Broxtowe Enews 11th June 2011

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dem group on Broxtowe Borough Council. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

Can I start by apologising that there was no edition last week. It’s rare that we don’t produce one but I’m afraid that time just got the better of me. I’ll try and cover all the important news for the past two weeks here. Today was the 10^th Hemlock Happening, and everyone involved deserves to be congratulated as it has been another fantastic event (even though my daughters cuddly toy did manage to end up very firmly in the jaws of a passing great dane!)

1. Keith Hanbury

Many people in Broxtowe will have known Keith, who was the county council’s youth worker for the area for many years. He had to retire on health grounds a couple of years ago, and I’m sorry to have to report that he passed away this week. I had the pleasure of meeting and working with him on many projects and he always struck me as someone who really did have the interests of local children and young people at heart. He will be sadly missed.

2. Chilwell Olympia Stake Park

I’m afraid that the condition of the skate park at Chilwell Olympia has now deteriorated so badly that the council have had to close it. The decision was only made on Friday so it is too early to say yet what the long terms plans will be for a replacement but I will report them when I know.

3. Right of Way Across Toton Sidings

Campaigners in Toton have been trying to get a right of way recognised across part of Toton Sidings. This is part of the campaign to oppose the actions of the land owner who chopped down the trees and closed of access to the site. After a year the County Council, who have responsibility for the decision, had still done nothing, but the Conservative administration did promise progress immediately after the Easter Holidays this year. Sadly we’re now in mid-June and there is still no news.

4. Erewash Valley Trail

The Erewash Valley Trail, which goes through Broxtowe and Erewash borough’s, was officially opened at the Hemlock Happening today. My colleague Stan Heptinstall, who deserves tremendous credit for the work he does on the Hemlock Happening, cut the ribbon and a group of cyclists started a ride round the whole trail. The trail takes in some of the most beautiful areas of the East Midlands and I would encourage people to walk all of part of it.

5. Safer Roads for Children

Children from Bramcote Primary School will join with others from across the country on Wednesday as part of a campaign calling on traffic to slow down to create safer roads for children. The march will also be at attempt to set a world record for the longest walking bus ever.

6. Awsworth Recycling Plant

A planning application has been submitted to build a compost recycling centre in the green belt close to Awsworth. This will be dealt with by the County Council as waste management is a county, rather than a borough, responsibility. The Borough Council will however be able to make representations on the matter.

7. A453 Report

The Government have told Anna Soubry MP that they will not publish the result of a public enquiry into dualling the A453 until after a decision has been made as to whether the road project is to go ahead. I am disappointed by this and, given that it was funded by public money and was a public enquiry, I think that the decision is wholly wrong.

8. Forcing Magistrates to Retire

Another issue that our MP has been involved in this week is the question of a compulsory retirement age for magistrates and judges. At the moment they are obliged to retire when they reach 70 years of age, and Anna has called for this to be lifted. In her speech in parliament she referred to long standing Kimberley Councillor Roy Plumb, who has recently been forced to retire as a magistrate because he is now 70, and she feels that people like him should be allowed to carry on further.

9. Attenborough Visitors Hide

The new path to a hide at Attenborough Nature Reserve, installed last autumn, has proved to be a great success. Figures just released show that more than 5,000 visitors have used it since it opened. This was paid for by Cemex, who donated nearly £5,000 for the work.

10. Broxtowe Women’s Network

Local business women are invited to the next meeting of the Broxtowe Womens Network on Monday evening from 5.30 – 8.30, at the Belfrey Hotel on Mellors Way. It costs £10 and the theme is time management. Details are available from the council on 0115 917 3446.

11. Dave Woods Forest Walk

I mentioned before that Stapleford poet Dave Wood was planning a walk around the ancient boundaries of Sherwood Forest. I’m very pleased to read that the Arts Council have now provided £10,000 lottery cash to help fund the project. The last time anyone walked this route was some 350 years ago, and Dave will be seeking to involve local schools and groups as far as possible.

12. House Prices

House prices in Nottinghamshire are continuing to fall, and the latest figures from the Halifax show that prices fell 4.2% in the last year here.

13. Police Swimming

Congratulations to the Notts Police women’s swimming team who won a national life-saving competition in Blackpool this week. It’s the first time in the competitions 56 year history that the Notts team have won.

14. Electric Car Charging

I was interested to read this week that the Belfrey Hotel will be one of the first in the country to install a charging port for electric cars. If this sort of new technology is to succeed then we need to ensure that the infrastructure is there for it, so I‘m delighted at this announcement.

15. Clayfields House

Residents and staff at Clayfields Secure Children’s Home have won the Best Creative Contribution Award from the Kids Count Charity at the House of Commons after they produced two murals at the centre.

16. Meet the police in Beeston

Residents in Beeston will be able to meet their local police officer on 26^th June. There will be a “patch walk” on Thyra Grove, Dagma Grove and Henry Road from 3 to 4pm and people will be able to raise any issues that they want to with the officers.

17. Mayors Coffee Morning

Stapleford Mayor Ray Darby will be hosting a charity coffee morning on Friday 24^th June from 10am to noon. Money raised will go to his charities, Rainbow Hospice and Stapleford Link Youth Café.

