Broxtowe Enews 10th July 2011

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

1. Typo’s

There were a couple of typing errors in last weeks newsletter, for which I apologise. First there was an error with the reference to wellington s, embarrassingly recreating a typing error which has occurred previously. I can’t even blame a rogue spell checker as they were typed on different PC’s. I think I will follow the advice off one reader who suggested that I stick to writing “boots” in the future.

More important was an error in the reference to the Broxtowe wardens. I wrote that they ran the shopmobiliity scheme, which is incorrect. I had meant to say that they helped the scheme, which would have been right. I’d like to apologise for any upset that this caused the shopmobility volunteers, and I certainly didn’t wish to dismiss the excellent service that they offer.

2. More on Wardens

Readers may recall that last week in the Nottingham Post (I’ve been gently told off in another blog this week for calling it the Evening Post. Guilty as charged.) the Conservatives were criticising the amount spent on wardens and saying that it does not cover the cost of the service. I was therefore very surprised at the council meeting on Wednesday when they called for more wardens to be recruited. This was a fairly quick U-turn.

3. High Speed Rail

Also at the council meeting on Wednesday was delighted to second a motion calling for support for the proposed high speed 2 rail line and for a station to be established in or around Broxtowe. This was supported unanimously by the council. S I said at the meeting the benefits that the line can bring to the East Midlands and to the north are massive, and we must ensure that we don’t allow the self-interest of a few council’s in the south of England to stop such a major development and opportunity for us.

4. Your Say on the NHS

A public meeting will be held in Stapleford on Tuesday 19^th July from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at St Helen’s Church all where residents can meet members of the local patient participation group and have their say about how the NHS operates. You can register on ppi@nottspct.nhs.uk or by ringing 01623 673333.

5. Future Building in the Borough

On Tuesday evening the cabinet at Broxtowe will take the next steps in deciding how and where future building in Broxtowe will take place. The council will have to decide on the policies it wants to take forward, something that we are seeking to do jointly with the other councils in Greater Nottingham. If the council agree to take things further then the next stage is for there to be a full public consultation. The proposed timetable for this in the council papers is over the summer holidays, and I will be proposing that this is extended into the autumn so that everyone gets a proper chance to have their say. If people want to read the report that is going to the council it is available at http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=21949&p=0

6. County Council Children’s Centres

Notts County Council have announced that they will be retaining all 59 of their children centre’s across the county and that they will be seeking to expand the range of services that are available. I’m delighted to welcome this news. In an age of austerity it is good to see investment being made in our future.

7. Caretaker Vacancy

Trowell Parish Council are looking for a temporary relief caretaker for the parish hall, on a six month contract. Application forms can be obtained by ringing 0115 973 0713.

8. Independents Day

The Beeston Improvement District (which exists to improve trade in Beeston) has launched Independents day, a campaign to promote independent traders in the town centre. The aim is to stress the benefits that independent traders can bring. Further details are available from the BID team.

9. Nottingham Credit Union

Nottingham Credit Union, which has a base in the council offices in Broxtowe, have announced that they are now opening about 100 new accounts a month. The credit union provides a vital service and helps to provide options for people who might otherwise be unable to obtain credit or other services.

10. Newthorpe Road Works

Dawson Close in Newthorpe will be disrupted due to gas main works between Monday 11^th July and 25^th July.

11. Unemployment in Broxtowe

New figures have been released which show that there are currently 8.6 people in the borough claiming Jobseekers Allowance for every vacancy that there currently are at the Jobcentre plus. This is an increase from 6.6 people 12 months ago. These figures are obviously disappointing, but they do show why the council is right to deploy a significant amount of resources into job creation and business development.

12. Car Park Charges

The borough council is now starting the process of reviewing car park charges. The key questions are whether car park charges should be retained, and if so whether they should be applied universally or whether there should be different rates for different car parks. Whilst it would be very easy to say that we should just get rid of them if we do this we need to determine where we find the £300,000 that they generate for the council. We have always said that we would review the charges after they have been in operation for 12 months, and we are now doing this.

13. Lowes Estate Family Fun Day

The Lowes estate in Beeston will celebrate it’s family fun day next Saturday, 16^th July, from midday to 4pm. There will be go-karting, bouncy castles and a barbecue.

14. New Homes in Eastwood

40 new houses have been built on the site of the old Moon and Stars pub in Eastwood, which has been derelict for many years. The houses are all being provided by a housing association and will significantly increase the amount of rented property available in the town.

15. Nottingham University Hotel

Nottingham University have confirmed that they are about to start work on building a hotel in University Park. I mention this solely because when the University built new student accommodation in Beeston a few years ago we did ask them why they weren’t looking to build in University Park and we were told that covenants on the land prevented them doing this. Clearly this wasn’t correct.

