Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Deepak Bajaj as Chair, welcomed everyone to the Evington Community Meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Baljit Singh and John Sloan, Chair of the Evington Fete and Show Committee.

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.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the previous Evington Community Meeting, held on 20 June 2012 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the previous Evington Community Meeting held on 20 June 2012 be agreed as a correct record.

Councillors Deepak Bajaj and Baljit Singh will provide an update on the issues they have been dealing with in the Evington Ward.

The Chair gave a summary of the work he had been involved with as Councillor in the Evington Ward and he made the following points:

·         He had attended an event in support of the Heart Unit at the Glenfield Hospital. There would be a further event on 15 September in Belgrave Gate.

·         All who had been involved with the Evington in Bloom project were thanked for their hard work and commitment.

·         Thanks were also given to the Evington Fete team for the recent event. The Evington Fete was proving to be very popular local event.

·         Building Schools for the Future (BSF) funding had been secured for St Paul’s School. This would be the fourth school in Evington which had obtained funding through BSF.  A member of the community expressed serious concerns over the size, location and building plans. The Chair explained that a meeting was being held on 5 October and residents were invited to attend.

·         A petition for traffic calming around Whitehall Primary School would be submitted to full Council in November.

·         The next Tenants and Residents Association (TARA) meeting would be held at Evington Youth Club on Wednesday 26 September at 7.00pm. Members of the community were invited to attend the meeting.

Members of the community raised concerns over the problem of parking on Spencefield Lane and on the grass verges there. A suggestion was made that the City Warden might be able to increase her patrols and take some action over problem parking there, but it was explained that the City Wardens had limited powers and there were now only 16 of them across the whole of the city. Nicole Powell, the Warden for Evington for example now had two Wards to cover.

The Chair reported that the Council were hoping to be able to increase the powers of the City Wardens.

Steve Goddard, Head of Community Services will be attending the meeting to provide an update on future community use at Evington Park House.

Steve Goddard, Head of Community Services explained that work had been carried out in Evington, with a number of local people, to find way of making community facilities more accessible to local residents.  Steve made the following points:

·         Arrangements were being made to appoint a new Neighbourhood Development Manager who would support local groups in the Evington Ward.  It was hoped that the new Manager would commence in October.

·         The council had limited resources and therefore the resources it had needed to be used effectively.

·         There were a number of people who were very keen to develop community facilities in the Evington Ward.  A member of the community raised the issue of access to the schools in the area especially the schools currently being refurbished and wanted reassurances that the schools/colleges had facilities that could be hired. Steve agreed to look into the matter and report back.

·         He and colleagues from Property Services were also looking into other possible options for offering community facilities in the Ward.

Members of the community responded that any facilities offered needed to be accessible to the public, as for example, there were no buses into the Evington village.  Suggestions were made as to whether the community transport minibuses could be utilised to offer lifts to people in the village, especially in the evening, when the buses were not in use. Steve agreed to look into this and respond to the member of the community who had raised the issue.  Steve added that Social Care was interested in using the minibuses for a different scheme, but he had spoken to the WRVS and it was hoped that they might be able to provide some sort of community facility.

·         It was aimed to install an access control system into Evington Park House and train local residents how to use this so that they could access the building outside normal working hours.

A member of the public questioned whether there were any facilities for youth in the Ward. Mrs O’Brien from the Evington Youth Club invited him to come along to the club to see what they offered. She added that the sports hall could accommodate larger numbers but they were in need of more resources. In addition there was a shortage of people to help with the youth club as it was very difficult to attract volunteers.

There will be an opportunity to discuss parking improvements in the Coleman Road area and also parking problems on Gamel Road.

Robert Bateman, Team Leader, Highways and Traffic Design, and Harshad Solanki, Engineer from Highways, Design and Maintenance, provided an update on local highways issues.

Robert made the following points:

·         At the previous meeting on 20 June 2012, reference had been made to surface dressing work on various roads in the Evington Ward. All the surface dressing had now been complete, whilst some of the remaining items were still to be completed, but would be done.

·         2 – 4 Woodborough Road: Plans for footway improvements. Option 1 for new pathways would cost £30,400 but there was insufficient money in the budget for this work. However there was sufficient funding for Option 2 which would include the clearance of shrubs and patch repairs.

·         404 – 426 Coleman Road: Plans for parking laybys.  There were two options, although the cost of either option exceeded the available funding of £30,000. Robert directed members of the community to the plans for the work which were displayed in the room and copies were also distributed amongst attendees.

Option 1 was for 10 parking bays on highway lad at an estimated cost of £46,800. Concern was expressed at this option as it was felt that this would not help residents as people from the hospital would take the opportunity to park there.

Option 2 was for 10 bays on housing land at an estimated cost of £49,100.

Concern was expressed that in respect of Option 2, this would affect an area of grass, which belonged to Housing but was generally not looked after. A comment was made that if some of that green space was turned into parking space, only a small area of grass would remain, which would be even less likely to be maintained. Jane Ushwell, Senior Parks Officer explained that when cars were parked on the grassy area, it was impossible for gardeners to use the lawnmower. In response to a question from Robert, people indicated that they were of the view that the grassy area was more of a nuisance than an asset to local residents.