18. Pre-retirement Course

There will be a pre-retirement course for those getting towards the end of their working lives in Beeston between 27^th and 29^th June. Details are available from Linda Whitt on 0115 922 3824.

19. Fire Station Open Day

There will be an open day at Highfields Fire Station in Beeston between 11am and 3pm. There will be games for children and demonstrations by the fire service.

20. Delays to work in Kimberley

I’m afraid that the upgrade to power cables in Kimberley, which I reported on previously and which was brought about by my colleague Ken Rigby, has been delayed. There were difficulties in getting the cable installed and work will now begin on 20^th June for three weeks. This will mean that there are road closures during that period in the town, but hopefully everyone will see the benefit of the work thereafter.

21. MP’s Expense Claims

The latest figures for MP’s expenses have now been published. Anna Soubry claimed £4,146 for the first two months of 2011, whilst Gloria De Piero claimed £7,809 for the same period. The last time I reported on MP’s expenses claims it provoked a furious reaction from Miss De Piero, who claimed I was being selective with the figures, but I’m reporting them exactly as they were published.

22. Recycling targets

The city and county councils have published their new waste strategy, which includes increasing recycling targets from 50% to 70%. This will now go out to public consultation and I hope that the public will support this.

23. Wind Turbine Decision

The borough councils development control committee will meet on Wednesday 22^nd June to decide whether or not to grant planning permission for a wind turbine in Newthorpe, which would be 130 metres high in total. Both Greasley Parish Council and the County Council have objected to the application.

24. Stapleford Town Garden competition

Stapleford Town Council is inviting entrants from town residents for their annual town garden competition. Entry forms are available by ringing 0115 939 1818. Entries need to be in by 30^th June.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 30th May 2011

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dem group on the borough council.
Thank you to everyone for your comments following the election results. Many people have taken the time to express your appreciation for this newsletter, and I do hope to continue this in exactly the same way that it has appeared before. The new cabinet for the council will meet for the first time tomorrow, and we will get down to the business of running the council. Portfolios will be allocated to members of the cabinet, and we will then get down to concentrate on our new briefs. I’ll report on who has responsibility for what next week.

1. Toton Bus Service
Trent Barton have announced that they intend to scrap the Connect Service in Toton from 23rd July. Many local residents are opposed to this and have launched a petition to oppose the closure. Trent Barton say that they are scrapping the route as it is uneconomical, but the County Council hope to find a new provider to run the service.

2. Homeless Youngsters
Congratulations to five youngsters from the borough who have been presented with an award for their work telling school children about their experiences of being homeless. All five have been awarded the Broxtowe Partnership Young Peoples award for this year. They are Emma Beresford, Sadie Adams, Christine Richardson, Fraser McNally and Emma Waywell. Some of them have given up to 40 talks each about other young people.

3. Missed Bins
The borough council have now added a new facility to their website so that, if for any reason your black or green bins are not emptied when they should be, you can now report the matter 24 hours a day. The website is at www.broxtowe.gov.uk

4. Kimberley Brewery
The SOBS Group in Kimberley, which was set up to try and protect the buildings in the old Kimberley Brewery site, have now met the new owners of the brewery and have said that they are very encouraged by the meeting. Hopefully the development of the brewery will move forward fairly quickly from now on.

5. Awsworth Youth Club
Volunteers in Awsworth are hoping to reopen the village youth club, three years after it was closed down in a row with the parish council. A new council has been elected and the youth club management committee hope that this will lead to a more open approach to negotiations.

6. Blue Plaques
I got a couple of details wrong in the article about blue plaques last week. Apologies for that. The plan is for a dozen blue plaques in the first round, which are being installed on a rolling programme which started last summer. The plans are for plaques to commemorate TH Barton, Arthur Mee, Arthur Cossons (and also the 14th century Beeston village cross which he rescued), Sir John Borlase Warren, General Ireton and Thomas Humber. Others are planned to Bendigo, the prize fighter; Dr John Clifford the Baptist Union President; Francis Wilkinson of Anglo-Scotian Mills; Edward Joseph Lowe, a founder of the Meteorological Society; and the Manor House.

7. Young Farmer
Congratulations to budding farmer Megan Taylor from Brinsley, currently a student at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire. She has won first prize for the National Placement Award for student placement farmers.

8. Victim Support Golf Day
Nottinghamshire Victim Support are organising a charity golf day on 15th June at Beeston Fields Golf Club. Entry fees are £39 per player, and all profits will be used for the work of victim support in Nottinghamshire. Further information is available from Jeffrey.fewkes@victimsupport.org.uk.

9. A453 Widening
The County Council have made an offer to the Government to part fund the dualling of the A453. The County Council have put forward £20 million towards the total cost of the scheme, estimated at about £164 million. Although this road does not go through Broxtowe it will affect us, first because improving the road is very important to the future prosperity of the whole of Greater Nottingham, and second because traffic that currently chooses not to use the A453 uses the A52 through Broxtowe instead. Without the funding from the County this work cannot begin by at least 2015, so the move may bring this work forward by several years.

