Agenda and draft minutes

Cllr B Boulter & R Levy welcomed attendees to this meeting. Ways of promoting this meeting included visiting local businesses, holding community pop ups to talk with local people, email newsletters and contacting key stakeholders.

Apologies were received from Cllr J Boyce.

Cllr Boulter confirmed that the café and toilets at Brocks Hill Country Park Visitors Centre is now closed as works take place on the Visitors Centre to transform it to the Council’s new offices. Visitors can use the

Cllr Boulter informed the Forum that Oadby and Wigston Borough Council was exploring the possibility of a circle of, or a line of trees at Blaby Road Park to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.

Cllr Boulter reminded the Forum that parking charges had to be installed across the Borough as Council’s face increased pressure to self-fund their operations.

Cllr Boulter confirmed that an air quality monitoring box had been installed on Blaby Road and that, at present, air quality does not exceed the legal limit.

The Police were not in attendance at this meeting. The Anti-Social Behaviour Officer for the Council, T Maccabe was in attendance. T Maccabe said that he was aware of ongoing issues at William Gunning Park, and that the Police had been taking a lead on such issues at the park- including those involving younger people, but not all young people from the estate.

T Maccabe said he had not received any reports of drug usage on William Gunning Park which resulted in the importance of residents providing reports to the Council and Police wherever possible.

Residents stressed the seriousness of anti-social behaviour at the Park. One resident described how her fence near the park had been pushed in and one resident said that their property had been egged.

It was stressed that it was not all young people from the Fairfield estate participating in such activities.

Cllr Boulter asked T Maccabe whether it was possible to include the Leicestershire County Council IMPACT team in any intervention. T Maccabe said that a referral had already been made to the team.

Cllr Boulter also informed the Forum that he was meeting with the Police and Crime Commissioner and assured residents that he would endeavour for issues around William Gunning Park, including drug usage, to be tackled.

Action: Cllr Boulter to feed back to the Forum on his meeting with the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Residents were concerned about the length of time it would take for action to take place, and that issues would be ongoing unless urgent action could be taken.

Action: Residents encouraged to report issues to the Council/Police at earliest point as so to provide audit trail of current situation. This pertains to William Gunning Park and any further concerns across South Wigston.

Phillipa Fisher, Strategic Director at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, was unable to attend the meeting. In her absence, it was explained by R Levy that the Pandemic has brought great challenges and opportunities for local government, and how the Local Government Association visited OWBC to do a Peer Review. This featured interviews and focus groups with Councillors, Officers and community members. The result of this has been the Vision, which P Fisher presented and introduced is currently in a consultation phase.

A visual and feedback on the Council’s vision can be given via the following webpage up until 31^st August: https://www.oadby-wigston.gov.uk/pages/our_vision This is before it will be discussed at a Full Council meeting on 27^th September.

A short presentation was then delivered by Ben Clark-Monks & B Rakaar with regards to a new Energy Efficiency Funding Scheme. This is a scheme which is targeted to households which have a collective income of under £30,000 per annum. Free energy efficient measures are available to those who apply to the scheme, for instance solar panels and cavity wall insulation. More information can be found here: https://www.oadby-wigston.gov.uk/pages/energy_efficiency_funding_scheme#:~:text=Oadby%20%26%20Wigston%20Borough%20Council%20is,and%20their%20property%20is%20suitable. This initiative is all part of plans to achieve Net Zero by 2030 and to bring the average Energy Performance Certificate of properties to a C.

With regards to this scheme, a question from a resident inquired as to why a firm from Warrington had been given business to which B Clark-Monks established was not the case. All work on this project would be done to the highest standard and ensure properties could be more energy efficient, thus saving residents money.

Cllr Boulter informed residents of plans to extend further HMP Fosse Way by two blocks. This will facilitate 250 more prisoners. It was said that this will be the last extension “for the next ten years”. HMP Fosse Way is in Blaby, and Tigers Road is the way that it will be accessed.

Following this, it was asked what category the prison would be, to which it was answered it would be Category C.

Concerns were raised about HMP Fosse Way regarding behaviour of those on day release, and traffic issues because the prison would only be accessed by Tigers Road.

