Broxtowe Enews 9th October 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 a quiet week news wise this week, but there are a few things going on.

1. Twitter

I’m now on Twitter and will start tweeting (I think that’s the right phrase) from this week. If anyone wants to follow me I’m DavidWatts12. Updates from the newsletter will be tweeted as often as possible, including any significant decisions straight after council meetings. I hope people will join me there.

2. Paint

Thanks to a reader for alerting me to this. The household waste site at Beeston won’t take tins of paint, and on checking with the County Council they say that these should be taken to Calverton. This would be a 30 mile round trip just to get rid of a tin of paint! The County Council said that they are looking at alternatives and I’ll be pressing them to do this quickly. Unfortunately they tell me that it is unlikely to be before next summer.

3. Sale of Bramwell

I reported previously about how the County Council had sold 6 nursing homes, including Bramwell in Bramcote, massively under value. Lib-Dem County Councillor Stan Heptinstall has now written to the District Auditor asking them to investigate the sale. Councillors have a duty to act in the best interests of the whole county, and selling assets massively under value does not seem to be doing that. We’ll keep you posted.

4. Rumbletums Fundraising

A TRUSTEE of Rumbletums café in Kimberley is having all her hair shaved off to raise money for the charity. Wendy Tompkins, who lives in Bramcote, has raised £700 in sponsorship and is splitting the money between the café in Newdigate Street, which offers training opportunities to students with learning difficulties, and MacMillan Cancer. Well done to her.

5. Grants to Artists

Artists and community groups across Nottinghamshire are being urged to apply for funding from a pot of more than £30,000 from Nottinghamshire County Council. Grants of between £500 and £2,500 areavailable for a range of one-off arts projects from the Nottinghamshire Arts Fund. For more details and to apply for funding, visit Nottinghamshire County Council’s website at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/artsgrants.

6. School Rebuilding

PRIMARY schools in Eastwood and Brinsley could be re-built as part of plans to give 55 of the county’s schools a makeover. Nottinghamshire County Council has applied to the Government for a slice of the £2bn it is making available to rebuild schools. The council will ask for funding to rebuild 11 secondary schools, two academies, one special school and 41 primary schools – including Lynncroft Primary School in Eastwood and Brinsley Primary School.

7. Council Customer Service Award

The Borough Councils customer service team have been awarded the Institute of Customer Service ServiceMark award for the second year running, showing the emphasis that the council places on dealing with members of the public to the highest standard. The council were also shortlisted for five awards at the Association of Public Service Excellence awards.

8. Money for Community Groups

British Land, who own the Giltbrook Retail Park, are making money available for community groups. They are looking to fund community projects between £1,000 and £50,000 as part of their community responsibility fund. My colleague Ken Rigby is the County Councillor for the area and will happily receive any ideas, which he will pass on to British Land.

9. Good news from the Post Office

One piece of good news this week is that the Padge Road delivery centre in Beeston has been guaranteed to be protected from closure. The Post Office have confirmed that they are closing other offices but they are moving the facilities to Beeston.

10. Wind Turbine in Beeston

Nottingham University have flown a blimp at the site they wish to erect three wind turbines on showing how high they will be, although protestors are complaining that the blimp was actually flown at the wrong height. I’m afraid that I didn’t see it to be able to comment.

11. New Kits For Priory Celtic

Priory Celtic Football Club in Kimberley have been awarded £5,000 from the Football Foundation to pay for new kits.

12. Brinsley Carnival

I’m afraid that it’s now been confirmed that Brinsley Carnival is over. The committee running it has been unable to attract new volunteers and so the carnival has been wound up.

13. Kimberley Leisure Centre

A new range of activities launch at Kimberley Leisure Centre tomorrow (10^th October) including street dance for adults and children, as well as Zumba. Details are available from the Leisure Centre.

14. Beeston North CAT

The Community Action Team meeting for Beeston North takes place at Boundary Road church on 11^th October from 7.00pm. Any local residents are welcome to attend.

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

David

Broxtowe Enews 1st October 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. Can I give a special welcome to the new subscribers that we have this week. I had a lot of feedback from last weeks newsletter and I’m very conscious that haven’t been able to reply to everyone yet. Please bear with me and I’ll get to you.

1. New car park in Beeston

It is likely that the multi-story car park will be demolished early next year as part of the process to build the new tram system, and so the council are making arrangements to find alternative provision. We looked at this at the council’s cabinet this week and have made arrangements for a couple of sites to be looked at further, so that shoppers visiting Beeston will not be unduly inconvenienced.

