- From Members of the Public
- From Councillors
Minutes:
Questions from Members of the Public
None.
Questions from Councillors
Lord Mayor: First Question, Councillor Dr. Moore.
Councillor Moore: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Some years ago, while I was chair of the Scrutiny Commission for Adult Social Care, I headed up a task group looking at the potential of the Shared Lives scheme for expanding opportunities in offering innovative care to vulnerable older people. The recommendations of the task group were taken up in that money was invested in the scheme to employ more staff. Could the Deputy City Mayor tell me what progress has been made recently in implementing the scheme in Leicester?
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you Lord Mayor and I thank Councillor Moore for the question. Additional funding was allocated to support the development of Shared Lives in Leicester in 2013/14 following the Scrutiny review – that funding allowed us to employ two additional staff to promote, recruit, train and support Shared Lives carers. Since that time we have been able to recruit and support ten further Shared Lives carers, taking our total number of Shared Lives carers in the city to 56 households with a Shared Lives carer within them allowing us to now support 79 people across the city through the Shared Lives approach. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those Shared Lives carers for the contribution they make and I will work to continue to promote Shared Lives as a valuable alternative to more formal care settings and its important contribution to our care provision across the city.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Deputy City Mayor. Councillor Moore do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Moore: Yes please my Lord Mayor. Thank you that is very, very good news indeed. Is the Deputy City Mayor able to offer some reassurance that the scheme won’t be actually diminished or cut in the future – can you hear that question?
Lord Mayor: Can you repeat the question?
Councillor Moore: Yes sure. I was just saying that is very, very good news and I am very pleased to hear it, but can you offer some reassurance that this scheme will continue and it won’t be affected by any cuts to funding. Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor and I thank Councillor Moore for her supplementary question. Certainly my intention that going forward Shared Lives plays an important part in terms of the different arrangements we offer for people requiring care. I think the interesting opportunities we now have is that whilst traditionally Shared Lives was predominantly available for people with learning disabilities. It is now becoming more and more common for older people, people with dementia, we know there is going to be increasing need for care arrangements for those people. I certainly foresee Shared Lives playing an important role in meeting those needs so it is certainly something we will continue to be committed to and support.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Deputy City Mayor. Question 2 Councillor Singh please.
Councillor Singh: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Could the City Mayor inform the Council if there has been any indication as regards to current or future loss of European Union funding to the city as a direct consequence of Brexit?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor. As Members will be aware European Union funding has been very important to this city for a considerable period of time. At the moment the European structural investment funds allocation for Leicester and Leicestershire is approximately £100m and as of 1st October the projection of the value of that is £56m in our county. That having been either contracted or going through the contracting processes. This has covered a very wide range of very, very worthwhile projects including support for young people into employment, social inclusion, energy efficiency, SMEs and of course the City Council’s own project that we have led for £3m for a business support programme, including inward investment and place marketing. There is indeed a big question mark about the future. Last week all 38 local enterprise partnerships were invited to submit a case to the government for the remaining balance of their allocated ESEF funds, in our case approximately £44m, so we are talking about very substantial amounts of investment and funding. Obviously we are a key partner in the LLEP and were very support of that bid to ensure that we are able to continue to get people into employment, improve skills and support local businesses to grow. Of course we and others will continue to lobby and influence government to ensure that there is an alternative growth funding to replace EU funding following Brexit, but there is no guarantee whatsoever that this important funding will be maintained in the future. I suspect that over this as over so much else related to Brexit that the government is hopelessly divided as to how to take it forward and how on earth they are going to replace for cities like Leicester the vitally important EU funding which has been such an important part of ensuring that our economy continues to flourish and that jobs are available for people and that they have the skills in order to take them up.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. A supplementary question Councillor Singh?
Councillor Singh: Yes my Lord Mayor thank you. I do have a supplementary. I am grateful for the City Mayor. I think we all agree that there is a level of uncertainty which is clear, but that the challenge is still for the City Council to map out a coherent plan to ensure that future financing for capital projects is not undermined so that it does not lead to any loss of focus and I think the City Mayor has mentioned that to some extent with regards to the strategic outcomes of both the economic action plan and the other capital projects which are designed to secure the social and economic benefit of the City. What I want to know is how soon can we expect the City Mayor to take on board these sentiments and put together, with the relevant officers, some kind of coherent plan looking in to the future so that we do not fall into any future pitfalls.
Lord Mayor: Thank you. City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I have indicated to Members the importance that European funding has been to so much that is vital to the city’s economy, to jobs and to our continued vitality as an economy. I genuinely wish I could give Councillor Singh some reassurance. I cannot do that. I wish I could say how soon we would be able to put forward some proposals that indicate that there is a secure alternative to those funds. I wish I could say that there was some plan as to how we would meet the loss of funds and the loss of focus as he described it that will result from Brexit. I am afraid I am not able to do so. The reason is not because we lack coherent plans, the reason is because the government lacks coherent plans, and until the government is able to give us the reassurance and the coherence to any future plans I am afraid we can only do as we have been doing and lobby them very heavily and point out to them that the reality of Brexit is that it will continue to cause uncertainty, will continue to potentially be of very serious damage to the economy of Leicester and similar cities and we will seek to say to them that they promised us that it would all be alright after Brexit – well now it is their duty to prove it.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Singh your next question.
