Agenda and minutes

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

The Chair, Councillor Cooke welcomed everyone to the meeting and led introductions.

The Chair led the meeting in a moment of reflection to mark the death of Alan Chapman who was well known in the local community and died recently at the age of 90 years.

Apologies for absence were received from Rev Chris Burch.

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

Councillor Naylor declared an Other Disclosable Interest in the ward bids as a member of Streetvibe.

Councillor Gloever declared an Other Disclosable Interest in the ward bids as Chair of Streetvibe.

Both councillors indicated they would not take part in consideration of any application from Streetvibe.

The Action Log for the last meeting held on Tuesday 5^th August 2014 is attached and Members are asked to confirm it as an accurate record.

Any update on actions taken since the last meeting will be reported at the meeting.

The action log of the last meeting on 5^th August 2014 had been circulated and was confirmed as a correct record.

Representatives of the Youth Council will be present to introduce themselves and explain what the Youth Council does.

Representatives’ Gurpreet Singh and Georgina Paget addressed the meeting and gave a brief outline of their role within the Youth Council and some of the activities undertaken which included visits to hot spots to identify areas in need of improvement and a youth culture summit at De Montfort Hall that taught young people about different cultures, food and flags.

A Senior Planner from the Planning, Transportation and Economic Development department will provide an update on the current situation regarding Braunstone Hall.

Katy Redford, Planning Officer, gave an update on plans to develop the Braunstone Hall into a hotel and wedding venue. Copies of the Plans were on display for residents to consider. The planning application included plans to extend the building with a new entrance and reception linking to the kitchen block and proposed car parking. In addition there were plans for a café that would be open to the public and not a part of the main venue.

The planning application was due for a decision in mid-December. The meeting were informed that anyone could comment on the plans in writing and details were on site notices posted around the site and also on the website.

Katy Redford agreed to leave copies of the plans but advised that these were not the final maps. Katy Redford also agreed to try and get maps on a clear transparency that could be overlaid to show a clearer correlation of paths etc to existing features. The Chair agreed that if necessary the transparency maps could be funded through the community budget.

The ensuing discussion included the following comments:

·       the historic features would remain. It was a listed building and a lot of the features, fireplaces, doors etc were better preserved than would be thought from the outside view.

·       A survey had been done relating to Bats and further work on the ecology needed to be done.There was protection for bats and they would have to look at mitigation for that and proper licences would be applied for.

·       In relation to fencing, at the rear of the hall was an historic ha-ha which was a recessed element that created a vertical barrier and the plan was to reinstate that to its proper condition to create a natural barrier while preserving the view.

·       There would be provisions to deal with issues of waste coming from the venue and under the Planning Act there was legislation that could be used to ensure that was within the plans.

·       The planning application process could take some time as although there were 13 weeks within which to determine the application with the complexities of this application it was likely that a request to extend the time would be sort due to other reports such as energy and ecology.

The Chair invited residents to raise any concerns or comments on the planning application and informed residents that the ward councillors had visited the site and compiled a list of some issues they would like answers to which would be appended to the action log.

Elaine Halford, Manager of the Braunstone Fishing Club will provide information about the club.

Elaine Halford gave an update on the Braunstone Fishing Club, the club started in July and now had 30 members and was looking to encourage younger people to join to educate them about environmental issues and it was hoped that a junior club would start next year

There had been a number of clean up days including one today which were well attended and had helped to clean the paths, brook and lakes. The club was working with the council and the environment agency to improve the lakes. It was reported that the duck population was affected by botulism over the summer but the duck numbers were now coming back.

Anita Robinson, Parks Services explained that an application for signage funding had been made from the community budget. Parks Services were also getting people from the club trained to coach youngsters and there were plans to visit local schools and scouts to educate youngsters as they come up.

Elaine Halford said that all were welcome to become a member of club.

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

The meeting received an update on Policing issues in the Ward. There had been a recent spike in theft of motor vehicles and operations would be in force over the next 2 weeks. The police had visited local schools giving Halloween talks and raising awareness. Leaflets were being distributed to warn residents about bins being set on fire especially in the run up to Bonfire night.

It was noted that there was still an issue with motor bikes on parks and the police continued to try and address this issue.

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

Noel Cazeley, City Warden gave an update on progress made in the area since the last meeting and distributed information leaflets to those present.

·       Fly-tipping remained the biggest issue especially at Bring Sites at Avery Hill/Brite Centre, residents asked to report any incidents they see to police. It was noted that City Cleansing were doing a tremendous job and clearing the sites as quickly as possible.

·       The City warden agreed to visit the owners of the takeaway opposite the school to address issues of rubbish.

