- From Members of the Public
- From Councillors
Minutes:
QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
Lord Mayor: Mr. Gater to present five questions. Mr. Gater, your first question please.
Mr. John Gater: Thank you. “Does the Council agree that the crimes carried out by Greville Janner against boys and girls in the care of the local authority in the 1970’s and 1980’s are heinous?”
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I am sure I speak for all Members of the Council to say that the allegations are of crimes that are indeed heinous. They are very serious indeed and some of the stories from the victims have been very harrowing and deeply moved all those who met them. I think they are ones that raise very significant questions for those involved at the time but they also involve questions that we in this generation must apply to the organisations and institutions of today and make sure that what is alleged to have happened during that period can never happen in this generation.
Lord Mayor: Mr. Gater, any supplementary question?
Mr. Gater: Not on that no thank you.
Lord Mayor: OK. Would you like to move to your second question please.
Mr Gater: “Now he has died, does the Council agree a full and proper Inquiry is conducted about the role of Leicestershire Police and the CPS in regard to Greville Janner’s crimes?”
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I have said on a number of occasions and I know other members share this view that the victims of the alleged perpetrator have been denied the opportunity to be heard and were denied at the time the opportunity to have what they were saying taken with the seriousness that it deserves. I am reassured that the Goddard Inquiry has said that the alleged victims will be listened to and have said that the role of the various organisations, some of which Mr. Gater has mentioned in his question, will be reviewed. I very much hope that that will indeed be the case, I am told that the victims of the alleged crimes will want to try and make sure it is, but I also know the media both locally and nationally and us at a local level and politicians nationally will want to do their best to make sure that the answers are given and the institutions involved are actually held to account.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Mr. Gater, have you got a supplementary question?
Mr. Gater: There is a supplementary question. On Tuesday the Henriques Report into the conduct of the CPS was published and there has now been a ping pong match between the CPS and Leicestershire Police because Leicestershire Police are saying they were never consulted in that report and the CPS are blaming the Leicestershire Police, and Leicestershire Police are blaming the CPS. Nobody is taking overall responsibility for the failure to prosecute Janner.
Lord Mayor: Is there a question there?
Mr. Gater: Yes, what is the Council’s response to that?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: Chair I obviously am not intimately aware of the details of what each of those two organisations are saying about the other’s role. I do hope and understand it to be the case that the Goddard Inquiry will be looking at the parts played by the various institutions that should have been safeguarding children during that period and the way in which the allegations have been dealt with in the intervening years.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Mr. Gater, your third question.
Mr Gater: The Third question is “Does the Council agree that Barnett Janner House should be re-named to help heal the hurt to the victims and their families?”
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: I find this question difficult my Lord Mayor because of course Barnett Janner was Greville Janner’s father, and he served as a Member of Parliament for part of the City for some 25 years, and I am aware of no allegations at all having been made about him or any relationship to the sort of crimes that have been alleged against Greville Janner, his son. Having said that I obviously have sympathy with those victims who find, you know, the use of the surname being attached to a public building in the City as something that they find unsatisfactory. My immediate response is to say that the name is so specifically that of the father that is used that it would not be appropriate to take any move to alter the name, but I will however, given the obvious sensitivity of it, be seeking the views from colleagues, and particularly the relevant scrutiny commission of the Council, to see whether they would wish to advise otherwise. But the immediate response is that the name is specifically that of the father, not of Greville Janner.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Mr. Gater, have you got a supplementary question?
Mr. Gater: I have. In view of today’s news that the University are not going to strip Lord Janner of his honorary degree, is he being treated differently to Sepp Blatter of FIFA when he was unconvicted stripped of his degree. Should the University strip Lord Janner of his honorary degree?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: Again Lord Mayor it is a very difficult question for me to answer. I am not responsible for the decisions of the University in this regard. I can understand that there is likely to have been quite a robust debate in the University about it. I would expect that they will continue but ultimately it is their responsibility for taking the decision.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Mr. Gater, your fourth question please.
Mr Gater: “Have the Elected Members learnt any lessons from the Kirkwood Report of 1991 into the Frank Beck child abuse in Leicestershire Children’s Homes in relation to the considerable criticism of the Elected Members at the time?”