Councillor Singh: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Would the City Mayor inform the Council on the current state of engagement and agenda issues of the Combined Authority for Leicester and Leicestershire, and in particular comment on the recent Midlands Engine proposals and future intentions? Thank you.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: Thank you Lord Mayor. The Leicester and Leicestershire Combined Authority proposal is currently with the government and the signing of the Order by the Secretary of State and the subsequent formal establishment of the Combined Authority is currently anticipated to take place by the end of this year. That would mean that we could then have the first meeting of the Combined Authority early in the New Year. As Members will recall the focus initially in the Combined Authority is on a combined strategic transport plan, combined strategic growth plan for the whole of the Leicester and Leicestershire area which on many occasions I have spoken to this chamber about are entirely inter-linked and inter-dependent when it comes to these issues. There is a considerable amount of preparatory work already underway and we are also looking at the way in which, and it relates back to the other question the previous question, the way in which we collaborate in the provision of appropriate skills for the people across the Leicester and Leicestershire area to ensure that they have the ability and the skills to take up job opportunities that the local economy needs and as they emerge. Both the city and the county are represented on both the Midlands Engine and the Midlands Connect Boards and I am very pleased to engage with that because particularly within Midlands Connect there is very much that it is very important to us as a county but as a city particularly, issues such as the east / west rail connections, the Leicester / Coventry rail link, the need for us to ensure that when HS2 comes through we do have a link from our Midland mainline, the classic main line, to the new HS2 line so called classic compatibility at Toton . and of course a determination to put the pressure on the government to make good on their commitment to the electrification of the Midlands mainline which of course as we all know is a vital part of ensuring that that rail link to London, and indeed to the north, continues to be viable in the 21st century. I hope that reassures Councillor Singh that you know with regard to the Combined Authority and with regard to Midlands Engine we are wholly engaged with our colleagues in the county and surrounding districts and determined together to try and make our partnership within that Combined Authority something that is mutually beneficial.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Singh do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Singh: No.
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Moving on then to question 4, Councillor Kitterick please.
Councillor Kitterick: Lord Mayor would the Cabinet Member for Housing like to visit the Centre Project in Leicester city centre?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Connelly please.
Councillor Connelly: Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you to Councillor Kitterick for the question. I am very happy to go and visit the Centre Project. Whether Councillor Kitterick wants to arrange that or I can arrange that myself, but I am quite happy to do so.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Connelly. Councillor Kitterick a supplementary?
Councillor Kitterick: Thanks very much Lord Mayor. Can I welcome Councillor Connelly accepting the offer to come and see the Centre Project. It is a little bit of a shame that it is done under a potential housing officers proposals to withdraw funding from the Centre Project, and I believe that Councillor Connelly would find it very interesting to see the range of people that the Centre Project in the city centre provides haven for who otherwise would have to face a lack of services out on the streets of Leicester and I look forward to accompanying him to a visit to the Project. It is a very good project and I am sure Councillor Connelly, having visited, will feel that it is worthwhile to continue the funding.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Kitterick. Was there a question in there for you?
Councillor Connelly: I am sure there was somewhere. I look forward to visiting the Project with Patrick and I always enjoy his company and I am sure the visit to the Centre Project will be enlightening. What I will say is that at this time it is only a proposal and it is out to consultation, no definite decisions have been taken about their funding and you may well recall previously officers proposed to cease their funding and clearly that did not happen, so I am not saying that won’t happen again, but as I say we have not made a definite decision and as I say I look forward to the visit with Patrick. It is not necessary for us to hold hands is it Patrick?
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Connelly. Councillor Kitterick question 5 please.
Councillor Kitterick: If holding hands with Councillor Connelly saves the funding of the Centre Project I am more than happy to consider it. Lord Mayor how many times have the police been called out to 13-15 New Walk in the past 6 months?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Connelly please.
Councillor Connelly: Thank you Lord Mayor. Thank you Councillor Kitterick for the question. The reality is too many times. There have been 8 crime reports, 32 police incidents and 142 emails exchanged about the problems there are at 13-17 New Walk.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Kitterick a supplementary?
Councillor Kitterick: Thank you very much Lord Mayor. In the form of a question, is Councillor Connelly aware that there is actually a number of issues to do with crime and anti-social behaviour that have begun in recent months to plague the lower part of New Walk, particularly around Museum Square and the reaction of the various agencies including the Council’s CCTV scheme, crime reduction officers and the police coming together with residents and ourselves as Councillors have begun to crack the problem. Would Councillor Connelly like to invite local housing officers to join this team in order that we can have a comprehensive approach to anti-social behaviour in that lower part of New Walk.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Kitterick. Councillor Connelly please.
Councillor Connelly: Thank you for the supplementary. I am more than happy to request that housing officers attend those meetings. I am somewhat disappointed the fact that they aren’t doing so already. Just to update Councillor Kitterick and the Council chamber, the problems, and there are clearly problems at the bottom of New Walk, we are as an authority working with our partners, we are taking action now to evict two of the tenants that we think are the root cause of many of the problems within that area.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Connelly. Councillor Cole question 6.
Councillor Cole: Thank you Lord Mayor. I am sure that we would not have failed to notice that this Conservative government is hell bent on continuing to divide our society into the haves and have nots. The latest divisive scheme to achieve this is to proliferate the number of grammar schools across the country. Can the City Mayor say what the city’s position is on the expansion of grammar schools within the city and what powers the city has to resist the government if the city decides against the expansion of grammar schools locally?