In addition to these the council will be consulting on changes to other car parks. We’re looking at the possibility of introducing a three hour limit at Bramcote leisure centre (but with no charge) to stop commuters leaving their cars there all day. This should mean that there are more spaces available for people who actually use the centre, which should be a good thing. Also in Bramcote we’re looking at whether the King George’s park car park should be limited to a maximum to three hours. This should again stop people leaving their cars there all day, so that users of the park have more chance of getting parked.

These are consultations at the moment and so I’d be really interested to hear peoples views.

2. Housing proposals

The council are still consulting on proposals for new building in the borough. These are still simply ideas and no decisions have been taken, despite what has been suggested by other people. I’ve also seen suggestions on the Tory party web site that the council is wanting to build all over the green belt, which is not true. The map shown on that site is not a plan showing where the council wants to build, but simply a record of where people have made enquiries about building in the past. The last government required that councils kept this sort of information. The consultation period is due to end on Monday but any submissions made after that will still be taken into account.

I’ve met Anna Soubry this week to talk about the housing plans. I think that Anna’s basic position is similar to mine, that the green belt should be protected wherever possible, but I have told Anna that I am unhappy about the way that she has gone about things.

3. City Council Housing Plans

The city council is also looking at where they will allow new house building within their boundaries. One area that they have identified is around the Nottingham Business Park next to the A6002. Their proposals would mean that new houses could be built stretching right down to the edge of Strelley Village, which is a conservation area. There is a little bulge where the border of the city crosses the A6002, and the city have decided to try and fill this full of houses. Their plans have no real impact on the city but will cause untold damage to the borough. I will be pressing for the borough to oppose these plans.

4. Sporting heroes

The Broxtowe Borough Sports Review will take place on 4^th December, and the organisers are looking for nominations for the boroughs sporting heroes. These will be people who devote time in the borough to coaching, volunteering or participating in sport. Nominations can be made by ringing 0115 917 3572.

5. Ebooks from the Library

Users of the libraries in Nottingham will now be able to download ebooks from the library web site at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/libraries. This will make books available to those who are unable to visit the library in person, but each download does cost £1. I hope that this new service will be successful.

6. Black Bin Collections

The announcement from Eric Pickles that the government wanted councils to return to weekly black bin collections came completely from the Tory side and was nothing to do with the Lib-Dems, who have already announced their opposition to it. It also flies in the face of the Governments much cherished localism agenda, where they say that they will give local councils the freedom to do what they want to with their money. The announcement that Mr Pickles made was that the Government will give councils an extra £250 million, but only where they agree to return to a weekly black bin collection.

If the Government have £250 million to give away then councils will very happily find a use for it, but we should have the freedom to use it in the way which most benefits local residents. All the research says that where weekly bins are reintroduced recycling rates drop, which is something that we should avoid where possible.

7. Fire at Albany Court

As people may have seen on the TV this week, there was a fire at Albany Court in Stapleford where the fire service needed to rescue people from one of the flats. Once again I find myself in awe of the bravery of these people, and it’s thanks to them that no-one was hurt.

8. Bramcote Lib-Dems

If you’re a Bramcote resident and a supporter of the Liberal Democrats why not join us for a meeting this Monday, 3^rd October. It starts at 7.30pm and is at 8 Cranston Road, the home of Cllr Stan Heptinstall. All supporters are welcome to attend.

9. Stapleford Walk In Centre

Sadly the walk in centre is now shut, meaning that one of the best medical facilities anywhere in the region is no longer around. The Lib-Dems have led the campaign against the closure and we are really disappointed that it hasn’t succeeded. All the Lib-Dem councillors in Stapleford worked really hard on this, and we’d like to thanks everyone for the tremendous support that they gave us.

10. Goose fair

Just a reminder that the Goose Fair is on this week, running from Wednesday until Sunday. There will be extra bus and tram services put on, and parking around the site itself is very limited. If you’re going have a great time.

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

David

Broxtowe Enews 24th September 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.

There is quite a lot to cover in this edition as there was no news last week as I was at the Lib-Dem conference in Birmingham. It was an excellent conference, which seemed to confound the national media. They were there in droves, expecting us to engage in a civil war over the poor election results in May, but instead it was an extremely upbeat and entirely united conference by a party finally adjusting to being in Government. Enough of that though, lets turn to the news.