Robert explained that residents within a specific radius of the area in question would be consulted and kept informed and that it was aimed to carry out the work during the current financial year. 

The Chair requested that an update be brought to the next Evington Community Meeting.

Representatives from Leicester LINk will be attending the meeting to outline the forthcoming changes in Health and Social Care and of the setting up of 158 Health Watch Groups across England. They will gather the experiences of local people on health and social care services and will also have powers to scrutinise and make referrals to Health Watch England and the Care Quality Commission.  

Barbara Czyznikowska addressed the meeting and explained that she represented Leicester City LINk and was at the meeting to talk about some of the changes that were being introduced as a result of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.  She explained that this was the biggest reform of the NHS since it began. Barbra made the following points:

·         As a result of the new Act, the Local Involvement Networks (LINk) would change to Healthwatch. From April 2013, there would be 158 local Healthwatch Groups across England.

·         Primary Care Trusts would change to Clinical Commissioning Groups and Health and Wellbeing Boards would be established.

·         The objective of Healthwatch would be to gather the views of patients on their experience of local health and social care services, and this information would inform the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Clinical Commissioning Groups who use the information to decide where money should be spent.

·         Healthwatch would have the right to inspect Health and Social Care premises and to make referrals to Healthwatch England and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).  In response to a question Barbara advised that if a case was serious, Healthwatch would refer to the CQC.

·         It was aimed to have a stronger engagement with local people and comments and ideas were invited as to how Healthwatch might achieve this. Healthwatch would provide an additional platform to help people get involved and become more empowered.

·         In response to a question, Barbara added that Healthwatch could influence matters. They worked at a community level rather than a personal level, but the more people who raised issues or concerns, the more influence they could bring to bear.

Members of the community will be given a brief update on the Evington in Bloom Project.  The results of the judging will not be known until the day after the community meeting.

The Chair led a round of applause to Helen Pettman and the Team for their work on the Evington in Bloom project.

Helen explained that the results would be made known the next day (12 September). Helen thanked all the volunteers; the individuals and the local groups who had worked on the project, and also the litter pickers. One lady in particular had picked up litter every day! Thanks were also given to staff who worked in the library, in Park Services, to people who had attended the Evington in Bloom meetings, to Councillor Singh for his help in setting up  Evington in Bloom and also to the Community Meeting for funding for the project.

Helen added that the judging day had been ‘amazing’ and everyone had worked together to make it successful.

The City Warden, Nicole Powell will provide an update on street scene enforcement issues within Evington Ward.

Nicole Powell, the City Warden addressed the meeting and explained that the main issue in the area was parking, along with some ‘tagging’ (graffiti) and cars for sale parked on the public highway.

Concerns were raised over the safety of school children crossing the road near to Whitehall Primary School and views were expressed that more needed to be done to educate the children and also their parents as the problem was exacerbated by selfish parking.

The Chair reminded the meeting that a petition had been submitted requesting traffic calming around Whitehall Primary School.

A member from the Local Policing team will provide an update on local policing issues.

Police Sergeant Dave Cleaver gave a update on policing issues in the Evington Ward. Sergeant Cleaver made the following points:

·         The main focus of the Police was in dealing with acquisitive crime and they were carrying out curfew checks.

·         There had been five thefts from stores.

·         They were looking at preventative work and assigning a PCSO to give out advice etc.

·         In January, the team had been adversely affected by shift pattern changes but the good news was that Evington would soon have a regular assigned beat officer.

A member of the public commented that a local shop had been burgled three times, and the Police had removed some items for forensic examination, which he understood had not yet been returned. Sergeant Cleaver offered to look into this.

A suggestion was made for the Police to encourage the setting up of Neighbourhood Watch groups and Sergeant Cleaver responded that the Police would be very much in favour of this. A discussion followed on this and it was felt that where Neighbourhood Watch groups were established, the work needed to be divided up fairly so that everyone involved shared the responsibility.

A member of the public referred to the problem of graffiti as raised by the City Warden Nicole, and suggested that perhaps a solution would be to have a graffiti wall. The Chair and Nicole responded that it was their view that the local community would not be in agreement to having a graffiti wall in Evington. It was suggested that a compromise might be to have an indoor graffiti wall instead.

The Chair mentioned that the Police had asked for funding from the Community Meeting budget for a computer for use at the Evington Park House.  A concern was expressed that the community meeting budget was meant for the community and the Chair explained that he was in support of this request as a Police presence would be very welcome at Evington Park, the Police were working for the community and that everyone wanted more Police support in Evington.

The Chair also added that he would be supportive of the community meeting budget funding a bicycle for Nicole as she was now covering two Wards, and not just Evington. Nicole responded that this would be very helpful.

A resident raised concerns about parking problems in Gamel Road and the Chair explained that he and Councillor Singh would hold a separate meeting with various interested parties to try to find a solution to the difficulties there.