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Cole. Councillor Russell please.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. We will not see an expansion of grammar schools in Leicester because we do not have any grammar schools in Leicester, so the initial approach that the government is looking to take through their current consultation is to expand existing provision prior to seeking to open new provision. If they seek to open new provision in the form of a selective free school in the city I do not believe that would be in the interests of children in our city. I do not believe that segregating their education improves outcomes. We are seeing outcomes improve year on year in both our primary and our secondary schools and in fact I have been having the joy as a parent of visiting a number of our schools looking at secondary places and our schools now are able to describe how they stream children within schools to ensure that a full range of both academic and non-academic curriculum is offered in the broadest sense. What has been really interesting about the debate about grammar schools, and particularly around independent schools supporting state schools, is a lack of recognition that actually our teachers in our state sector and our secondary sector in particular have an incredible range of skills in working with children across a wide range of abilities, in ensuring that learning is appropriate for them, in being able to develop them at the various different points. And certainly when they have previously tried to make these links a number of teachers who had only had experience of teaching in selective environments where they are only used to working with the most academically able pupils find that they have not got the breadth of skill that has benefited so many children in our city. So we won’t have an opportunity to say no to a particular free school because that it not the way that the government has structured the education system but I strongly believe, and I am sure everybody within our group would agree, that segregating our children’s education would be a backward step and what we want to see is continued improvement in our city. If you would just indulge me a second Lord Mayor. I am recognising that we have got our children in the city walking around the Town Hall at the moment protesting and I would just like to commend them on the number that have come out today and they have been really, really clear that their concern is about the cuts the government are making and that that forces the Council’s hands. They have been absolutely explicit in their discussions about that with us. You know it is children who are being affected and may be rather than looking at segregating education and putting more money into creating new grammar schools may be they could be looking instead at early intervention enabling us to support children right across our city.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell point well made. Councillor Cole do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Cole: Can I just thank the Assistant City Mayor for her answer and can I ask for an assurance and commitment that whilst we have some powers over some of the schools in the city, that she will be doing her very best to ensure that all these schools achieve outstanding for as long as we have that power please.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Cole. Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: I am delighted to confirm that we will continue to support and challenge our schools to seek improvements wherever we can, that has led to within our primary sector the number of good and outstanding primary schools increasing from 76% last year to 84% at the beginning of this year. We are going to see that figure going up even further. We are absolutely committed to having all the children in our city being able to go to good and outstanding schools and seeing the results and the attainment out of that as well as the progress continue to improve.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Question 7 Councillor Cutkelvin please.
Councillor Cutkelvin: Thank you Lord Mayor. Following unsubstantiated rumours within the Saffron Ward that the Kingfisher Youth Centre is set to close, can I seek assurances from the Assistant Mayor for Youth Services that there will be no changes to the services delivered from the Centre without full public engagement?
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: I am happy to give that full assurance my Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Thank you. Do you have a supplementary Councillor Cutkelvin?
Councillor Cutkelvin: No supplementary thank you my Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Thank you very much. Question 8 Councillor Sandhu please.
Councillor Sandhu: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Can the Elected Member with responsibility for Highways give me an assurance that Council officers are looking at options to address the parking issue around Hope Hamilton School?
Lord Mayor: Thank you. City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I am very happy to provide Councillor Sandhu with this assurance. I am well aware that, he and his colleagues have made me very well aware of, the issues around Hope Hamilton School. The fact is that inconsiderate school run parking is a serious road safety concern across the city, although it is particularly acute in some areas and is a major cause of congestion. Members will have received copies of the Parking Improvement Action Plan which is currently being consulted on and will be aware that within that there are a number of measures being considered to tackle the parking around schools on the zig-zag lines and elsewhere that is so problematic and so dangerous. What we have done is to prioritise sites for action and allocated some resources and in advance of the outcome of that consultation work is already getting underway and that is true in the Hope Hamilton School area. Highways officers met with local police representatives there on the 28th September and I know that they looked particularly at parked cars blocking Thornborough Way, preventing emergency services and other vehicles getting through and causing a serious safety hazard to children. They are considering introducing parking restrictions in Thornborough Way along with some physical measures such as bollards to actually stop at least some of the worst parking on the pavements and immediately adjacent to the school. I do know as well that they are able to get on right now with nearby zebra crossing markings which had been refreshed in response to the concerns that Councillors have expressed. But as I said in my introduction that we are aware that this is an ongoing problem across the City. I do encourage Members to look at the proposals within the Parking Improvement Plan and to consider whether they are adequate, whether there are more things that we could be doing and should be doing and also to continue to liaise with officers to look at whether there are things we can do right now to make sure that this scourge and this cause of very serious danger to young children is prevented as far as we are able to.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Sandhu do you have a supplementary?
Councillor Sandhu: No.
Lord Mayor: No. Thank you. Moving on then to question 9 Councillor Dempster please.
Councillor Dempster: Thank you Lord Mayor. “Can the City Mayor tell me how much of the Council’s budget comes from central government every year”?
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Dempster. City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor the short answer and it may sound quite flippant is far too much and you know we are a very centralised country that unlike most other democratic countries is intensely centralised in the way in which decision making is done and the way in which funding of local services are provided. As a result of that Councils in the UK are very dependent on a limited range of sources of income and dependent on central government funding. And of course what we as a Council have been is what deprived Councils up and down the land have seen, and that is the savage reduction, under first of all the Coalition government, and now under the Conservative government, the savage reduction of our spending. And as Members know it will in round terms have required us to lose £155m of spending from 2010 through to what is realistically projected in 2020. Now that of course is requiring us, I think we are all well aware, to review a whole range of our spending and of course we have heard the very understandable concern being expressed by those young children today about the impact that that might have as a result of those government cuts on something very dear to their heart in their case the adventure playgrounds. It is something that, as Members will be aware, has led us to having to already contemplate and indeed in some cases carry out some very difficult decisions: cutting our elderly person’s homes, the slashing of bus subsidies, cut back on schools improvements to name just but a few that have already taken place. But the fact is that in the pursuit of dogma the government is determined to devastate, not Councils, not even the people who work for us, but the services that we provide to our communities and particularly to some of the most vulnerable in those communities, and it is indeed a very sad and very bleak outlook that we face as a result of those cuts that the central government is making.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Dempster a supplementary?
