- From members of the public
- From Councillors
Minutes:
Lord Mayor: Question 1, Councillor Cole.
Councillor Cole: Thank you Lord Mayor and in line with the City Mayor’s comment regarding Xenophobia does the City Mayor agree with us in the Remain camp that Brexit was the wrong outcome for the UK and Leicester in the recent referendum, and does he further agree that Leicester has benefited greatly from our overseas friends who have come to live, work and set up businesses in the city and that it would be a tragedy for the city and the country if they were forced to leave?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Can I thank Councillor Cole for this question. It does follow on as he said from the statement I made earlier on. I do indeed believe that we have benefited greatly from those who have made their home here and chosen to make their home here and it would indeed be a tragedy for the city if they were forced to leave as a result of our withdrawal from the European Union. I have said on many occasions I am proud of Leicester, I am proud of its diversity and what that diversity represents. We have been a place where people have chosen to come to make their homes, to bring up their families, to make their livelihoods from across the world, and as I said earlier on I do recognise these are very uncertain times and that for many there will be concerns about what it means for the future. I hope, as I said earlier on in my statement, that we can give people a reassurance that they are welcome here, they are valued here, they are an important contribution to every aspect of this city’s life and we will remain a community of communities as I said earlier on and a community that is stronger together. I regret the outcome of Brexit but I do believe that we as a city are very strong and we must remain so.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Cole do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Cole: Only to thank the City Mayor for his comment and to get his reassurance that should it come to the point where our friends are forced to leave the country that we in Leicester will do all that we can to ensure that we do protect the rights of all citizens here in Leicester.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I am sure all of us here would wish to do that and would wish to seek now to give reassurance and in future to give whatever assistance we can.
Lord Mayor: Question 2, Councillor Moore.
Councillor Moore: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Is the Assistant City Mayor for Neighbourhood Services aware that the resourceful people of Knighton again organised a successful play session in a Knighton street two weeks ago, the third time they have done this. Despite the doubtful weather, children enjoyed the freedom to ride their bikes and scooters and play traditional playground games free from the fear of traffic?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Master.
Councillor Master: Thank you Lord Mayor. I am pleased to hear that the recent street play sessions at Northcote Road in Knighton were successful and it is a timely question actually because at this moment in time the Council’s Highways Services has been trying to simplify this process to allow more street parties and more street events from local communities and organisations to take place. In the actual Knighton event that my colleague refers to the Highways Services helped the organisers with setting up the traffic management required for the street play session on the 1st July and worked through the Traffic Regulation Order safely and also supplied some insurance requirements. We will as I said be formalising these arrangements going forward and will develop a firm policy around the support of street party events organised by local residents. Whilst recognising that larger events with formal organisations behind them are able to support themselves.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Moore do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Moore: Yes thank you my Lord Mayor a very short one. I am very pleased to hear what the Assistant Mayor has to say because our Labour manifesto states we will make it more affordable for local groups and residents to close their local streets for events and streamline the application process and I am really also very pleased to hear that you are working on a programme for this. I think it would be really, really useful if there could be a programme of play streets throughout the year so that parents could look at websites and see where the next play street would be held and I think we were given an undertaking last year for that to happen. Are the plans really well on the way to be doing that?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Master.
Councillor Master: Thank you Lord Mayor. I think the team within Highways are currently putting a criteria together to address some of those issues and I would actually welcome those suggestions in terms of looking city wide at how we could formulate a play street timetable I guess in different neighbourhoods to see if that was possible at a local level for community groups to have the opportunity to do that. However, just on the number of events that have happened in comparison to this year to last. In 2015 we had 3 street party events and already in 2016 we are on 8 so it seems to be snowballing naturally so it is a good initiative.
Lord Mayor: Question 3, Councillor Moore.
Councillor Moore: Thank you my Lord Mayor. I ask this question on the suggestion of one of my constituents. Does the City Mayor agree that the efforts of the Hillsborough Families Support Group have shown that brave and tenacious people exist in this country today, fighting to achieve a result that is morally right and just. Leicester has a tradition of marking respect for outstanding individuals. Does Leicester City Council have the means to demonstrate their gratitude to the people of Liverpool who continue to pursue the truth over the Hillsborough disaster so that we could all learn the lessons from this national shameful incident?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: I thank Councillor Moore for this question and I think we have all been moved by obviously the tragic events of Hillsborough but also the very tenacious battle of relatives and friends to ensure at long last that there was some modicum of justice in at least understanding what happened. I think we in Leicester perhaps have a strong track record of managing events of this nature but certainly there was much that we have learnt from what happened at Hillsborough and from the revelations that have been played out. I have made arrangements to write personally to Joe Anderson, the Mayor of Liverpool, about the issue and you know will continue to make common cause with him and the people of that city. But I do want to take this opportunity really just to pay tribute to the person really who championed the cause and that was one Andy Burnham a Member of Parliament who championed the cause of the Hillsborough Families Support Group and has subsequently sought to campaign for what has become known as the Hillsborough Law which is intended to introduce a legal right for bereaved families to receive equal funding to the police in order to arrange for them to be properly represented in circumstances such as this, to ensure there is no time limit on the period that a retired officer can be investigated for misconduct, and to codify the common law of misconduct in public office and to make it a criminal offence, amongst a number of other things, we will obviously be giving our support to that and as I have said seeking to assure the people of Hillsborough and the people of Liverpool more generally that we do make common cause with them, first of all remembering the tragedy but also learning its lessons.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Moore do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Moore: No.
