Minutes:
The Chair agreed to accept the following items of urgent business:
1. ADULTS AND HOUSING TASK GROUP – FINAL REPORT ON REMOVAL OF REPAIRS RUBBISH FROM VOID PROPERTIES
Councillor Aqbany submitted a report that provided the Board with the findings of the Adults and Housing Task Groups’ review into the disposal of repairs rubbish from void properties in Leicester.
Councillor Aqbany introduced the report and stated that the Task Group met on three occasions. The Task Group recommended full support of the new Mobile Working Scheme and proposed that this be further developed to offer greater improvements. A further recommendation proposed that void properties could be used to store associated rubbish.
In response to a question, Councillor Aqbany confirmed that it was largely staff from Leicester City Council who were responsible for the removal of such rubbish. He explained that the Task Group was also recommending that the Voids and Day to Day Management Teams developed better working relationships with Estate Wardens, City Wardens and local residents to improve the services.
In response to a further question, Councillor Aqbany estimated that positive differences to the practises around collecting rubbish from voids properties should be evident within several months.
The Board agreed that an update on the Voids Rubbish Collection service be brought to the Board in six months.
RESOLVED:
(1) That the recommendations of the Culture and Leisure Task Group be supported;
(2) That a divisional response to the review be brought back to the Board within three months; and
(3) That an update on the Voids Rubbish Collection service be brought to the Board in six months.
2. REVIEW OF THE LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL WEBSITE
Councillor Grant reminded the Board that following a presentation provided to the Board in November 2010 by the Web Team regarding the refresh of the City Council’s website, it was concluded that he would conduct a short piece of work to provide reassurance that during the website refresh, officers had taken proper consideration of the accessibility needs of potential users and to consider improvements to areas of the website pertinent to members.
Councillor Grant stated that in light of a lack of interest from
members to participate in the review, he conducted it
solely. The review concluded that the
Web Team made reasonable attempts to ensure that the website
refresh took into account the needs and requirements of those with
special needs, but it was noted that the website did not achieve an
‘excellent’ rating because it failed on one of the
accessibility tests. Councillor Grant
suggested that in light of this, officers should gain a second
opinion on accessibility and felt that this could be sought from
the Centre for Integrated Living.
Councillor Grant stated that improvements were required around the way scrutiny appeared on the website and the access to associated pages. He felt that scrutiny should be placed more prominently on the website, and should more greatly encourage public participation in processes such as submitting representations to committees.
In addition to those recommendations included within the report, Councillor Grant suggested that a further recommendation be included to allow the Council’s main scrutiny body to take ownership in developing the Council’s website.
RESOLVED:
(1) That the recommendations of the Culture and Leisure Task Group be supported.
(2) That a divisional response to the review be brought back to the Board within three months; and
(3) That the further recommendation to allow the Council’s main scrutiny body to take ownership in developing the Council’s website be supported.