16. News of the World Controversy

I can’t lament the passing of the News of the World, and I hope that it will lead to Rupert Murdoch’s attempts to buy the rest of Sky TV being rejected. Broxtowe MP Anna Soubry has also called for a change in the law to introduce better standards in the media. This is something I support, as I think that the standards of reporting in the national media have been appallingly low for many years. Quite how this can be accomplished though may be a difficult question to answer.

17. Pakistan Floods

A badminton tournament will be held at Chilwell Olympia on 17^th July to raise money for the victims of the floods in Pakistan. The event runs from 11am to 6pm and costs £25 for teams of two. Bookings can be made by ringing 07814 104310.

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

David

Broxtowe Enews 3rd July 2011

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

It’s been a really busy week this week, and the high spot was visiting Buckingham Palace on Wednesday for a Royal Garden Party. I would never describe myself as a rampant royalist, but the building and the occasion really did take my breath away. We went with a couple of very long serving members of staff from the council, and I think that it is important that we do take the opportunity to recognise the role and effort of the people who make the council operate as effectively as it does.

1. A52 Roadworks

The Highways Agency are about to start work again on the A52. Work between the Bramcote and QMC islands starts on 17^th July and will run through until the middle of November, so be prepared for disruption. The approaches to the Priory and QMC roundabouts is to be widened, and the A52 will be subject to a 30mph speed limit during the period of the works.

2. Beeston Carnival

Beeston Carnival takes place next Saturday, with entertainment in the Square from 10am and the parade starting at 1pm. The entertainment at Broadgate Park starts at 12.00. everyone is welcome to attend, and hopefully the weather will be better than it was for Long Eaton carnival last week, when my daughters dance troupe had to perform wearing their willies.

3. Easy Giving

A new website has been established to enable people to give to charities on line. The Community Foundation in Notts manages the Nottinghamshire arm of localgiving.com, which lists local charities so that people can donate to them. There are currently 17 Notts charities on the site, and if others want to be added please ring 01623 636365.

4. Car Parking

I was very disappointed to read some really inaccurate reporting by the Evening Post about the costs of wardens who we employ. These wardens police the car parks, but they also help in the town centres and operate the shop mobility schemes. They are a visible face of the council to assist local residents. The Post criticised the council because we didn’t take enough money in parking fines to cover the costs of the wardens. It was never expected that we would do, and to be honest if we were having to give out so much in fines for people overstaying in car parks I would be very disappointed. (I did say I was disappointed that we had taken £85,000 in fines as this meant there were a lot of people not parking properly, but the paper suggested that I was disappointed at how low they were. Not true, and I’ve sent a fairly strongly worded letter to the paper to say so.)

5. Kimberley Police Station

The town council in Kimberley have said that they are unhappy about plans to shut the front counter at Kimberley Police Station. Despite the low number of people who use the service the council believe that it is important that the service is maintained, and are calling on the police to rethink their decision.

6. Cutting Grass Verges

The County Council have announced plans to reduce the number of times that the grass verges on the roads will be cut. (At the moment the borough council do this for them, to the levels that they set, although from next April the County Council will do this themselves.) At the moment verges are cut six times per year, and this will now drop to five times per year. This is actually better than they had been suggesting, which was a reduction to four times per year.

7. Eastwood Award Winner

Congratulations to Amy Smith from Eastwood, who won the Gold Medal at the UK Beauty Therapy and Nail Technology contest in Cambridge. It is always good to see young people from Broxtowe being successful.

8. Adults with Learning Disabilities

The County Council have announced plans to privatise those parts of adult social care services that they currently provide internally. The council say that these will save them £1million per year. These are services such as tenancy support and practical help. My concern is that these are the services most used by particularly vulnerable people and privatisation often means service reduction. I hope that these plans will be examined very carefully to ensure that vulnerable people are not going to miss out.

9. Toton Exists

The Royal Mail has announced that they will now include Toton as a separate address on their database, officially recognising that it exists as a separate community. This is something that we managed with Bramcote a few years ago, but it does take a long time to be effective. There are still organisations who use Beeston as the address for Bramcote. Well done to all concerned for putting Toton on the map but settle in for a long slog to get it effective.

10. Carbon Footprint at the Leisure Centre

Efforts by the staff at Bramcote Leisure Centre have resulted in a reduction in the CO2 output by 300 tonnes. Congratulations to everyone involved for their efforts in this regard.

11. Heritage Days

The programme has now been published for the heritage Open Days which will take place in September. There are a load of good things in it and two require advance booking if you wish to attend. These are if you want to visit the Boots archive (phone 0115 939 3472 to book) or if you want to visit Chilwell Depot and see the memorial to the people who died in the 1918 explosion (call 0115 967 7260 to book).

