Agenda and minutes

Councillors will elect a Chair for the meeting.

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.

Councillor Thomas was elected as Chair for the meeting.

Councillor Thomas welcomed those present and led introductions.

Declarations of Interest – Councillor Sood disclosed an Other Disclosable Interest in the ward community budget, as all of the community meeting budgets fell within her portfolio as Assistant Mayor (Community Involvement) and she was therefore excluded from approving applications for Belgrave Ward.

Apologies were received from Sgt Walters and Amita Miles.

The Action Log of the Belgrave and Latimer Ward community meeting held on 15^th September 2015 is attached and Members will be asked to confirm it as an accurate record.

The action log of the Belgrave Community Meeting held on 15^th September 2015 was agreed as an accurate record.

Sam Larke the Programme Manager will be present to give details of the Leicester Ageing Together project.

Sam Larke from Vista briefly explained the purpose of Leicester Ageing Together and information leaflets were circulated to those present.

·       Leicester Ageing Together was being funded through the Big Lottery and Leicester was one of 14 areas selected in the country. Within Leicester only 5 wards had been chosen with Belgrave being one of them.

·       Leicester Ageing Together aimed to reconnect older people to communities and reduce loneliness and isolation by making it easier for people over the age of 50 to get out and about and try new things.

·       The programme would last for 4 years and currently there were 24 live projects being delivered by 16 community organisations.

·       It was hoped the programme would become sustainable and be extended to the whole city.

People were encouraged to contact Leicester Ageing Together for more information about services by telephone 0116 2498850 and by visiting the website: www.leicesterageingtogether.org.uk

A Police Officer will be at the meeting to provide an update on local policing issues in the Ward.

Sgt Leon Gamble gave an update on local policing issues together with a comparison of reported crime statistics from 2014 and 2015:

                          2014                                        2015

Assaults               97                                               38

Robberies            21                                               13

Burglaries            52                                                32               

It was noted that overall (reported) crime trend was downwards. Sgt Gamble said that the Police could only respond to what was reported and it was accepted there was further work to do in the area to address the main issues such as excessive littering and street drinking. Officers were linking in with City Wardens and using the Love Leicester app.

Residents were reminded to keep their property secure, lock doors and windows especially at this seasonal time of year.

The Local Policing Unit were trying to engage more with the community and would be holding meetings in the ward and trying to get engagement organised across whole ward. It was hoped wider consultations with people would encourage them to report issues such as the street drinking in Surrey Street and Harrison Road.

Action: Police to publicise when and where consultations with public would take place in Belgrave Ward, especially at Dr’s surgeries, places of faith local shops and the library.

Sgt Gamble also said that to encourage more contact with officers the local policing unit had obtained some mobile numbers that local people could call to get straight through to an officer – 07881665736 or 07881663508 rather than using 101.

The Chair informed residents that they could report issues radiating from licensed premises to the council and the police; they could then enforce or call in a review of the licence for these premises.

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

Mohammed Patel, City Warden gave an update on issues in the Belgrave Ward and distributed information leaflets to those present.

·       City Warden Service had been working closely with the local Belgrave policing unit and between them more things were being tackled in the Belgrave area such as littering and anti-social behaviour. Residents were encouraged to report any incidents of concern to the City Warden service or Police and issues could then be addressed.

·       Fly Tipping – a 500 letter drop had been arranged to local residents and since that there had been a small improvement in the number of reported fly tipping incidents. More residents were now making use of the bulky waste collections and further letter drops would be taking place across the ward with Ross Walk and surrounding side streets to be targeted next.

·       Dog Fouling – City Wardens had powers to issue fixed penalty notices for dog fouling anywhere but it was important to have evidence.

·       Park Wardens (8) had also been appointed across the City who had the same powers of enforcement in parks for issues such as littering and dog fouling.

·       Bird Feeding – since receiving reports of bird feeding on Cossington Recreational Ground this had been tackled over a period of time with 1500 information packs delivered to properties advising them not to feed birds and highlighting pest control problems. More than 20 Fixed Penalty Notices had been issued to people in the park and the city warden had worked with local places of worship to raise awareness. Signage had also been put up around the St Marks area.