10. Attenborough Visitors Centre
The announcement was made on election day, so it may have slipped past some people, but Attenborough Visitors Centre has now celebrated it’s 20,000th school child as part of it’s education work. Children from Bramcote Hills School, including my older daughter who managed to get her back into shot, appeared on TV to mark the occasion. Coincidentally I have just been appointed to the management committee of the visitors centre as the new representative from the council.

11. Castle College
The Government has now officially approved the merger of Castle College and South Notts College to form one new college for Nottinghamshire, and it will begin operating under the name of South Nottingham College from September. Although the move secures the long term future of the colleges I remain very concerned about the possible reduction of courses or venues within the borough as a result of the move, and will press the council to be as active on this issue as possible.

12. Beeston Railway Station
As part of a wider series of green moves by Stagecoach, who own East Midlands Trains, new recycling facilities will be installed at Beeston Railway station this summer.

Thank you to everyone for your support for this newsletter. As ever any feedback is gratefully received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 21st May 2011

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dem group on Broxtowe Borough Council. I’m sorry that this edition is a little late in coming but immediately after concluding the negotiations over the future control of the council I flew to Portugal on business (managing to cause tremendous problems at home as I’d inadvertently put my wife’s door keys in my pocket as well!)
Portugal is a beautiful country but it shows exactly what happens if an economy collapses. There are weeds growing through the pavements, unfinished building projects (there was even a newly built hospital close to my villa standing completely empty and unopened) and everything about it says clearly that the money has run out. I may not agree with everything that the coalition is doing nor how they do it but the last few days have convinced me that tackling the deficit was absolutely vital for our country.

1. Council Elections
The final mix of councillors in the borough council election left us with 18 Conservatives (no change), 17 Labour (up 7) and 9 Lib-Dem (down 5)councillors. There are no independent councillors (down 2). This means that for the third election in a row Broxtowe has no one party in overall control. We have held discussions with both other parties and have agreed a partnership with Labour, which was confirmed by both parties at meetings on Tuesday night. As a result of this I will no longer be the leader of the council, that falls to Labour’s Milan Radulovic, but I will remain as the leader of the Lib-Dem group and will hold a portfolio on the cabinet.
I have read some wildly inaccurate reports of these negotiations, which is surprising given that those of us actually involved haven’t spoken to anyone about the details. Suffice to say that within the Lib-Dems no-one threatened to quit or throw a tantrum if we went one way or the other, and the reason that we spoke to the Tories first was because they invited us to first. (They had a meeting on the Saturday and as a result of that invited us to have a discussion, which we held on the Monday. Labour’s equivalent meeting wasn’t until the Monday evening and we met with them on the Tuesday.) Nor did we come with an impossible list of demands. We didn’t come with any demands, we listened to both parties and did ask for clarification and confirmation of certain items (such as making any agreement public) which we received.
I’d like to say a public thank you to my three colleagues who lost their seats and to our new candidates who didn’t get elected. Our disappointing performance was entirely due to the national picture and nothing to do with local effort or representation.

2. Bramcote Hills School
I’m delighted that the County Council have announced that Bramcote Hills school is to receive a very significant investment for repairs and rebuilding. This is badly needed as much of the school is currently unused. Serious problems were found in the buildings a few years ago and parts had to be demolished, and so this rebuild is badly needed. It is being funded for the most part by cash from the Government.

3. Eastwood North election
A footnote to the elections is that in Eastwood North the wrong candidate was declared the winner. Bob Charlesworth actually won the seat for the Liberal Democrats but inadvertently the results were transposed on the official forms and his wife Hazel was declared the winner instead! Everyone now accepts that a mistake was made but it does need a hearing at the High Court before the result can be corrected.

4. Avoiding Trips and Falls
The Broxtowe Partnership, the organisation that brings together the council, voluntary groups and other agencies in Broxtowe, has produced a leaflet for elderly residents of the borough to give advice on avoiding trips and accidents at home. These can be obtained from the council on 0115 917 7777.

5. Touchscreen Kiosks
Beeston Business Improvement District, which represents business interests in the town and promotes business development, has applied for planning permission to install two touch screen display booths in the town showing all the businesses and other activities in town.

6. Attenborough Nature Reserve
Staff at Attenborough Nature Reserve have reported problems in recent weeks with people playing bird sounds on their mobile phones, which are disturbing the real birds in the reserve. Please do not do this as it is causing real problems.

7. DH Lawrence Exhibition
A new art exhibition highlighting the work and life of DH Lawrence is now on at Durban House in Eastwood, until May 29th. This features work by art students at Nottingham University. Admission is £3.

8. DH Lawrence Society
I’m pleased to hear that the DH Lawrence Society will be moving their meetings to Durban House, which they describe as the ideal venue. This is one of the first tangible results of the partnership between the council and Nottingham University for the running of the building.

9. Kimberley Power Supply
Central Networks, who run the national grid, are to replace a 400 metre stretch of cable leading into Kimberley which is faulty, and which has led to a number of power cuts in recent months. Hopefully this should alleviate the problems that local residents have found.

10. Blue Plaques in Broxtowe
A coalition of the Beeston Civic and Historical Societies and the Stapleford Local History Society have launched a programme to install blue plaques on buildings where notable residents have previously lived. The first two to be unveiled will be to commemorate historian Arthur Cossans and Admiral Sir John Borlaise Warren. Hopefully others will follow in due course.

