Agenda and minutes

·         Oadby Traders Chair – Epic Accessories

·         Police Representative

·         Councillor Jeffrey Kaufman

·         Councillor Lily Kaufman

·         Councillor Dean Gamble

·         Councillor David Carter

Apologies were received from the Police for non-attendance.

The previous minutes were passed as a true record.

Add the word “street” to the fifth sentence on page 1. It then will read, The Council helped with petitioning to get the “street” lights switched on until January 2018.

There is currently no agreement date for switching off the lights. Previously the lights were turned off by twelve midnight.

Further information can be found on the Council’s website regarding the Draft Articles and Terms of Reference for the Residents’ Forums (Report to Full Council on 22 February 2018) by clicking on the link.

The Council`s recently recruited Head of Law& Governance/Monitoring Officer provided the briefing on this item. He explained the background to the drafting of the attached documents, which came out of the Council`s grant making review, noting the need to make grant funding more robust and accountable and the structural revision of the Council’s resident forums terms of reference.

·         Two papers, Appendix 1 titled Part 1 and appendix 2; Draft Terms of Reference were attached to the circulated agenda papers. The papers are on the Council website. They will be discussed at the three forums.

·         The Forums are not constituted bodies and should not have a scheme of delegation. They have no power to make delegated decisions. Grants are endorsed by Policy Finance and Development (PFD) Committee.

·         The Council has endorsed the revised draft terms of reference. Draft term 3.1 was amended by the Council last week.

·         The Head of Law& Governance/Monitoring Officer added there was nothing to stop the three forums from having a joint meeting on a borough – wide issue. The Community and Engagement Officer would be requested to facilitate this.

·         It was clarified that: Elected Members have a right to attend any meeting.

·         The Chair is elected annually by the Council. It was further confirmed that the Chair would be a Councillor from the respective areas of Oadby.

·         It was emphasised that; Members come to the Forums to: listen and take back people’s views, before decisions are made.

·         Oadby Forum was encouraged to allow businesses to be members, particularly as they have resources which could help an area.

·         Residents were encouraged to send any comments or suggestion for amendments to the Community Engagement Officer, who would pass them on to the Head of Law& Governance/Monitoring Officer.

Action:

The Head of Law& Governance/Monitoring Officer agreed to raise the point made about membership so it could include “being your forum or your area”. The Forums are seen by the Council as channels for distributing information, consultation and engagement.

Action:

Out of the Forum discussion on the draft terms of reference:  in relation to who could vote on matters, it was agreed that this should be amended to state, “membership of the Oadby Forum should primarily be residents of Oadby”. This would prevent possible external interference in Oadby Forum matters and voting by external people which might influence the outcome on majority decisions, which impact on Oadby.

Action:

The Head of Law& Governance/Monitoring Officer will add a line into the draft terms of reference to state;” Elected Members will not have the power of a vote”.

·         The Head of Law & Governance/Monitoring Officer added there was nothing to stop the three forums from having a joint meeting on a borough – wide issue. The Community and Engagement Officer would be requested to facilitate this.

·         It was clarified that: Elected Members have a right to attend any meeting.

·         The Chair is elected annually by the Council. It was further confirmed that the Chair would be a Councillor from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Further information can be found on the Council’s website regarding the new Garden Waste Service by clicking on the link.

A verbal update was provided on this point by, Martin Hone, the Interim Head of Services.

·         The Officer provided the background as to why the charging was introduced.

·         The Council has decided to charge £35.00 a year for green waste. This is because funding is being reduced from Central Government on a yearly basis. This requires the Council to find additional revenue.

In order to generate additional income the Council consulted the residents about their views on the following:

·           Charging for car parking

·           Charging for bin collections

·           Charging for collection of the recyclettes

·           Charging for collection of garden waste

·           Public conveniences  and

·           Selling off Brockshill Centre

·           The result of consultation showed that residents prefer to pay for the collection of garden waste.

·           The Council looked at what the other Leicestershire local authorities are doing and noted the average charge was £35.00

·           From April 1^st the garden waste will be collected 12 months a year fortnightly.

·           The new bins will have stickers to show the people who have joined the scheme.

·           The monies for generating garden waste will be substantial. Income from garden waste could reach £500.000 annually. This would mean not making a charge for services such as parking.

·           The average charge by Leicestershire authorities for collecting garden waste is £35.00 per household. This influenced the Council`s charging strategy. There has been a good level of consultation on this issue in the Borough.

·           On the question raised about helping with payment hardship, the Council is looking at introducing a hardship support scheme.

·           It was confirmed that garden waste will be collected from 1^st April 2018.The cost will be £35.00 yearly.

·           Starting April 1^st April the Garden Waste will be collected throughout the year fortnightly.

·           Currently 4,550 households have signed up for this service.

·           A sticker placed on a bin will show who has paid for this service.

·           The Tips owned by the County Council will remain open.

Recyclables

·         The Council use to sell our recyclettes but the company who bought them has gone out of business .This is a loss of £700,000 to £899,000.

·         The Council was instructed by the County Council to take our recyclettes to CasePak.

·         The collections will be made on a fortnightly basis.

·         Collection will be made in a single clear plastic sack.

·         No contaminated waste will be taken.

·         A leaflet will state what can and cannot be taken and a sticker placed on the sack as to why it has not been taken, if it is contaminated.