·       Bonfire Night: residents encouraged to report any issues straight away.

Anita Robinson, Parks Services informed the meeting that between Sat 1^st and Weds 5^th November, the council would be sending out teams to remove any fires being compiled on green spaces and asked residents to please report to council any they saw.

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

Councillor Cooke reported that:

·       the council had established a group to look at pavement parking issues, there had been some improvements in the area including Hockley Farm Rd which now had parking bays, also better hard standings in other areas such as Braunstone Lane and Hand Avenue.

·       There were plans to tackle issues with people parking cars outside school gates.

·       There had been regular park clean ups in Braunstone with volunteers including 49 gas board workers who attended recently and did £5000 worth of work.

·       There had been other improvements to verges and the tunnels on the ring road had been cleaned up. Bollards had been introduced on Sweetbriar Road to stop vehicles blocking access.

·       Gulley works were due to be done, the worst on Imperial Avenue needed to be dug out and replaced.

·       Housing also had a fund for environmental works and there had been quite a big spend in Braunstone providing external cladding on some houses to reduce heat loss, work on maintenance to soffits and roofs on bungalows.There was an ongoing programme of conversion of small 3 bedroom houses to 2 bedroom houses with upstairs bathroom and kitchen study downstairs.

·       Eco fencing in Avery Hill area proposed.

·       Flooding relief – big programme around the city ongoing.

Councillor Glover informed the meeting that there was still discretionary funding available to those waiting to downsize to assist in shortfalls caused by the bedroom tax.

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

An update will be given on the Ward Community Budget.

Previous applicants of supported bids in the Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields Ward will give feedback or a presentation of achievement.

A summary of grant applications submitted for consideration since the last meeting is attached.

Noted that the total approved expenditure on grants so far this year for the Ward was £12,178.13 which left a balance of £6,346.64 for future applications including those for consideration at this meeting.

The following applications had been considered:

Grants “Fast Tracked” since the last meeting

·       Braunstone Fishing Club Signage (1209) Application for £485 – Grant of £485 supported for Anita Robinson

Applications considered at the meeting

·       Braunstone Health Day (1168) – Application for £1485. Grant of £1485 supported for Sara Parkin. Applicant invited to submit additional bid if further funding necessary to take account of promotion costs and possible provision of transport for those at opposite end of ward.

·       Community Christmas Tree Festival (1216) – Application for £350. Grant of £350 supported for Mrs Susan Hulatt.

·       Braunstone Residents Network Committee (????) Application for £500. Grant of £500 supported to Geoffrey Stagg.

·       CTC National Cycling Charity (1218) – Application for £430. Grant of £430 supported for Elizabeth Bourner.

·       Braunstone Alert Advertising (1215) – Application for £756. Grant of £756 supported for Anne Short.

It was noted there was now a balance remaining of £2340.64

To note that future meetings will be held on the following dates at 5.00pm:-

Thursday 4^th December 2014, at the Blessed Sacrament Church, Gooding Avenue, Leicester.

Tuesday 17^th February 2015, at the Croft Crescent Community Centre, Cort Crescent, Leicester.

Tuesday 10^th March 2015, at the Brite Centre, Braunstone Avenue, Leicester.

Councillor Cooke referred to dates of future meetings and due to elections next year it was agreed with Councillor Glover and Councillor Naylor to amend the programme of meetings, so that there will be 2 meetings between now and end March 2015 as follows:

Tuesday 13^th January 2015 at 5pm – venue to be confirmed

Tuesday 10^th March 2015 at 5pm – venue to be confirmed

Note: Meetings on 4^th December 2014 and 17^th February 2015 were cancelled.

Westcotes Park benches, there were new benches available and waiting for installation. Councillor Cooke agreed to contact an officer to progress that.

Skate Park update, it was noted this project had progressed slowly but it was an expensive job and there was a lot of infrastructure to go in.

Anita Robinson, Parks Services advised that the toilet block on Braunstone Park was currently closed due to vandalism. It was hopeful that towards end of financial year there would be enough money to have the facilities reopened

“Be Inspired” Website – residents network now up and looking to have regular people updating it. It was agreed that the website would be demonstrated at the next meeting

Anita Robinson, Parks Service informed that the History club would be doing an open session on 25 November from 10am to 12.30pm at the Stable Block Museum, there would be 3 rooms of exhibits and a talk scheduled from 11am to 12noon on Braunstone Park’s use as a military camp during World War I.

There had been a donation of tables and chairs to the History club from the Asda store at Fosse Park and the community room was also being painted in spring funded by Asda.

The meeting closed at 6.55pm.