11. University Wind Turbines
About 130 people attending the latest meeting with Nottingham University to discuss their plans to install wind turbines. Although there was significant opposition the university still expect to submit a planning application by the end of May.

12. Stapleford Helpful Bureau
I’ve received the following message from the Helpful Bureau in Stapleford, which I’ll pass on verbatim:
“Hi All

Our organisation has successfully entered the `Cash for your Community 2011 shortlist. We are in with a chance of a share in £35,000!
From Wed. 25th May, our organisation will appear in a feature in the Nottingham Evening Post. People can then collect coupons on our behalf, coupons will be printed daily from Wed. 25th May until June 17th.
Any coupons need to be sent/handed to us directly so that we can send them in to Nottingham Evening Post by 21st July.

We would very much appreciate your support with this as the more coupons we collect, the bigger share of the £35,000 we will have.

So, could you please forward this info on to anyone you think may be interested in helping us.

Thanks,
Kind regards,

Margaret Bowen
Manager
The Helpful Bureau
Tel. 0115 9491175”

13. Beeston Rylands Methodist Church
Congratulations to the members of Beeston Rylands Methodist Church, who are celebrating their sixtieth anniversary this weekend. There are special anniversary services tomorrow at 10.30am and 6pm tomorrow.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter and any feedback will be gratefully received. The next edition will be on Monday 30th May, bank holiday Monday.

David

Broxtowe Enews 30th April 2011

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council.

1. English Defence League

Most people will be familiar with this organisation, which seems to be composed entirely of right wing thugs and who seem to cause problems wherever they go. Recently the membership details for this organisation were made public. However there are errors and a resident of Bramcote, who is an upstanding member of the community with no links to the EDL whatsoever has been wrongly identified as one of their leaders. Apparently someone with a similar name who used to live in Bramcote was connected with the EDL but it’s not the person who lives there now. As a result this man has received more than 400 telephone calls (all abusive) over the past few days and the police have had to be involved. Please rest assured that no-one on the leaked list is a Bramcote resident.

2. Litter Pick

Thank you to the dozen or so people who attended the Bramcote litter pick, which was a very successful event. We’ve collected several bags full of rubbish. The weather was perfect for it. I had read in a leaflet by the Conservative candidates for Bramcote (none of whom live here) that they were supporting the litter pick, but that was obviously just supporting it in the spiritual sense as not one of them attended. Anna Soubry did come and participated fully but none of their borough election candidates.

3. Future developments at Attenborough Nature Reserve

Notts Wildlife Trust are currently working on plans for a new phase of development and are asking local residents for their views about how they should proceed. A survey can be completed online at www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org.uk and the last day for responses is Friday.

4. Election Day on Thursday

This Thursday is local election day. My plea is that you will use your vote for the Liberal Democrats. This election is not about national issues or national people, but who you want to run the council here for the next four years. The Liberal Democrats have run it for the last four years and I think we have done a good job. We’ve kept council tax low and maintained services. We’ve managed to reduce expenditure without any compulsory redundancies. We also have great plans for the future, to ensure that Broxtowe keeps progressing and to maintain this area as one of the best places in the country to live. As Liberal Democrats we want to keep people informed about matters which affect them, which is why we produce this newsletter every week and why every Lib-Dem councillor in Broxtowe produces a newsletter (“Focus”) at least quarterly. No other party offers this.

Moreover the facts show that Lib-Dem councillors work harder. Here in Broxtowe our councillors attend 85% of all meetings with Labour on 71% and the Tories on 73%. Seven councillors attended less than 60% of the meetings that they should have done, and not one of them was a Liberal Democrats. The lowest rate of attendance was a conservative councillor in Greasley who only attended 3 meetings in 12 months (but still received her full allowance, which equates to more than £1,300 per meeting) but also the two Labour Councillors in Stapleford John Bell and John McGrath attended only 11 out of a possible 21 meetings, and 7 out of a possible 18 meetings in the last 12 months respectively. This means that John Bell received £370.52 per meeting whilst John McGrath received £582.21 per meeting.

5. Changes at Ikea

The council’s development control committee voted on Wednesday to permit a new catering hub to be built at the Ikea shopping centre. For those who know the site it will be where the current administration office is, diagonally over the roundabout from the existing catering units. I voted against the proposals as they include the loss of 27 car park spaces and I’m well aware of how difficult it can be to park there at busy times. However it was passed by 5 votes to 3.

6. Fair Votes Referendum

Also on the 5^th May is the referendum on switching to the alternative vote system for electing MP’s. If you are happy with MP’s having jobs for life, about duck houses, moat cleaning and expense fraud, then vote no. If you are happy that the most common result under the existing system is that the Conservatives win a majority of seats with a minority of votes (no wonder they are against it)then vote no. However if you want MP’s to work hard and to be accountable, for a fairer system for electing MP’s where your vote really counts, then please vote YES. I have read some real rubbish from the no campaign recently, including a claim that the change will cost £250 million. This is nonsense and is based on an assumption that new computerised counting machines will be necessary, but this simply isn’t the case. They also say that the new system is too complicated, but it’s really not that difficult to put people in order 1,2 and 3. Finally they tell us that it makes coalitions more likely, but the Australians, who have the AV system, had less coalitions during the 20^th century than the UK did. I don’t think that AV is the best system of selecting MP’s, but it’s the best on offer so I will be voting yes on Thursday.