Lord Mayor: No, thank you. Moving on to question 4 then Councillor Singh please.
Councillor Singh: Thank you Lord Mayor. Last week Leicester won the urban design transport award for the Connecting Leicester project. This is a national award received by Leicester City Council in recognition of the outstanding practice in urban planning and public realm improvements. Does the City Mayor feel that the pace of some capital projects agreed by the Council could accelerate to realise the benefits to the city, its businesses, its residents and crucially to secure the economic advantages of the Council’s tourism strategy?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor and thank you to Councillor Singh for asking that question. I have said on many occasions of course and it is always worth reminding people that of course the majority of what we invest is invested across the city and in the neighbourhoods of the city and it is quite difficult to keep enforcing because people are forever focusing on the amount we spend in the city centre. But it is important, and I have said on many occasions, we continue to invest in the city centre because that is the bit that people see. And of course it is really good to win awards for what is being done there but it is even better to see the investment that comes to the city as a result of what we have done there, and I looked at just some of the most recent examples of that. I looked at the words of Ian Mattioli, the Chief Executive of Mattioli Woods, who are coming on to the former New Walk Centre site, and he said “the city centre has changed dramatically, there has been an amazing transformation, Leicester is really buzzing.” Then there was, let’s see, Bernard Szczech, the Chief Executive of IBM Services “We love Leicester, we love the city, we love too the work you are doing there and the great transport links and also the really good pull of graduates we are hoping will work with us in Leicester.” Again very much a reflection of how we present ourselves. Hastings Direct – “there were a range of cities but the offer of the fantastic space in the city centre was something that they could not resist.” I have talked about that new deli that has just come – “Without the support of the city council and townscape heritage initiative grant our restoration of this building would simply not have been possible.” And then right next door Middletons Steakhouse and Grill fitting out the bank next door, “I first saw the Leicester building almost three years ago and then spent six months visiting the city and deciding it was a good fit for us. The city has seen huge investment in recent years. We were in unanimous agreement that Leicester was a fantastic opportunity for Middletons.” The point being that it is good to win awards but actually what is real payback for the city is the impression people have of the city, the investment that comes on the back of that impression and of course the jobs for the people of our city.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Singh do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Singh: Yes thank you my Lord Mayor yes I have. Just to say that we are all on the same page. I am grateful to the City Mayor for his answer and would seek his reaffirmation to continue to ensure that the city’s centre and its neighbourhoods continue to be developed, its social and leisure amenities are modernised and community involvement where possible through the use of asset transfer or community management are encouraged in line with our public commitment and manifesto commitments.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: Yes Chair I can give an absolute commitment to that and just to reinforce the point again, it is important of course that we continue to invest very heavily as we do in the services that the Council provides across the city and its neighbourhoods, but also that we invest appropriately in our city centre from which we as a city get such massive pay back in terms of investment and jobs.
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Question 5, Councillor Cole.
Councillor Cole: Thank you Lord Mayor. Can the City Mayor explain why he is selling properties in Western Park, and can he also explain why he is selling the freehold, and not the long term lease and is this the start of a slippery slope of selling off parts of Western Park and other parks around the city, or worse still selling off our parks altogether?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: Councillor Cole will not be surprised that I am able, and am very grateful for the question and the opportunity to do it, to give an absolute reassurance that our parks are not up for sale. Indeed we have invested very heavily in our parks across the city and just recently visiting Spinney Hill park for example I was delighted to see the extent to which that has been transformed over recent years and of course we will continue to invest in others. Shortly we are improving access into Abbey Park for example and we will continue to do that. But there is an opportunity for me to stress that there is no intention to sell off any park at all, and there is certainly no intention whatsoever to sell off any parts of Western Park as such. There are, however, two bits of land immediately adjacent to Western Park that have lain idle for far too long. One of course is the former special school which is of course a listed building, and which has been left very difficult to deal with because it was built as a special school. It is a very special building for a very special purpose and that has made them difficult to deal with, and it is important that we try to find sustainable uses for them because they are suffering significant vandalism, they are very much at risk at the moment and offering them for sale is a part of trying to find some person or organisation who will take them on and bring them into a use that is compatible with the buildings that are so important. The other one of course is the land where there are a range of buildings along the road frontage which do include the former Eco House and it has been suggested that they do have the potential for development, either in association with the special school or via themselves. I would stress that we are offering them at this stage for freehold and it may well be that other proposals are made for them to be disposed of for leasehold purposes. At the moment I do want to maximise the interest that there is in them and therefore am prepared to consider offers for their freehold sale but it will depend on the quality of those offers as to whether or not any of them prove to be acceptable. I realises there is a further question on this and I will perhaps pause here Lord Mayor and give Councillor Cole and others the opportunity to ask the other question on this issue to give them some fuller information.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Cole do you have a supplementary question please?
