Agenda and minutes

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 Shelton, Chair for the meeting, welcomed everyone and led the introductions.

No declarations of interest were made.

Apologies were received from Ann and Alan Sturgess, and May Jones.

Attached for information is the Action Log from the last Saffron Ward community meeting.

Minute Item 51, Councillors’ Report

Hughenden Drive – traffic at speed to Saffron Lane. A traffic assessment was undertaken, and results showed no requirement for traffic calming.

Windley Road Bus Shelter – vandalised on a couple of occasions last year, it had been repaired with a more plastic type material.

Windley Road / Brookfield Rise – a petition was submitted, and Road Safety Team spoken to. Neighbouring residents in the area would be consulted on traffic calming measures. Jon Ashworth, Leicester South MP was also involved.

Chicane trial at Knighton Fields Road West and East – there were plans to make chicanes permanent. Network Rail had raised concerns about access to their car park.

The Action Log for the meeting held on 30 October 2017 was confirmed as a correct record.

Councillors will provide an update on ward information.

·         There would be no fete on the recreation ground in 2018, but a bigger fete would be held next year;

·         There would be additional cladding on Greenfield Road and neighbouring street, balancing out previous works;

·         Councillors had met the Income Management Team at Saffron Lane to discuss the Universal Credit roll out;

·         Press had recently reported on a Putney Road / Evesham Road link road, but were actually two separate programmes. Any project would go to consultation;

·         As Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission, Councillor Cutlkelvin was looking at the LRI’s care plan and pressures over the winter period to try and alleviate for next year;

·         The Christmas Fete at the Kingfisher Centre had been well attended. Plans would commence shortly for the 2018 Fete;

·         At the St Andrews end of the Ward in Filbert Street had seen a lot of fly tipping. One of the residents saw some travellers looking at Linekar Road. It was reported to the City Warden and followed up;

·         Both Councillors were regular attendees at Aylestone Residents Park Group.

·         There had been a couple of cases on Neston Gardens with mice infestation. Repairs were logged and advice given to tenants the pest control officer not to keep food out, and bait put down. The officer will revisit every couple of weeks.

There will be an update on the development of St Mary’s Allotment.

Brian Stafford, Project Development Manager, provided the following information:

·         St Mary’s Allotments were currently being developed into housing by Westleigh developers. A first draft layout of the area was shown at the meeting;

·         The area was heavily vegetated, and Friends of St Mary’s were carrying out conservation work. The development was a balancing act in keeping with the ecology, but providing open space for residents. Plans would be submitted, and it was hoped clearance work would commence October / November 2018;

·         The proposal included a couple of play areas, and a play trail;

·         The bottom of the plan showed the location of a brook. It was not proposed to develop into the brook due to a gas pipe. It was proposed to fence off the area with secure double steel core mesh fencing;

·         Consultation sheets and return envelopes were circulated at the meeting. Officers were keen to receive people’s views;

·         A postal leaflet drop would also be undertaken around Hughenden Drive and Aylestone Road. Councillors requested copies of the leaflets and who they would be circulated to;

·         The ‘kick about’ area had been chosen because it was fairly flat;

·         It was proposed to connect tarmac and more informal paths;

·         Green space for the community would be retained, and a community orchard had been discussed alongside Aylestone Road;

·         The proposed plan would be taken to Aylestone Park Residents Group meeting in March. The planning application was expected in June 2018.

There will be a discussion in investments at leisure centres.

Nick Browning, Leisure Facilities Development Manager, informed those present on the following:

·         A sustainability review of the seven leisure centres had been undertaken. The council had made a commitment to keep all seven centre, which was positive news;

·         An investment in the centres had been signed off for the next three years, and would be implemented in two phases;

·         £1.8million had been allocated to improve health and fitness at four leisure centres;

·         New air handling units would be installed at various leisure centres;

·         Aylestone leisure centre was not comparable with other gyms. It was proposed to use £350k to convert the bar area and knock through to double the size of the gym, provide modern equipment and improve subsidy, to generate surplus to reinvest;

·         Timeframe – potential work to commence 2019;

·         Two investments had been made in Cossington Street and Evington leisure centres in 2018, with a finishing target of February / March 2019;

·         Aylestone would be the third investment, and the programme of works would be approximately six-eight months, with the option of moving gym equipment to another area while works were underway;

·         Some funding had been received from Sport England;

·         Aylestone would see its community space reduced to one small meeting room;

·         In comparison to Pure Gym, the Council had a different target market and offering. Pure Gym charged £18.99 per month with no contract. LCC charged £20 per month. OAPs were charged £10 a month, £6 off peak;

·         If a member wanted to include classes, their monthly charge would be £32 a month.

There will be a presentation on the Putney Road Scheme.