7. Comments from Nick Palmer

I was very disappointed to read comments by Nick Palmer during the week suggesting that campaigns to save Bramwell Nursing Home and the Stapleford Walk In Centre weren’t followed through. Even worse, when I challenged him about this he said that the campaign on the walk in centre was just political posturing and that he didn’t want to discuss it with me. So much for the positive politics he used to claim to represent. These comments were desperately insulting to everyone who has worked so hard to save these centres, and the fact that we haven’t won yet does not mean that we are not trying our hardest to ensure that we get the right result in the end.

8. Another new supermarket in Eastwood

The man in Space pub in Eastwood, which has been empty for some time, is to be converted into a new Sainsbury’s Local and also a vets surgery. Surprisingly the law doesn’t require planning permission to be obtained when converting from a pub to a supermarket, and so the council was powerless to stop this happening.

9. Basil Russell Recreation Ground

Nuthall Parish Council have received a grant from the County Council to improve the Basil Russell Recreation Ground. The £40,000 grant will be used to install new paths, revamp the toilets, and add to the size of the children’s play area.

10. Beeston BID

The Beeston BID scheme, which aims to promote businesses in the town centre, has a new office on the High Road. It was opened last week by Anna Soubry MP and Anne Davies from East Midlands Today.

11. Town Centre Stalls

Thank you to everyone who has visited our stalls in Beeston and Stapleford over the past few weeks. We have given out hundreds of balloons and copies of our manifesto’s. Labour were planning to have a stall in Beeston as well today but unfortunately only one of their members turned up to run it.

12. Ramblers

Broxtowe Ramblers are organising a free four mile walk as part of national get Walking Day on 15^th May. Anyone wanting to take part is invited to meet at the car park in Bramcote Park at 10am. Details are available on 07999 978638 or you can just turn up on the day.

13. St Johns School, Stapleford

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Governors and head master at St Johns School in Stapleford were consulting parents about whether the school should move to a new site, where Frederick Harrison School used to be. This consultation has now concluded and the governors have decided that the school will be staying where it is.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter, which has once again set a new record for the number of readers that we have. Any feedback is gratefully received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 23rd April 2011

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council.

A special welcome to all the new readers that we have this week, it’s been a good week for people signing up. Also may I apologise that there wasn’t a newsletter last week. I was working in Cornwall and I thought that the technology would allow me to still post a short newsletter but although it left me it didn’t seem to appear anywhere else!

1. Community Litter Pick

We have organised a community litter pick for Bramcote next Saturday, 30^th April, from 2pm to 4pm. Meet at King George Park car park. (Don’t forget that the top of Town Street is closed.)We hope that as many local residents as possible will assist us in this, to make Bramcote look as smart as possible. The council have provided us with litter pickers, gloves and rubbish sacks.

2. Election Web Site

Broxtowe Lib-Dems have given our web site an election makeover at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk. A copy of our manifesto and a list of our candidates are available there.

3. Another election website

The local Beestonia Blog, which is highly recommended reading for Beeston residents, have launched their own website to cover the local elections at http://beestoniabattleofbroxtowe.wordpress.com/. I’m not just plugging this because it carries a rather nice profile of me this week but because I think it is genuinely independent. Matt who writes the blog got a couple of the facts wrong in our interview but basically it’s a really good read.

4. Beeston Wind Turbine proposal

About fifty local residents attended a meeting in Beeston last week to discuss the plans by Nottingham University to erect three 125 metre high wind turbines in the Rylands. Two of the three are actually in the city and the city council will need to make a decision on these, but the third is in Broxtowe. One of the concerns expressed was that these may in fact be the stalking horse for a much larger number of turbines, but when I met the senior staff at the University a couple of months ago they assured me that the wind flows meant that it would only be possible to erect the three proposed.

5. Paradiso Cinema

On Friday 13th May at 7.30pm Paradiso Cinema presents Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. This is suitable for the whole family and is at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, Queens Road West, NG9 5AL. Tickets on the door cost £5, £4 (conc). Come at 7pm for refreshments. Further details are at www.chilwellartstheatre.co.uk

6. Improvements to the Parks

Broxtowe Borough Council are looking to make a number of improvements to local parks across the borough. The most significant is to relay the car park at Bramcote Hills Park and to provide marked spaces. We are not intending to introduce compulsory parking charges there but there will be an opportunity to pay a voluntary charge which will go to charity, the same way that things work at Attenborough Nature Reserve. The total cost of the changes is £93,500, and I hope that this helps to kill off the myth that councils are only about cuts and nothing more. We are making sure that we spend the money that we have wisely but we are still investing in our local communities.

7. Life Drawing Class

Starting Wednesday 4th May a Life Drawing course will take place at Chilwell School, Queens Road West, NG9 5AL for ten weeks every Wednesday from 6.30pm to 9pm. It cost £120 (concessions for OAPs and A level students £100) and is suitable for beginners and experienced artists. For further details email davidhallows@onetel.com or ring 0115 9730838 or 07941423782.

