Agenda and minutes

Neighbourhood Inspector Cawley introduced himself to Residents.

He explained that crime overall was decreasing in the area and that there were few shop break-ins along Blaby Road, South Wigston.

A series of leaflets were placed on seats for residents to take away if they wished. The leaflets concerned the following: the South Wigston Police Team, Speed Watch Scheme and dog fouling. Dog fouling was still considered a prime issue in the area.

Residents had no questions to ask the Police.

The Police provided the crime statistics, as follows:

The amended minutes of September 2016 were agreed as an accurate record by those residents who attended that meeting.

Residents circulated a copy of proposed amendments to item 24a and 25 of the November South Wigston Forum Draft Minutes.  It was stated significant parts of residents’ comments and questions were inaccurate or incomplete in the Council draft minutes.   All residents were given the opportunity to read the amendments.

In considering the proposed amendments , the Chair stated that it is necessary to consider the local authority good practice guide (Knowles on Local Authority Meetings) on minute-taking as follows:-

• there is no right or wrong way to prepare minutes
• they should be brief , concise and decisive;
• grasp the collective sense of the meeting ;and
• that a minute is not and never should be a verbatim record but a summary of the proceedings that includes only the essence of the discussion together with the decision and a sense of the reasons for coming to that decision.

A resident stated that the amendment to section 24a changed little and contained nothing controversial: the top of the first page said why the amendments were made and a quick vote would be fine. 

Another resident clarified that very few changes had been made to the Council draft wording – the only changes had been highlighted in yellow.  The main changes were to correct inaccuracies and omissions in the record of residents’ comments and questions. 

The chair proposed reading the amendments line by line. 

A resident stated that there was no need for this as the amendments had already been agreed by residents who spoke at the November Forum, and been sent to the Councillors two days before this meeting.   She proposed the motion that those who attended the November meeting vote if they wanted the amendments to the draft November minutes to go through in full.  One resident seconded the motion, and another resident said she wished to ‘third’ it.

 The Chair put incorporating the amendments to a vote.  On a show of hands, 8 people were in favour of having the residents’ amendments incorporated into the original draft minutes. There were no votes against and no abstentions. ?The motion was carried.

Councillor Bob Fahey (Conservative), Martin Hone and Samuel Ball, (the latter two employed by Oadby and Wigston Borough Council), introduced themselves to the Residents Forum.

Residents circulated a document titled “Changing the Forum” to all present.  It contained 15 points for change to the Forum.  It was stated that this paper was a further update of a paper that had been brought to the previous Forum meeting by a number of residents.

• The Chair explained the background to this meeting agenda, referring to past meeting discussions and emphasised that although it was agreed to have a single item agenda meeting; at her discretion the Refuse and Recycling Consultation agenda item was an issue she was duty bound to share with Residents. This was an issue requiring Residents input and was likely for the future to have a big impact on the service to Residents and the Council`s revenue.

• The Resident Forum Terms of Reference was shared with Residents. The terms of reference are exactly the same as those for Oadby and Wigston Resident Forums. Councillor Fahey stated he felt happy with the Resident Forum he attends and was merely an observer at this meeting.

• At this point a Resident asked to be excused from the meeting. He expressed the view that the room layout, even though he was wearing a hearing aid made it impossible for him to hear clearly what was being said.

• The Chair went through the paper previously handed out to Residents point by point.

• The Resident suggested the Forum agenda should be set at a pre briefing meeting with an agreed group of residents, maybe 3 residents with maybe a fourth one to observe. One could then step down then another step up in their place the next time to put the agenda together.

• The Leader of the Council stated the Council would not consider such a pre-briefing agenda setting group as all three forums are governed by the same set of rules.

• The Resident stated this would be a way of avoiding adhoc meeting agendas and a way to discuss issues of real and substantive importance.

• The Chair confirmed there is a format in place noted at agenda item 10 for, all residents to bring issues for future meetings to the Chair.

• Councillor Boyce commented he had no opposition to points 3, 4, and 5.

• The Resident stated too many presentations are brought to the meeting, Councillor Morris needs to listen to residents and items are not allowed to be discussed and what residents want to say is not always listened to. The Chair agreed that in the future there would be fewer presentations.

• The Chair noted four presentations had been turned down but a leaflet had been allowed to be placed on chairs in the room so residents would be kept informed.

• The Chair added everything that is discussed in the Forum will be taken back and discussed with officers to find constructive ways forward.

• At this point two residents walked out of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Councillor Bill Boulter spoke to this agenda item.

Key points to note are as follows:

The Residents attention was drawn to the circulated Refuse and Recycling consultation forms.

The County Council are responsible for disposing of waste, and the borough / district council are responsible for collecting it. The County Council has the final say on what Districts do with it and where it goes. Oadby & Wigston currently take all recycling back to our depot for sorting ready to sell on the open market: this brings in £200,000/£250,000 per year. On top of that the County Council pay districts for every ton of waste that is diverted from landfill: this is because the County has to pay for waste going to landfill at a current rate of £84 per ton. These recycling credits are worth about £170,000 per year to Oadby & Wigston. We used to get a further £80,000 for recycling garden waste this was cut by County Hall last year. The County Council is to set up a new recycling centre somewhere in the county, and all districts will be told to take their refuse and recycling to that. Future profits from the sale of recyclables will now go to the County Council. This decision by the Conservatives takes almost £500,000 out of Oadby & Wigston’ s £6,000,000 budget and will make our current refuse and recycling operation untenable.