John Dowson, Major Transport Project Manager, displayed aerial shots of the area around Putney Road (attached presentation), and provided the following information:

·         The background to the project was this side of the city had seen business and population growth, bringing with it traffic, for example, football, Tigers, LRI, De Montfort University. With new developments in town, it would attract new businesses to the city and boost the economy. There was a need to make the road network efficient;

·         Government had invited bids for schemes to increase productivity, i.e. reduce traffic congestion. A bid had been submitted for the Putney Road scheme and a series of business infrastructure programmes;

·         The closed link between Welford Road and Aylestone Road was highlighted. It was proposed to create a single carriageway between the two roads, which would have both sport venue and commercial advantages;

·         Another advantage was Knighton Fields and Knighton Way would be less attractive to cars drivers, and would save a significant amount of vehicle kilometres and carbon emissions;

·         £3.4million funding was put forward. The council wanted people’s feedback though the consultation process, which could be accessed online and would end on 29 April 2018. A series of drop-in meetings would also take place:

Clarendon Park – 13 March

70 Clarendon Park Road – 15 March

Saffron Resource Centre – 10 April

Commercial Square conference facility – 20 and 27 April

·         Councillors requested a display be set up in Aylestone Leisure Centre also;

·         Residents stated that Aylestone Road was congested on evenings and on football and rugby match days. It was noted the project would redistribute existing traffic and relieve congestion on the southern ring road. It was also noted Aylestone Road outbound traffic was very slow moving, and the city would be looked at as a whole: ring roads – outer, inner and central;

·         The Putney Road scheme stood alone and on its own merits, and would relieve pressure from Walnut Street, Granby car park area and Welford Road. Growth had also been included in the model to be used, which was giving good results and was not adverse for residential areas;

·         It was acknowledged there would be some growth on Victoria Park Road towards Welford Road and the A6 (London Road);

·         No work had been carried out on the Evesham Road link at all;

·         If no issues were raised during the consultation period, work could commence late summer / early autumn;

·         Democratic Support Officer was asked to provide Aylestone Park Residents Group with project leaflets.

An update will be given on Housing works in the Saffron Ward.

Paul Lewis, Neighbourhood Housing Officer, provided information for Saffron Ward:

·         Leicester to Work team – a programme of works was being developed to  cover areas not covered by normal works, for example, cutting bushes, weed spraying, etc.

·         It was noted that some people’s gardens were overgrown and couldn’t be managed by some residents. Housing Officers would point them to STAR;

·         Leicester to Work had limited resources, and grant funding for them could be looked into;

·         Age Concern were also a source of help for some tenants, but usually came from a referral from STAR;

·         The Housing Repairs function had been removed from Neighbourhood Housing offices, but it was understood that replacement fences had reverted back to 6-foot fence panels with concreate posts;

·         During the severe cold weather, over 1,000 boiler break downs were reported. The Winter Emergency Plan went into effect, and it was reported there were only two decants in Eyres Monsell due to burst water pipes. The majority of calls were about frozen condensation pipes from boilers, and were easily rectified;

Councillor Cutkelvin left the meeting at 6.45pm.

The local City Warden will present information on environmental works within Saffron Ward.

Noel Cazley, City Warden, circulated an information leaflet, and provided the following update:

·         St Andrews has been covered. Now tackling Thirlmere, Ullswater and Windermere;

·         The amount of bins on streets had dramatically dropped. There was still work to do on the project, with a continual battle with students – turnover in St Andrews was high, dependent on what course they were on;

·         Still working with landlords. As soon as tenant left, the tenant’s waste became commercial waste and the landlords responsibility. CCTV cameras in hotspot areas in surveillance vehicles could be used to catch offenders;

·         The Bins on Streets programme had been decriminalised. If someone left bins on street three times, they would receive a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). About 28 FPNs were issued since December. In a house of four, if one person paid, it cancelled the other three FPNs. If no one paid, all four people would be fined;

·         Messy garden situations, i.e. rubbish, overgrowth. If a statutory nuisance under Section 79, a warrant would be gained in court, the property would be cleared, and the householder would be sent the bill. Vulnerable persons would be dealt with sensitively;

·         Filbert Street – constant grafitti and fly tipping. The Planning Team were now dealing with the issue;

·         Thirlmere Gardens – there was a children’s centre there. A couple of calls had been received over suspected drug dealing in the area;

·         Complaints now needed to be made through My Account online.

Local Police Teams will be present to provide a policing update.

PCSO Ben Leaming was present to update the meeting with the following information:

·         Following anti-social behaviour in the Uplands Road area, police had received the names of suspects;

·         A operation by police had seen an offender of historical crimes and sexual offences received 22 years custodial sentence;

·         The PCSO covering St Andrews had no issues to report;

·         To receive regular updates on news / crime, residents could sign up to receive email updates by following the Neighbourhood Link on the Police website – an email address was all that was required.

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

a)    An update will be given on the Ward Community budget; and

b)      A list of grant applications submitted for consideration will be announced.

It was reported that the balance remaining for 2017/18 was £0.

The following applications for Ward Funding had been approved:

·         Leicester Ivorian Association – £100 Christmas Party

·         Goldhill – £250 for a Community Shop Freezer

·         St Andrews Play Association– £520 Free Fruit Tuesday.

The new budget from 1^st April was £18,000.

·         Katy Edge, Crime and ASB Officer at CrASBU, introduced herself. She informed the meeting her role included civil powers, evicting tenants (not private tenants), gaining injunctions, providing advice to housing associations and members of the public. If someone received a conviction, her team could take tenancy action also.

The meeting closed at 7.08pm.