Councillor Dempster: Yes thank you. Would you agree with me that I believe that the government are cutting funding to local authorities more than they are cutting funding to other government departments, so that they don’t have to take responsibility for the decisions. Because if they were cutting money for defence or whatever other big government department, they would then have to own the cuts that the departments are having to make. But it sticks in my throat that they are making cuts to local authority budgets forcing us into making decisions that we do not want to make but legally we have got no option because we are not allowed to set an illegal budget, we can only spend the money that we have got and then they go oh not us. So that is the first reason that I think they are up to this and I just wanted to know your views. The other issue is…
Lord Mayor: Councillor Dempster can I remind you it is questions rather than…
Councillor Dempster: I know it is just that it is a long question. The other thing is that in terms of so why are they doing this. And it is because in my opinion, and I want to know whether or not you agree with me, that’s my question, it is ideological. That the bottom line is that they believe in rolling back the state. Now for me that says to me more that that is about survival of the fittest. If we continue to have a Tory government that is what will happen to our economy. Do you agree?
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Dempster. City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor. I distinctly heard a question mark at the end of that so. But it is indeed the case as Councillor Dempster has said that the only possible explanation for what the government is doing is ideology and dogma. And I think it is indeed the case as she has described it that the impact of the cuts and the scale of the cuts in local government expenditure is in a completely different league from any of the pain and the cuts that are being imposed on other aspects of central government spend. They are indeed transferring the pain and they would hope the blame from themselves to locally Elected Councillors up and down the land. I say locally Elected Councils up and down the land but actually it is not up and down the land – the ones to whom they are transferring the pain and the blame are those that represent the most deprived communities in the land. Members will have seen on previous occasions the correlation between the levels of deprivation and the levels of cuts. Basically the more deprived the area you are representing as a Council the greater the proportion of your funding is being take away. And that can only be explained by ideology and dogma, not by any compassion whatsoever. And it is indeed the case that they are hitting not just those areas that are most deprived as they very demonstrably are, but also inevitably those communities and those individuals who are most deprived and most vulnerable. It is savage, it is pointless and it is undoubtedly heartless.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Question 10, Deputy Lord Mayor.
Councillor Joshi: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Can the Executive Member tell me when the outdoor gym equipment will be installed in Hamilton?
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you and I thank the Deputy Lord Mayor for his question, the answer to which is January 2017.
Lord Mayor: Thank you for that. Deputy Lord Mayor do you have a supplementary question?
Councillor Joshi: Yes my Lord Mayor and may I thank the Deputy City Mayor for the answer and the confirmation that this will take place in January 2017 which I do welcome along with my co-Councillors. Would he not agree with me that these pieces of equipment which is available to the whole community regardless of age, creed, colour or background that it will help and improve the health and lifestyle of people who use this equipment at any time of the day free of charge. Could the Deputy City Mayor also answer how many equipment we have installed so far in the city and what the outcomes have been so far.
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor, I thank Councillor Joshi, Deputy Lord Mayor, for his supplementary. I certainly do agree with you that outdoor gyms offer an exciting opportunity to get people more active, help people stay healthy and the 11 outdoor gyms we have installed to date are proving popular in helping us to do that and I hope those outdoor gyms which we are yet to install as part of this programme will help us do that and I also hope the outdoor gyms being installed in your Ward in January proves to be a popular addition to the community and is well used.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Deputy City Mayor. Question 11, Councillor Chaplin please.
Councillor Chaplin: Thank you my Lord Mayor. What assurances can you give, not you Lord Mayor the Executive, that there will be no increase in fly tipping should you introduce the proposed charges for bulk waste collections?
Councillor Clarke: Thank you .. oh sorry my Lord Mayor. Do you want to answer the question by the way. I’m happy to answer it. I am grateful to Councillor Chaplin for the question. I know that in Stoneygate there are issues with fly tipping in the area currently which she is working very hard with her colleague Councillors to alleviate. Now in terms of the consultation and review that is going on at the moment we have heard the political dimensions to that already this evening, and Councillor Chaplin is well versed in the work that has gone on to look at what the impact might be were charging to be brought in. Councillor Chaplin is also aware that the conclusion so far is that there is no direct correlation between the introduction of a charge and increased fly tipping. So I can neither guarantee an increase that has happened in some local authorities who introduced this or a decrease that has happened in other local authorities. What we do know is that were we to introduce this we would have to work harder and differently in our communities to prevent the fly tipping that takes place and indeed we are working differently at the moment. Councillor Masters is leading on a programme, leading on some intelligence led work to prevent the existing fly tipping in the city that is, I understand is, reaping rewards as we stand. But in terms of a guarantee I can’t give that either way but we know where the blame lies for that as the City Mayor pointed out earlier.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Councillor Chaplin your supplementary.