Lord Mayor: Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. The Kirkwood report was published in 1992 and criticised Elected Members in Leicestershire for not having taken a robust approach in handling the allegations. There have been many, many changes in the way that residential care is managed and inspected since the Kirkwood report was written. This includes Ofsted now inspecting residential care; checks on the suitability of residential staff prior to selection and at interview; training and qualifications for residential staff and in addition there is the statutory role of the Lead Member in Children’s Services; the requirement that Elected Members act as Corporate Parents to all of our looked after children and that in doing that they have training to understand and carry out their safeguarding and scrutiny role. So there are a significant number of changes that have taken place to take on the criticisms within that report and to enable Elected Members to ensure that they are able to understand what is going on and take a robust approach to any allegations.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Mr. Gater, have you got a supplementary question?
Mr. Gater: A comment on the actual Kirkwood Inquiry is being reviewed by the Goddard Report so we are having a public inquiry into a public inquiry.
Lord Mayor: Councilor Russell.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. I think there has been a significant number of changes since the Kirkwood report. I am sure that it will be reflected upon within the Goddard report but there is obviously a significant range of other information that they will take on board as part of that.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Mr. Gater, your fifth question.
Mr Gater: OK. “With regard to the damning 2013 Ofsted report into Child and Young Person’s Services and the latest news that it’s going to take a further two years to bring it into line, this is far too long to be failing vulnerable children of Leicester especially as it started a year ago. Does the Council agree one child who is put in danger is one child too many and a special task force is setup with other organisations and independent lay persons to ensure the Elected Members get it right?”
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. I am going to take this in a couple of different parts so first of all, of course we agree that one child in danger is one child too many. That is a given and we will want to do whatever we can to protect vulnerable children in our City. In terms of the Ofsted report into children’s services it looked at a wide range of areas, some of which were considered to be good, others were considered to be inadequate and that is why we have an overall judgment of inadequate. Our residential care in the City is good, our adoption services in the City are good, what we need to look at is our process for our children in need, a middle section, not those who are first identified or those who we have worked out ways to support, but those that we are looking at how we can support. The programme to be able to make those improvements we have always said would look at taking around two years. It isn’t two years from now, it is two years from the starting point and that is recognised nationally. Ofsted and the Department for Education understand that when you are trying to make significant changes to a very large service you can’t do it overnight, but there are a lot of different elements that need to be changed; staff that needed to be worked with, training that needs to be put in and we need to make sure that that is embedded and carried on and consolidated so that it makes continuous, ongoing improvements and it is not a sticking plaster or a pretence that something has improved when it hasn’t. So we are absolutely committed to improving children’s services in the City. As part of that, there is an independent chair of our Improvement Board that is put in place by the Department for Education who oversees that improvement work alongside partners from across Leicester and Leicestershire who also act in a scrutiny role. We also have our Safeguarding Children’s Board which continues to oversee the broader safeguarding in the City and that includes lay representatives as referred to in your question as well.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Have you a supplementary Mr. Gater?
Mr. Gater: There is one supplementary question and I think this is key. In the timescale of a child two years becomes a lifetime. I was abused by Janner for three years and that has lasted with me and I am now 50 that is a lifetime and I have carried all that guilt, all that hurt, all those emotions so two years if you get it wrong for one child they are going to be scarred for life. So I just keep asking the question why do we always get it wrong, why can’t we get it right?
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: I think it is absolutely vital that we get it right, and that we get it right quickly for children, but that has to be in a way that gets it right for all children and that we make sure that the measures that we put in, the support we put in, the training we put in is right for all the children that we are working with. If we try and rush things too quickly we will miss things and the last thing we want is for children to be slipping through the gaps. Thank you my Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Mr. Gater, can I thank you for your contribution to this Council meeting and for your questions. Thank you very much.
QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS
Lord Mayor: Questions from Councillors. The next item is questions from Councillors. Councillor Malik, your question please.
