- School Parking at The Yews / Harvard
Close
- This is a permanent problem with
double parking and obstructive parking. Residents state that they
have received verbal abuse from drivers when they have asked them
to move their vehicles. Cars are arriving from 1:45 onwards, with
some drivers working on laptops in their cars, waiting for their
children to leave school. Cllr. Gamble has contacted LCC to request
a 1 hour parking restriction at the
start and end of the school day; LCC have declined this request as
they do not have the resources to staff the restrictions that would
need to be put in place, and would likely move the parking issue
elsewhere. Cllr. Gamble will email LCC Highways regarding the
installation of bollards.
- On-Street Parking at London Road,
The Morwoods, Rosemead Drive, Sports
Lounge Area
- No resident present to raise the
issue.
- Grass Cutting / Overgrown Foliage
- The Council have been cutting grass
on land which is in fact not owned by them. If there were any
accidents as a result of this, the
Council would not be covered by insurance. The Council continue to
survey land in which grass is cut to establish owners. The Council
have contacted land owners and advised
that they will now need to arrange plans to cut the grass or to pay
the Council to do this on their behalf. Residents expressed
confusion over why the Council has previously maintained some land
that it doesn’t own but has now stopped. Cllr. Haq noted that
a lot of the land is still owned by property developers; most areas
the developers have paid the Council now to maintain the land. Some
areas where the developer has not agreed will see them issued with
an ‘untidy notice’ – this has a period of 4-6
weeks for action after which the Council could take action and place charges on the land for the
developers to cover. Land adjacent to the highways is maintained by
LCC who have missed large areas of the Borough in their maintenance
cycle; Councillors have complained to LCC regarding this and some actions have now been taken to rectify
overgrown areas. Residents also noted that some of the tree
trimming undertaken at the roadside leaves trees looking lopsided and at risk of
toppling.
- Former Oadby Swimming Pool Site
- Following a period of marketing, the
site of the former Oadby Swimming Pool is now under offer. In the
coming months, the Council will be consulting local
residents and the Oadby Bowling Club on how the proceeds of the
sale will be invested in Ellis Park to create a brand new Community Hub in order to maximise the
benefits to the local community. Residents enquired as to whether
any houses built on the site have a clause added to them that they
can only be owned / lived in by people with a connection to Oadby
itself.
Cllr. Kaufman noted
that the money brought in from the sale of the site is being
reinvested directly into Oadby, with residents to be consulted over
the building of a community centre in Oadby. The land was given in
good faith to the people of Oadby but there is no charitable trust
in charge of the land.
The timescale for
works will depend on the planning process being followed. Residents
raised concerns about the lack of youth facilities in the area and
hopes that the community centre will allow for this.
M Smith gave an
overview of how the government is investing in youth work
nationally and how this will hopefully impact provision in the
Borough.
Residents also
queried the capacity of schools for new housing developments; it
was noted that one of the Oadby schools is submitting a planning
application for a large expansion which will increase their
capacity. Cllr. Alam proposed that this application is brought to
the Forum for discussion with planning officers, and the Ellis Park
development. The Chair noted that every single penny from the sale
of the land at Ellis Park will be spent within Oadby for the
benefit of the community. Cllr. Haq noted that bringing the Ellis
Park application to the Forum would be unnecessary as the planning
committee meetings themselves are public.
There are concerns
that the development at Ellis Park will displace parked vehicles
from the site as there is no provision in the application for
parking.
Before the
application goes to the planning committee the public will be
consulted for comment on the application. There is no legal
provision for developers to provide a parking space for every flat
within the development. A resident stated that it was guaranteed to
this Forum that the parking spaces at the swimming pool will be
retained, and that this should be captured within previous minutes
of the Forum.
- Former Council offices Site
- The Council Offices remain under
offer. In the interim the Fire Service will be using the exterior
of the building for ladder training and, in the
near future, some training inside the building itself.
- 5G Football Pitch Application
- No update from the Planning
Inspectorate as yet.
- Speeding Vehicles and Footpath
Condition – Shady Lane
- Shady Lane is outside of the Borough
boundary – issues raised have been passed to Leicester City
Council for attention as the relevant authority.
- Walter Charles Centre
- The building is now sold subject to
contract but there are no further details as to what the
development of the site will be. The proceeds of sale will also be
used in Oadby.
- Gorse Lane Planning Application
- There were 40 objections received
for this application for a Children’s Home and it was
rejected by the Council. This has now gone to appeal under the
planning inspectorate in Bristol; residents have received letters
regarding this stating that they should be in contact by 5 August.
Residents have tried to access documents online that should be
publicly accessible, but they are not, and it has not been possible
to directly contact the planning team to highlight this issue.
There is a concern that given the early August deadline the lack of
access could stop residents from engaging effectively with the
planning inspectorate.
- Cycle Routes in Oadby
- A resident has raised the public
footpath that goes from Mere Lane to Newton Harcourt as the only
safe route to the canal and onwards to town that doesn’t
involve cycling on a main road. Some of the gates on this route are
difficult for cyclists to navigate. The County Council would be the
relevant authority for this and Cllr. Gamble will seek out the
relevant officer to raise this with.