8. Village Ventures

On Thursday 5th May at 7.30pm Village Ventures presents “Jo Freya meets Maalstrom,” an informative funny show with exceptional music drawing from folk, world music, jazz and classical references. See www.freyamusic.co.uk for details. This takes place at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, Queens Road West, NG9 5AL. Tickets cost £8, £6 (conc) or £24 family (2+2) in advance from the school on 0115 925 2698 or 0758 426 3893 or on the door. Further details are at www.chilwellartstheatre.co.uk

9. Gloria de Piero Letter

I’ve just received my first letter from Gloria De Piero, the Labour MP for Ashfield. In the past I’ve invited her to get in touch to discuss issues such as Durban House, but she never has done. Still, she has eventually found something to write to me about. The thing that she considers more important than any issue I deal with as the leader of the council is that she is unhappy about how I reported her latest expenses claim. To save people rushing back to see exactly what it was that has provoked her to eventually write, here is the whole item that so invoked her ire:

“11 MP’s Expenses

Figures published this week show that Anna Soubry MP claimed £3,875 expenses during November and December 2010, whilst during the same period Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero, whose constituency includes Eastwood and Brinsley, claimed £8,615.”

You can draw your own conclusions on whether this was really something that should have caused offence.

10. Attenborough Exhibition

Nottinghamshire Artist Ann Harrison is holding an exhibition at Attenborough Nature Reserve from now until the end of the month. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

11. Royal wedding

There will be 15 street parties held across Broxtowe next Friday to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I’m afraid I don’t have details of the locations for these.

12. Hemlock Happening

The 2011 Hemlock Happening, the 10^th, will take place on Saturday 11^th June from 2pm. Details are at http://www.hemlockhappening.org/

13. Boxing Fundraising

Soldiers from the Mercian Regiment are taking part in a charity boxing tournament against local amateur boxers on 5^th May at Chetwynd Barracks. If you are going don’t forget to vote first. Doors open from 6.30pm. Tickets cost from £25 and are available from 0115 946 5417 or from www.themerciancharityevent.com

14. Election Hustings

We took part in the first ever hustings for a local election that I can recall last week. You can read a report of it on http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Candidates-battle-Broxtowe-borough-hustings/article-3455295-detail/article.html

15. AV Referendum

If anyone wants to help deliver extra leaflets for the YES campaign just let me know and I’ll put you in touch with the local organisers. I’ve received a mail shot from the No campaign this week and it consists of nothing more than a mix of half-truths and complete lies. They claim that an election under AV will cost an extra £250 million, but they can only get to this figure by claiming that complex counting machines will be needed, which is simply not the case. Their other argument is that it will lead to more coalitions, but during the 20^th Century there were more coalitions in the UK with First Past The Post than in Australia with AV. To my mind a Yes vote is complete common sense and will help to create a fairer country.

The other fascinating thing about the referendum is who is funding the campaign. The Yes team have always published who their donors are but the No Campaign have been very reluctant to do this. What information they have published shows that the No campaign is virtually totally funded by senior Tory party supporters. Given that the most common results under First Past The Post elections is a majority Tory government with a minority of the vote that is perhaps not a surprise.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. If you are reading it on one of the web sites that carries it then you can subscribe directly to receive it to your inbox by following the link on our website.

Best wishes

David

Broxtowe Enews 10th April 2011

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council.

A special welcome to all new readers that we have this week. I did mention last week that the amount to report will slow down between now and the election as the council is prohibited from dealing with controversial items during the campaign period. Nevertheless there are still a number of things to report.

1. Election Candidates

The nominations have now closed for the borough council elections on 5^th May. The Lib-Dems will be fielding 39 candidates across Broxtowe. Amongst the surprises with the nominations are that eight of the existing councillors are not seeking re-election. Included within this list are the two independent councillors who represent Nuthall East and Strelley, so there are definitely going to be new faces on the council there. The BNP, who fielded a number of candidates (and won a seat which they were subsequently stripped off when their councillor failed to attend for in excess of six months) have totally disappeared and I don’t mourn their passing. The Green Party are fielding about six candidates and there are a couple from UKIP. We also have one ex Lib-Dem councillor standing as an independent. He was deselected by the Lib-Dems and now accuses us of selling our souls (strangely not something he said when apply to stand in the election for us, but there you go). I’ve put a full list of Lib-Dem candidates at the end of this newsletter.

2. Election Hustings

The Evening Post has organised a hustings this coming Thursday at the New Ventures Social Club, Technology Drive, Beeston, starting at 7.30pm. Entry is free and everyone is welcome.

3. Wind Turbine display

Nottingham University have, as many people will know, applied to install three wind turbines in Beeston Rylands. Two are within the boundaries of the city, but the third is in Broxtowe. The University have now announced an exhibition and public meeting about the plans. The exhibition will be at Beeston library between 16^th and 21^st April, with a public meeting on Thursday 21^st April between 11.15 and 12.45 pm.

4. CampaignTables

The Liberal Democrats launched our formal election campaign this week with street tables in Beeston and Stapleford. Thank you to everyone who took the time to come over and to take literature or have a chat. We actually gave out our total stock of balloons for Beeston on the first day, so we’re having to restock on those. One gentleman came over at the end and clearly wanted to have an argument, but other than that there was a pretty good response from people.