Councillor Chaplin: Thank you my Lord Mayor. Indeed just bear with me my Lord Mayor because I just need to give a bit of context before I ask my supplementary question but I will keep it brief. Indeed I did come to the Scrutiny Commission last night and give evidence about what was happening in the Stoneygate Ward. For instance 5 mattresses stacked up on a street corner to reach the bedroom window on a terraced street and people having rubbish fly tipped on their driveways which then makes it very difficult to get rid of because the responsibility for it becomes unclear and people are susceptible to it in Stoneygate, remembering that Stoneygate includes Highfields - it is not just posh streets. So what I would like to ask as a supplementary is, is the Executive making representations to the Secretary of State about the inadequacy of the current legislation and regulation around fly tipping and controlling it because the system at the moment is not fit for purpose and it will be made even worse should charging come in in this city.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Chaplin, Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Thank you my Lord Mayor. The Executive makes regular representations to the regulatory bodies and the government given the opportunities because that it where the blame lies for us having to consider a potential change in the service that we are currently providing. What Councillor Chaplin was alluding to there was nothing to do with the change I think we have to agree, it is actually to do with the current issues that we are seeking to address through the scheme that fellow Stoneygate Councillor, Councillor Master, is leading on at the moment.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Question 12 Councillor Dempster please.
Councillor Dempster: Thank you Lord Mayor. Can the Executive Member for parks confirm that further work will be carried out on the shrubbery on Topaz Way.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Dempster.
Councillor Clair: Thank you my Lord Mayor. As the area of Hamilton is the responsibility for parks and open space I understand that work has already been undertaken to have a winter pruning which tidy up those areas where there are some overgrown bushes, there are some overhanging branches of the trees. If that work will still continue for the next few weeks to go, and if there are any particular area local Ward Councillors, and in particular Councillor Dempster, has notified that has not been taken care of if you send an email by writing of a particular section which you are still remain unhappy to Head of Parks and Open Space, Stuart Doughty, and copy to me I will make sure that action is taken and those sort of area is being cut back and being tidied up.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clair. Councillor Dempster a supplementary?
Councillor Dempster: No I would just like to say a huge thank you because it is not just about how an area looks, I am sure that Councillor Clair would agree, this is also an issue about safety and we have already had some extra lighting but dealing with shrubs is one of those things that people might not always immediately notice, but certainly it makes you feel an awful lot safer. Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Dempster.
Councillor Clair: Obviously Lord Mayor I have discussed this issue with because one I need to not declare I mentioned to full Council that the area in question both on park .this issue of safety where additional lights are being installed and still overgrown bushes are still dominating that particular corner of from East Hamilton to West Hamilton and also the future proposal of the gym it is only 100 yards from my house, it is not something in my interest to declare but I did thank you.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clair. Question 13 Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: Thank you Lord Mayor and can I just thank you for your kind words earlier and I am sure that all Members would have acted in the same way if they were in the same situation. Can I ask the Assistant Mayor “How many of the temporary classrooms put in schools over the summer to cope with the pressure on places have been broken into, and as a result did any pupils lose days of attendance and how many pupils had to be taught temporarily within schools?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Russell please.
Councillor Russell: Thank you my Lord Mayor. One school sadly had a break in, no pupil days were lost, one class had to move into the main hall for one day, another for two days. So there were no pupil days lost, the school were able to manage for the short period it took to be able to do the changes that were needed and get the equipment reinstalled, but obviously we have now got an intruder alarm fitted to that building and we will continue to work with schools to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Councillor Grant a supplementary?
Councillor Grant: No my Lord Mayor the information I had was incorrect.
Lord Mayor: OK.
Councillor Grant: It would be improper for me to lobbying on behalf of the school I am vice-chair of governors.
Lord Mayor: Thank you for that. Moving on then to question 14, Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: Following Councillor Palmer’s tweets at the weekend of the supreme importance of the Rider Cup, has the Executive had a rethink about its attitude to golf and does this mean there is an opportunity for Western Park Golf Course to reopen. In particular because evidence shows that private golf clubs can operate at lower costs than municipal ones.
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor. I probably shouldn’t need to but just for clarity’s sake my tweets at the weekend probably shouldn’t be interpreted as official policy announcements. I also tweeted at the weekend for Member’s information a good luck message to Ed Balls in Strictly Come Dancing if you wish to make that Council policy I am sure the Lord Mayor is happy to call a vote in a minute or so. But look the Executive’s attitude towards golf has not changed. Indeed the Executive did take a difficult decision in relation to Western Park Golf Course after extensive consultation and much deliberation, and as then and now this Council remains committed to supporting golf and those who wish to play golf, our investment at Humberstone Heights after the Western Park decision to be able to invest properly and support development of golf at one municipal course is bearing dividends. We have increased numbers of people playing at Humberstone Heights, increased numbers of people taking lessons at Humberstone Heights and a significant increase in overall usage there over the course of this year. So the Executive, the Council, remain committed the continued development of golf in the City in ensuring it is a sport that people in Leicester can have access to via a City Council run municipal course as well as all the other courses in the wider Leicester area.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Deputy City Mayor. Have you got a supplementary?
Councillor Grant: Yes Lord Mayor. The last time I asked about Western Park Golf Course the City Mayor said he did not know the value of the land or how many houses could potentially be built on it. Does the Assistant Mayor now know the potential value of that development land and how many houses could be built? I think the public would expect that given it is a significant asset and that we are regularly told about the financial difficulties we are in, that this would have at least been done.
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor.
Deputy City Mayor: Thank you my Lord Mayor and I thank Councillor Grant for his supplementary. Councillor Grant is right it is a significant sized piece of land. The correct process for determining that land’s future will be through the Local Plan process and that is the process under which the land would be determined, its future allocation determined, which will probably ultimately influence its value, and that is not a process that I would pre-empt at this point. There is a full and formal process surrounding the Local Plan and that process will ensue in the coming months.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Deputy City Mayor. Councillor Grant, question 15.