·       Alleyways – complaints about dumped rubbish were being acted on, Kensington Street had been cleaned up.

·       Service road parallel to Melton Road had been cleared and new gates installed to minimise access.

The key message was that the City Warden team could only act if incidents were reported and residents were advised to use the Love Leicester App which made it easier for residents to report issues to the council and allowed people to track the progress of the issue or to phone the service on 0116 4541001.

Local residents are invited to feedback their views on the proposed alterations to Belgrave Road.

Barry Pritchard, Group Manager introduced the Belgrave Road feasibility and design study and told the meeting that consultants Phil Jones and Associates had been engaged to consult with the community about the options being proposed.

Phil Jones addressed the meeting and gave an outline of the key aspects the project would address which included the following:

·        traffic planning and design would be used to tackle the existing situation on Belgrave Road of heavy traffic, narrow pavements, congestion with street furniture, bollards and benches.

·       Traffic crossings – at least 9 sets of lights along Belgrave Road to Melton Turn.

·       Greening the area – currently there were not many trees along the route and paving materials poor.

Phil Jones said that the area was seen as an asset to the city with events it holds such as Diwali and the Golden Mile businesses and it was important to capitalise on the area. The project would focus on the stretch from Belgrave Circle to Melton Turn; if successful a second phase could be considered beyond the Melton Turn.

The meeting were told that in August 2015 a design workshop had taken place by invitation only which had 35 attendees as a representative of community. A public exhibition had also taken place at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre (BNC) on 1 December 2015 and the project team would be holding a similar event at BNC on Tuesday 5 Jan 2016 from 4pm -8.30pm to try and encourage local people in the area to give their views on the options being proposed. The consultation period would run to 15 January 2016 then feedback on the options would be collated and a preferred design would be produced. A further round of consultations would take place towards the end of February 2016.

During the course of discussion residents made the following comments:

·       How were the public exhibitions being advertised, the publicity for the last one on 1 December 2015 was left too late to give people an opportunity to attend and the next one is arranged too soon after Xmas and New Year for all the residents to be informed properly.  The consultants hoped that the exhibition would be publicised by word of mouth following the ward meeting but there would also be a piece in the Leicester Mercury. The meeting were also told that 2000 letters to residents were being sent out.

·       This was a major arterial route into the city and that needed to be kept in mind.

·       When the design workshop took place in Aug/Sept there were very few residents invited, only 2 people from the disabled access group and no-one invited from Vista but businesses were over represented. On the design choices one of the options showed zebra crossings being introduced so why was no-one from Vista being consulted who could comment on behalf of visually impaired. Access Design solutions were there and had expertise in accessibility and there were other people in the room who had similarexperience. No proposals were put out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

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

The Chair explained that the decisions relating to the bids was that of the Councillors and would not be for discussion by the floor. Attendees were also told that any bids that had not been received in good time for the meeting would be put over to the next meeting.

Applications considered:

·       5109 –Active Learning, to produce a leaflet called Get It Checked Out to raise cancer awareness. Application for £625 – NOT SUPPORTED

·       5110 – Dance Blast, to run a dance fitness class twice a week at Rushey Mead Recreation Centre. Application for £250 – NOT SUPPORTED

·       1506 – Asian Elderly Musical Arts Collective, to hold weekly interactive music sessions, monies to be used to purchase instruments. Application for £1,923 – NOT SUPPORTED

·       1514 – Highfields/Spinney Hills Homework Club, to provide free of charge extra tutorial support to school aged children. Application for £3,200 – NOT SUPPORTED

·       1555 – Leicester Sea Cadets, to purchase directional signage for the Leicester Sea Cadets premises. Application for £560. Grant of £560 SUPPORTED

·       5123 – Belgrave Rugby Football Club, towards maintenance of playing field and improved security of clubhouse. Application for £1,000. NOT SUPPORTED

·       1571 – Ms Hansa Kanji, Art of Relaxing, to create an art group. Application for £400. NOT SUPPORTED

To note the next meeting will take place on Tuesday 22^nd March 2016 at 6.30pm at a venue to be confirmed.

There being no “Any Other Business” notified the meeting closed at 8.55pm.