5. School Move

St Johns Church of England primary school in Stapleford are looking at the possibility of relocating to a new base. The school is currently at a site on Nottingham Road but the County Council have asked them whether they want to relocate to the site of the former Frederick Harrison school, which closed in 2008. The school are currently consulting parents, which to my mind seems to be the right thing to do, but it has generated strong feelings in some parents.

6. Rail Times

Notts County Council and Nottingham City Council have submitted an application to the Government (on behalf of East Midlands Councils) for funding to speed up rail journey times on the Midland Mainline. Is successful this would result in journeys from Nottingham to London being about 15 minutes quicker than at present.

7. Beeston Hockey Club

Congratulations to Beeston Hockey Club who have won the national championships for the first time in their history. They beat East Grinstead on Sunday to secure their title.

8. “What The Hell Have The Liberal Democrats Done”

I was sent a link to this web site this week. I think it is excellent and is saying the things that the national media seem to be intent on ignoring, and I fully recommend that you visit:

http://whatthehellhavethelibdemsdone.com/

9. Residents Parking Petition in Stapleford

A Stapleford Labour Councillor will present a petition to the County Council tomorrow calling for action on the proposed residents parking scheme for Stapleford. Whilst I welcome the petition I can’t help but be cynical over the timing. I do hope that this is not just an election stunt and that it will in fact achieve something.

10. Chilwell Road Traders

I attended a meeting along with Anna Soubry MP and Richard Jackson, County Councillor Highways Portfolio holder, with the traders from Chilwell Road in Beeston. They were all broadly in favour of the tram coming but did want reassurances about their trade during the construction phase, and I think that they went away quite reassured.

11. MP’s Expenses

Figures published this week show that Anna Soubry MP claimed £3,875 expenses during November and December 2010, whilst during the same period Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero, whose constituency includes Eastwood and Brinsley, claimed £8,615.

12. Stapleford Walk In Centre

The County Council have decided to ask the Secretary of State for Health to look again at plans by the Primary Care Trust to close the walk in centre in Stapleford. This is good news, and Anna Soubry MP and I have already discussed going to see him to make the case for keeping the centre open. We will try and secure a meeting as soon as possible.

13. Victim Support Award

Broxtowe Borough Council have awarded a safe Borough Award to Victim Support for its work with crime victims in the borough. The award was announced this week.

14. Lib-Dem Candidates

The full list of Liberal Democrat candidates standing in the elections are:

Attenborough – Stephen Rule
Beeston Central – Paul Fox, Stella Fox
Beeston North – Steve Carr, Chris Salter
Beeston Rylands – John Patrick, Trish Taylor
Beeston West – Brian Taylor, Graham Hopcroft
Bramcote – Stan Heptinstall, Ian Tyler, David Watts
Brinsley – Martin Shaw
Chilwell East – Amanda Hull, Jane Lachhar
Chilwell West – Barbara Carr, Helen Grindell, Brenda Houldsworth
Cossall and Kimberley – Elaine Cockburn, Goff Walt, Steph Walt
Greasley –Lee-Ann Foreman, Nigel Morgan, Kevin Wilkinson
Eastwood North – Bob Charlesworth, Hazel Charlesworth
Eastwood South – Josie Forrest, David Hallam, Keith Longdon
Stapleford North – Mark Elvin, Brian Wombwell
Stapleford South East – Jacky Williams, David Grindell
Stapleford South west – David Pearson, Kevin Thomas
Toton and Chilwell Meadows – Bob Pembleton, John Rule, Christine Wombwell
Trowell – Ken Rigby

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Word of mouth remains our best form of advertising and I’m grateful for all the positive comments that are made. As ever any feedback on any of the above will be gratefully received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 4th April 2011

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

We are now in the official pre-election period, when the council is by law prohibited from making any controversial or significant decisions. As a result the news is a bit quiet this week, and will be for the next few weeks. However the work of the council does go on, although all the big stuff now has to wait until after 5^th May. That being said, there is still plenty happening in the borough.

1. Stapleford Walk In Centre

The scrutiny committee at the County Council has today agreed to a Lib-Dem request to refer the decision to close the Stapleford Walk In Centre to the Secretary of State for Health. As I mentioned last week Anna Soubry and I are already trying to arrange to see him so that we can put the case for retaining the centre, which serves the whole of south Broxtowe as well as patients from further afield. We may have lost the first round but the fight goes on.

2. Election Hustings Debate

The Evening Post has organised a debate between representatives of the parties standing for election in Broxtowe on 5^th May. This will take place on Thursday 14^th April at 7.30pm in the New Ventures Social Club, Beeston, and everyone is welcome to attend. I will be attending for the Lib-Dems and I imagine that Richard Jackson and Milan Radulovic will be speaking for the Conservatives and Labour respectively, although I haven’t had this confirmed. The election debates in the run up to the general election were good fun and good natured, and I hope that this will be as well.

3. Hickings Lane Trees

I mentioned last week that vandals had attacked and destroyed the trees planted last year on Hickings Lane park in Stapleford. We have now had an estimate of the cost of the damage that they caused, which came to £1,600. The council will have to pick up the cost of this. If anyone has any information about those responsible please ring Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111 or let me know and I will pass it on.