Councillor Cole: Sorry Lord Mayor if I can just go on to question 6. Can I thank the City Mayor for what he has said so far. Of course there is still concern even based on his comments. So can I now ask the City Mayor if a Western Park resident community group came up with a viable and self-sustaining proposal for the assets in Western Park which are up for sale, would the City Mayor be willing to consider the transfer as an asset transfer to this community group?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I think it is important to distinguish between the two sites to some extent and it may be that we get a proposal for both of them or it may not. But certainly the part of the site that fronts on to Hinckley Road that includes the Eco House possibly you know has some significant value for development, although there are some buildings on there that others may wish to make proposals for. The school perhaps because it has listed building on much of the site it has less potential for creative use for development. I am very willing to listen to what the Ward Councillors might suggest about the future use of the sites and what local residents might say about the future use of the sites. As I have indicated I would be very pleased to meet with local residents to hear their concerns and their constructive suggestions for the future.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Cole do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Cole: Just to thank the Lord Mayor for offering to meeting with the community group because I think they are very keen to meet and explain to the City Mayor their concerns and their plans for the properties in the Western Ward. And can I also remind the City Mayor that in terms of the Western Park area of the city there is very little facilities there for the community, and it would be really pleasing if effort could be put in to making things available for this well-deserved community.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: Yes my Lord Mayor. I think actually sometime during the day- to-day a date has been agreed for a meeting with the residents. I don’t know whether that has yet been discussed with the Ward Councillors but certainly I would be delighted to have a meeting with them to hear about their concerns and also to hear about their proposals and I would be very sympathetic to constructive proposal that, to use Councillor Cole’s words, leaves a viable future for those bits of land.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 7, Councillor Barton please.
Councillor Barton: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Local people are worried about the possible consequences of the recent Infrastructure Act which seems to imply that publicly owned land could be made available for private development with few planning controls. What would be the impact or what could be the impact of the Infrastructure Act on Leicester?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I think it is perhaps too early to be certain, and certainly I wish I were able to give Councillor Barton and others reassurance about the implications of the Housing Infrastructure Act. As I understand it, it does introduce a new planning mechanism for obtaining planning permission for particularly housing led development which is called permission in principle, and that may have implications for some land in our city as elsewhere. I do intend though to continue to ensure in so far as it is a matter for me, that we do retain appropriate planning controls and use them as effectively as we can to ensure that the Act is not used as a way of undermining the value of the city’s open spaces particularly and in any way nibbling away at them to allow for development that we would not find acceptable within our local plan. As members will be aware the local plan is in the process of being prepared and will be coming in front of us and this will give us an opportunity to look both at those proposals and how this new Act might affect them.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Barton do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Barton: Yes thanks. I know a lot of publicity about this has focused on fracking and so on but a big problem or fear that some people have is that where a developer might come along....
Lord Mayor: Councillor Barton could we restrain it to a question please not a statement.
Councillor Barton: Yes it is, where a developer might come along with an
unsuitable project which we would not wish to have whether or not
if it was on our public land if we would have the power to
be able to turn it down.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: Yes my Lord Mayor. I share Councillor Barton’s concerns about this. As I say it is not yet clear quite what the implications will be but the imminent debate over the next few months about our local plan would give us an opportunity to explore our own wishes for the future planning of the city and the extent to which this Act may impinge on it.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 8, Councillor Cutkelvin.
Councillor Cutkelvin: Thank you Lord Mayor. Following a promise made by our Deputy City Mayor in January 2015, the Saffron Lane Estate will finally see an outdoor gym installed later this summer. These significantly contribute to the health and wellbeing of residents in the city by providing free access to fitness equipment. Does the Deputy City Mayor have any figures relating to the success of this initiative, and what steps have been put in place to monitor its usage and health benefits?
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor and I thank Councillor Cutkelvin for her question. I am pleased that residents on Saffron Lane are looking forward to their outdoor gym arriving shortly. We have carried out some initial research working with the University of Leicester to ascertain some usage patterns of our outdoor gyms. We don’t have overall usage numbers that would be very difficult to do but it is very clear anecdotally and in the numbers that we do have that outdoor gyms are proving to be popular. The focus of that initial research has been to work out who is using our outdoor gyms, why they are using them and what more we can do to persuade more people in localities to make use of outdoor gyms as good opportunities to get exercise for free and to improve their health and wellbeing. That research will continue as the new installations carry on through this year and the early part of next year.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Cutkelvin do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Cutkelvin: Yes thank you through you Lord Mayor. I understand that a lot of the outdoor gyms that are going to be installed as part of this programme, the locations have been chosen based on public health figures. The majority of outdoor gyms that I have seen that have been a huge success have been those in larger parks and that have a history of recreational sport and fitness. As we all know it takes confidence to exercise in public and I just wondered whether the City Mayor would agree that we would need to continue to promote out outdoor gyms particularly in places like Saffron Lane where we may need to do actually do more to proactively encourage residents to use them.
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor. I would agree with everything that Councillor Cutkelvin has outlined in her supplementary question. There are clearly some barriers that some people see in using outdoor gyms but they are barriers that I am confident most people do overcome and our evidence tells us that a lot of people using outdoor gyms are those who previously haven’t exercised in a commercial gym or indeed in a traditional leisure centre environment. They are creating an opportunity for the people to embark on some exercise and physical activity for the first time. So we need to capture that experience, learn from it and make sure that informs the continued work to progress our outdoor gyms and make sure they are well used wherever they are. We have some interesting sites in the pipeline, the city centre was announced very recently as one outdoor gym, but crucially as you say the parks on our estates and in our residential areas they are proving to be popular locations and I am confident that the 17 remaining outdoor gyms to be installed as part of this programme will prove to be popular as well.
Lord Mayor: Question 9, Councillor Cutkelvin.
