Agenda item

-           Presented by Members of the Public

-           Presented by Councillors

-           Petitions to be debated

            5.1  Rushey Mead Library and Neighbourhood Centre

PETITIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

Miss Vicky Roe to present a petition with 94 valid signatures in the following terms:-

“We request that Leicester City Council:

1.         strictly enforce their powers of regulation over landlords;

2.         insist that out of area owners/property developers list their main residence on any planning application submitted to the Council;

3.         seriously consider extending their powers of regulation over landlords, to the benefit of tenants and the increase of the Council's revenues.”

PETITIONS FROM COUNCILLORS

Councillor Thalukdar presented a petition with 1,464 signatures in the following terms:

            “Due to the recent funding cuts of £30,000 a year from Leicester City Council for Shama Women’s Centre and lack of other funds we will not be able to continue to provide our services to thousands of women from March 2017. We want the Council to reinstate our funding of £30,000 a year from 1 April 2017.”

Under Council Procedure Rule 13a the aforementioned petitions will be referred to the Monitoring Officer for consideration and action as appropriate. 

PETITIONS TO BE DEBATED

At the request of the Lord Mayor the Head of Law and the Deputy Monitoring Officer addressed Council and noted that under the terms of the Council’s Petitions Scheme each petitioner had been invited to speak on their petition for a maximum of five minutes. This would be followed by a debate on the issues raised by the petition for a maximum of 15 minutes.  Following the debate under the Constitution the Council could take the action the petition requests in so far as it has the power to do so; recommend a decision maker to not take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate; recommend that further investigation into the matter be commissioned or note the petition.  Attention was further drawn to the legal implications on page 2 of the report which referred to the executive decision which had been taken in relation to the Transforming Neighbourhoods Strategy.

A petition had been received from Ms Jo Popat which had been verified as having the required number of verified signatures to trigger a debate and had been submitted in the following terms.  The petition was presented by Ms Popat, Jayshri Solanki, Lily Paulson, Rikesh Gandesha and Dixit Chauhan.  Following a request from the petitioners the Lord Mayor allowed one further minute to finish the statement.

“We the undersigned petition the City Mayor, Peter Soulsby of Leicester City Council to ensure that both the Rushey Mead Library and the Rushey Mead Recreation Centre remain open and continue to provide services for all of the community of Rushey Mead. These two premises provide much needed essential space and services for local people. It is a lifeline for many people, including women, disabled people, single mothers, elderly people, young children and families.

There are no other Council Community facilities in the area and so we demand that there are no cuts to the provision and that both of the buildings remain open and continue the service provision.”

Moved by Councillor Master, seconded by the City Mayor and carried:

32.       That the petition be noted.

The meeting adjourned at 6.30pm and reconvened at 6.44pm.