1. Boundary Change

The biggest story of the week was the Boundary Commissions proposed new boundaries for the Broxtowe parliamentary constituency. They are suggesting that the village of Gotham should be added to Broxtowe, despite the fact that it is the other side of the Trent with no direct connections to the rest of the constituency. I know that this will make the figures work for the commission, but frankly it seems a very odd idea to me.

2. Future Development

The consultation on housing in Broxtowe for the next 20 years closes in just over a week, so if you haven’t had your say yet please do. You can submit responses at www.broxtowe.gov.uk or by post to the borough council. I attended a meeting at Toton today organised by Anna Soubry, where some strong views were expressed. I contacted Anna some weeks ago suggesting that she and I should meet to discuss what might be proposed, and I’m pleased to say that we have been able to schedule the meeting for this coming week.

3. Greening Beeston

The Greening Beeston campaign, which promotes a greener lifestyle in practical ways, is to hold a meeting on Tuesday at the Baptist Church on Dovecote Lane starting at 7.30pm. The aim is to kick start the next phase of the campaigns work, and it would be great to have a large turnout of local residents.

4. Bramwell Care Home

Bramwell Care Home in Bramcotee is one of six care homes (valued at something like £19 million on the open market) which are being sold by the County Council for £2.5 million. There is a covenant that they are to be maintained as care homes for a specified period of time and they have been sold to a company which runs care homes, so that will provide some reassurance to residents. However not selling them at all would be a far better idea. My colleague Stan Heptinstall has been an active member of the Friends of Bramwell campaign which has opposed this sale, and all the Liberal Democrat county councillors voted against the proposals.

5. Chief Constable to Retire

The Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, Julia Hodgson, has announced that she is to retire next spring. The process of appointing her successor will be commenced later this year by the Police Authority.

6. Changes to County Council Procedures

The County Council are consulting local residents about whether they should change their method of operating to return to a system of committees that existed until about ten years ago. All councils used to work through a series of committees, but the last Labour Government forced them to abandon this and move to a portfolio based system. The coalition government have decided to allow councils to decide how they want to operate, and this is why the county council are now consulting about reverting to the previous system.

7. House Building

One way that central government provide funding to local authorities is through a scheme called the “New Homes Bonus,” which provides cash grants to local authorities based on the number of new houses built in the borough the previous year. The government have now announced that this year Broxtowe Borough Council is to receive £190,873. This is the lowest of any authority in Nottinghamshire, and a key factor is that Broxtowe just does not have spare available land. This is a flaw in the scheme which I have drawn to the attention of ministers until I’m blue in the face but I’ve got nowhere.

8. Lawrence Novels 100^th Birthday

The DH Lawrence Heritage Centre at Durban House in Eastwood (which will shortly start opening on Sunday’s, something that we have not been able to do for the past couple of years, are holding a special exhibition to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the publication of The White Peacock, Lawrence’s first novel. The exhibition is on now and will run until 30^th October.

9. Police Station Closures

The consultation being run by the police about their proposals to close a number of police stations, including Stapleford and Kimberley, is now half way through and they have published their initial findings. So far more than half of respondents have said that they are opposed to the scheme. If you haven’t responded yet may I encourage you to do so at http://www.nottspa.org/Welcome.html.

10. Green Guardians

Are you a green guardian, or do you know someone who is? Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is still looking for nominations for their green guardians awards, which have a closing date of October 3^rd. Nominations can be made on www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/green-guardians.

11. Tesco Toton

Tesco’s at Toton have been ordered by the council to remove a new storage pod which they erected without permission. Tesco’s say that they will be appealing this decision.

12. Over 40’s Football

A new scheme has been launched by the borough council in Eastwood to encourage the over 40’s to get involved in football. This is being run with the Mars Just Play initiative. This is being held at the Eastwood Community Sports Centre, and sessions will cost £2 per person. Details are available on 0115 917 3572.

13. Redevelopment at Boots

Boots have set out their ideas for how parts of their site might be redeveloped. Although most of this is in the city some of it is in Broxtowe, and the proposals for us could include 500 houses being built. This is a long term aspiration, as far as I can tell, but if it comes to be it would ease the pressure on sites elsewhere.

14. The Crown Inn

Congratulations to the Crown Inn in Beeston, who have been named the East Midlands pub of the year by CAMRA, the real ale society. This is the second time that it has won the award in the past couple of years.

