Agenda item

The City Warden will be at the meeting to give a presentation on issues in the area.

Darren Evans, (City Warden, Leicester City Council) gave a presentation to the meeting, and included the following points:

• Averill Road – following local complaints, damaged cars and stored tyres have been removed.
• St Austell flats – bins that were previously left out after collections and abandoned bins have been taken away.
• The graffiti project saw the removal of graffiti from items in Willowbrook park, for example, benches, bins, walls.
• Willowbrook Park saw the level of dog fouling fall. It is thought the recent bad weather may have forced people to walk their dogs on Thurncourt Road, Ocean Road and Sudbury Green where the problem was worsening. A project to run from January to June 2011 (one of two) would see increased patrols in these areas. Also letters would be sent to each home in the area.
• General patrols would be undertaken to include the following:

o       Thurnby Lodge shops

o       Willowbrook and Thurnby Lodge Schools

o       Willowbrook Park and open space.

• A-Boards had become a problem for pedestrians on Uppingham Road and Humberstone Road. A city-wide project in relation to addressing some of the problems caysed by A-Boards was to take place.
• City Wardens have worked jointly with the fire service to tackle the problem of cars parked illegally near to the Merlyn Vaz Centre. The project was to educate the public on parking dangerously. The Council proposes to introduce yellow lines in June.
• Bins on streets would be an ongoing project for the remainder of the year.
• Other projects last year included the Peace Rally before and after the EDL march.
• Objectives for Thurncourt in 2011 include:

o       Recycle point education

o       Littering and dog fouling near Thurnby Lodge shops

o       Willowbrook and Thurnby Lodge school young warden project

o       Sunbury Green dog fouling project 1

o       Ocean Road dog fouling project 2

o       Working with the Community Centre

o       Joint projects with the police, for example Sunbury Green bonfire

o       Joint working with TARA groups and local resident projects.

Darren Evans then gave the following replies to questions:

• If people were parked in front of dropped kerbs then the police should be called.
• Fixed penalties would be given to people who allowed their dogs to foul.
• It would be useful if people could give him the times persistent offenders took their pets out, so he could investigate.
• Retailers on The Parkway have been putting shop waste into the bins. Darren agreed to investigate the complaint.
• Dog mess could now be put in any waste bin, and that a campaign to educate dog owners of this was to be launched. An article will be prepared and sent to Housing News and Leicester Link. Bins for dog waste could be provided through funding if there was a gap in the area, but the costs were usually high. The Chair asked that the previous cost of installing dog bins in the area be investigated.
• Phase 2 of the dog fouling project covered Ocean Road. People had been spoken to and asked to keep their dogs in and not be allowed to roam freely. Letters would be sent to all residents on Ocean Road, and covert operations would be undertaken on a daily basis.
• Some time was spent working away from the ward and undertaking training as part of the mandate for the role of a city warden. Members queried the reasons for this and asked if the time spent away could be reduced as they felt the City Warden’s time would be more effective if they were in the Ward for longer. The meeting was advised that the time spent away was not ongoing week on week, and wardens were now at the point where they could stay on the ward.

Further discussion took place over the publicising in the Leicester Mercury of the reduction on street cleaning. Also the street cleaning of gutters and kerbs could not be carried out due to cars parked in the streets. It was agreed that men on foot were more effective in keeping the streets clean. Members stated that concerns should be placed in a letter to the Leader, and City Cleansing be invited to the next meeting and given the opportunity to answer questions at the meeting.