Agenda item

The City Mayor will answer questions raised by members of the Overview Select Committee on issues not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

The Chair invited Members to raise questions for the City Mayor.

Issues relating to autism

Councillor Cleaver, Chair of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission asked the City Mayor whether he would agree that the work being undertaken by the Commission on autism needed to be supported by the Council. She hoped that Leicester would be noted for supporting people with autism.  The City Mayor confirmed that he welcomed the work that was being carried out to draw attention to the needs of people with autism.  He had previously been a special needs teacher and was well aware of the issues that people with autism faced. It was a condition that often remained undiagnosed, and if diagnosed, was not always well supported. The City Mayor added that he welcomed the attention that the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission was giving to this issue and also the fact that the Deputy City Mayor, as part of his portfolio, was looking at the way autism was identified and supported in adulthood

Poppy display in Leicester

Councillor Bajaj asked the City Mayor whether he would consider having a display of poppies, similar to that displayed at the Tower of London. The City Mayor responded that Leicester had twice expressed interests in taking the poppies.  The Magazine Gateway had been suggested to be a good location, because of its association with the Leicestershire Regiment. A decision was now awaited on the Council’s most recent expression of interest. 

Bid for the City of Culture 2021

Councillor Bajaj asked the City Mayor whether Leicester would be preparing to submit a bid to become the City of Culture 2021. The City Mayor responded that he thought this would be unlikely. Leicester’s previous bid had failed and he thought that Hull, the successful bidder had needed the accolade more. The cost in preparing for that previous bid was well spent, but if a further bid was submitted, they would need to start again. The City Mayor added that he believed that Leicester had too many good things already taking place to argue that it needed to be made a City of Culture.

Economic Action Plan and investment in the neighbourhoods / street drinking

Councillor Cutkelvin stated that she welcomed the publication of the Economic Action Plan and noted that this included investment in the city centre. She thought that it was important to explain through the media, and through themselves as ward councillors, how much was also spent in the neighbourhoods. In respect of the City Centre, she had been talking to a well- known business man who had raised concerns about street drinking in Leicester. The City Mayor was questioned as to the action that was being taken to tackle this issue.

The City Mayor agreed that it was important to take every opportunity to remind people of the revenue and capital investment that was being made in the neighbourhoods. The bulk of council money was spent on delivering front line services and was spent in neighbourhoods.

The Deputy City Mayor responded to the question relating to street drinking, and he acknowledged that this presented a challenge in the city, although in this respect, Leicester was no different to other cities. Leicester was taking action in a number of ways, including giving support to those who wanted help and to aid this, an alternative venue to the Anchor Centre had been found. Officers were also working with premises licence holders and taking action to revoke the licence of any who acted irresponsibly. There was also a Public Space Protection Order, but enforcement of this was a responsibility of the Police. The Council needed to work with the Police, as they needed to use their powers to enforce the order.

City Council’s procurement process

Councillor Cutkelvin raised a question relating to the council’s procurement process and asked whether there was now an appropriate degree of proportionality. She stated that back in 2013, the Saffron Young People’s Project (SYPP) had fallen foul of procurement because the process appeared to be disproportionate to what was a relatively small amount of money. The SYPP had misunderstood the level of detail required. Councillor Cutkelvin asked whether there was a better degree of proportionality in the current procurement process.

The City Mayor responded that he had had concerns in the past that the Council’s procurement process was disproportionate. This was now included in the Assistant Mayor for Jobs and Skills portfolio, and he believed that she would have made progress on this. He added that it was perhaps time to undertake a formal review of the process, to look at issues around procuring locally and proportionality. He added that he would talk to the Assistant Mayor about this.

Youth Services

Councillor Cutkelvin said that she was aware that there was a recent briefing relating to the future of youth services, for staff at the Kingfisher Youth Centre, and asked whether the City Mayor could give any further information on this.

The City Mayor responded that he thought that the staff briefing was given prior to the start of the consultation exercise, which was due to commence in the new year.

Planning and Development Control issues

Councillor Cutkelvin raised a question relating to planning issues and expressed concerns that Members of the Planning and Development Control Committee, if voting against officer recommendation, were reliant on the advice of planning officers when formulating reasons for their decision.   There had been a recent application for a takeaway on Evington Road where there were issues relating to the saturation levels for particular businesses on a stretch of road, but planning officers had been relaxed about approaching this saturation point.  She asked whether in certain roads, there should be a clear political steer as to what the council wanted their streets to look like.  Councillor Grant and Dr Moore also expressed their concerns relating to issues experienced by Members when voting against officers’ recommendations.

The City Mayor asked for it to be noted that his home was on Evington Road, though not on the particular stretch of the road where the takeaway was located, but he could talk generally about the issue. He had recently met with officers to discuss the development of the local plan, and he had been made aware of the difficulties in the current financial climate of putting limits on the numbers of any particular use in any particular area. As part of the development of the new local plan, the potential for limiting takeaways would be considered but this was not something that legislation made easy.

The City Mayor added that when it came to the determination of planning applications at committee, it was the responsibility of officers, in their professional judgement to make recommendations, but it was not the responsibility of Committee Members to always accept those recommendations. It was appropriate for officers to point out what were or were not legitimate planning considerations. Where the Committee were putting forward legitimate or potentially legitimate concerns against officer recommendation, it was the duty of officers to assist the Committee in formulating the wording that expressed their concerns in terms that reflected appropriate planning guidance and legislation, and would be robust in case of appeal. The City Mayor added that he had no reason to suspect that officers were not already providing the committee with such advice.

Mobile CCTV cameras

Councillor Newcombe raised an issue relating to mobile CCTV cameras. He said that these could be brought into areas around the city as a temporary measure to tackle anti-social behaviour. There was a long waiting list for the use of such cameras, but the cost to purchase was approximately £6k which was a substantial amount of money if the cost was to come out of a ward community budget.

The City Mayor responded that a general review of CCTV cameras was being undertaken; the council had a number of different types of cameras, some of which belonged to the Housing service. He would ensure that these particular cameras were included as part of that general review.  He added that the cameras were monitored and could be effective.

Weekend cleaning around shops in the outer estates

Councillor Newcombe expressed concerns relating to a lack of cleaning around shops in the outer estates during the weekend.  The City Mayor suggested that Councillor Newcombe might wish to raise this issue with the Assistant Mayor for Housing.

Rutland Street / Granby Street junction

Councillor Newcombe expressed concerns that there were still no ‘Give Way’ signs at the junction at Rutland Street/ Granby Street. He stated that he had witnessed near collisions there.

The City Mayor added his concerns to those of Councillor Newcombe. The situation was being considered and he agreed that action needed to be taken there. 

Local Plan

Councillor Porter asked about the update of the Local Plan and whether the council would be launching the consultation on the plan in February 2017. He said that it would be helpful if the plan included a policy on takeaways. 

The City Mayor responded that officers were working on the timetable for the consultation, which he thought would probably start in February. Some information was already in the public domain however. The plan was complex and a great deal of work needed to be carried out but he had been assured that work on this was ongoing.

Compulsory Purchase Order

Councillor Porter asked what action the City Mayor was taking regarding a visually impaired resident and a compulsory purchase order.  He believed that it was an important issue which had not been resolved.  Councillor Porter was reminded that he had raised this issue earlier in the meeting. The Chair stated that he had already advised Councillor Porter on the action to take as this was a constituency issue.