12. Newsletters

As ever can I thank you for your support for this newsletter. We are read by many hundreds of people each week but I would like to really have a push on getting new subscribers as well. Our advertising so far has been primarily by word of mouth and so my request to everyone is that if you know other local residents who would enjoy the newsletter please pass the details on to them.

Best wishes

David

Broxtowe Enews 26th June 2011

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

1. Responses

Thank you to the various comments that I received about last week’s newsletter. I’ve been really busy at work this week so I apologise that I haven’t replied to everyone yet, I will do so this week. I have been celebrating getting Olympic tickets this week, and whilst I know that not everyone was happy with the system I was delighted with the events that we managed to get tickets for.

2. Broxtowe Youth Homelessness

The Broxtowe Youth Homelessness charity has announced that it is to be supported by John Lewis in Nottingham for the next two years. The charity fulfils a vital role in helping young people facing homelessness and so this commitment to funding is very good news. When I was visiting another project for homeless young people last week one of the things that came out from the discussions was how little the young people knew about the services that were there for them, and so the more that can be done to help promote these organisations the better.

3. Free Swimming

I’m delighted that the borough council have decided to provide free swimming for children under the age of 16 and adults over the age of 60 during August. This was something that we introduced last year after national funding for free swimming was withdrawn by the Government, and the decision has been taken this week to provide the same again this year. We will explore whether it is possible to extend this up to the whole of the summer holidays next year.

4. New School Crossing

The County Council have announced that they have recruited a new crossing patrolperson for Toton Law in Stapleford outside Fairfield Primary School. Local parents have been campaigning for this for a number of months.

5. School Fair

Staying with Fairfield School, their school fair is on Friday 1^st July from 3pm and all are welcome to attend.

6. Middle Street Resource Centre

The County Council have announced their plans for care services in Nottinghamshire, and I’m delighted that the threat to close the Middle Street Resource Centre in Beeston has been lifted. There has been a strong campaign by users and local residents to keep it open and this has succeeded. Everyone connected with the campaign should be delighted.

7. Bramwell Care Home

Less good is that at the same time the county have announced that they are closing the day centre at Bramwell Nursing Home in Bramcote. This is despite an equally active campaign which attracted all party support locally. I think that a very strong argument had been made to keep Bramwell open and I am very disappointed at this announcement. The closure plans are to be debated at a council meeting on 30^th June so there is still a chance that this may be changed, but I am not optimistic.

8. Parkinson’s Disease

A drop in information session on Parkinson’s Disease will be given at the Pearson Centre in Beeston on 5^th July from 1.30pm to 3.30pm. If you are suffering from this, know someone who is, or want to learn more about it you will be welcome to attend.

9. Fostering Open Day

An event outside of Broxtowe, but open to local residents, is a fostering open day at Worksop Crossing Gate Centre on June 29^th between 9.30am and 12.30pm.If you are interested in fostering then you will be welcome to attend. It is being put on by Team Fostering, who organise fostering for Children in Notts, Derbyshire and Yorkshire.

10. Health Hub Bid

Boots have announced plans to create a health hub at their sight in Beeston. This is where the new enterprise zone is being established and Boots believe that this could be a base for new and developing health care businesses.

11. Art Market

George Spencer School in Nottingham are holding their first art market and are inviting local artists to submit paintings. The event is on Saturday 9^th July and further details are available from artexhibition@mail.com

12. Greasley Wind Turbine

The Borough Councils development control committee voted on Wednesday night to give planning permission for a new 132 metre high wind turbine in Newthorpe. The turbine will generate the equivalent power used by 1,300 houses each year, as well as saving over 2,000 tonnes of CO2.

13. Eastwood Exhibition

An exhibition on textiles has opened at Durban House in Eastwood and will run until 10^th July. It is in the Rainbow Gallery and is put on by the Second Textile Turning Group. I did see that a Labour MP had a photo shoot at Durban House last week to claim credit for saving the building despite the fact that, whilst I was looking at this as leader of the council, she didn’t contact me once about a decision which fell to me to make.

14. Fire Brigade Consultation

Plans to reorganise the fire brigade in Notts will be going out to public consultation next month. Following action by the Liberal Democrats plans to close a number of stations, including at least one in Broxtowe, have been dropped although it is still proposed to cut 100 fire fighter posts.

15. Japanese Event

Ganbare Japan are organising a thank you event at Oban House, the home of the Voluntary Action Broxtowe, for all the support for Japan given by local people. It is on 16^th July from 6.30pm and includes Japanese drumming and a meal and costs £25 for adults and £5 for children.

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

David

Broxtowe Enews 19th 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, on what has undoubtedly been a good week for the Lib-Dems. We have had big wins this week on NHS reforms, delivering what we as grass roots members of the party had demanded, and we also managed to fend off a proposed backward step on recycling which Eric Pickles had been trying to force on local councils. Over the last few years in Broxtowe we have made huge steps forward on recycling and I’m delighted that these will be protected.