15. Pet Microchips

The Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre is offering cut price micro-chipping for pets to raise money for charity. This will be on 2^nd October and costs £10, with £9 of the fee going to Brinsley Animal Rescue. Details are available on 01773 712999.

16. City Council Proposals

The city council has unveiled it’s plans for new development within its boundaries. Significantly for the borough they are proposing new development around the Nottingham Business Park, to the west of the A6002 just north of Strelley Village. Due to a quirk of the boundaries there is a bulge of land to the west of the road leading to Nuthall Island which is part of the city rather than in Broxtowe, and the city council seem very happy to build on it. Effectively they seem to feel that if they build here it will be Broxtowe’s problem and not theirs.

17. Winter Gritting

Notts County Council have announced that this year they are ready for the forthcoming winter. The authority have stockpiled 9,000 tonnes of road salt, which should be enough to cope with a winter of the severity of the last couple of years.

As ever thanks for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback will be gratefuly received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 11th September 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. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1. Public Transport Money.

Thank you for all the suggestions for how the borough council can spend the money it has available for public transport schemes. I’ve had more responses to this than to any other request I’ve ever included, which is why I just haven’t had time to send personal replies to everyone. I have read them all though. I will pass them all on to the borough council and will try and get as many of them implemented as possible.

2. Walking Round Sherwood Forest.

I’ve mentioned before that Stapleford poet Dave Wood is walking around the ancient boundaries of Sherwood Forest. He has now published his latest set of dates and anyone who wishes is welcome to join him. Phone Dave on O77 O99 77684 or email him on davewrite2002 @ yahoo.com for details.

3. Mayors Fashion Show

Broxtowe mayor, Lib-Dem councillor Jacky Williams, will be hosting a fashion show in aid of two young peoples charities later on this year. Tickets are on sale now and they are going fast. The show will be held on 15^th November at the Pearson Centre in Beeston. Tickets cost £7.50 and are available by ringing 917 3210 or by emailing civic@broxtowe.gov.uk.

4. Council Meeting

We had a very interesting full council meeting last week. The first main motion for us to discuss was one that I put forward about the riots last month, pledging the support of the council to the police in apprehending those involved in criminality and thanking the council staff for their contingency planning about this. I spoke about the need to avoid knee-jerk reactions but both the extreme left and the extreme right promptly demonstrated this. A tory member called for all people involved in criminality to be evicted from their homes (ignoring the fact that the council would then have a legal responsibility to rehouse them and we would be hot with the costs for this) and a number of Labour members tried to blame everything on the coalition, (even the fact that there is a 15 year difference in life expectancy between different pasts of Nottingham, which I really don’t think we can have created in the last 12 months). One of the most sensible contributions in the debate came from Tilly Stone, the youth mayor, who spoke about the need not to demonise young people.

The second motion that we had was another one I put forward calling for the Government to provide more support to local authorities about steps they can take to combat global warming. The coalitions new energy bill is extremely good in many ways, but a small injection of extra money could unlock a lock of new support for authorities, and whilst Broxtowe has an excellent record in tackling climate change more support is always welcomed. I thought that this would receive unanimous support but we had members from both Labour and the Tories speaking to deny that global warming was even happening! (To be fair to the Tories, the best contribution to the whole debate was from Conservative Councillor Graham Harvey, who clearly outlined the overwhelming evidence to show that global warming does exist.) The motion was passed but five Tories and one Labour member voted against.

The third motion was one from the Tories calling for protection for the green belt in Broxtowe and a reduction in housing numbers being proposed for the borough. Much of the motion is very good (they appear in fact to have used my words from the cabinet meeting in July when we looked at this) but the motion was premature as the time to discuss this is after the consultation has closed at the start of last month. Whilst I agree fully with the sentiment expressed by the motion the actual result had it been passed would have been the very opposite of what the Tories were asking for, due to the poor timing on their behalf. I therefore proposed that this motion be adjourned until the next meeting, after the consultation had closed, and this was carried (even though two Labour councillors got confused and voted the opposite way to which they wanted!)

5. Road Improvements

I was able to report at the council meeting that a programme of road repairs was being implemented by the council. I asked earlier on this year for suggestions from people as to roads in urgent need of improvement and the new list comes from that. We haven’t been able to do all the roads that we wanted to as their simply wasn’t enough money to do them, but I’ll press for further repairs to take place next year.