Councillor Cutkelvin: Thank you Lord Mayor. Having sat patiently watching the improvements of cycle lanes within our city centre, I am pleased to see that the Welford Road scheme is nearing completion. After lobbying the City Mayor over the last five years for a comprehensive cycle lane along Saffron Lane can I now have a firm commitment to making this happen?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke
Councillor Clarke: Thank you my Lord Mayor and thank you for the question Councillor Cutkelvin. Connecting the neighbourhoods to the city centre is part of our plans to substantially increase everyday cycling in the city as per our manifesto. The work on Welford Road that Councillor Cutkelvin mentioned is a key part of those plans to better connect our communities, but on the specific question around Saffron Lane Councillor Cutkelvin knows I have a vested interest in this in that one side of the Saffron Lane for the most part is in Aylestone Ward and one side is in Saffron Ward, but also the fact that I came a cropper because of a Ford Mondeo whilst on my bike cycling down Saffron Lane a couple of years ago, so I have a vested interested in this issue. It is, Councillor Cutkelvin will be pleased to hear, listed as a radial key corridor in the cycle city action plan from 2015 – 2024 and therefore is part of our plans in terms of rolling out separated cycling and safer cycling into our neighbourhoods. Obviously this is all funding dependent, but funding coming forward it will be programmed to be part of that cycle provision on those radial routes out of the city as others will and other Elected Members please do approach me to ask about the radial route into their Wards too. Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Cutkelvin do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Cutkelvin: Thank you Lord Mayor, no supplementary.
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Question 10 then, Councillor Sandhu please.
Councillor Sandhu: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Does the City Mayor share the concerns of the Humberstone and Hamilton Ward Councillors regarding the inconsiderate and dangerous parking outside many schools across the city?
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Councillor Master.
Councillor Master: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Thank you for the question as well. I think we would all share Councillor Sandhu’s concerns about inappropriate and dangerous school runs across the city and the number of schools that we have, approximately 110, throughout our different Wards. Myself, the City Mayor and some of my colleagues here have been out to see numerous different schools across different Wards to identify some of the traffic congestion, dangerous parking, drop off zones and signs etc. So to start to address this problem we have made a financial provision in the current capital programme to support the development of the parking strategy. This funding will help us to bring forward a programme of actions which we can deliver in addition to our current road safety and education schemes and sustainable transport work that we already do in schools. I am currently working with a group of officers across Highways to put a programme together that will identify a kind of RAG rate, I guess, of schools that we have issues with across the city so we can put some logic behind a way and a methodology to go and approach each school. I am sure there will be differences between the many schools that we have for many different reasons but we are trying to come to some kind of consensus around how we would do that and I will keep you informed as will other colleagues.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Sandhu do you have supplementary question?
Councillor Sandhu: Yes my Lord Mayor. Can the Assistant Mayor confirm that officer will be working closely with the Ward Councillors to address parking issues across Humberstone and Hamilton and importantly all schools across the board?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Master.
Councillor Master: Thank you my Lord Mayor. As I have said you know we are focusing hard and trying to drill down on the schools where we are having particular issues right now. I think by the end of this month hopefully beginning of next we will have some kind of matrix that we can identify particular issues across different parts of the city, and then we will share that across the group and broader so we can address, or start to address, those issues working alongside Ward Councillors and community groups that are raising these issues.
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Question 11, Councillor Kitterick please.
Councillor Kitterick: My Lord Mayor. How many times has Councillor Connelly and housing officers been emailed by Castle Ward Councillors with regard to the issue of the lift service at St. Leonard’s Court?
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Councillor Connelly please.
Councillor Connelly: Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you Patrick for the question. We are not able at this stage to give an accurate figure in respect of the number of emails that officers and myself have received from the Castle Ward Councillors reference St. Leonard’s court lift. The particular reason is that the area manager left this Monday very swiftly and we are having difficulties accessing the emails. I have trawled through my emails so I will say this is with a health warning because this only goes back to the beginning of 2015. According to my records on the 6th February 2015 I received an email from Councillor Senior on behalf of a resident in St. Leonard’s Court about a number of issues but including raising the issue about the second lift and the next email actually was from myself on the 5th October chasing up what was happening with the lift, and the last email I have received from Councillor Kitterick about the second lift was on the 25th November 2015. I am not suggesting that there have not been other emails prior to that but I have not been able myself to obtain them if they have been archived and officers have received four enquiries from Councillor Kitterick in recent months but none of them relating to St. Leonard’s lift. If Councillor Kitterick has contrary evidence then I would certainly accept that. We have very simply in timescale involved not been able to get to the bottom of this particular question.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Kitterick your supplementary please.
Councillor Kitterick: My Lord Mayor I don’t know what the technological equivalent of a paper shredder is, but somehow these emails seem to have gone into it. For Councillor Connelly’s education I did a simple Boolean search on my email and I think this is important Lord Mayor because we do ask questions and I may be able to supply some answers. I have done a known search to be frank I stopped counting when I got to 20 because I had to take my shoes and socks off. There were over 20 emails between myself, Councillor Senior, Councillor Clayton about the lifts at St. Leonard’s Court. The earliest email that I can backdate it to is the 3rd December 2013. My Lord Mayor the Empire State Building was started on St. Patrick’s Day in 1930. It was finished Lord Mayor on the 1st May 1931, 410 days later. Lord Mayor I am coming to conclusion yes, 410 days later. It has been 954 days since I first emailed Councillors about the lift at St. Leonard’s Court. My Lord Mayor my question to Councillor Connelly is simple, how many more emails do I need to send to him before the lift at St. Leonard’s Court is sorted out.