I hope that you all had a great Fathers day. Mine got off to a great start when we discovered that the worlds greatest mouser had left a fathers day present for us in the en-suite!

1. Awsworth Party on the Park

The Awsworth Party on the Park will take place on Saturday 2^nd July from 11am to 11pm. All local residents will be welcome.

2. Charity Garden Party

Wollaton Road Methodist Church in Beeston will be holding a charity garden party next Saturday from 10am to noon, in aid of the Nottinghamshire Hospice. As well as refreshments there will be cake stalls, bring and buy and home made greeting cards. Everyone is welcome.

3. Pro-tram walk

The Kentag campaign group, who are seeking to bring the tram to Kimberley and Eastwood, are holding a walk along their suggested route next Saturday, starting from Phoenix Park at 11am. Everyone is welcome.

4. Attenborough Nature Walk

The next of the monthly nature walks at Attenborough Nature Reserve will take place on Sunday 3^rd July at 10.30am. It departs from the visitor centre at the nature reserve, and walkers are asked Not to bring dogs with them. The day before, 2^nd July, there will be a talk about insects at the centre at 1.30pm. That one costs £5 per person. Details are available on 0115 972 1777. Finally at Attenborough they also have a wildlife training course next Saturday, 25^th June, from 10am to 4pm. This costs £25 and can be booked on the same phone number.

5. Eastwood Election Mix Up

The hearing in the High Court which is required to correct an administrative error which led to Hazel Charlesworth, rather than her husband Bob, being declared winning new councillor for Eastwood North, will take place on 22^nd July. Unfortunately on the final results sheet the votes for Hazel and Bob were transposed, and so the wrong person was declared as the winner.

6. Eastwood Arts Festival

The Eastwood Arts Festival takes place throughout July. Information is available from the borough council on arts@broxtowe.gov.uk or by ringing 0115 917 3695. It will kick off with a band of marauding Vikings giving out leaflets with all the details on next week, and includes a family fun day on 16^th July.

7. Broxtowe CAB

A long running campaign to protected the Citizens Advice Bureaux in Broxtowe has been overwhelmingly successful. Unfortunately the Tory run County Council slashed the grant they provide to the CAB, which really threatened it’s future. The Government have now announced that they will be providing a grant of £85,000 to enable it to keep going. Congratulations to everyone who has been involved with this campaign.

8. Stapleford Air Cadets

Stapleford Air Cadets have a new Commanding Officer. He is Flying Officer Gareth Fowler, who has until now been the training officer at the Beeston branch.

9. Greasley Breast Screening Unit

A group of local residents have collected a petition containing more than 200 signatures calling for the return of a breast screening unit which closed in March following complaints about the noise from it’s generator. The residents have asked Nottingham University Hospitals Trust to reverse their decision.

10. Foxwood School Sweet Shop

Foxwood School, which educates children with learning difficulties, has opened a sweet shop in Beeston which will be staffed by pupils from the school, to help them gain work experience. The shop is called Sweet Treats and is in Beeston Square. It was opened last Friday by Anna Soubry MP.

11. Cedar House

Cedar House is a home for homeless young women in Beeston. It was my pleasure to visit there on Friday along with Anna Soubry and Milan Radulovic, the leader of the Labour Group in Broxtowe. We were able to meet with a number of the residents and listen to some of their experiences. (They had very diplomatically provided red, blue and yellow buns to eat.) In particular it looks like we have been able to identify a way to significantly increase some of their funding, and Anna has agreed to take forward some issues that they had as well.

12. Village Ventures

On Sunday 3rd July at 2pm Village Ventures are putting on Cowboy Baby, a western yarn for children aged 4 to 8, by Sue Heap. This will be at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, Queens Road West, NG9 5AL. Tickets cost £2 (child), £5 (adult), in advance from the school on 0115 925 2698 or 0758 426 3893 or on the door. The show lasts 50 minutes, and will be followed by a free fun workshop for parents and children (30mins). Further details are at www.chilwellartstheatre.co.uk

13. Paradiso Cinema

On Friday 8^th July at 7.30pm Paradiso Cinema present Get Low, starring Robert Duval and Sissy Spacek. This is on at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, Queens Road West, NG9 5AL. Tickets on the door cost £5, £4 (conc). Refreshments are available from 7pm. Further details are available at www.chilwellartstheatre.co.uk

14. Car Boot Sale

On Sunday 10th July the Chilwell School Partnership will be holding an Outdoor car boot sale from 9am to 1pm, at Chilwell School, Queens Road west, Chilwell. Sellers can arrive to set up from 7.30am and the cost is £5 per car or £7.50 per van.

Thank you for your continued support for this newsletter, and any feedback is gratefully received.

David

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