Agenda item

-           Presented by Councillors

-           Presented by Members of the Public

-               Petitions for Debate

4.1 Keep Clarendon Park Local – Stop Tesco!

PETITIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

Mr Jethwa presented a petition with 169 signatures in the following terms:

“We want petition in stopping of demolition of the Belgrave Flyover.”

Mr. Benjamin Mintah, (accompanied by New College Humanities Club and teachers)presented a petition with 337 signatures in the following terms:

“We the undersigned, petition for the mortal remains of England’s last Plantagenet King, Richard III, the last king to die in battle, recently discovered under a car park in Leicester, to be re-interred with due dignity and respect in Leicester, where he was originally buried.”

PETITIONS FROM COUNCILLORS

None

The Lord Mayor stated that under Council Procedure Rule 13h the aforementioned petitions would be referred tothe Monitoring Officer for consideration and action as appropriate.

PETITIONS TO BE DEBATED

Having declared an Interest Councillor Senior left the Chamber for the duration of this item.

The Monitoring Officer noted that under the terms of the Council’s Petitions Scheme two petitioners have been invited to speak on their petition for a maximum of five minutes each.  This would be followed by a debate on the issues raised by the petition for a maximum of 15 minutes.

The Monitoring Officer advised that following the debate, Council could decide how to respond to the petition and may decide to:

·         take the action the petition requested in so far as it has the power to do so,

·         recommend a decision maker to not take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate,

·         recommend that further investigation into the matter be commissioned,

·         note the petition.

Further advice was given in relation to potential areas for declarations of interest for members of the Council Planning and Licensing Committees.

The Lord Mayor noted that he had agreed to allow two people to present the case in relation to this petition. Ms Margaret Lewis would speak for up to 5 minutes followed by Mr Sean Kelly-Walsh for up to 5 minutes.

Ms Lewis and Mr Kelly Walsh presented the petition with 2,264 signatures in the following terms:

“We the undersigned petition the Council to value our independent local shops, oppose proposals for a Tesco Express in the former Barclays Bank, and petition the Council to do everything in their power to prevent this.

We are a group of Leicester residents who have started a local campaign in Clarendon Park.

We are trying to prevent Tesco from opening an Express store in the ex-Barclays Bank branch in our area.

Until very recently, they denied explicitly that they were planning to do this.

This is one of the few remaining neighbourhoods where most of the businesses on our main street are small, local and independent, giving it a unique and friendly character.  We want to keep it that way.

Clarendon Park is a close knit community, more akin to a village than a city suburb.  We encourage as many people as possible who live, work or study in the area to join our campaign and help save our wonderful little corner of Leicester from the corporate behemoths”.

The issues raised by the petition were then debated by Council. 

Moved by Councillor Kitterick, seconded by Councillor Palmer and carried:

31.       That the Council notes the issues raised and expresses its support for the local community and small independent businesses and will continue to work with them to ensure that their area continues to thrive.