A short presentation was then offered by S Payne and S Monkman from Canal & River Trust and Paddle Plus respectively. Collectively, they were seeking £2,500 from the South Wigston Residents’ Forum budget to support their work at Kilby Bridge, where they hope to establish a Wellbeing Hub. The Canal and River Trust already run a programme from Kilby Bridge and further research shows how such programmes can reduce demand on NHS services. This is because the waterways programmes facilitate physical activity and social interaction and this can reduce physical and mental health issues.

A question from the public pertained to the consideration of those engaging in watersports along the canal towards anglers. The resident asked for assurance that etiquette along the waterways would be promoted to ensure that anglers were not impacted by increased watersports.

Returning to the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council update came from J Bhatha and an individual from Leicestershire County Council about recycling and waste disposal. Oadby and Wigston has a recycling rate of 44.7%; the Borough Council collects all waste and LCC disposes of it. Casepak is where recycling is filtered. It was noted that the number one contaminate of recycling was nappies. More information on recycling can be found: www.lesswaste.org.uk

Residents contributed to the discussion on recycling by saying that Tesco South Wigston take used coat hangers and cosmetic items and B&Q take old lightbulbs. Ryman’s also collects old pens. 

Residents were reminded to always check that their local recycling centre is open before travelling, as staff issues, in particular during COVID-19, has made for enforced closures.

One resident asked about bins that were not placed back outside one’s property by Bin Collectors and for this to be fed back.

Action: J Bhatha to feed back to Bin Collectors to ensure that bins are placed back to where they are found.

Cllr Boulter informed the Forum about the Midland Mainline electrification currently taking place between Wigston and Market Harborough- as part of the electrification of the route between Leicester and London St Pancras. The process will be a long one and a video describing it can be found here: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/east-midlands/midland-main-line-upgrade/ The end product will be allowing for 6 trains per hour to go to London. There is a 24 hour helpline for anyone impacted or concerned by the works with the telephone number being: 03457 114141.

A short presentation was offered to promote the work of Pride of the Borough who, amongst a range of green space maintenance activities across the Borough, look after selected planters in the Borough. Volunteers are always needed to help with this, in addition to work mornings which take place on the third Saturday of every month. More information can be found: https://potb.org.uk/ Specific funding is available for South Wigston to contribute to the environment of the surrounding area.

A short presentation was M Walters, from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service. M Walters and his team have been working with partners, such as the Council and Police to improve education regarding fire safety- in particular amongst younger generation. Locally, M Walters identified that there had been a rise of fires during the Summer, but this was to be anticipated due to hotter weather. Education remains of paramount importance.

Residents drew concerns to off-licenses in South Wigston selling alcohol to underage individuals. To this, B Clark-Monks established that the Council has a robust Enforcement Officer who is able to attend to such issues when reported to the Council.

A representative from Wigston Civic Society introduced the Forum to a talk is taking place at this location on Thursday 27^th September (at 19.15pm) on Buildings and Architecture in Leicester from Roman Times to the Present; tickets are £5.00 and more information, residents can visit: http://www.wigstoncivicsociety.org.uk/ or email bookings@wigstoncivilsociety.org.uk This is taking place at Memphys Hub, which is also where the Greater Wigston Historical Society now have their meetings.

One resident remarked upon the poor quality of the play equipment at William Gunning Park. Cllr Boulter informed the Forum that there is a rolling programme of maintenance of park equipment to deal with issues of the play equipment. If there was to be further housing development near the park, money for that development could also be spent on improving the park. It was noted that outdoor gym equipment is available at Willow Park, should there be anyone interested in using this. All equipment across all parks is checked on a weekly basis.

One resident asked about the lack of cycle lanes and footpaths for those travelling to local schools. Cllr Boulter informed that the construction and maintenance of such paths would be Leicestershire County Council.

Many residents of the Forum agreed that speeding on Gloucester Crescent and Dorset Avenue was dangerous and problematic. Many residents were angered by the persistence of this issue. Cllr Boulter said that speed monitoring equipment had been requested from Leicestershire County Council, using his personal budget. Residents were concerned that action needed to be taken to further deter speeding motorists.

Action: Cllr Boulter to ask Leicestershire County Council for more support to deter speeding motorists, in particular on Gloucester Crescent and Dorset Avenue.

Update: Action completed and Leicestershire County Council to open investigation- yet no guarantee of any subsequent speed deterrent measures.

Residents also asked about speeding and poor quality of footpaths on Norfolk Road in Wigston.

Action:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Tuesday 8^th November 2022- 19.00- TBC