Leicester City Council has set up Ward Committees to help bring Councillors and the people they represent closer together. Ward committees are intended to provide better solutions to local problems and improve services by influencing decision making and bringing it closer to the public.
Ward Committee meetings are for everyone living in the area, and are open to anyone to attend. The Ward Committee meeting is a forum for people to raise the issues that most concern them in their local community - and this can include concerns relating to crime, disorder, and community safety. Issues raised at the Ward Committee meetings are forwarded to the relevant partner agency to deal with.
Ward committee meetings are held around four times a year, normally in each ward, and normally in the evenings. Meetings are divided into two parts. One is an information session where police, housing, transport, local community groups and other agencies, including the Leicester Carers’ Federation and the City Warden, gives out information to – and, importantly, gets information from – the local community. The second part contains more formal issues, including police and housing office reports, and, this year, there has been a concentration on transport and traffic issues.
These could be comparatively local issues, but are all treated as important by staff and Councillors. Ward Councillors are at the meetings, along with a range of partners, including the police, who regularly update meetings on their local beat priorities.
Funding is available to local groups to deal with local issues such as graffiti, often in co-operation with the local Joint Action Groups (JAGs). But community-building events and organisations can also bid for funding.
There are 22 wards in the city – Abbey, Aylestone, Beauont Leys, Belgrave, Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields, Castle, Charnwood, Coleman, Evington, Eyres Monsell, Fosse, Freemen, Humberstone & Hamilton, Knighton, Latimer, New Parks, Rushey Mead, Spinney Hills, Stoneygate, Thurncourt, Westcotes and Western Park.
Find out more about Ward Committees and meetings which are running in your area.
For further information, contact Karen Shelton on Karen.shelton@leicester.gov.uk or 0116 229 8898.
The following map shows the wards covered by each of the different Ward Committees.
