest in Street Vibe.

 

Application 1062 for £2543.80.  B-Connected for training for 12 weeks website maintenance training for 6 volunteers.  £2,543.80 APPROVED.

 

Application 1063 for £487.83.  B-Connected for 4 days training for a young person with media skills to be able to support and train the Residents Network members.  £487.83 APPROVED.

 

Application 5026 for £1,667.  Street Vibe for alterations to the youth bus to provide extra space for young people to access both areas and maximise the resource.  (Joint bid with Spinney Hills and Eyres Monsell Wards)  Application deferred to the next meeting as Councillors Naylor and Glover had an Other Disclosable Interest in Street Vibe and Counicllor Cooke’s views were not known.

13.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Minutes:

Councillor Naylor reported that both he and Councillor Cooke had signed the Space for Cyling pledge.

14.

CLOSE OF MEETING

Minutes:

The meeting closed at 7.05pm.