6. Katelyn Severn

Congratulations to Bramcote dancer Katelyn Severn, aged 18, who has been selected to represent the UK in an international ballet competition in South Africa next month. Katelyn, who trains at the Redhead Scott School of Dancing in Beeston, will be representing the UK at the Genee International Ballet Competition in Cape Town. This is yet another young person from the borough achieving great things.

7. Support for Abuse Victims

Broxtowe Womens Project is offering a 12 week course called the Freedom Project, aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence. The course runs in Eastwood on a Thursday and details are available on 01773 718555.

8. Stapleford Walk In Centre

I was delighted to learn that the county council refused to support the closure of the Walk In Centre in Stapleford. Lib-Dem councillors led the argument and were supported by the Labour party. The Conservatives voted in favour but the overall result was that the council refused to support the closure. Unfortunately this will not stop it happening, so it’s only a pyrrhic victory.

9. Beeston Wildlife Group

The Beeston Wildlife Group will be having a talk about safari’s in Botswana at their meeting on 19^th September. They meet at Trent Vale School and it costs £2. The meeting starts at 7.30pm and details are available from Bill Wheatley on 0115 925 0208.

10. Attenborough Health Walk

There will be a health walk around Attenborough Nature Reserve on Tuesday 20^th September at 10.30am. The walk will last 90 minutes and is free to talk part in. Further details are available from the visitors centre on 0115 972 1777.

11. Next Newsletter

There will be no newsletter next weekend as I will be at the Lib-Dem conference in Birmingham, so the next edition will be in two weeks time.

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

David

Broxtowe Enews 4th September 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.

1. Money for Public Transport

I’m starting this week with a question. Can you help the council spend a million pounds? I’m not kidding. Whenever significant new housing is built in the borough the council takes some money off the developers to pay towards improvements in public transport. At the current time we have a £1 million in the fund for this but the schemes currently proposed will only come to about £500,000. I’m therefore looking for (sensible) suggestions for schemes that we can use the rest of the money for. It is crazy that we can only use the money for transport schemes, as there are lots of other projects crying out for the cash, but I’m afraid that this is how the system works. Please let me have any ideas and I will pass them on.

2. Bramcote CAT meeting

Bramcote CAT meeting will take place tomorrow (Monday) at the Memorial Hall. All local residents are welcome to attend. Amongst the items being discussed are the councils plans for where new housing should take place in the borough.

3. Stapleford Walk In Centre

A County Council meeting will take place tomorrow to make the final decision on the closure of the Stapleford Walk in Centre. The Lib-Dems have fought an extensive campaign to block this, but to no avail. If, as expected, the County Council approve the closure tomorrow then the centre is likely to close on 30^th September.

4. Awsworth Composting Plant

I’m delighted to learn that the plans to build a composting plant in Awsworth have been withdrawn. The Parish Council has fought hard against these proposals and they and local residents are to be congratulated on their success.

5. Leisure Centre Offer

The borough council has launched a new scheme for full time students wishing to use our leisure centres. A new 9 month membership scheme has been introduced aimed solely at students, and will entitle them to use the facilities at Bramcote, Chilwell and Kimberley leisure centres. Details are available from any of the leisure centres.

6. Kimberley Institute Cricket Club

Congratulations to the Kimberley Institute Cricket Club, who have won a grant from the Cricket Foundation to invest in a non-turf wicket. This scheme has also been supported by my colleague Ken Rigby, who has donated £500 from his County Council funds to this project.

7. Walking For Health

Another good news story is that Broxtowe’s Walk and Talk Walking for Health Group received an award at the Greenwood Community Awards ceremony in Mansfield for their work in promoting a healthier lifestyle.

8. Attenborough Flood Defences

Work has commenced this week on the latest stage of the Trent Flood Defences through the village of Attenborough. Long time readers may recall that this was the most controversial part of the scheme until a compromise was reached last year, and I have been delighted to have played a part in finding a solution which offers the best for everyone. The work should be completed by next summer and once done the village should be protected from any further flooding for years to come.

9. Beestonia in Print

My favourite local blog, Beestonia, has now gone into print. Matt Goode who writes Beestonia, has now produced The Beestonian, a print version. Issue Minus One is now available and further information can be obtained from matt at info@beestonia.org.

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

David

Broxtowe Enews 30th August 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.