• By 2020 there will be no Government grant coming to this Authority.

• The budget will need to be cut by £700k by 2020.

• The budget cut is set at £700,000 this year; to continue with refuse and recycling change means finding a saving of £700,000. There will be cuts to frontline services.

• The consultation paper has been circulated to all households in the Borough via Letterbox magazine. A postcode must be included on the consultation form to be valid. A further consultation will follow in the summer.

• The vehicle fleet will also need to be replaced. This Borough has a 46% recycling rate and placing all recyclables in one container as some authorities are considering would not give good value, because of contamination.

• Residents are requested to guide the Council on this decision making process. This may lead to Oadby Depot closing.

• Recycling maybe contracted out of the County.

• Residents were requested to complete the form and give it to Samuel Ball tonight or send the form off to Customer Services at Bell Street.

• A Resident questioned what the cost would be if black wheelie bins were introduced. As yet this cost is not known.

• Residents with large gardens were assured they would not be penalised as this is an authority for collecting not disposing of waste.

• A Resident wanted to know why County Council were allowed to tell this Borough how to collect and deal with the disposal of .This was because the County Council is the authority with responsibility for this work. They issue the licence for all Borough Councils to collect and dispose of recyclables and waste. County  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

New Prison to be Built At Glen Parva

The Chair requested Councillor Boulter (in his capacity as County Councillor update residents on this matter.

Points of the update were noted as follows:

• A new prison is to be built on the same site on Tigers Road.

• A planning application was received by Oadby and Wigston Council and Blaby Council as consultees. The prison entrance runs through part of South Wigston.

• The consultation will be considered in April and May. Oadby and Wigston will then determine after Blaby.

• If Residents write into express a view, the view will only be accepted as a consultee response if it contains the word, “Object”. The planning application is big and is on Crown land.

• Residents must note buildings on the site can be moved around anywhere, in relation to what it is “overlooking”.

• A public meeting has already been held at Fairfield School. Another public meeting is to be held when we know which meeting the application will be heard. Residents were encouraged to attend it. The consultation will be about the entrance not the whole building.

• If there is enough time before the election Councillor Boulter is happy to another meeting. No meeting can be called if it is requested before Polling Day. Councillor John Boyce and Councillor Richard Morris can. This depends on when the Blaby meeting is held. Residents were advised it was sensible to go for a meeting once Blaby Council `s report comes out.

• A Resident commented on the state of the Glen Parva prison fence, its inadequacy, prisoners scaling the fence being verbally abusive, displaying threatening behaviour to residents and escapees from the Jail.

• Police have explained to the Resident the process for posting an alert when prisoners escape and the role of the 24/7 Police.

• As a Borough Councillors, Councillors Boulter and Richard Morris are bound by Planning Regulations so are unable to make any comment. At the planning meeting they will address all the evidence before making a decision.

Items to be Raised for the Next Forum Meeting Agenda

• Changing the Forum
•  Waste

Oadby and Wigston Change Management Programme

A resident read out a prepared statement:

“At the November forum meeting the Chair stated she is open to putting information about the Change Management training on the next Forum agenda. We asked about this last week and to quote Samuel Ball`s reply.

“An update in respect of the Change Management Programme shall feature as part of the Agenda item at the Forum`s meeting entitled “Chair`s Updates”.

The Chair`s Update is in front of us, but it has nothing about the Change Management Programme.

The Programme was set up to oversee improvements in how the Council works. A report by Mr Penn, from the Local Government Association, identified issues including communication, decision making processes, management structures, culture and staff development. He said an action plan for improvement was required with a framework for cultural change and how improvement should be monitored and evaluated.

The 2015 Local Government Transparency Code requires Councils to be open about decision making, and issues important to local people. So these are the two questions;

Why have residents` requests for information on the Change Management Programme not been answered as promised?And when will this information be provided to the Forum?

The Chair asked Mr Hone to present his Change Management update to the Forum

He explained that The Terms of Reference for the Council’s Change Management Committee included:

·         To provide oversight and scrutiny of any major change management projects being carried out within the organisation;

·         To provide oversight and scrutiny of any major staffing related issues that could affect the outcomes delivered by the Council; and

·         To make any consequent recommendations arising out of the above to the appropriate committee of the Council or to the Council.

He said that the workload of the Committee over the past year had focused on delivering the recommendations of the Penn Report – and that there were two recommendations: (i) A short-term action plan on immediate improvements. All the agreed actions have now taken place; and  (ii) A longer term plan dealing with governance, etc. which the Council was working through with the Local Government Association (LGA) at the moment. It was said that the LGA were carrying out their on-site review later this month.

Other work of Change Management Committee over the past year was said to  include:

·         Plans for service transformation

·         Recruitment and use of agency staff

·         Improving business and project planning

·         Performance management

·         The Council’s four year efficiency plan

·         Asset management

Items for next month’s meeting of CMC was said to include a report on the outcome of the public consultation on waste and a presentation by Investors In People on their assessment of the Council which was carried out last November.

Chair Update on Grievance

It was said that there was no update to give due to there being nothing new to report from the previous meeting. It was said that ongoing grievance and investigation at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council is still in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

The date of the next meeting will be circulated following the endorsement of the Council Schedule of meetings for 2017 to 2018. It is likely the next meeting date may be in late June 2017.