Councillor Malik: Thank you my Lord Mayor. “The Conservatives and Lib Dem Coalition Academies Act 2010 enables all maintained schools to apply to become academies. Could the Assistant City Mayor for Children, Young People and Schools tell Council what will be the role of the Local Authority when the local schools become academies? I would appreciate if your answer includes the impact on different areas including funding, admissions, school improvement etc.” Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. In terms of the variety of impacts of becoming an academy I think it is first of all important to say that whilst the driver nationally suggests that this is around school improvement there has been substantial evidence nationally that shows that this is a structural change and that is more around governance and removing the opportunity for local democratically accountable influence than it is around a genuine drive for school improvement. So, having said that, the changes that a school becoming an academy mean for the local authority in terms of funding; the funding is relatively similar to the funding that they would currently receive in that they get it directly; the same amount they would get. What they don’t get is the opportunity to de-delegate funding. That is a strange way, but what it means is our local authority schools collectively choose to give a portion of their money back to be used together for schemes such as the ‘whatever it takes scheme’. That looks at how to make sure that children across the City develop the opportunity and love of reading that will see them right the way through their academic career. It also contributes to things like behaviour support services. Individual schools trying to fund these on their own would mean that they had a very piecemeal and quite a poor service. By funding them collectively it means that our schools are able to receive a high quality service that meets the needs of their young people. Academies also receive an element of additional funding that is the equivalent of their portion of our education services grant which is there to look at school improvement tasks. The government are currently consulting on phasing out the education services grant so it is not clear what the impact will be either for ourselves or for academies on the change in this element of funding. In terms of safeguarding there is no change in the role of local authorities around safeguarding children and academies, they are still our children.
In terms of school improvement there is no official role, no statutory responsibility with regard to school improvement for local authorities regarding academies, although we are often asked to explain the outcomes of those children despite us not having the means to be able to make a significant role, and myself as a Lead Member and the Director of Children’s Services continue our role as a responsibility for championing all children in the City not just those who are in state maintained schools. It is important to know though that academies can request and pay for school improvement services from the local authority and in some areas this happens on a fairly frequent basis because obviously they are well established and have a strong track record over time. In terms of parents and the impact it has on parents, it can be significant. Those whose children are at an academy means that they are free to set; the school can set their own curriculum, they can set their own school days, dates, holidays, term dates and if you have children at a number of different schools this can obviously mean very, very complex family arrangements. At the moment, parents are able to be parent governors on governing bodies within our schools. You may have seen in the media this week that some academy chains have decided that they no longer need governing bodies and that local accountability isn’t something that they are concerned with. This is obviously also a significant impact to parents on their ability to influence their child’s education at their local schools.
The final element is admissions. I do apologise I am actually going to read this out because it is a horribly complicated area and one that it is easy to get wrong. So, the rules governing the schools’ admissions are set out in the school admission’s code published in December 2014. The rules governing admissions appeals are set out in the school admissions appeals code. The academy trust funding agreement requires academies to comply with both of these codes so that part stays the same. The overriding purpose of these is to ensure that all school places are allocated and offered in a clear, open and fair way. However, academy trusts can make changes to their admission arrangements following consultation and every year admission arrangements have to be determined and published whether or not the academy trust makes any changes to them. Anyone can object to the schools’ adjudicator about them, especially if they believe that they are unfair or otherwise breach the code. And again you may have seen in the media that the schools’ adjudicator has recently reported that local authorities across the country are almost exclusively compliant on meeting those admissions codes but sadly there are academies up and down the country who are breaking those codes and failing parents on a regular basis. The other element to this is what we would still be responsible for when a school was an academy. So we would still be responsible for publishing on-line the admissions arrangements for all state funded schools including academies in the area; providing a common application form enabling parents to express their preferences for a place at any state funded school; co-ordination of admissions arrangements for all state funded schools in their area including offering of places for Reception and Year 7 entry into primary and secondary schools; and the operation of a fair access protocol for unplaced children especially the most vulnerable. However, some academies choose not to engage with us on this. We can also offer a traded service to academies for some services including admissions appeals which they would otherwise need to handle themselves. I think it is clear that there are many, many changes for local authorities, for schools, but crucially for parents and the children that they serve and it is vital that we are all aware of those in a system where, not only can schools opt to become academies, but sadly the government can also force them to against their choosing. Thank you my Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Councillor Malik, have you a supplementary question?
Councillor Malik: Yes my Lord Mayor. As it has been mentioned that the City Council will be responsible for children how would we challenge these academies when things are not working?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. It is a very good question and one that sadly we already have some experience with as we already have an underperforming academy in the City. As we do not have the opportunity to directly influence and carry out statutory responsibilities, our role is to work through the regional Schools’ Commissioner who takes on that responsibility and we raise our concerns with the school directly, with their academy sponsors, with the regional Schools’ Commissioner and, where appropriate, also with the Department for Education. That is something that we have done and that we will continue to do wherever it is appropriate to try and get the best possible educational outcomes for children in our City. Thank you Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. I invite the next question from the Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Corrall.