1. Stapleford Walk In Centre

I’m afraid that the NHS has confirmed that Stapleford Walk In Centre will close at the end of September. This is a dreadful decision and totally ignores the very strong views expressed by people locally. The argument that Stapleford shouldn’t have a facility like this as other places didn’t have anything as good is one of the most ridiculous I’ve ever heard, Rather than get rid of such a good facility they should be raising standards elsewhere to match. We have fought this decision every step of the way but sadly to no avail.

2. Stapleford Carnival

Stapleford Carnival is next Saturday, 3^rd September. It takes place at the Washington Drive playing field and everyone is welcome. The Lib-Dems will have a stand there, so do come over and say hello.

3. Free Swimming

I’m delighted to report on a real success for the borough council. As readers may be aware, for the last two years we have offered free swimming for children up to 16 and pensioners during the month of August. I’ve just seen the figures for the first three weeks of the month and we have already had an increase in patronage of 15% compared to last year, and nearly four times the numbers that we had in July. Not only are a huge number of people using the free offer but we are also having record numbers of paying customers. Broxtowe’s leisure centres are a real credit to the borough and very popular. We are one of the few councils that does not need to subsidise the leisure centres, they are so popular that they pay for themselves.

4. Events at Chilwell School

There are two forthcoming events at Chilwell School which I have been asked to advertise. First there is an Outdoor car boot sale on Sunday 11th September 2011 at Chilwell School, Queens Road West, Chilwell (Will not go ahead if it rains) from 9am to 1pm. Car booters may set up from 7.30am and there’s no need to book. Cars cost £5, vans £7.50 and the fee for visitors is a donation to school funds. If the weather is uncertain see www.chilwell.notts.sch.uk

Also on Friday 9^th September 2011 at 7.30pm Paradiso Cinema presents Oranges and Sunshine, the story of Nottinghamshire social worker, Margaret Humphrys, and the Child Migrants Trust - http://www.childmigrantstrust.com/. This is at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, Queens Road West, NG9 5AL. Tickets on the door - £5, £4 (conc). Come at 7pm for refreshments. Further details are at www.chilwellartstheatre.co.uk

5. DH Lawrence Play

The Phoenix Rising, a play about DH Lawrence, will be performed at Durban House in Eastwood on September 18^th. Tickets cost £12 (£10 concessions) and are available from 01773 717353.

6. Unemployment Figures

It was very disappointing to read this week that Nottingham now has the worst unemployment rate in the country. Thankfully matters are not as bad in Broxtowe as they are in the city, but the rate is rising and the council does commit a lot of resources to encouraging new businesses and support for firms in the borough.

7. Wildlife Photography

Attenborough Nature Reserve are running a session for budding wildlife photographers this coming Saturday from 8.00am to 10.30am. It costs £32 and pre-booking is essential. Places can be booked on 0115 972 1777, and if you’re going I will see you there. I’ve been taking photo’s for years but rarely of birds, and so I’ve signed up. (Some of my photo’s can be seen at www.david-watts-photography.org.uk if you will forgive the shameless plug.)

8. Brinsley graveyard vandalism

About 30 headstones have been overturned this week at St James the Great Church in Brinsley. This is despicable behaviour, and if anyone has any information to assist in apprehending those involved please contact the police. If you don’t want to talk to the police directly talk to me and I will pass information on.

9. Charity Website

A charity set up to help a Beeston resident has a new website for donations. The Sherwood Foundation are trying to raise £100,000 to send Andy Sherwood of Beeston to America for specialist treatment. The web site is at www.thesherwoodfoundation.org.uk).

10. Jessie Carter-Kay

Congratulations to Bramcote resident Jessie Carter-Kay who has won through to the finals of the Notts Outstanding Achievement Awards 4uth. Jessie set up her business Pulp Friction Smoothie Bar Project in 2008 and has turned it into a successful venture, bringing her bikes to various events where people can use pedal power to create their own smoothies. Both of my girls have had goes on them and think that they are great fun.

11. Register to Vote

Just a quick reminder that if you haven’t registered to vote yet you need to do so quickly. Forms were sent out earlier this month and people can register by post, phone or internet.

12. County Council Grants

The County Council are considering changes to the system that they use to administer grants to voluntary groups. The idea is to make the process easier and to provide more certainty for groups, and the County Council are currently consulting on their plans. Comments can be sent to county-grantaid@nottscc.gov.uk or by phoning 0115 977 3304.