Councillor Grant: With the City Mayor indicating he will sign up to the new international environmental standards that supersede EMAS, can he tell us how much the Council spent on meeting EMAS standards such as carbon reduction measures?
Lord Mayor: Deputy City Mayor, sorry, Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Sorry you’ve got me Councillor Grant. Can I first stay that the interchange between yourself and the Lord Mayor this evening has been great and it does show that there is more that unites us than divides us and whilst things get testy in this chamber there is a lot more in common than there is different. Now in terms of EMAS it is not the ambulance service, it is the environmental audit system that we have been using over the past years, and we have taken the decision to move to something that is snappily titled ISO14001:2015. Now this new system is more appropriate we feel for the 21st century because it is something that private organisations and external organisations are more used to working with. There is very little difference actually between the two other than that. What I will say is that, and we don’t expect costs to increase at all, the total direct cost of maintaining EMAS registration in the last year was £11,180.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Councillor Grant a supplementary?
Councillor Grant: Yes. In terms of the question what I was trying to get at Lord Mayor was the amount of money that the Council has had to spend on increased costs to meet those environmental standards in terms of the money we spent on things like BSF and basically reducing the carbon footprint of things like schools which I believe would run into many millions. My supplementary that I would like to ask the Assistant Mayor is does he feel that we have got the balance correct between how much we spend on meeting the standards in terms of the additional obligations and the amount that we actively spend protecting our residents from the consequences of climate change. Should we not be spending more on protecting our residents from the actual consequences such as flooding and poor air quality and less in terms of potentially millions of pounds on the actual projects that we deliver.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Grant. Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Broadly speaking my Lord Mayor there are two ways of tackling climate change or there is a two pronged attack - mitigation and adaptation and Councillor Grant has covered both of those in his question. He talked about schools and the BSF programme and rightly so, there are some energy saving measures that have gone into those schools that will also have a positive impact on the environment as much as they actually save money. Just by way of an example of some of the work that we have done, the white lights project, the street lights around our city that have gone in in the last couple of years, we are now able to say that they have saved £1.3 million pounds and they will continue to save £1.3m a year based on 2008/09 prices. Similarly we have moved to a data centre and that is now 49% lower in its first year of operation than the previous consumption when it was based in New Walk Centre. I suppose in short the answer to the question is that by mitigating and adapting to climate change we can actually save revenue at the same time. I hope Councillor Grant has, by the way, been out to see Ellis Meadows the new park that has opened in the north of the City, I believe it is in Abbey Ward up there, where we have a new public park which is actually serving to prevent flooding in that part of the city and we have an EA scheme, as I think I mentioned at the last full Council, which is hoping to move around the city to deliver such similar schemes.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Clarke. Question 16 Councillor Grant.
Councillor Grant: Does the City Mayor now regret vetoing a university technical college for Leicestershire which would have been in the city given the distinct need for additional places we have of the high quality education and choice it would have offered?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Russell.
Councillor Russell: Thank you Lord Mayor. There was no veto of a university technical college. In terms of how university technical colleges work there have been some successes around the country, there have also been some fairly significant failures, and they are one of a range of options that we continue to look at with schools, the education funding agency and other local partners, but the need for additional places is being actively worked on. It is somewhat complicated by the rather strange approach to free schools that the government has introduced that means that there is a little bit of a free for all when it comes to school places rather than there being able to be planned closely around where needed and how to develop high quality education, but that is something we will continue to work with, both the funding agency, the regional schools commissioner and of course the lobby the government around Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Councillor Grant a supplementary?
Councillor Grant: Yes Lord Mayor. Given the opportunity that we had to open a university technical college involving the three outstanding universities that we have in the county, I am sure that a university technical college in Leicester would have been successful. There have been accusations of dividing society into the have and have nots today, but with 48 university technical colleges already open in England isn’t it really the case that the government believes in a broad range of good quality options for all pupils and it is the Council which is fixed on providing only a single type of schooling whatever it may be in the best interests of pupils.
Lord Mayor: Was there a question in there somewhere? Thank you.
Councillor Russell: I am quite happy to answer the statement anyway. Don’t worry. Thank you Lord Mayor. The number of university technical colleges that were opened is not the same as the number that are currently open because a number have had to close because they, first of all were not able to secure sufficient young people, but they also weren’t able to secure the breadth of curriculum that those young people needed to be offered. So we have got ones within our region that have had to close because they just did not work for young people. What we are absolutely committed to is making sure that there are long term sustainable improving places for our children to go and be educated, and that can be through a range of options. In fact we have a range of options already in the city. What we want though is for there to be excellent schools in every community that our city has and for those schools to be of a size and well enough funded and supported that they can offer the breadth of curriculum, the breadth of extra curricula and the breadth of support that all of our students need to be able to thrive and succeed. Thank you my Lord Mayor.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Russell. Question 17 Councillor Porter.
Councillor Porter: Thank you Lord Mayor. Yes my question is is Franklyn Fields identified as a housing development proposal site in the city of Leicester Local plan?
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Porter. City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor the site has a long history of being proposed for residential development, having been allocated for such in the 1983 Aylestone Local Plan and subsequently in the 1994 Leicester Local Plan. Outline planning permission was also granted for the site in 1989. Within the 2006 Local Plan the City Council identifies the site as a policy area where future development proposals should form part of a comprehensive scheme for the whole site and includes satisfactory highway access which is of course the basis on which we are proceeding.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Porter a supplementary?