Councillor Corrall: Thank you my Lord Mayor. “Could the City Mayor inform Council how much money has been saved to date in installing LED street lights across the whole City?”
Councillor Clarke: Thank you my Lord Mayor and thank you Deputy Lord Mayor. As of October last year the white lights project, as it is called, had converted around 26,000 street lights. Now taking into account slight price adjustments the expenditure in October was down by 40% compared with October 2012 which equates to an annual saving of £802,000. With adjustments to the dimming regime we think and we hope to move on to an annual saving of around £1m per annum, that is once the final lanterns are installed, up to 32,000.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Corrall, have you a supplementary question?
Councillor Corrall: I do indeed my Lord Mayor. Thank you Councillor Clarke for that very encouraging amount of money being saved. Therefore could you encourage your deputy colleagues to install these lights across the whole of the City Council estate wherever possible please, in particular in housing and schools.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Thank you my Lord Mayor. I am delighted to inform you that that work is ongoing as we speak. The whole lighting across the City is being looked at in terms of not only looking at how we can reduce spending but also reduce the carbon footprint so there is a huge programme not only in lighting but across the board in terms of reducing carbon footprint. We are looking at, or our public lighting team is looking at designs to replace floodlights on high mast installations, lamp columns, in housing enclosed areas and the City Centre’s old ceramic discharge metal-halide lanterns as well. So the scheme goes beyond the highways lighting.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Councillor Chaplin.
Councillor Chaplin: Thank you my Lord Mayor. “The forthcoming closure of the Maples Surgery on Evington Road has left many residents uncertain about local GP services. What advance communications did the Health and Wellbeing Board receive about this closure?”
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Chaplin for that question. As Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board I was initially informed that closure of that practice might be a possibility in early December. I was then notified formally that closure was going to proceed and the CCG were making arrangements on that basis on the 16th December which I believe was also the day that relevant Ward Members received notification as well.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Deputy City Mayor. Councillor Chaplin, have you a supplementary question?
Councillor Chaplin: Thank you my Lord Mayor I do. It is helpful to know that the Health and Wellbeing Board was given or you as the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board were given slightly advanced notice on that. However, I wondered as well as the work that the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission is doing, which obviously I chair, we know that the workforce planning in primary care services is a problematic area, I think would be the diplomatic way of saying it at the moment in the City, and apart from the work that we are doing on scrutiny, I wondered what the Health and Wellbeing Board might be doing to look at this going forward and particularly to help the planning of this for the future and also to improve communication because as I understand it there are problems in that many people still have not registered with other GP practices.
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor. On the final bit of the supplementary question and I think I copied Ward Members into my response to the formal notification of closure, seeking reassurance from the Clinical Commissioning Group who have the responsibility around list disbursal from practices closing to make sure that there is a thorough and robust exercise in place a) to make sure that that communication is effective and that patients are supported to register at other practices, but actually at the end of that exercise there is a fuller, for want of a better term, mopping up exercise to make sure indeed all patients have been able to re-register somewhere else and that support is offered for whatever reason where that has not been possible. One of the complications with the Maple Surgery is that the patient footprint is not contained within a particularly small or immediate geographical vicinity. It is actually spread right across the City. On the broader issue as Councillor Chaplin rightly identifies, primary care workforce planning is one of the biggest challenges facing our health economy. We are struggling to recruit GPs, we are struggling to persuade locum GPs to work permanently in our practices, we are then struggling to persuade GPs to become partners in practices which obviously has an impact on the long term planning and stability of primary care in the City. The scrutiny work that has been undertaken I hope will make a useful and positive contribution to the ongoing efforts to resolve this problem. It is something the Health and Wellbeing Board have been looking at for some time. We secured extra funding from NHS England a year or so ago; we were the only place in the region to do that. But I think what our experience so far makes clear, is that this is not an easy problem and that it is not a case of just offering GPs more money, there are some very, very deep and complex problems to resolve here which require a very long term and strategic effort. There are clearly no quick fixes. I think all contributions to that work are going to be welcomed from scrutiny and other quarters, but I am determined that the Health and Wellbeing Board along with the broader health economy has in place a realistic and credible plan for primary care workforce planning in the very near future and that that plan is properly resourced and that we ensure those resources are secured from NHS England and the Clinical Commissioning Group. But as I have said this is not a problem we appear just to be able to throw money at and assume will be solved, it is much more complex than that.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Deputy City Mayor. Councillor Riyait.