Lord Mayor: Thank you for your persistence Councillor Kitterick. Councillor Connelly please.
Councillor Connelly: Again as I think I said in my original response to the question I was not suggesting that all the information I had was necessarily accurate and by all means I am quite happy for Councillor Kitterick to forward all those emails on to me if they have gone from my system. The issue about St. Leonard’s lift, the reality is, Councillor Kitterick, a 1000 emails will not install a lift. It is a lift engineer that we need to install it, and the present positon is that, as Councillor Kitterick is well aware, is that when he raised the issue with me I made representations to my officers and we found the money which is still there, £100,000 to install a second lift at St. Leonard’s Court and it is still our intention to install that lift. There have been some difficulties and I have been as frustrated at the delay in getting the lift installed, and Councillor Willmott will probably recall at Anne Branson’s “leaving do” I made reference to the fact that we still have not got the lift at St. Leonard’s Court and I was hoping that we would be able to deliver that sooner. The latest position is that we have got some issues with the leaseholders in the block which we are working to resolve, and once we resolve those we will put out the specification because it is not Housing that install the lifts it is Property Services, and in respect of Property Services I will say we have had one or two problems with the lifts that are installed in the tower blocks in St. Peter’s which have certainly delayed the process. But the money is still there, the intention is still there and I would be more than happy when it is installed to stand next to Councillor Kitterick and let him cut the ribbon on behalf of the Council but I will also no doubt look forward to the emails from the Castle Ward Councillors when the bloody lift breaks down.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Connelly. Councillor Grant you have 4 questions, did you want to take them all at once or individually - your choice.
Councillor Grant: Individually I think Lord Mayor because they are on different issues aren’t they.
Lord Mayor: That’s fine. Thank you. Councillor Grant question 12 please.
Councillor Grant: What is the threshold of accuracy which the City Mayor would consider members were being misled given that members of the Planning Committee were informed the Environment Agency had considered an application when they had not, helping achieve the results recommended by officers. How secure can members be in the advice they are given?
Lord Mayor: Thank you. City Mayor.
City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor. As members will be aware the deliberations of the
Planning Committee are not ones that, as City Mayor, I would be
able to comment on, but I can comment on whether they have been
properly serviced and properly advised.
I have been advised about this issue by officers involved in it and
I understand that the officer involved was seeking to summarise and
draw to the attention of members of the Committee some lengthy
technical advice which was set out in full in the Planning
Committee report. This was that the
assessment of the application satisfied the Council as the Lead
Local Flood Authority and was acceptable in terms of the guidance
provided in the Surface Water Management Plan, which had been
endorsed by the Environment Agency and is based on the
Agency’s technical modelling methodology and classifications
which are appropriate in such cases.
Apparently the officers should have made it clear that he was
referring to consultation with the Lead Local Flood Authority as
opposed to the Environment Agency. Now
members of the Committee may have a better understanding of these
issues than I do. I can merely tell you
how I am briefed, but as the Environment Agency would not be
formally consulted on applications such as this, the tools and method of assessment applied by
the Lead Local Flood Authority follow and apply the same principles
in line with the EA’s procedures and standing
advice. So I think that in summary it
is not considered that Councillors were misled in terms of the
issues surrounding technical appraisal in terms of flooding, and
that the report did set out the level of risks based on the
Environment Agency flood modelling. and they then take the view that because that advice
was given in accordance with that the Committee’s decision
was a safe one. Apparently the issue
turned upon whether the technical advice given was appropriate not
upon who provided the advice.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant your supplementary question?
Councillor Grant: I must admit I have received that response to a formal complaint that I made and I am kind of shocked having reviewed the video myself. I believe that members acted in good faith on the Committee, did their job and actually asked pertinent questions to scrutinise it. I don’t understand how it can just be put that an officer hasn’t misled the Committee when specifically referring to the fact that the Environment Agency had looked at this when actually in summing up the complaint they actually said the Environment Agency would actually never look at an application like this. Is the City Mayor not concerned, like I am, that actually there are occasions when officers it seems will almost represent anything to members of the Committee to back up the recommendation they have made and to get the results that they want to achieve.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Grant. City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor my understanding of this issue is that there is no question about the quality of the advice or indeed about the nature of that advice. I think the issue is about to whom that advice was attributed and as I understand it, it was attributed to the Environment Agency directly rather than to the Lead Local Flood Authority using the guidance the Environment Agency would have issued. So I think that it is perhaps mistaken, as I understand the situation, to suggest that the Committee were in any sense misled by the advice, were in any way inadequately served by the quality of that advice. I think the mistake, if there was indeed such a mistake, was to attribute that advice to a particular agency rather than, as I say, to the Lead Local Flood Authority.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 13 Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: In 2014 the Knighton Community meeting supported a bid by residents at risk of flooding from the Hol Brook with a grant from the community fund so they could get protection for their homes. Since then the funds have been left unspent in departmental budgets and residents have waited for the professional advice on how to use it; advice being that sand bags were not effective. Earlier in June Carisbrooke Road flooded and a number of the residents who bid for the money had their homes flooded. Sand bags were provided later in the day after the water had receded. Will the City Mayor instruct officers to do what has been asked of them previously and to provide protection to these homes?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I have considerable sympathy for the residents and also for Councillor Grant and the other Ward Councillor to the area and the work they are doing on behalf of those residents to ensure their homes are adequately protected. I am advised that the storms that we had in the south of the city on the 14th June were particularly severe, and that nearly 20mm of rain fell in just half an hour which did overload the drainage system and the local watercourses, and I do obviously know the Carisbrooke Road situation quite well in any case, but had the benefit of a walk around in the area with the Ward Councillors comparatively recently. I am advised that on the day our Highway staff responded and did support requests for help and are in the process of concluding investigations into the cause of the flooding. But it is the case that a sum of £1,500 is being held from an earlier Ward meeting and is going to be available for flood defence measures in the Knighton Ward. I will certainly take every effort to ensure that that is dealt with as speedily as is possible and that, insofar as it is within the power of the Council and its officers, we do all we can to provide protection and to ensure that if it is a matter of slinging a few sand bags that they are available as and when they are needed.