·         General concern was expressed as to broken glass being placed in the sacs, which residents were informed are extremely strong.

·          A review will take place on the method of collection. Feedback will be received by the Council in June 2018.

·         A resident requested white bags are not placed in the gardens where snow fall might cover them.

·         From April 1^st coloured bags can either be kept or returned to Customer Services, on Bell Street.

General Domestic Waste

·         Bin collection for general domestic waste  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Further information can be found on the Council’s website regarding the Medium Term Financial Strategy (Report to Full Council on 22 February 2018) by clicking on the link.

The following points flowed from discussion and questions received on; Budget Implications covering the period 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.

·           By 2020 the Central Government grant to Councils will cease. The Council has therefore had to find other ways of generating income.

·           The Council has tried to make significant cuts without affecting services. It is moving to Chanel shifting. This means the reduction of staff, reduced by the number of residents going online. The future will see fewer but better trained staff. The (SLM), Service Leisure Management is managing Brockshill and the investment in Parklands lease facility is an example of this.

·           Brockshill car park is being expanded to cater for 150 spaces.

·           The biggest portion of the grant received from Government goes to the County Council to pay for: education, social services, highways the Police and Fire Services.

·           On a question re the discrepancy in house sizes and Council Tax bands, it was clarified that Central Government set the bands and in this Borough the maximum payment double Band D is charged.

·           It was clarified that changes were to be introduced on the setting of bands for Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO). A number of such houses will be paying a licence fee of £900 per property.

·         Some residents expressed confusion as to the meaning of the figures coloured red and orange.

·         Anyone wishing to comment on the paper was directed to contact: enviromental.health@oadby-wigston,gov.uk

·         The SLM representative, James Naylor provided an update briefing with a poster to the meeting. The paper included key points on current and future developments to Parklands and Brocks Hill.

·         SLM have taken on the costs of employment. The Council staff has been taken on under (Transfer of Undertakings) TUPE guidelines.

·         Four hundred children used the climbing facility. The facility opens from 9.30 am till 6pm for soft play 7 days a week.

·          It was noted that some complaints about pricing were received. Concessions to the over 60`s, grandchildren and other groups will be clarified. All complaints re services must be reported to SLM.

Action:

SLM will clarify membership rates for the over 60`s and provide clarity on card membership pricing.

The Pride of the Borough representative delivered a verbal update.

The Oadby Traders Group sent information to share with residents as follows:

·         A motor fest event will take place on August 12^th 2018.

·         Discussions are taking place in the community to find a better solution to updating the winter festive lighting.

Request for Additional Money for Siting the Bench at Florence Wragg Way

Following discussion at the Forum, where there was some confusion as to how much funding was being requested for endorsing siting of the bench; it is to be noted previous minutes of July 27th  2017, recorded the original application for funding  was awarded the sum of £875.00.subsequently the cost of refurbishment had been met. This left a revised cost of £590.

The meeting of September 20th 2017, recorded that the Forum had agreed to refurbish an old bench, the cost of this being £150. Discussions had taken place with the Council Officer responsible for street furniture on this matter.

These requests were agreed, without abstention or objection by residents and taken to Finance. Under a moratorium, sustained by Finance this proposal was not taken forward to the PFD (Policy, Finance, and Development) Committee to be endorsed.

Action:

A request to approve the £435.00 of additional funding is to be taken to PFD in April.

The Oadby Residents Forum currently has a budget of £46,547.

Litter Bin Request for Fairfield Road

Following discussion as to where the litter bin should be placed; it was agreed that: the bin be placed between Sainsbury Store and Fairfield Road. The cost of a bin is £400.An alternative suggestion was made that the bin inside of Fludes Lane might be moved to the main road, where rubbish that might be dropped by those going to Fairfield Road might deposit it.

Action:

Check if the bin can be moved towards the main road.

Siting of the Sandhurst School Commemorative Stones.

·         It was agreed to award £1000 to the interpretation panel design and siting of the Sandhurst Street Commemorative Stones.

Oadby Community Response Group Application to Fund a Community Leaflet

Oadby Community Response Group Application to fund a community leaflet.

An application was brought to the Forum by the Oadby Community Response Group for funds to produce a community leaflet.

The leaflet will be an A4 threefold (dl) size four colour document. This will be delivered to every home in Oadby, in English, with simple text which will include helpline phone numbers and other useful information. It will be a leaflet on hand to help local people know what to do in an emergency. It is to be placed on the web.

The request was put to the vote. The residents voted overwhelmingly to fund the leaflet cost. The funding awarded was £1,574.88

Strategic Growth Plan for Leicester and Leicestershire 2018 to 2050.

·         Residents were informed that the Strategic Growth Plan for Leicester and Leicestershire is out for consultation. During the course of the consultation period (11 January – 5 April 2018) the organisations that have prepared the Draft Plan will be holding a number of consultation events.

·         A consultation event, open to residents is to take place on Wednesday 21^st March 2018 at 7pm. The venue is: Oadby and Wigston Council Office, Station Road, LE18 2DR.

·         The Growth Plan covers the Express area and the link to the M1. A resident stated, the Growth Plan will mean the doubling of housing.

Future Agenda Items

·         The Oadby Old Swimming Pool Site

·         Parklands usage and savings achieved

·         Phoenix Therapy Service Update

To be confirmed.