Councillor Porter: Yes. Thank you Lord Mayor. Yes. At a recent Overview and Scrutiny meeting I did ask the City Mayor why the Council had misled local residents by falsely claiming that this site was allocated in the Local Plan for housing and the principle of development had been accepted in the Local Plan. So what I did was I looked over previous comments or decisions that the City Mayor had made about it because his response really he appeared to be blaming officers and saying that he was not aware that any officers had mislead local residents. However, I looked at the reasons for the decision that he made to sell …
Lord Mayor: Councillor Porter could you form a question please.
Councillor Porter: I think other people have had quite long winded comments before they have actually submitted a question.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Porter that is for the Lord Mayor to decide. Please form a question.
Councillor Porter: In fairness I think I should have an opportunity to get some clarification from the City Mayor regarding this because when he made a decision to sell the site the decision according to the decision that he signed was that the site was allocated in the Local Plan for development. This was a decision made to sell the site for housing. This clearly was not the case, so my question to the City Mayor again is why has he and why has the Council both misled local residents by claiming that this site is allocated for a housing development in the Local Plan?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: I can do very little more than allow Members to judge for themselves whether there is any evidence at all of anybody misleading anybody else. The fact is as I said in my initial reply, that in 1983 the site was included in the Aylestone Local Plan and was subsequently included in the 1994 Leicester Local Plan. Public, on the record, approved by the Council. There is no evidence whatsoever that either I, any other Member or any officer of this Council has been anything other than entirely open with people about the status of this particular site.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Porter question 18.
Councillor Porter: Yes thank you. My question is when did the Council start the orange bag scheme?
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke please.
Councillor Clarke: Thank you my Lord Mayor. The orange bag scheme started on the 18th October 2011.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Porter a supplementary question?
Councillor Porter: Yes my supplementary question is - recycling in Leicester, what a diabolical disaster it has been. We had promises when this orange bag scheme was introduced that recycling levels would increase 48-50%. Residents have clearly been misled by this failing Council and because the Council has failed to meet its recycling and composting targets, they are now planning to charge local residents to get rid of their rubbish. The Council also has failed to publish the most recent figures available for 2014/2015 because again they want to hide the truth. The truth is Lord Mayor…
Lord Mayor: Your question please otherwise I will terminate your question.
Councillor Porter: No I think everybody else has had an opportunity to make a fair amount of statement. The truth is Lord Mayor and this is the important…
Lord Mayor: Please form a question or sit down. Your choice.
Councillor Porter: The question Lord Mayor relates to the fact that the recycling figures which I had to trawl through a government website to find, have not been published on the Council’s website. And the reason I’d suggest that they have not been published is because they are down by 19.59%. There is only 34.6% of stuff is now recycled or composted and it is really not very good that this Council is failing to deliver on targets and promises. So my question to the Council, I mean the Council really have deliberately… well why did I have to trawl through a website to find it? So my question as I say if I can put the question without being interrupted. My question to the Council’s recycling compositing and rubbish spokesman, as somebody who has never misled anybody or has never lied in public office, what are his views about the broken promises of the Council to get recycling targets up, and also what are his views about the damning figures which they have failed to publish on their website which demonstrates that recycling and composting figures are down by 19.59%.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Porter, I think. Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Thank you very much my Lord Mayor. Just to give my serious answer first, the figures that Councillor Porter quotes there was indeed a drop, quite a large drop in the recycling rate, in 2014/15. That was due my Lord Mayor to a very serious fire at the Wanlip Recycling Plant where we were all very pleased that nobody was seriously harmed. Unfortunately a lot of waste did have to get diverted to landfill in that year. I am pleased to say the 2015/16 figures have gone up above the magical 40% figure and continue to rise. The recycling market and agenda does fluctuate, it is a market, and to get above that 40% mark after that very serious fire is testament to the work of those people that deliver our waste and recycling in the city. But I do want to break from protocol for a moment my Lord Mayor given we have heard some very strange comments from Councillor Porter about misleading, people on this side misleading the city, so I do want to break from protocol and call Councillor Porter by his BBC name because a couple of weeks ago a chap called Nigel from Leicester called Jim and Joe’s breakfast show on BBC Radio Leicester about…
Councillor Porter: For clarification Lord Mayor…. Clarification - point of order.
Councillor Clarke: You might want clarification but I haven’t finished my answer. Let me finish.
Councillor Porter: Lord Mayor I did not call them.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Porter, I stand you sit that is the Council protocol. I asked Councillor Clarke to continue his statement. If you can’t abide by that I will ask you to leave the chamber. Thank you. Councillor Clarke.
Councillor Clarke: Thank you my Lord Mayor. So Nigel from Leicester called in to say that these cuts could have been prevented, the cuts we have heard about this evening because of the government’s business rates retention scheme or could have at least been alleviated by the government’s business rates retention scheme which I have to say is a genius idea. The business rate retention scheme I have to say, I have got it on my phone because I recorded it I’m that sad and I can play it here tonight if you want. Oh come on, come on you just hold the phone to a microphone you can all hear it.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Clarke can you wind up please.
Councillor Clarke: I will wind up. The business rate retention scheme starts in 2020 so it is not much use to us now. We don’t really think that it is going to be helpful when it comes in either. Nigel from Leicester finished by saying “why do people bother voting you just can’t trust them”. Well in one particular case I agree with Nigel from Leicester.
Lord Mayor: I would remind members of the code of conduct that is published in the front of the document each time we have a Council meeting. Thank you.
Lord Mayor: Question 19, Councillor Porter.
Councillor Porter: Yes as for clarification regarding that, I did not ring them they rang me.
Lord Mayor: I don’t need clarification just please get on with the question. Thank you.
Councillor Porter: And the question that I’ve got number 19 Lord Mayor is “has the Mayor made a decision to sell Franklyn Fields to Morris Homes”?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor Franklyn Fields was openly marketed in 2014 and a decision notice was published on the 20th August last year, the effective date for that decision was the 28th August last year.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Porter your supplementary question please.
Councillor Porter: Yes thank you Lord Mayor. Can Sir Peter clarify if Morris Homes participated or not in the official sealed bidding process which closed in April 2014 or did they have their own separate deal organised with the City Council?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor that is something that I think has within it perhaps some rather serious allegation, and if Councillor Porter does have any evidence at all that there was any impropriety in the way in which that tender was dealt with he ought to submit it immediately to the Monitoring Officer.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor. Councillor Porter question 20 please.
Councillor Porter: It is a shame he was not able to clarify that.
Lord Mayor: Question please.
Councillor Thomas: Because you bottled it mate.
Councillor Porter: Sorry.
Councillor Thomas: I said you bottled it.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Porter your question please.
Councillor Porter: I’m not bottling it, you are the one, I tell you I won’t be taking any lectures from somebody who is named after a male appendage. Now – is the plan to sell Franklyn Fields for £750,000 per net developable acre?
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Porter, can I just say that comment was inappropriate and I would prefer if you would retract that please. That comment was inappropriate.
Councillor Porter: If people are intent on heckling when I am trying to put stuff forward.
Lord Mayor: The comment is still inappropriate.
Councillor Porter: I don’t believe… well there are lots of comments that are made that are inappropriate and I think it is unfair that you, for whatever reason at the moment, appear to be picking me out amongst other people who put forward, and I am sure if you go back over this website webcast and have a look, if it doesn’t get deleted, you will find that they have a huge amount of opportunity to put forward statements and long winded questions whereas for some reason you won’t let me. Now I think that is completely unfair and then to be heckled, I think I have got a right of reply.
Lord Mayor: Thank you Councillor Porter perhaps we can discuss this in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour afterwards please. Thank you. Councillor Porter have you asked your question?
Councillor Porter: Yes.
Lord Mayor: Yes OK. City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor Members do of course have a right to be heard in this chamber but they don’t have a right to be rude, nasty and personal and Councillor Porter was all three of those things. My Lord Mayor the short answer to Councillor Porter is yes there is a plan to sell Franklyn Fields at that price. The decision notice I referred to in my previous answer I think makes that figure quite explicit.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor, Councillor Porter a supplementary?
Councillor Porter: Yes thank you Lord Mayor. Regarding the site itself I think it is about 18 or so acres, may be the Mayor can correct me if I have got that right or wrong. So could he confirm if the plan is to develop the whole site or not.
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor, and again I think it is probably in the notice that was put on record over 12 months ago now, the net development acreage at bid stage was assumed to be 8.36 acres.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor: Question 21 Councillor Porter please.
Councillor Porter: Yes thank you Lord Mayor. Has the City Mayor put money into any businesses in the City Centre?
Lord Mayor: City Mayor please.
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor I could interpret this question in two ways. I could interpret it as a question as to how much I and my colleagues have done in support of city centre businesses on behalf of the City Council which of course would be a very considerable long list. I think in fact though that this is intended to be a personal question- I have already remarked on the personal questions from Councillor Porter and their inappropriateness. However, I will answer it, but perhaps in doing that just say that when I was first elected as an MP I was advised that one should never ask a question to which one did not know the answer. Now I think on this occasion Councillor Porter clearly does know the answer. He will know the answer because he has asked the question several times before and because I have given a very full answer several times before. And the answer is of course yes I have lent my daughter a considerable amount of money to invest in a bar on Rutland Street. It has been on the record, it is in my declarations of interest, it has been given in response to Councillor Porter and indeed on numerous occasions in this chamber and elsewhere, I have referred to it and tried to be scrupulously careful to make sure that anything to do with that part of the City I declare it and I take no part in any discussions about it. So as I say Councillor Porter does know the answer to this question and I suppose to that extent he is following the advice. What he did not of course perhaps listen to was the other bit of the advice which I was given when I first become an MP which was that you should never ask a question that everyone else knows the answer to because when you do that you will end up looking either silly or obsessive. Members will judge for themselves whether Councillor Porter looks silly or obsessive.
Lord Mayor: Councillor Porter supplementary please.
Councillor Porter: Well I believe nobody will know the answer to this question that I am about to ask except Sir Peter so for him to say that it is on public record that he has got this business interest it was not just one it was businesses, but I will take him at his word that he has only got one business interest in the city centre, and as I say I was surprised when he revealed that he had invested £60-70,000 in this business and I was surprised that he thought you know £60-70,000 that is a big difference, £10,000 clearly does not appear to be very much money for somebody like him who has got that sort of money to invest in a business. So I would say it is not an insignificant amount of money it is a very, very significant amount of money and can he confirm, this is the question which I am sure he will probably be able to answer, whether or not the business that he has invested his £60-70,000 in has or is employing any staff on zero hour contracts?
City Mayor: My Lord Mayor Members will be aware because I have said it on many occasions that in fact it was £70,000 that I lent to my daughter. That is on record it is known, she came to the bank of Dad, the bank of course that does not necessarily make commercial judgments, it is a bank that may one day get some repayments, lives in hope of getting some interest, but nonetheless has persisted in not calling in the loan. The fact is that I have been able to afford to do that, afford to continue to do that because I benefited from my late wife’s teacher’s pension and the lump sum that came from it. Frankly my Lord Mayor that is a benefit I had rather done without but at least I put it to good use in supporting our daughter.
Lord Mayor: Thank you City Mayor.