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Grant: Yes. Since the recent flood I have been able to find out that there is actually technology which we could use to assist residents and to provide protection in way of putting a meter into the kerb which would be connected to a sim and can send out messages so that residents can be told when water levels are rising to protect themselves, take action to protect themselves that that could also then give early warning to the Highways Department so that they could get the sand bags placed out. We could also tell Arriva to stop the buses going through the water which causes a wake and makes water egress into the houses worse. Would the City Mayor support an investigation into the installation of this and if it offers the protection that it appears to, back it and the funding of that especially seeing as it would cost less than the banners which have recently been installed in Knighton this week.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor fortunately it is not a question of whether we have banners celebrating Knighton’s history or whether we have meters of this sort. If such meters are available and could be appropriately installed in order to give some degree of early warning I would certainly support it and I know the other Ward Councillors would join Councillor Grant in pressing me to do so. I am not sure whether it would actually help very much because actually I think you know it is such a persistent problem that residents probably know that when it is raining heavily there is a risk, and probably you know you need to look out of the window. But if, in so far as meters might be helpful, I think I would certainly want to look to see whether they can be installed in a way that is both efficient and cost effective, and would be very happy to meet with the Ward Councillors for Knighton to discuss whether such measures exist and how they might be installed helpfully.
Lord Mayor: Question 14, Councillor Grant please.
Councillor Grant: Following comments in the Leicester Mercury after the flooding of the Hol brook, can the City Mayor tell us what the Planning Department would accept as evidence that developments given permission have exacerbated the flooding problem in the Hol brook flooding area?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor as I indicated actually earlier on I
mean obviously the deliberations and determination of conditions
applied to planning applications are not really for me as City
Mayor. But I do know that our planning
policies do seek to ensure that a our
developments should seek to limit surplus water run off via methods
on site to either contain the water or to allow it to soak away
effectively. I do know from just
observation of what happens in that area and observation of the
developments that have taken place that have intensified the amount
of surface that is covered in that area, that there are some very
particular problems there, and I do hope that the officers advise
the Planning Committee and the Planning Committee themselves will
be very mindful of the already existing problems before they give
any further permissions in that part of the city.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Grant: Yes Lord Mayor. In relation to this particular area, myself and
residents have been told previously by managers at Severn Trent
that it is their belief that developments have made things worse,
and in particular the development at New Church
Road. but my fear is that, and I don’t know the City
Mayor would agree, if I was to undertake a PhD in this particular
topic I doubt that the Planning Department would accept the
evidence that I had submitted and this is just an easy get out for
them.
Lord Mayor: Do you want to respond City Mayor?
City Mayor: Lord Mayor I have indicated, you know, my sympathy for the residents in the area and would just again repeat that I do very much hope that officers and members of the Planning Committee will be very mindful of the problems that already exist in that area when they look at any future planning applications.
Lord Mayor: Question 15, Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: Yes thank you Lord Mayor. Just on the last comment I don’t have any problems with the members of the Committee it is the officers who seem to not be considering the issue seriously. The Planning Department constantly repeats in relation to flood ligation that measures can outweigh the increase in the rate of run off that the hard surface of a new house and driveway will bring so there is a reduction in the rate of run off overall. Will the City Mayor ensure that in areas where surface water contributes to the pressure of an area to flood such as the Hol brook, conditions will always be put in place to achieve this level of flood protection.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Well I think my Lord Mayor I have indicated my attitude towards this already and I hope that is very clear but again I just have to repeat it ultimately is a matter for the planning officers to advise and for the Planning Committee to decide. I can express my views as I have done and I hope that if there are to be further developments in that part of the City they will be done in such a way that the rate of run off is indeed reduced to the absolute minimum. I do know that in a number of developments in the city of recent years some very successful measures have been put in to minimise surface level run off and to provide sustainable urban drainage solutions, and whether they are possible in any further development in this area or not is of course will be a matter for others to decide but I do know that in some parts of the city they have been very successful and I must commend the Committee and the officers for having insisted on it.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant do you have a final supplementary question?
Councillor Grant: Yes Lord Mayor. It is very useful the final comments from the City Mayor because in relation to the development that Severn Trent have brought at New Church Road it was the case that when members looked at it that considerable conditions were put in place in relation to mitigating against flooding. It was unfortunately then the case that the developer comes back with a very cleaver engineering report, and under the officers own powers stripped out much of the conditions and work that had been done. So can I just ask again can the City Mayor do everything possible to explore how he can ensure that these conditions are put in place and the maximum protection is given to residents, particularly considering the risks within the Hol brook area.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Grant, City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Thank you Lord Mayor. I mean I would certainly give an absolute assurance in so far as it is within my powers I would wish to encourage officers and the Committee to do that, but ultimately it is a matter for the Committee, but I do know that the members of the Committee, the Chair of the Committee are very mindful of these issues and I see that the Chair of the Committee is nodding his head in agreement with the points that I have been making in response to these questions my Lord Mayor, and I am sure that he and his colleagues will wish to take them into account in future.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 16, Councillor Porter please.