Councillor Riyait: Thank you my Lord Mayor. “Could the Assistant Mayor for Housing please give an update on the use of CCTV on the permanent traveller sites and whether they are currently operational?” Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Connelly.
Councillor Connelly: Thank you Lord Mayor. Thank you Councillor Riyait for the question. We have three permanent traveller sites in the City. Greengate Lane has CCTV which is operational. We have no problems at all. Meynell’s Gorse; unfortunately the CCTV there has been subject to sustained vandalism and attack but the site continues to be partially covered by CCTV cameras located in the park and ride site, but that in itself has been subject to an attempt to bring that down by a group of males using, I keep saying ankle grinders but I mean angle grinders. And if they had been successful could have possibly led to loss of life and certainly would have put the park and ride site out of commission while the damage was repaired. In respect of Redhill Nook, again CCTV was installed but again it has been subject to sustained vandalism, both the recording box and subsequently the two cameras that covered the entrance were then subject to vandalism. One of those cameras has been stolen. We are in consultation with the City Mayor and it is our intention to replace the CCTV at Meynell’s Gorse and at Redhill Nook, because we are clearly of the view that the CCTV is required and we want to protect the investment that we have put into those three sites.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Riyait, have you a supplementary question?
Councillor Riyait: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Thank you Councillor Connelly for the updates. I just wanted to ask whether there are ways in which we can, methods we can use, to keep the CCTV operational in future. I know it is a difficult issue and not something which has an easy solution to it but obviously it has been put there to try and protect our investment and to protect the residents on the site. Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Connelly.
Councillor Connelly: Thank you for the supplementary. There is a meeting next week with the agencies including the police, our CCTV Manager, Dave Warren, to come forward with a resolution to the problems we are incurring. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, Redhill, Meynell’s Gorse, perhaps we should not have put in recording boxes because they were the first things that got vandalised; well effectively got burnt out, and we are looking at a solution that will make the CCTV, I won’t say impregnable because they certainly seem very keen to remove the cameras, and once we have had that meeting I am quite happy to inform the relevant Ward Councillors what action we are taking to replace the CCTV.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Connelly. Councillor Grant is unable to be here this evening so questions 5, 6 and 7 will not be asked tonight, but I will leave it to the discretion of the relevant Members of the Executive whether a written reply can be given to Councillor Grant.
So to question 8 Councillor Porter.
Councillor Porter: Thank you Lord Mayor. The question is “Did the Council decide to rent out car parking spaces at any of the park and ride sites?”
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Thank you my Lord Mayor. There are spaces provided for contract parking at Enderby for businesses and organisations based at Grove Park. No spaces are provided at Birstall or Meynell’s Gorse currently.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Sorry my microphone is not working. Councillor Porter, have you a supplementary question?
Councillor Porter: Yes. Clearly having to rent out car parking spaces at the park and ride sites demonstrates that the park and ride sites are a failure. We were told that a couple of years after the park and ride sites had been running, that they would be operating close to capacity. That was clearly misleading information and I understand it is now costing tax payers over £600,000 a year in subsidy. So my question to the Council is can they list, say, 5 or 3 reasons , obviously there has been a failure at these park and ride sites for a number of years, so they must be clearly aware of why the sites are failing, so could the Council list 5 or even just 3 reasons why they feel the sites are failing?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Five or three Councillor Porter, are you going to make your mind up? The park and ride sites are challenging. The City Mayor has said that previously in public forum, but the park and ride sites are needed. We believe that it is important to understand the potential and capacity for park and ride to help us in a lot of ways. We are known nationally now as a City growing, welcoming new businesses into the City. We need sustainable transport solutions. We are growing as a tourism destination, park and ride is part of that mix at the moment. We work with our colleagues in the County to look at ways we can develop park and ride to be part of that sustainable transport mix. At the moment you are right, there is a public subsidy. Renting out surplus car parking spaces does help us to cut that subsidy. We will look at ways of continuing to do that and we have conversations regularly about that, but the core purpose of park and ride sites is to provide a service for people, the growing number of people, who want to come and live, work and enjoy our City.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Councillor Porter, your next question please.