Members of the public will receive an update on the Evington Community Meeting Budget.

The following applications have been fast tracked and approved for payment.

Art in the Park (Craft and Chat) – Art and Craft Cupboard and contents;

Submitted by Miss Betty Hunter

Amount requested and approved: £160

Leicester Caribbean Cricket Club – Summer break session

Submitted by Leicester Caribbean Cricket Club:

Amount requested: a total of £1500 from Coleman, Evington and Spinney Hill Wards. £500 approved.

The following applications will be considered at the meeting:

Evington Asian Gardeners Group

Submitted by: Shanti Chauhan

Amount requested: £650

Details of the funding application as submitted by the applicant:

The project is to create opportunities to engage the Asian men and the women to learn to theoretically participate and learn about vegetable gardens as well as enhance their appreciation of the green environment. Also room hired to entertain and engage in discussions about the on-going developments nationally regards green environment.

Presently no facilities exist due to closure of evening classes at our land language barrier. There are a lot of individuals who would like to engage in such activities to achieve the following:

Raise their profile and self-esteem within the local community in Evington area.

Regular practical workshops would benefit the participants in social interaction across communities to establish networks to improve their chances of employment.

The participants would benefit in terms of enjoying improved health due to regular physical and mental exercises.

Community Cohesion would be enhanced as gardening has no religious or cultural barriers.

The workshops would be hosted in a local facility with professional tutors coaching the participants preparing them for a celebratory concert/event whereby VIPs and local members of the community would see and appreciate the diversity of Indian vegetables and also see the members of their own community integrating with others at a working level. This would further boost the community integration and higher level of participation if Ethnic Minorities in the mainstream organisations.

The success indicators of the project would be:

No of participants involved in the project.

The social interaction and integration of diverse members of Ethnic Minority groups to extend to some of these members integrating with mainstream organisations in Evington and Leicester.

Regular workshops on weekly / fortnightly basis start in Autumn / winter 2012.

A celebratory event in form of a presentation.

The project may be repeated locally to motivate and engage future participants thereby ensuring that this project becomes a permanent feature within the activities of the community of Evington.

The Residents of Ellwood Close (Evington) for Diwali – Festival of Light Street Party.

Submitted by: Harshad Solanki

Amount requested: £500

Details from the funding application as submitted by the applicant:

I will organise with the help of my neighbours, a street Diwali party to celebrate the festival of light. We are a group of residents, with about 15 houses on our cul de sac. This would be a good way of building further relationship for all our residents on  ...  view the full agenda text for item 84.

Francis Connolly, the Member Support Officer to the Evington Community Meeting presented the Community Meeting budget. He explained that each Ward had been allocated £18,000 for the year, and with a small under-spend from 2011 / 2012, the budget for the current year totalled £18066.

Francis explained that three funding bids had been fast tracked and approved for payment:

Art in the Park (Craft and Chat) :Art and Craft Cupboard and contents: £160

Councillors’ Roller Banner for Ward Community Meetings / Surgeries: £425

Leicester Caribbean Cricket Club Summer Break Session- £1500 requested from three Wards: £500 supported from the Evington Ward.

In response to a question, Francis explained that the cricket summer break event was located in Evington and approximately third of the participants came from the Evington Ward. The funding application had been fast tracked because the event was planned to take place during the schools’ summer holiday.  A member of the public requested that more information on fast tracked funding applications be included in the agenda in future.

The following funding applications were then presented.

Evington Asian Gardener’s Group

Submitted by Shanti Chauhan

Amount requested: £650

Francis explained that funding bid was for room hire to enable the group to meet at Evington Park House. He explained that the Councillors had agreed to support the funding bid and requested that feedback from the group be given at future community meetings. They also requested information as to how the group encouraged new members.

Shanti Chauhan explained the Gardener’s Group was a new initiative for elderly people in Evington and the funding would help them use their skills for the good of the community.  Members of the public suggested that the group could join in with the Evington Village Fete and it was also suggested that they might wish to work with the existing Gardening Club in Evington. Shanti explained that in order for the group to develop it needed funding for somewhere to meet but added that it would be good to join in with the Evington Village Fete and to share ideas with the existing gardening club.

RESOLVED:

that it be agreed that the funding application for the Evington Gardener’s Group be supported to the value of £650.

The residents of Ellwood Close (Evington) for Diwali – Festival of Light Street Party.

Submitted by Harshad Solanki

Amount requested: £500

Francis explained that the Councillors had agreed to support this funding application.

RESOLVED:

that it be agreed that the funding application for £500 for the residents of Ellwood Close for Diwali (Festival of Light) Street Party be supported.

Francis explained that although Councillor Singh was not present, he had discussed the applications before the meeting and stated that he was in support of both of them. The funding bids as discussed at the meeting would still need to be endorsed by him outside of the meeting, after which they would be forwarded to the Assistant Mayor (Health and Community Involvement) for approval.

A member of the community stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.

The meeting closed at 7.50 pm.