Councillor Porter: Thank you Lord Mayor. Yes my question is what are the cost benefit figures for the Council’s latest scheme for the Haymarket Theatre?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor as Councillor Porter knows the Council has a budget of £182,000 a year for maintaining what is at the moment an empty theatre, and he will also know that it is now 10 years since its closure. So one only has to do the comparatively simple arithmetic to recognise that that has cost us a sum not far short of £2m just in that alone. That figure covers the service charges, the rates and other running costs and therefore investing now in bringing it back into use is something that I and others have seen as worth doing from the economic point of view. I think it is also worth doing from the point of view of bringing a major asset back into use from what has of recent years been a significant liability.
Councillor Porter: Councillor Porter do you have a supplementary question please?
Councillor Porter: Yes I do thank you Lord Mayor. I am delighted to hear that the City Mayor has at last got his head around cost benefit analysis because at a recent Council meeting he provided some quite mixed messages about cost benefit analysis. He told the Committee meeting, I think it was also reported in the paper, that it was far too expensive for the Council to conduct cost benefit analysis but at the same meeting he also said that the Council would be conducting cost benefit analysis after the event. So as you can see he was unclear on it a few weeks ago. So my question to the City Mayor is, in terms of the remarks he made at the Council Scrutiny Committee, can he give the percentage details of the cost difference between doing a cost benefit analysis before the event as opposed to doing a cost benefit analysis after the project has finished.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor members will understand that, as is so often the case, Councillor Porter either wasn’t listening when I spoke about this and took his version of it from subsequent reports in the Leicester Mercury, or I suspect as is often the case he is deliberately misrepresenting what I said. The fact is Lord Mayor that in this particular incidence the benefits of the costs benefit analysis are something that are very clear and very straight forward. I have set out the costs for us at the moment. It is a matter of public record what it will cost to bring the building back into use and what the officers have done in preparing advice to us on this is to look at what is called the net present value calculation of the costs of continuing as things are and of investing in it. And on that calculation, and if you do it at what is considered a reasonable rate of about 5% over 25 years the ‘do nothing’ option that is leaving things as they are has a net present value of £3.9m costs to us, whereas the consortium option assuming that this plan goes as envisaged has a net value cost to us of £2.4m. So it is very easy to see on that sort of basis that investing now is the sensible thing to do economically, and I also believe it is the right thing to do in terms of the potential of this building if brought back into use to make a contribution to the cultural offer our City has.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 17, Councillor Porter please.
Councillor Porter: Thank you Lord Mayor. The question iswhen it comes to secondary education how many city children living in Aylestone, Eyres Monsell and Saffron attend county schools?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Russell please.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor - 1085.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Porter do you have a supplementary question please?
Councillor Porter: Yes thank you Lord Mayor. Are the Council happy that so many parents think that their child or their children would benefit from a better education in the county rather than in the city.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Russell please.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. I think Councillor Porter needs to remember that city boundaries in the same way as our Ward boundaries are administrative boundaries. They mean an awful lot to us in this Council, it is how we conduct our business, it is how our funding is arranged, it relates to all sorts of things we do. But actually for our residents whether you live one side or another of the boundary between the city and the county beyond where you pay your Council tax to it is in the most part not relevant on a day to day basis and when making decisions about where to send their child to school people will look at a range of factors. They will look at where their friends are going, they will look at convenience of getting there, they will look at whether it is near a place of employment, they will look at whether there are other activities in the area, they will look at transport links and a range of other things. We are absolutely committed to continually improving the educational opportunities in our city and actually we are out performing county schools in many, many areas. We have a fantastic record of improving education and our primary sector has gone up, we have got 84% of our primary schools in the city at good and outstanding. Across the city the vast majority of our secondary sector is also good and outstanding, and where there are problems we will work, both with the school, schools supporting them and with outside agencies including the regional schools commissioner because this is not about playing politics with children’s education, this is about getting it right for children in our city. We will work to make sure that where there are problems we will act quickly and we will support schools to make the improvements they need. Thank you my Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Question 18, Councillor Grant please.
Councillor Grant: There have been two accidents on Shanklin Drive in recent weeks, fortunately not leading to a fatality, but requiring in one case the attendance of the Air Ambulance and evacuation to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, and in the other the removal of a tree from the side of the highway such was the damage caused. Will the City Mayor reassure local residents that the current review being taken by Highways is a priority and action will be taken as soon as appropriate solutions are identified.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Yes my Lord Mayor I can give Councillor Grant the reassurance he asks for. Those recent accidents that he refers to occurred on the 5th and 20th June and our road safety officers will be receiving full reports from the police in the next few weeks, and I am advised that one of our road safety officers already has had some discussions with Councillor Grant and Councillor Moore to discuss the issue and are looking at steps to obtain speed data to assess the problem as part of contributing to the consideration of the police report. I understand that there are going to be meetings between the Ward Councillors and road safety engineers again to look at the results of the surveys and to discuss possible measures to be taken to reduce speeds on Shanklin Drive. We have put some £20,000 into the local environmental works programme to help with the speeding action plan, and clearly Shanklin Drive will feature in the development of that plan and if there are proposals arising from the consideration of the reports and the measurement of the speeds and volume of traffic in the area I am sure we will want to give them very high priority.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Grant: Yes Lord Mayor. I thank the City Mayor for his answer and acknowledge we have been working closely with Highways and actually it was only through the unavailability of speed cameras before the end of term that there is a delay. So I think local Councillors acknowledge that we are not likely to get data back until the new term so that we get reliable data. But I just wanted to say does he understand that residents would rightly be angry if funding was used as a reason to turn down or rule out any possible works. Given that they have now seen that spending money is not a problem for the Council as it is spending upwards of £6,000 putting up banners and indeed has got money to put up a banner of a cottage in front of the cottage. You can actually go down Brinsmead Road and there is a banner of the cottage and the cottage is just there. So rightly some people do no longer believe that money is in shortage and obviously would be angry if that was given as a reason for not implementing any scheme.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I think by now members have probably understood that Councillor Grant is not in support of us celebrating the history of the centre of Knighton.
Councillor Grant: Not through banners no.
City Mayor: However, to give him a serious response I would want us to put the necessary resources behind making Shanklin Drive as safe as we can and I think he and his co-Councillor are quite right to draw attention to the fact that certainly the volume of traffic and speed of traffic along there is something that makes accidents likely, and if there are ways in which we can reduce those speeds I think we would want to take them. It is a road I know very well indeed and it is a road that does lend itself as something of a cut through to some quite fast traffic and I certainly would not want to deny the resources necessary to actually make it more safe.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 19, Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: Can the City Mayor tell Council how many bids were received by the Council for the redevelopment of the Haymarket Theatre since May 2011 and rejected before he decided to consider spending millions of pounds of public money developing the site on behalf of a potential renter.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Yes my Lord Mayor the Council has marketed the lease of this Theatre twice over the last few years. The last time was in March 2014 and as we reported at the time there were four bids from parties who wished to refurbish the Theatre. These bids all required capital input from the Council which would have been in the form of a grant towards their schemes. The approach we are now following is that the Council plans to undertake the refurbishment itself, backed with the consortium operator to run the facility initially on a five year lease basis which can extend beyond if it is successful. In this manner the Council retain the benefit of the works and much greater control over the operation than would have been the case had the other initial bids been supported. As I said earlier on it has cost the Council already the best part of £2m to keep the building empty and I certainly now consider that the investment of £2.2m will create a new facility that we have a consortium to run but, and I don’t anticipate that this will be the case, but were the consortium to prove unacceptable the investment would not be aborted as it might well have been if we had supported the other proposals.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant supplementary question please.
Councillor Grant: Could the City Mayor respond to the claims from one person that contacted me that they had offered to take over the lease of the Haymarket Theatre to bring in £3m of private money, and that the only assistance they asked for was with the business rates for a five year period and this was to turn the Haymarket into a similar venue as the Athena is now the old Odeon cinema. Wouldn’t this, if true, have represented a much better result for the public purse and a much lower risk to the Council.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I don’t recognise that particular proposal as one that I have been made aware of. If Councillor Grant would like to send me details I would be happy to explore whether it did indeed ever exist as a serious proposal, and would in those circumstances obviously respond to the question. But I think I perhaps ought to have the details of the proposal in front of me rather than responding to any supplementary question on it.
Lord Mayor: Question 20, Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: I will forward on to the City Mayor what looked like a fairly credible proposal that I received. What reassurance will there be that any occupant of the Haymarket Theatre will not end up operating in competition with Curve and DeMontfort Hall putting pressure on the viability of those venues and to offer the programmes that they currently do.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Yes my Lord Mayor. The Haymarket consortium have consulted the management of Curve who are very supportive, particularly the national training theatre aspect of the development. In terms of performance the Haymarket will be showing visiting productions, mainly steering towards musical bands and performances which attract audiences up to a maximum of 800 people. There is obviously some potential for overlap with the operation at DeMontfort Hall but I do believe that it is actually quite limited and I don’t anticipate it will have any significant impact on the viability of those halls and its increasing success over recent years.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Grant: Yes my concern Lord Mayor would be that if there are any problems in the operating in the intention of the business that to make up any shortfall in revenue that it would actually find it the easiest way to make that up would be to go into competition with our existing theatres, and members have spent hours previously discussing getting De Montfort Hall particularly back into a sustainable situation which it does now largely I believe through running a panto. What guarantees would we have against a business which had taken over the Haymarket and was in financial problems to putting on a pantomime in competition and actually causing great problems for the Council in actually the funding of DeMontfort Hall.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor as Councillor Grant said I think we all acknowledge that DeMontfort Hall is in a very much improved position in terms of how they are performing and their financial situation than was the case just a few years ago, and as I have said the Curve Theatre have been very supportive of the Haymarket’s proposals. I do not see the Haymarket’s proposals as ones that are in competition with either of those other venues. I see them as ones that compliment those other venues and ones that will contribute very much indeed to the range of offers that we have in the City Centre which increasingly I think is successfully seen as a place where culture is flourishing.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 21, Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: Does the Assistant Mayor for Children’s Services believe we need a register in Leicester of home schooled children as has been recommended in Wales?
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Councillor Russell please.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. We already have a voluntary register of children who are home educated and under the current national legislative framework that is all we are able to do. Things that would assist us in our responsibilities to identify children who may be missing education would be welcomed.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Grant a supplementary question?
Councillor Grant: No thank you.
Lord Mayor: That brings to an end the questions.