Councillor Porter: Thank you Lord Mayor. “Has the Council finally accepted that there are now much longer queues of traffic on the A426 as a result of the bus lanes?”
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: The A426 project has recently undergone evaluations that have been published by the County Council which has outlined the great achievements of the A426 project. Looking at the length of traffic or length of queuing traffic is not necessarily the best indicator. Journey time is the best indicator and what we have seen is that journey time has been improved for buses, obviously, and there has been a very negligible effect on journey time for cars. If Councillor Porter is having trouble turning right out of his own street I will deal with that as a piece of case work if he wishes me to.
Lord Mayor: Have you a supplementary question Councillor Porter?
Councillor Porter: Yes I have actually. I know that he is the Council’s spokesperson for recycling and rubbish but I don’t think that should really extend to the answers that I have just received to two very important supplementary questions. There is clearly much more congestion in Aylestone as a result of the bus lanes. He referred to a report that the County Council have just done which clearly demonstrated that for buses times have improved, but for general traffic the congestion is very much worse, and obviously that has resulted in more pollution and congestion in Aylestone. So my question to the Council is, are you going to give an honest and truthful answer to the questions that I have put forward about the scheme not working for the people of Aylestone?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: I think I did clearly explain that journey times for buses had improved and the change in journey times for other forms of traffic the change was negligible. Then on top of that Arriva are celebrating a 15% increase in patronage down the route which goes against the trend of bus travel nationally. Now if we can get parochial for a moment, let’s talk Aylestone. Councillor Porter knows that the Middleton Street, Wigston Lane junction is a difficult junction. Work has been done to improve the traffic light phasing through that junction and we continue to look at taking traffic through that junction in a more smooth way, however, like I say, the journey time, the difference in journey time is negligible and people are taking around the same amount of time to get through Aylestone albeit in a single lane rather than in two lanes.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Councillor Porter, your next question please.
Councillor Porter: Thank you Lord Mayor. “Have the so called infrastructure improvements on Lutterworth Road and Aylestone Road in Aylestone resulted in more or less congestion?”
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: I am tempted to say I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave some moments ago. As I said, the traffic light phasing has been changed to accommodate the changes and the introduction of a bus lane through Aylestone. We continue to look at ways to improve that junction as has gone on for time immemorial when Aylestone was a village at the beginning of the 20th century when the Coal Pit lane, now Middleton Street, joined Aylestone Road and joined Wigston Lane; that junction is a difficult junction and we will continue to find ways of getting traffic through that easier. It was the same before the A426 corridor and it continues to be.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Have you a supplementary question please Councillor Porter?
Councillor Porter: Yes thank you Lord Mayor. It clearly isn’t the same before and after. Local residents are constantly complaining about the level of congestion that is taking place now in Aylestone and to say that there have been junction improvements is clearly misleading. All that has happened is there has been a slight increase in the time schedule for traffic travelling towards the City Centre on the Lutterworth Road. But that has resulted in more congestion on Wigston Lane and as Councillor Clarke calls it Coal Pit Lane, but everybody else calls it Middleton Street. So my question is are we actually going to get a truthful and honest answer from the City Council about the levels of congestion and the problems that have been faced by local residents in Aylestone and isn’t it about time that maybe he came down with the City Mayor and looked for himself to see how bad it is? People have told me, and I have experienced this myself, waiting to get through the lights between Soar Valley Way and the junction with Middleton Street for over 10 minutes. That was never the case before, so it is clearly misleading for him to say that there is no difference. Thank you Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: I think if you listen to the answer to my questions I didn’t say there was no difference. There clearly is a lot of traffic coming in to do business in the City, we have tried to maximise the bus travel time because we believe that public transport deserves investment, the issues that Councillor Porter raises are issues that I work with all the time to try as a Ward Councillor and also in my position on the Executive. We continue to look at ways of improving getting traffic through the City in as efficient a way as possible. There are of course a lot of times when there is congestion in Aylestone as there is all across the City but we work diligently to make sure that we maximise the potential of the road network.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clark. Councillor Porter, your next question please.
Councillor Porter: Thank you Lord Mayor. “How many wheelie bins have disappeared?”
