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 of interest as required by the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

Cllr Dawood – Chair, welcomed everyone and led introductions.

There were apologies for absence from the Democratic Support Officer.

There were no declarations of interest.

Apologies were recived from the Democratic Support Officer.

The Action Log for the last meeting, held on 30 August 2022, is attached for information.

As part of the discussions, it was noted that

·         Residents were informed that Ward Councillors of the East of Leicester were meeting with the Police and residents next week to further discuss the disturbances and that residents would be provided with an update in due course.

·          Residents requested an update from the Highways Officers for the improvement of the flow of traffic around the junction of Morley Road, Vulcan Road and Hartington Road which had been raised previously.

·         The Chair noted that highway matters would be discussed under the Highways Item

AGREED:

That the Action Log of the meeting of the Wycliffe Ward Community Meeting from 30 August 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

Ward Councillors will provide an update on local ward matters.

Members noted that:

·         The appointment of a new lead into the enquiry following the disturbances in the East of the City was still out for consideration

·         The Women for Change event at St Matthews Neighbourhood Centre would be held on Friday 9^th Dec 2022

·         The Employment Festival at Highfields Library was a success with upto 500 attendees

·         St Matthews Employment Festival to follow in the coming months

·         Cllr Aqbany - went through his surgery dates.

Officers from the Local Policing Unit will be at the meeting to provide an update on police issues in the Ward

Inspector Yakub Ismail was in attendance and provided and introduction of is role and introduced his Officers and policing issues. It was noted that:

·         The new Chief Constable, Sergeant Adam Ahmed will be taking over for Wycliffe ward.

·         There had been 73 arrest made during the disorder that happened in Leicester East.

Cllr Aqbany suggested that the police visibility in the Highfields and St Peters Estate area was low and that with the three schools in the St Peters area lots of loitering and other ASB concerns.

·          

Highways Officers will be in attendance to provide an update on highway matters.

Robert Bateman the Highways Officer was in attendance and provided and update on Highway matters. As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         Residents queried the option for pavement parking similar to that of the scheme introduced in Rushey Mead to be considered for the narrow streets around the Wycliffe Ward.

·         In response to residents concerns about the conflict between the bus stop and the parking bay on Melbourne, Officers noted that an on-site meeting on this was to be arranged.

·         Residents request for additional Enforcement Officer visits during the peak times around the schools and other busy areas in the ward where there were ongoing traffic concerns

·         A request for an additional parking bay outside the Campanile Hotel was made, residents suggested that the space is available and that this could be investigated.

Housing Officers will be at the meeting to discuss housing issues in the Ward.

The Housing Officer in attendance provided an update. It was noted that:

·         There was a Public Realm Project in the Wycliffe Ward, in St Matthews work on Ottawa Road had been completed and there would be an official opening in January  

·         Next stages of the project were to look at implementing improvements in the courtyard for Lethbridge Close and Edmonton Road in St Matthews

·         In St Peter’s the team were looking at demolishing dated garages and creating more managed parking as there was support for a Residents Parking Scheme in the area.

Additionally, In St Peters the team would also be improving the outdoor space behind Framland House and make the existing space a more accessible space for the community to use. The Green Team had been working on both estates cutting back the shrubs and tiding up both green areas.

The Project had the input of the ward Councillors, local residents and the Tenants Associations. The City Mayor had made a commitment to invest £5m to improve the estates.

Currently there was a housing crisis and Housing Services were supporting a lot of people with complex needs in their tenancies. Staff were also dealing with issues like rats on the estates and had a programme in place to deal with the causes of pests.

St Peters was a high demand area for housing and many people wanted to live near shops, and other local amenities.

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

As promised a quick recap of what I updated last night.

·         New No tipping signs had been placed on Bedford St North and signs given to Housing Team to place inside there forecourt areas.

·         4x Fix Penalty Notices issued for Untidy Land and x2 FPN’s issued for Commercial businesses not having a waste carrier not in place to dispose of waste produced.

·         Warning enforcement letters sent to properties where boxes/recycling are places in the wrong place which are now classed as a fly-tip.

·         12 roads on St Matthews have been sent Household Duty of Care Fly- tipping Letters and recycling leaflets to explain what and where to leave them, to try and reduce waste left on the pavements.

·         Continued Bins on Streets enforcement work.

·         Working together with other stakeholders and housing officers to deal with issues using the appropriate legislation to address the problems. 2 investigations for fly- tipping offences are being continued as obtained CCTV from Housing.

·         Ongoing visits to businesses checking on how they dispose of waste and see if they have waste carriers in place, with the St Matthews business visits to commence soon.

The City Warden informed the residents of the new Love Clean Streets app which was having a big launch after Christmas and responded to questions raised by residents around the old community skip scheme and noted that all waste materials needed separating before they could be recycled.

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

An update on the Ward Community Budget will be provided at the meeting

The Community Engagement Officer presented the Ward Budget and residents who had received support for Daryeel Autism thanked Members for their support.

Members suggested that successful applicants to the ward funding should return to ward meetings to provide feedback following their events.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 7:25pm.