13. Green Flag Parks

People now have the opportunity to vote for their favourite green flag parks. Bramcote Park, the flagship park in the borough, has held a green flag for years and I‘d encourage people to vote for it (or if not for one of the other green flag parks in the borough). Votes can be cast at http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/GreenFlagAwardSites/EastMidlands/Default.aspx.

14. County Council investing locally

I’ve been critical of many things that the County Council have done recently, but I’m delighted to see that they have been able to increase the amount of goods that they buy from local supplies from 41% to 50%. This is very good news and the County reckon that every pound that they spend locally ends up being worth £1.97 to the local economy.

15. Foresters Arms, Newthorpe

I mentioned last week that local residents were collecting signatures on a petition in an attempt to stop Greene King building houses on the site where the Foresters Arms currently stands. That petition has now collected 732 signatures and has been passed to Anna Soubry MP.

16. Kimberley Police Station

Kimberley Parish Council have organised a public meeting to discuss plans to close Kimberley Police Station. This will be held at the Parish Hall on Newdigate Street on September 5^th at 7.00pm.

17. Safer Community Volunteers

The Notts Police Authority are seeking nominations from Notts residents who have been helped by volunteers giving up their time to make local communities safer for an award. The Jean Varnam award recognises outstanding achievements and initiatives in community safety, and nominations can be made by emailing Jackie.nash@nottinghamshire.pnn.police.uk

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. We haven’t had any new subscribers for the past three weeks so if you know of anyone who would benefit from reading it please mention it to them.

Many thanks

David

Broxtowe Enews 21st August 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. Planning Consultation

As we’re in the middle of August the news is fairly light this week, but can I start with something I raised last week, which is the consultation on where future building should take place in the borough. A number of people have commented that the consultation page on the borough council web site is not very clear or easy to use, and so to assist people I have put together a short summary of the key proposals, which is attached to this newsletter. Can I stress that this is not an official part of the consultation but simply me trying to help people. I hope this is helpful to people but feel free to get in touch if you need any further detail.

2. Footsteps Festival

The council have launched the 2011 Foosteps Festival, which began with the Mayor of Broxtowe, Cllr Jacky Williams, leading a group on the first walk. The majority of the walks will occur between 3^rd and 11^th September and there will be numerous events around the borough. The details are available on the councils website at http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9337.

3. What’s On Where Website

The council has launched a new events website for events happening in Broxtowe. The site is a calendar for local events and is available at http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=8971. Items it highlights coming up this week are the Beeston West Cat Meeting (Community Action Team) on Tuesday evening, the Awsworth Cat on Wednesday and the Tesco Football Skills Festival for boys and girls aged 8 to 11 on 31^st August.

4. Sponsored Walk

Stapleford Lib-Dem activist Tammy Booth is taking part in a 90 mile sponsored walk to raise money for the Anthony Booth Fund, walking from Skegness to Stapleford. If you’d like to sponsor her you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/Tammy-Booth0.

5. Foresters Arms, Newthorpe

Greene King, who own Foresters Arms in Newthorpe, the last pub in the village, have applied for planning permission to demolish it and build seven houses on the site. Local residents have launched a campaign to save it and have formed an organisation called Save Our Foresters Arms. They are currently collecting signatures on a petition.

6. Hanna Bricklebank

Hanna is a 10 year old girl living in Attenborough who suffers from a rare medical condition called VACTERI. Despite this she manages to live a very full and active life, and her efforts have been recognised this week when she was named Bravest Child in the 7 – 11 age group at the national well Child awards. I’d like to add my congratulations to the many others that she has received.

7. Police station closures

Notts police are continuing to consult on proposed closures of police stations. Two are proposed in Broxtowe, in Kimberley and in Stapleford. A suggestion has now been put forward in Kimberley that the police might move into the Parish Hall and use this as their base.

8. Durban House Display

A new display of photographs of “ancient tombs and historical treasures” is on at Durban House from now until 28^th August. All were taken by local photographer Alan Clayden.

9. Moorgreen Show

The Moorgreen show is on next Sunday and Monday. This is an excellent and large scale event and the borough council remain the major sponsors. We’re delighted to be associated with it.

10. A Level Results

Can I give my congratulations to those students who have received good A level results this week. My nephew got 3 A*’s, so we’re all very pleased about that.

It’s a very short newsletter this week as is often the case in August. Any feedback is gratefully received.

David