4. Sherwood Forest Walk

Stapleford writer (and subscriber to this enews)Dave Wood is to begin a very ambitious walk in June, covering the historic boundaries of Sherwood Forest. Apparently the last time that this walk was completed was in 1662, and Dave is going to highlight the disappearance of trees and will run workshops with local residents.The walk will take about three months to complete. Further details are available from Dave on davewrite2002@yahoo.com.

5. Preferred Bidder For Tram

The preferred bidder to construct Lines 2 and 3 of the tram (coming through Beeston and Chilwell) was announced this week. The Tramslink Consortium includes amongst it’s members Trent Barton buses, and so hopefully they will coordinate their bus services to tie in with the trams when they are up and running. If everything goes according to plan work will start early next year and the first trams could be running by the end of 2014.

6. Attenborough Easter Holiday Club

The Magic in the Woods holiday club will run between 26^th and 28^th April at Attenborough Nature Reserve , enabling children to explore the beauties of the nature reserve. Classes run from 10.15 to 12.15 each day and cost £5. Further details are available from 0115 972 1777.

7. Greasley Multi-Use Games Area

The multi-use games area owned by Greasley Parish Council has been a source of irritation to local residents since it was installed because of the noise generated from there. The borough council have checked and it does constitute a noise nuisance, and so we have had to serve a noise abatement notice on the parish council. The parish council say that they are now taking steps to reduce noise levels. It is a shame that we had to take this action before they have taken these steps.

8. Grow Your Own Food

A five year project to encourage people to grow their own food has been launched in Broxtowe by Rural Community Action Nottingham. Coincidentally I was reading a paper this week about the benefits that this can bring and was wondering how we could develop the idea here, so I’m delighted that someone has beaten me to it. A development officer has been appointed and he will work with allotment holders and other community groups to promote the scheme, and will be holding veg growing workshops. Details are available on 01623 727600.

9. Planning Advice

From 1^st April Broxtowe will charge for planning advice to potential developers. The scale of charges is weighted so that local residents wanting to build extensions or alterations to their properties will pay the least, with big commercial developers paying the most. This change, which was supported by all three parties on the council, is part of our efforts to ensure that the council can maintain services as well as cut our costs.

10. County Council Redundancy Costs

As part of their cost saving measures the County Council have made a number of senior officers redundant. In the last six months this has meant that they have paid out £940,000 in redundancy payments.

11. Beeston Bid

Beeston Bid, which was set up a couple of months ago and works to promote businesses within the town, has recruited a new apprentice because of the amount of work that they are dealing with. The apprentice post is to help set up projects and events in the Bid area.

12. Giltbrook Bus Route

Trent Barton have varied the route of their No 27 bus so that it now runs through the Giltbrook Retail park. This runs every 30 minutes between Kimberley, Awsworth and Ilkeston.

13. Cheques

The Lib-Dem team on Notts County Council have called for cheques to be retained and for banks to scrap their plans to phase them out over the next few years. I think that this is an excellent campaign and I’m happy to throw my full weight behind it. The Lib-Dems have already collected 2,000 names on a petition in support locally.

14. Manifesto

The Broxtowe Lib-Dem manifesto for the borough council elections will be available on our web site (www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk) later this week, together with full details for our candidates. A full list of all the candidates will be published by the borough council on Wednesday. An attempt has been made to sabotage the Lib-Dems in the city by bombarding their freepost address with empty envelopes. As a result they have had to suspend their freepost address. We had to drop our freepost address a few years ago after similar problems. I will repeat what I have said many times before, that I hope strongly that we will have a good natured and well behaved election campaign. We will certainly not engage in this sort of tactics, or anything else below the belt.

15. London Protests

I’ve been asked if I can comment on the protests in London last week. First, the violence was wholly unnecessary and I can’t be the only one who wondered why it was that the few people smashing windows seemed to be surrounded by hundreds of representatives from the media. Why does one small piece of bad news attract so much publicity when the main thrust should surely have been about the extent of the protests. Turning then to that, when so many people do protest I think that it is incumbent on the Government to look again at what it is doing to see if there are any better alternatives. This doesn’t mean that I’ve suddenly become a deficit denier or that I necessarily believe that there is a better way to go forward (we couldn’t carry on spending the staggeringly high figures that the last Government did) but I firmly believe that the Government must listen to people’s concerns and engage in regular soul searching about whether they are doing the right things. I hope that they are doing this and I hope that one of the first changes that may come about is a revamp of the health policy.

16. Libya Crisis

I’ve also been asked my views about the military action in Libya. As regular readers will know I am very much against military operations unless absolutely necessary and have long advocated the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. However I do believe that the situation in Libya is different ton either Afghanistan or Iraq, and has much more in common with Yugoslavia in the 1990’s, when the UN did nothing and allowed massacre after massacre to take place. The action in Libya is supported by a UN resolution (in sharp contrast to the illegal war in Iraq) and so prior to the vote in the House of Commons I spoke to Anna Soubry on the phone and said that I would not criticise anyone who voted in favour of the action.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received. Readers of this from the web sites that carry it may subscribe directly by contacting me at davidwatts@broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk