Agenda item

The Monitoring Officer submits a report that explains that an Executive Decision taken by the Assistant Mayor, Neighbourhood Services relating to Transforming Neighbourhood Services – North East Area has been subject to a five Member call-in  The Overview Select Committee is recommended to either:

A)   Note the report – which has the effect of rolling the call-in forward to Council without comment. 

B)   Comment on the specific issues raised by the call-in, for forwarding to the next meeting of Council

C)   Resolve that the call-in be withdrawn

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report relating to the Call-In of Executive Decision: Transforming Neighbourhood Services, North East Area. The Committee were recommended to:

a)    Note the report, which would have the effect of rolling the call-in forward to Council without comment; or

b)    Comment on the specific issues raised by the call-in for forwarding to the next meeting of Council; or

c)     Resolve that the call-in be withdrawn.

The Chair invited Councillor Willmott to address the Committee. Points made by Councillor Willmott included the following:

·       The constituents and fellow Councillors felt strongly about the decision taken on the Rushey Mead Library and the Rushey Mead Recreation Centre under the Transforming Neighbourhood Services (TNS) programme.

·       Moving the library into the Recreation Centre would lead to the loss of a well- used facility and would only achieve a very small saving.

·       Both buildings were small. 

·       Local people had not been listened to and other options had not been explored. 

·       Last year, the library had 27000 users and the centre had 24000 users; however if the number of users decreased, the Council would lose income. It would not be possible for example to have a keep fit class next to a room where children were doing their homework.

·       A petition had been raised against the decision which now had 4000 signatures.

·       There were alternative options; for example to re–model the library so that the centre and library were on one site. The centre could then be sold, thereby raising £125k. Additional funding would still be needed, but the Council had recently committed £400K for works to the Pork Pie Library. Other options included a Community Asset Transfer or using £14k from another budget to keep the library open.

Councillor Willmott concluded by asking the Committee to review the decision.

The Chair invited local residents Jo Popat and Dixit Chauhan to address the Committee and points raised included the following:

·       The community felt very strongly about the decision concerning the library and the Recreation Centre.

·       People did not feel the consultation had been adequate or sufficiently robust and they felt they had not been consulted on the impact. People did not understand what options were available.

·       People believed that the decision had already been made regardless of the outcome of the consultation.

·       The benefits would be outweighed by the negative impact.

·       The users of the Recreation Centre included the elderly, the vulnerable and the disabled; they were unable to defend themselves.  The Government stated that there should be a focus on mental health, so services such as these should not be closed.

·       The saving of just £5k was ludicrous.

·       The facilities represented the heart of the community.

Councillor Kirk Master, Assistant City Mayor for Neighbourhood Services then responded to the concerns expressed; his points included the following:

·       He had met with some of the campaigners earlier that afternoon and heard concerns that residents had not been part of the consultation. However dates of meetings and focus groups had been produced which demonstrated extensive consultation had taken place. The consultation process had commenced on 6 June 2016.

·       The group had said that some people didn’t understand the consultation process; however interpreters had been provided and information was given out in different languages.

·       The library and the Recreation Centre were only 50 yards apart from each other. The centre could not be moved into the library.

·       There would be capital investment in the Recreation Centre.

·       Officers had spoken to user groups about the possibility of a Community Asset Transfer. It had been explained that it would need to be an open process in which any group could apply; the view received was that the Council should retain control.

The Chair then opened the discussion to Members of the Committee.

Councillor Porter sought clarity on the targeted savings of the TNS North East programme and the savings already achieved.  He expressed a concern that this seemed a drastic measure if the cost of keeping the library open was just £14k. Councillor Porter questioned whether the talk of moving the library to the centre was part of a political game, where in the end, the Council would announce that the library would remain open after all and gain credit for doing so. Councillor Porter also referred to the Labour manifesto in which, he said, there was a promise not to close community centres.

The Assistant City Mayor responded that the ethos behind the TNS programme was to maintain services and this was not part of a political game. The decision had been made in December 2016, but the programme and consultation was about democracy and providing an opportunity for people to put their case forward. The savings of £14k may seem modest, but significant savings were made when that modest sum was multiplied by a number of buildings in the City.

Councillor Grant asked the Assistant City Mayor to clarify the total savings and also asked how this compared to the move of the Aylestone Library to the Aylestone Leisure Centre. He said that he had not supported the move at the time but understood that it had been very successful and usage had subsequently increased.

The Assistant City Mayor responded that the savings would be just under £15k per annum for the running costs of the building. He said that it was difficult to compare like for like, but in Aylestone and elsewhere the programme had worked very well and there was learning from those experiences which had been applied in Rushey Mead.

Councillor Dempster commented that the programme was about doing things differently and about protecting services by reducing the number of buildings. Elsewhere, Councils were closing services as well as buildings, but in Leicester, services were being retained. Councillor Dempster questioned what other actions could be taken by the Council when its budget had been cut by 40%.  However, the process of amalgamating buildings needed to be done well to give the best service for the users.  The service users should not be given false hope about something that was not sustainable.

Councillor Cutkelvin stated that she was Chair of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission which had the relevant portfolio for the TNS programme. Consultations on the programme had started in 2013 and the programme was being rolled out slowly across the City to allow residents to be involved. The decision had been made, considered by the Executive and the Scrutiny Commission; the situation was stressful for residents and she therefore felt reluctant to debate further.

Councillor Cutkelvin moved that the call-in be withdrawn. This was seconded by Councillor Dempster.

Councillor Dr Moore questioned whether there were any plans of the re-modelling of the Recreation Centre which might be reassuring to residents. The Assistant City Mayor responded that those plans were part of the next phase. Ward Councillors would be involved in that process and the library would remain open until improvements to the Recreation Centre were made.

The Chair invited Members to vote on the motion to withdraw the call-in, and upon being put to the vote, the motion to withdraw was CARRIED.

The Chair asked the Assistant City Mayor to continue to engage and give support to the local community.

RESOLVED:

that the call-in relating to the Executive Decision: Transforming Neighbourhood Services, North East Area be withdrawn.