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: The wheelie bins have not disappeared. A number of wheelie bins, as was reported in the Leicester Mercury recently, that Councillor Porter was quoted in, a number of wheelie bins do go missing. 8213 in the last 5 years as Councillor Porter will have read in the Leicester Mercury, but it is great for him to repeat the answer to the question, the answer to that question today or to ask me to do that. It is a relatively small amount. There are 113,000 wheelie bins are in continuous use across our City. Many missing bins are returned to their owners you will be delighted to hear. Like I said those bins do not disappear into thin air. Some of them end up in other people’s houses, which isn’t right, some end up may be further down the street and some end up in trees who knows?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Porter, have you a supplementary question?
Councillor Porter: Yes, yes thank you Lord Mayor. Yes there have been a few other things gone missing recently like the rubbish and the recycling collections and also the Council’s apology. Local residents have told me that it is not acceptable that the Council is unable to provide a proper service. Residents in Aylestone tell me that they have got a contract with the Leicester City Council to collect their recycling and their rubbish. So can the Council’s recycling, composting and rubbish spokesperson please explain what they were doing during the period when the collections did not take place to try and resolve the issue? Residents want to know how many meetings took place with Biffa between when they found out there was an issue on the Tuesday night and the Friday when the collections actually took place. And residents also want to know why was it down to them having to get in touch with the local media before the problems got resolved.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Porter. Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Just on that last point it was not down to them. Councillor Porter received emails from myself earlier in the week explaining that there were issues with collections way before residents of Aylestone or other residents across the City, residents in Knighton and other parts of the City were contacting myself, as we were working to understand why Biffa were giving us such inaccurate information. I am really grateful to Councillor Porter for allowing me to reiterate the disappointment of the Council on behalf of the residents of the City at the poor level of service that was given over Christmas. We are looking at the moment at the contractual obligation that Biffa has with us and what we can do in order to ensure that Biffa compensates for that woeful level of performance. Fortunately we have got a very robust contract that does enable us to talk to the service provider about how they will compensate for that poor level of service, but in respect of other elements of that supplementary question there is a lot of inaccuracies in there again Councillor Porter. But for once I can say that both you and I are at the moment talking rubbish.
Councillor Porter: Speak for yourself.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Councillor Cole.
Councillor Cole: Thank you Lord Mayor. “Recently the UK government voted not to ban Donald Trump from this country. Does the City Mayor see this as a wise decision and does the City Mayor view Mr. Trump as a rich bully or a political opportunist?”
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor can I thank Councillor Cole for this question. The short answer is I regard him both as a rich bully and a political opportunist. I also though to be serious, regard him as offensive and very ignorant. Clearly I understand why some would feel moved to seek to ban him from entering the UK. It is superficially very attractive to support that. In fact I think it would be far better if he were to come to Leicester because I think if he were to come to Leicester, not only would we engage in argument with him and seek to free him of his misapprehensions of our country and our City, but I think we would also have an opportunity to show him here in Leicester the reality of life in Britain today and the appalling mistaken view that he has for some sections of our community. On balance I think that were he to be banned he would portray that as some form of martyrdom and some form of vindication of his views. I think far better that we engage in argument with people who are misguided and foolish and seek to show them the reality of the world in Britain and particularly the reality that we are very proud of our City of Leicester.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Cole, do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Cole: Some would say Lord Mayor that one of the parting gifts of Blair and Bush was to sow the seeds for the difficulty that we are seeing in the Middle East at the moment and it would appear that the current American administration has tried to help to solve the problems through diplomatic and political means. Therefore it would be very unfortunate if a new American administration sought to solve the problem by having boots on the ground. Of course that would have an implication for us because it would put our children potentially our grandchildren and great grandchildren in harm’s way. Does the City Mayor agree with me that more must be done to avoid such a situation happening.
Lord Mayor: I think supplementary should be related to the first question but I will give the City Mayor an opportunity to respond.
City Mayor: Yes my Lord Mayor. I certainly share Councillor Cole’s views of the appalling blunder that was made by the Tony Blair led Government and the way in which they, with Bush, went in to the Middle East and that we continue to have some of the repercussions of that reflected in the global situation that we face today. I do believe that there are lessons to be learnt from that but I don’t believe that they are simplistic lessons that mean that there can never be an occasion when British troops should be engaged in particular conflicts as it were on the ground. I was firmly opposed to the Iraq incursion. I think we need to learn from that but I think we need to learn from it in a way that is intelligent and well informed.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor.