Broxtowe Enews 1st December 2013

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. First may I thank everyone for your messages of support and offers of help after our house flooded a few days ago. I have been deeply moved by the kindness and generosity of people. We have had to move out of our house for the next few months whilst drying out and building work takes place, and so we have moved to a property on Seven Oaks Crescent in Bramcote. Second may I apologise that there was no newsletter last week. With everything that was going on we decided to have a few days away last weekend.

1.       Free Car Parking

From now until Christmas the borough council car parks will be available free of charge. Every year since car park charges were introduced we have provided free parking in December and I am delighted that we have been able to do this again this year.

2.       Travelright

TravelRight is a new sustainable travel programme funded by the Borough and County Councils (amongst others) and run by the charity Ridewise. It aims to provide information to people throughout the borough in making active travel choices, including walking, cycling, public transport and car share options, all to make peoples journeys quicker, cheaper and easier. When I took over chairing the council’s Climate Change Working Group this was one of a number of initiatives I asked us to look into and I’m delighted that it is now happening. You can access information about this on their website at www.travelright.org.uk. They also have a prize survey on their about travel patterns in Broxtowe.

3.       Framework

It was very disappointing to hear this week that Framework, the Nottinghamshire Homeless Charity, are contemplating closing all of their hostels due to the cuts imposed on them by the County Council. This is extremely worrying and we are actively exploring how we can take steps to help them and to put pressure on the County Council to reverse this decision.

4.       Waste Collections Calendars

When the waste collection calendars were delivered this year they included a letter to say that this would be the last year that they were delivered. This was not what was agreed by the Liberal Democrats on the council and we are not willing to accept it. Until the whole council decides otherwise then we will ensure that calendars continue to be distributed to all houses.

5.       Parking Outside Kimberley School

Many apologies that there was a typo in the email address for comments on the parking proposals for Kimberley School in the last newsletter. The correct address is TMconsultation@nottscc.gov.uk. Many thanks to a sharp eyed reader for spotting this.

6.       Emergency Gas Repairs

Emergency gas repairs are currently being carried out on Main Street in Newthorpe. As a result the road will be closed until Wednesday at least.

7.       Ambulance Response Times

It was disappointing to read again this week that East Midlands Ambulance Service have missed their targets for responding to emergencies. This is the fourth month in a row that they have failed to hit their targets. There is a new senior management team in place at the ambulance service so I hope that they can get to grips with the problems soon. They have this week produced an action plan os steps that they are proposing to take so I wish them success in this.

8.       Improvements to Sports Centre

The council have been able to finance improvements at Bramcote, Chilwell and Kimberley Sports Centres. In Bramcote and Kimberley new fitness equipment is being provided at a cost of £230,000, whilst at Chilwell a further five a side pitch is being developed at a cost of £91,000. The current pitches are well used and have a waiting list so an extra pitch will be very welcome.

9.       Review of Polling Places

The council have recently been reviewing polling station locations for the borough. On the whole the view is that polling stations are in the best locations, but a few are proposed. I am unhappy about a couple of these and these have been sent back to be further considered.  The major change agreed is that the polling station in Chilwell which has been in Wyndham Court, which is no longer available, will move instead to Alderman Pounder School. In general we would prefer not to have polling stations in schools but there are no other suitable buildings that we have been able to identify in the vicinity. Another change in Chilwell is that the polling station at Greenwood Court is affected by the tram works. The working group looking at this had suggested that this should move to the Masonic Lodge, but I have asked for this to be considered further.

10.   Chilwell Road Exceptional Hardship Fund

The Borough Council has agreed to administer a fund to provide support for traders on Chilwell Road who are affected by the ongoing tram works. The closure of Chilwell Road to traffic is now expected to carry on until April next year and so a hardship fund is being provided, funded jointly by the City and County Councils. However I am delighted that the borough council are administering the scheme so that it can be dealt with close to the area.

11.   Recycling Centre Hours

The recycling centre in Beeston will be operating on shorter hours over the winter period. It will now be open between 8am and 4pm.

12.   Tree Planting in Bramcote Park

Children from Bramcote Hills Primary School (including my daughter) this week planted 15 new trees in Bramcote Park as part of National Tree Week. The £30,000 cost of this and other improvements to the park were funded by the County Council and the Borough Council.

13.   Flower Arranging

A demonstration of Christmas Flower Arranging will take place at Trowell Parish Hall on Friday 6^th December in aid of Treetops Hospice and The Helpful Bureau in Stapleford. There will be mulled wine and mince pies at 2pm and the demonstration starts at 2.15pm. Tickets cost £7.50 and are obtainable on 0115 917 3210.

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

Best wishes

David

www.davidwatts.org.uk

www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.

Broxtowe Enews 17th November 2013

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. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1.       Coventry Lane

In the early hours of Wednesday morning a large water main burst under Coventry Lane in Bramcote. This is the A6002, which goes past the crematorium and is the main route heading towards junction 26 of the M1. The road is still closed as we speak but Severn Trent hope to have the road reopened at some point tomorrow.

2.       Flooding

The big problem when a water main burst is that the water has to go somewhere. Unfortunately for my immediate neighbours and I on this occasion the water came straight through our houses. When I woke up at about 2.30am there was a foot of water in my house. The damage is extensive and we will have to move out for the foreseeable future whilst repairs are carried out. The insurance company have informed us that part of the house may have to be demolished, which shows the extent of the damage.

Of course at the other side of the world at the moment thousands are struggling with the effects of the typhoon in the Philippines. Their flooding is vastly more severe than ours, and if anyone would like to support the relief efforts you can donate to the Disasters Emergency Commission appeal at http://www.dec.org.uk/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_term=Republic%20Of%20The%20Philippines&utm_content=Location%20Only&utm_campaign=Philippines&gclid=CPvh__3M7LoCFcXKtAodAF8A9Q

3.       Broxtowe Core Strategy

The enquiry onto the core strategy has now finished. The inspectors full report will be received some time around Christmas but two key items have already emerged, one of which is very good and one s very bad. First the good news. The inspector has indicated that she agrees with the councils calculations for the demand for housing over the next 15 years. All of the developers argued that across Greater Nottingham we should allow a further 20,000 homes to be built. If we had lost this then we would probably have found that about 5,000 of those would have had to come to Broxtowe, which would have been a complete disaster for the borough. This absolutely vindicates the approach that the council took of basing our decisions on numbers on the evidence that we had collected about demand in the future.

The bad news unfortunately relates to Toton. The council had not included this as a strategic site for housing and we faced objections from the developers about this. Unfortunately they were aided in this by objectors from other areas, particularly those who didn’t want us to allocate the land at Field Farm in Stapleford. Their representative at the enquiry argued strongly that Toton should be included in preference to Stapleford. I know that this will disappoint a lot of STRAG members (the campaign group for Stapleford) who expected that they would be arguing that there was no need to allocate any green belt land for building. The upshot of all this was that the inspector indicated that the council should not only include Field Farm but should also include Toton as a strategic site for development. This will come as a real disappointment for Toton residents, and I’m absolutely gutted about it. I had argued that we should not develop at Toton and it was my privilege to bring a motion to that effect to the council which was unanimously supported.

In summary therefore we’ve been able to protect the vast majority of the green belt land in Broxtowe but sadly we lost the battle over Toton.

4.       Chilwell Arts Theatre Events

Paradiso Cinema presents: Winter Kills at 7.30pm on Friday 22nd November at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, NG9 5AL. Tickets £5 (conc £4) on the door. Come at 7pm for refreshments.  19 years after President Timothy Keegan was assassinated, his brother Nick discovers a dying man claiming to have been the gunman. While trying to avoid his wealthy and domineering father's attempts to control his actions, Nick follows the clues that have been handed to him. As he progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern the real trails from the dead ends, and increasing dangerous as unknown parties try to stop Nick from uncovering the truth.  The film was released in 1979 and stars Jeff Bridges, John Huston and Anthony Perkins.

 Beeston Probus Club and Chilwell Arts Theatre present: Festive Friday, a programme of entertainment for all the family, with Aaron Calvert (mentalist & hypnotist), Adam Guest (local singer & actor) and Beth Frisby (singer/songwriter). On Friday 6th December at 7.30pm at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, NG9 5AL. Tickets £10, senior citizens £8 from 0115 9252698 or 0777 205 3412. Light refreshments will be available. All profits to Victim Support.

5.       Season of Lights Festival

Season of Lights festival on Sat 30 Nov 2.30-5pm at Chilwell Road Methodist Church Hall (next to the old Beeston Police Station). A free community event for all ages, celebrating seasonal festivals from around the world through music, crafts, information and food. Organised by the Broxtowe Community Celebration Group.

6.       Stapelford Library Reopening – Correction

I reported last week that Stapleford Library was reopening but I got the date wrong. The 30^th November, which I mentioned, is the celebration day but the library will actually reopen on 25^th November. Many apologies for the error.

7.       Survey about moving to the city

May I thank everyone who has completed our survey about whether the city council should be allowed to absorb the southern half of Broxtowe into an enlarged city council area. The survey is still open and we have received more responses to this than any other survey that we have ever run. So far respondents are 96% against the idea. If you haven’t completed the survey yet you can still do so on our website at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk.

8.        Parking restrictions at Kimberley School

Proposals have been unveiled for parking restrictions, including double-yellow lines, to be brought in outside Kimberley School. The proposal is for parking and waiting to be banned outside the school in Newdigate Street to stop people double parking on the bend opposite the school. No waiting restrictions will also be placed on a short section of nearby Victoria Street. The news comes following several years of complaints by local residents. My colleague Ken Rigby is the County Councillor for the area and I would like to congratulate him for his success in getting these plans brought forward. The plans are now out for consultation and comments can be submitted to tmconsultation@nottsc.gov.uk.

9.       Stapleford Lifestyle Outreach Programme

Residents in Stapleford are being offered a chance to access healthy lifestyles as part of a new health outreach initiatives. The project, funded by the West Nottingham CCG /NHS Lifestyle Initiative and run by volunteers headed up by local Jan Goold will have it’s inaugural outreach event on November 21^st 2013. The first drop in event is at Hickings Lane health Thursday centre 21^st November between 2.30pm -4.30pm. Participants can join the scheme at any of the four drop in sessions, and will be open to anybody within Nottingham West Consortium catchment.

10.   Beeston Wildlife Group

On Monday 18^th November Beeston Wildlife Group will be holding a talk about British Butterflies by Dr Tim Melling. This will take place at Trent Vale Infants School, Trent Road, Beeston Rylands, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. Entrance costs £2.

11.   Traffic Restrictions – Bembridge Court Bramcote

The County Council is proposing to install yellow lines in Bembridge Court to prevent vehicles parking there between 9am and 5pm Monday to Saturday. If you have any comments on this scheme please let me know before 28^th November and I’ll pass them on to the County Council.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received. I will try and keep this service running during the disruption that we’re currently undergoing.

Best wishes

David

www.davidwatts.org.uk

www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.

Broxtowe Enews 10th November 2013

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. Today is Remembrance Sunday and tomorrow is Remembrance Day. I would encourage everyone to join me and the vast majority of the population in a two minute silence tomorrow to mark the exact time that the First World War finished. My Great Grandfather served in that war, surviving the Somme, and he lived to a grand old age. My Grandfather then served in the RAF for many years both before and during the second world war. He’s now 92 and still going strong. My family have been very fortunate that they both survived the conflicts they served in, but many thousands lost their lives and I believe that it is vitally important that their sacrifice (and that of those who died in all the conflicts since) is remembered.

1.       Broxtowe Core Strategy

The public enquiry into the Broxtowe Core Strategy continued this week. Thursday was the day set aside for issues concerning Broxtowe as opposed to any of the other authorities involved. In particular the enquiry focused on whether the 6,150 houses that the council is planning to allow to be built over the next 15 years is the appropriate figure and where the general areas for distributing them should be. Whether the council was right to allow building on part of Field Farm in Stapleford was also discussed.

The enquiry is extremely important and many local groups took part. Contributions ranged from the very good to the very bad, but the inspector heard them all. The enquiry is expected to finish on Wednesday and the report should be received early in the new year, if not before. It is possible that the inspector may give us her preliminary conclusions on Wednesday. If so I will report them in the next newsletter.

On Monday of this week the council published a consultation on which specific sites should be allowed to be developed. This is now available on the council website at www.broxtowe.gov.uk or a CD containing the data can be sent to you. Ring the council on 0115 917 777 if you would like one. This consultation identifies every possible site and it does not for one moment mean that the council is proposing to allow building on all of them.

2.       County Council Budget

This week the new administration at the County Council unveiled their budget proposals. It has been well known for a number of years (certainly well before May’s elections) that the council was facing a budget crisis this year, and the Labour administration have decided to tackle it by combining big tax rises and massive cuts in the budgets. We will all feel the effects of this over the next year. One very disappointing aspect of the proposals is that the council have opted to turn down a grant from the Government which is offered to avoid the need for council tax rises. I’ll leave readers to draw their own conclusions about why Labour didn’t tell voters prior to the elections that this was their intention.

3.       New Affordable Housing

Providing more affordable housing for Broxtowe residents is one of the biggest challenges that the council faces. I’m therefore pleased to report that we have reached agreement with housing associations to build new affordable houses at Midland Avenue in Stapleford and Linwood Crescent in Eastwood. We are also looking at the possibility of adding new housing on the old disused car park on Hickings Lane in Stapleford (not on the park itself).

4.       Beeston Travel Centre

The borough and county councils have agreed to co-fund a travel information centre in Beeston close to the proposed bus/tram interchange. The running costs will be met from the county council but the set up costs will be shared between the two authorities. Hopefully this will help travellers complete their journeys with ease.

5.       Chinese New Year Celebrations

The Borough Council have agreed to donate £3,000 towards the costs of the Chinese new year celebrations in February next year. Over the last few years this has become a major event in Beeston and the councils continued financial support will help it to go forward.

6.       Stapleford Takeaway

A planning application has been submitted to the borough council to convert an empty shop on Nottingham Road in Stapleford to a takeaway. This application will be considered by the borough council in due course. The major concern is likely to be the number of takeaways already present and the question that the council will have to determine is whether it is better to have yet another one or to allow the shop to potentially remain empty.

7.       Missing Woman

Elizabeth Kinston, aged 37, has been missing from home for just over a week and the police are appealing for any information that people have about where she may be.  If anyone has any information on her whereabouts they are asked to contact Notts Police by ringing 101.

8.       Kimberley Brewery

A new set of proposals have now been submitted for development at Kimberley Brewery. These include 91 houses and 31 apartments. A decision on these will be made in the new year.

9.       Grove Farm Wind Turbine

As regular readers may recall an application by Nottingham University to install a wind turbine in Beeston Rylands next to the Trent. This was rejected by the council because of the impact on local residents and the enterprise zone. The university appealed against this refusal but last week that appeal was dismissed.

10.   Stapleford Library

Stapleford Library, which has been closed for refurbishment, will reopen on 30^th November. There will be a programme of special events that day including children’s craft activities from 10am and the official opening at 10.30. Everyone is welcome to attend.

11.   Broxtowe CAB

Broxtowe Citizens Advice Bureaux has received a Big Lottery Award of £350,000. This will mean that they can recruit more workers and put more resources into the Broxtowe Women's Project which supports victims of domestic violence, and the Hope charity.

12.   Budget Consultation

This is just a quick reminder to readers that the borough council’s consultation on residents priorities for the budget closes on Friday. If you haven’t yet had your say please do so at https://youchoose.yougov.com/BroxtoweBC.

13.   St James The Great Church, Brinsley

St James The Great Church in Brinsley has obtained a grant of £45,000 to enable it to be refurbished. The church wishes to make itself more user friendly for local residents. I wish them every success.

14.   County Council Adopters

Notts County Council has recruited 60 new adopters this year, double the number who came forward last year. This is excellent news but as ever demand exceeds supply. There are currently 100 children in the County with adoption plans. If you are interested in adopting the County Council website at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk has some useful information.

15.   Cancer Research Fashion Show

The Victory Club in Eastwood is holding a charity fashion show on 1^st December in aid of Cancer Research UK. Doors open at 7pm and tickets cost £5. Tickets can be purchased from 01773 715330.

16.   Deputy Prime Minister

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, was in Nottingham on Friday. I didn’t get the chance to see him when he was here but I have been invited to London on Wednesday to discuss planning reforms with him. I’ll report back on the meeting as far as I’m able next week.

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

Best wishes

David

www.davidwatts.org.uk

www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.

Broxtowe Enews 3rd September 2013

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. May I apologise for the problems with last weeks enews. I don’t know what the gremlin was (it wasn't that I'd fallen asleep on the job as one of my friends suggested) but about half of the readership didn’t receive the newsletter when it was sent on Sunday. Hopefully this one will get to everyone without a problem.

1.       Bramwell Nursing Home

Regular readers may recall that in 2011 and 2012 the Liberal Democrats strongly supported the campaign to prevent the County Council selling off the Bramwell Nursing Home in Bramcote. My colleague Stan Heptinstall in particular was heavily involved in this. Despite all the efforts of campaigners the County Council (at that point run by the Conservatives) sold Bramwell to a private company. We were told that those of us who opposed it were scaremongering.

It gives us no pleasure to see that we have been proved right after all. The Care Quality Commission have told the owners that they need to make significant improvements or face closure. The CQC report disclosed that a resident at the home told their inspector that the food was of "workhouse quality and sandwiches are all bread. If you closed your eyes, you wouldn't know what the filling was."  This is really disappointing and it seems that some of the most vulnerable people in society have been betrayed for a quick profit.

2.       Stapleford By Election

There will be a double by election in Stapleford, probably in mid-December. My colleague Christine Wombwell has now stood down as she has had to move to deal with family commitments. I’d like to thank Christine publicly for her efforts on behalf of the people of Stapleford for many years. So far it seems that the election will be contested by the Liberal Democrats and the Stapleford Community Group. Sadly the dirty tricks have already started. Posters were put around Hickings Lane today claiming that the Borough Council and the Liberal Democrats wanted to sell off three football pitches on the park for housing. May I assure everyone that this is completely untrue, and sadly may be setting the standard of behaviour for the next few weeks until the election. Residents in Stapleford may remember that during the 1990’s the Labour Party tried to sell off Hickings Lane and it was the Liberal Democrats, in particular Brian and Christine Wombwell, who successfully led the campaign to block this.

3.       House Building Issues and Options

The council will publish its next round of consultations on possible locations for new house building over the next 15 years. This will involve an analysis of every possible site, not just those favoured by the council. It is a genuine consultation which will run from now until next year to give people plenty of time to consider things and get a response in. The documents will be available on the website and in local libraries, and people who want them may request individual copies. They are split into different areas so you will be able to focus in on sites close to you should you wish.

4.       Bin Collection Calendars

It always gives me great pleasure to report on big Lib-Dem wins, and this is one that will benefit many people. Last month the Labour Portfolio holder for Technical Services on the council announced that waste collection calendars would no longer be distributed and everyone would, be able to download them from the website. This decision was taken without any reference to the Lib-Dems and we immediately pointed out the major problem that this excludes everyone who does not have access to the internet. On Wednesday at the full council meeting and on behalf of the Lib-Dems I called for this decision to be reversed. I was able to follow this up with some correspondence and I’m delighted to say that Labour have been forced into a U-Turn and bin collection calendars will be delivered to everyone during December.

5.       HS2 Exhibition

HS2 will be holding an exhibition on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 November, from 10 am - 5pm at the Westpark Leisure Centre, Long Eaton NG10 4AA and on Saturday November 30 from 10am - 5pm at Bilborough College. Everyone is welcome to attend and I hope that there will be an extremely good turnout from Broxtowe.  At the East Midlands Liberal Democrats Regional Conference yesterday I spoke in favour of HS2 and the party voted very strongly in favour of supporting it. I’ve put an edited version of my speech (to make it easier to read) on our website at http://broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk/en/article/2013/742265/the-case-for-hs2

6.       Barton’s Secret Party

I have received a number of complaints today about the levels of noise coming from the event at Bartons on Chilwell High Road last night. Unfortunately the show seemed to go on very late and many residents were unable to sleep. I have emailed Simon Barton today and asked him to ensure that this is not repeated. It’s great to have venue’s like Barton’s but it is not fair on neighbours to go on too late or too loud.

7.       Lib-Dem AGM

The 2013 Annual General Meeting of the Broxtowe Liberal Democrats will take place on Friday 15^th November 2013, starting at 7.30pm at Bramcote Memorial Hall. All members and supporters are welcome to attend. If you’re a Lib-Dem supporter but not yet a member why not come along and join us.  We can sign you up as a member there if you like. Being a member doesn’t involve any commitment to extra work, we welcome non-active members just as much. Over the whole of the East Midlands membership of the Liberal Democrats is growing (as it is nationally) so why not add yourself to that number?

8.       Chilwell Arts Theatre

On Friday 8th November at 7.30pm, Paradiso Cinema, Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School  NG9 5AL, presents Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.  Come at 7pm for refreshments. Tickets on the door £5 (£4 con). On Friday 15th November at 7.30pm, The Little Earthquake Theatre Company presents The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe  at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School  NG9 5AL. Tickets £8 (£6 conc) from 0115 9252698 or 07772053412.  This is supported by the Village Ventures Scheme. A wealthy recluse and his private nurse live behind a barricade of bolted doors and blacked-out windows. Suspicion and resentment grow until the nurse hatches a fool proof plan to dispose of his patient. When the deed is done, the silence of the empty house is shattered by a curious thumping from beneath the floorboards…

9.       New Youth Mayor

Harroun Kinoucha, 16, from Bramcote School, has been elected as the new Broxtowe Youth Mayor, taking over from Adam Stockwell. The Youth Council also elected 15 year old Jade Cox, also from Bramcote School as Deputy Youth Mayor. Broxtowe Youth Council was set up in 1999 to allow young people to debate the issues affecting them and is currently working with various department within the Council on a number of projects.

10.   Bad Weather Preparations

(This really resounds with me at the moment as I was unable to get to work in London last Monday because there were no trains running because of the weather.) Notts County Council have announced that they now have gritters on stand by each night in anticipation of bad weather. The teams will remain on standby until March and the stockpiles of salt are now full.

11.   Ambulance Service Response Times

The latest statistics available show that for the second month in a row East Midlands Ambulance Service missed its response targets for the most serious, life threatening, calls. The target is that 75% of these calls should be responded to within 8 minutes and the service have only been able to achieve this in 68% of calls. Other bad news for the trust this week saw their Chief Operating Officer quit after just five months in the job and an announcement that they had overspent their budget by £400,000. All of this together makes very worrying reading.

12.   New Houses in Stapleford

A planning application has been submitted to demolish the Nags Head and Plough in Stapleford, together with some business units, to construct 50 new houses. The borough council is currently consulting on these and a decision will probably be made early in the new year. Although this site would lead to the loss of some industrial units plans have also been submitted to build 10 new industrial units at West End Street.

13.   Kimberley Road Closure

Westby Lane, between Kimberley and Awsworth, will be closed between 18^th and 24^th November for carriageway repairs.

14.   Kimberley Police Station

A planning application has been submitted to convert Kimberley Police Station, which was closed some months ago, into three flats and an office. These will be considered by the borough council and a decision made early in the new year.

15.   Walker Street School Site, Eastwood

The old Eastwood Primary School site on Walker Street has been vacant for a number of years and successive borough council leaders have tried to push the County Council, who own it, to get on and do something with it. Plans have now been submitted for 100 homes to be built on the site. There will be an exhibition for residents on Monday between 3pm and 7pm at St Mary’s Church on Church Street and everyone will be welcome to attend.

16.   Trowell Parish Council

Trowell Parish Council are looking for a new member after Cllr David Kilby stepped down from his post. If only one person applies then the council can co-opt them, and members must live within 3 miles of Trowell.

17.   Older Persons Consultation

The Borough Council is currently preparing a strategy for dealing with the housing needs of an aging population and has launched a survey for the public to share their views. You can access this from the borough council website at www.broxtowe.gov.uk and the consultation ends on 30^th November.

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

Best wishes

David

www.davidwatts.org.uk

www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.

Broxtowe Enews 27th October 2013

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. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1.       Eastwood Post Office

At their meeting last week, Eastwood Town council decided to buy the Post Office building for their new offices. This week they met and appointed a solicitor and an architect. This means that the council will now have a permanent base again in town. Although part of the building will be used for offices, the main area will be used as a community facility where, for a small fee, any group in town will be able to use the room. Another upside to this is that the Post Office will remain. If a developer had bought the property he could have ended the lease and put in an application to pull it down and build flats. Eastwood would then have been left with no Post Office.

2.       HS2 Benefits

Research by accountants KMPG, published this week, suggests that Broxtowe could benefit from the HS2 by between £154million and £331million. The council has set up a working group to look at the area and how we can ensure that we are maximising the benefits, and I have the honour of chairing that. We have our first meeting this week to get the process moving and we will be contacting interested parties in due course to invite them to participate as well.

3.       “No Trick or Treat” Posters

As usual as we approach Halloween the police have made available posters that people can display to show that trick-or-treaters should not call. These can be downloaded from http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=17538&p=0 or from http://bramcotetoday.org.uk/.

4.       Nottingham Credit Union, Rumbletums, Kimberley

The rescheduled meeting to discuss the proposed Nottingham Credit Union information point at Rumbletums will take place at the cafe (2a Victoria Street, Kimberley) on Thursday 31st October at 6.30pm. For more details about this contact Jeff Buck on jeff.buck2768@btinternet.com.

5.       Focus Deliverer Needed

The Lib-Dems currently need a new deliverer to deliver Focus in Bramcote on Chesham Drive, Sloan Drive, Wembley Gardens and Kilburn Close. As residents of these streets will know we deliver Focus every quarter in Bramcote, free of charge, to all of the village (as we do in many other parts of the borough). Delivery rounds take about 45 minutes each four times a year, so if you could help us do this we would be very grateful. Just get in touch with me if you can help. We’re always also grateful for any offers of help elsewhere so if you can assist please just let me know.

6.       County Council Minerals Plan

Notts County Council are currently consulting on their new mineral plan. This is a significant matter for Broxtowe as the mineral plan deals with, amongst other things, where and when open cast mining would be permitted. The consultation is available at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/minerals and the closing date is Wednesday 4th December.

7.       Remembrance Day Parades

Stapleford’s Remembrance Day Parade takes place on Sunday 10th November and will lead to a number of road closures between 10.45 and 12.00. The parade starts on Halls Road, travels to Walter Parker Square on B5010 Derby Road for the Remembrance Service. Upon completion of the service the parade continues along B5010 Derby Road, turns right onto B6003 Toton Lane, then right onto Eatons Road. It then turns right again onto Victoria Street, then left back onto B5010 Derby Road where it travels back to the starting point on Halls Road.

Nuthall’s Remembrance Day parade will result in roads being closed from 10.30 to 12.00. Nottingham Road will be closed between Nuthall Roundabout and Watnall Road.

8.       Daybrook Learning Centre

This is based in Arnold but I’m mentioning it because the County Council say that their current consultation, about whether or not to close it permanently, would affect people in Broxtowe. If you wish to have a say then visit the County Council's website  where you can completing the council's response form on-line. The closing date for the receipt of comments on this proposal is Friday 6 December 2013.

9.       College House Fireworks

College House junior school in Chilwell are holding a fireworks night on Saturday 2^nd November starting at 6pm. Admission costs £3.50 for adults and £2.50 for children.

10.   Shortwood Farm

The consultation on whether to permit open cast mining at Shortwood Farm in Cossall has now reopened. This is because the county council rejected the original application for technical defects and it has been resubmitted.  I have ensured that the Borough Council have already resubmitted our complete objection to the scheme.

11.   Ambulance Response Cars

East Midlands Ambulance Service has unveiled new response cars to enable it to achieve the response time targets for 999 calls. The cars enable trained volunteers to give assistance prior to the arrival of the paramedics and are equipped with two way radio’s as well as medical equipment. One of these cars will be based in Beeston.

12.   Train Times

East Midlands trains have unveiled their new timetable for the winter and from December trains from Beeston to London will be up to 8 minutes faster, due to the work that has taken place this year. This is welcome news, but I’ve already seen on the web that the train I was due to get to take me to London tomorrow morning has been cancelled because of the storms forecast for tonight. Whilst talking about the trains may I also mention that Network Rail have submitted plans to install wi-fi at Beeston station which will be available for commuters to use.

13.   Stapleford History Society

The next meeting of the Stapleford and District History Society will take place on Wednesday 13^th November at Maycliffe Hall in Stapleford, starting at 7.30pm. The meeting will include a presentation about Hopewell Hall and entrance is £2.50.

14.   Parking Consultation

Notts County Council is currently consulting on introducing a residents-only parking scheme for Endsleigh Gardens and Muriel Road in Beeston. The consultation is open until 6^th November (sorry about the short notice – I missed this originally) and permits will cost £25 each, although they will be free for those over 75 or holding a blue badge. If you have any comments on the proposals please write to The County Council, Trent Bridge House, Fox Road, West Bridgford.

15.   Solar Panels at Ikea

The borough council have granted planning permission for Ikea to install 1,000 solar panels on the roof of their store in Giltbrook. This is part of their programme to get their stores entirely dependent on renewable power and I’m delighted to welcome this initiative.

16.   Kimberley War Memorial

A campaign has been launched to raise £20,000 to restore the Grade II listed war memorial in Kimberley. The organisers hope that this can be done before a march next year by the Royal Engineers based at Chetwynd Barracks.

17.   University Numbers

An interesting piece of information released this week was that nearly half of all youngsters in Broxtowe go on to university. 46% of all school leavers in the borough go on to university, compared to 54% from Rushcliffe, 36% from Gedling and 23% from Ashfield.

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

Best wishes

David

www.davidwatts.org.uk

www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.

Broxtowe Enews 7th October 2013

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. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1.       Moving to the City Survey

Thank you for all the responses to the new survey on our website about whether residents would support the south of Broxtowe moving into an enlarged city council area. We have never had such a large response or such a swift response to any survey that we have run. We had nearly 100 responses in the first 72 hours that it was running. 97% of respondents were opposed to the idea. The survey is still open and so if you haven’t completed it yet then you are still able to do so. It is on our website at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

2.       Paradiso Cinema

The next film at the Paradiso Cinema, Chilwell School, is Moby Dick. It's on Friday 11th October. This is the classic story by Herman Melville of Captain Ahab's obsession with a huge whale, Moby Dick. It stars Gregory Peck and Orson Wells. Tickets on the door £5 (£4 conc). Film starts at 7.30pm. Refreshments from 7pm.

3.       Rumbletums/WEA adult learning

Rumbletums in Kimberley are working with WEA to explore the possibility of a range of adult learning courses being provided there. I’ve attached a flyer giving more details and if you are interested please contact Jeff Buck at jeff.buck2768@btinternet.com

4.       Kitten found

A kitten has been found in Bramcote at the north end of Coventry Lane. She is about three months old and has no collar or microchip. If you think she might be yours please contact me.

5.       Walter Grauberg

It was with great sadness that I learned this morning that Bramcote resident Walter Grauberg had passed away over the weekend. Walter was a highly respected member of the community here in Bramcote and worked hard for the benefit of everyone, especially via the Bramcote Hills Community Association. Indeed the BHCA’s regard for him was such that a bench was provided in his honour on the Bramcote Ridge. Walter will be missed greatly by all those who knew him.

6.       New Korfball Team

Korfball is a mixed gender ball sport, with similarities to netball and basketball. It is played by two teams of eight players with four females and four males in each team. The objective is to throw a ball through a bottomless basket that is mounted on a 3.5 m (11.5 feet) high pole. Jennifer Price, Marketing Officer for Magic-Korfball Says, “We are a korfball team looking for new recruits in the Beeston/Wollaton area. We train on Mondays, 19:30 at Bilborough College Sports Hall, Nottingham from September until May.  During the summer (June until end of August) we train outdoors, our current park of choice is Dovecote Park, Beeston. See you there from 7:30pm, followed by a pint in The Victoria Hotel. Your first two indoor training sessions are completely free, outdoor training is always free.” For more details please visit the clubs website at http://www.magickorfball.co.uk/.

7.       Half Term Activities

Broxtowe Sport are running holiday activities for children with disabilities and inclusion needs aged 8-19 years old, with siblings and friends also welcome to join. Here are the schedules of activities:   

Wednesday 23^rd October 9am – 2pm   Drop off Bramcote Leisure Centre 9am, pick up Foxwood School 2pm. Please provide children with a packed lunch, swimming kit, water proof coat and wellington boots or outdoor shoes. Cost £10 per child. Activities: Water Games, Attenborough Nature Reserve Walk, Lunch, NHS nutrition team Cook and Eat session

Thursday 24th October 10am – 12pm Chilwell Olympia Sports Centre. Cost £5 per child.  Activities: Badminton, Golf, Table Tennis, Korfball (children can make their own choices on the day)

Thursday 24th October 1pm – 3pm. Kimberley Leisure Centre   Please provide children with their swimming kit. Cost £5 per child. Activities: Youth Gym and Water Games.

If you would like to book your children and their siblings or friends onto any of the activities please get in touch via email, telephone 0115 917 3572 or online booking form at www.broxtowe.gov.uk/inclusion. Bookings must be made and pre-paid by Friday 18thOctober 12pm.

8.       Anna Soubry MP

Broxtowe MP Anna Soubry has been moved in the cabinet reshuffle. She had been a junior health minister but now has been moved to the Ministry of Defence. I’d like to wish her lots of luck n her new role.

9.       Ladies Pamper Evening

A ladies pamper evening is being held in aid of the Mayors charities. Treat yourself to an evening of pampering at the Town Hall on Thursday 7th November with beauty treatments including Boots No7 and retail therapy. I’ve attached a flyer with details for anyone interested.

10.   Tree Planting Grants

To help schools, community groups and parish councils to plant trees in school grounds or on community green spaces. The Greenwood Community Forest Team is once again offering free advice and funding for tree planting of up to £500. This year, thanks to Nottinghamshire County Council's Local Improvement Scheme, funding is available for planting throughout Nottinghamshire. Projects could include planting to provide areas of shade, creating or enhancing a wildlife area, memorial trees, screening unsightly areas or healthy living projects such as planting apple trees. To be eligible, your scheme must have the permission of the landowner, be located on school grounds or publicly accessible land and involve the school and/or local community. The deadline for applications is 13th December 2013, but funding is limited so parish councils, groups and schools are encouraged to apply early. Guidance notes and an application form are available at www.greenwoodforest.org.uk. For further information or advice on developing your project including the types of trees contact the Greenwood Team on 0115 969 6533 or email greenwood@nottscc.gov.uk.

11.   Greasley CAT Meeting

Local residents in Greasley can find out about more about flooding issues at a special CAT Meeting later this month. Greasley, Giltbrook and Newthorpe Community Action Team will welcome representatives from Nottinghamshire County Council and Severn Trent Water on Thursday 17th October who will be answering questions on surface water flooding following flooding in the area on 23rd July. The meeting will be held at Greasley Parish Hall, Dovecote Road, Newthorpe between 7.45 pm to 9.15 pm

12.   Polling Station Review

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the council were starting a review into polling stations in the borough. They have now launched an online consultation which can be completed at http://broxtowe.firmstep.com/default.aspx/RenderForm/?F.Name=PW8H9NGsz8G&HideAll.

13.   Strictly 50’s Dance Event

The council is holding a dance event on Sunday 1^st December from 1pm to 4pm at the East Midlands Conference Centre. The event is a fun afternoon for spectators who can watch and be entertained and dancers who want to take part in social dancing and try new types of dance in the dance workshops. Spaces are limited so early booking is essential. You can do this online at www.broxtowe.gov.uk.

14.   Beeston Probus Club

Beeston Probus Club are appealing for new members. The club has dropped to just 18 active members and they would like more. If you are interested in joining then please contact the chairman, Brian Palmer, on 07999 978638.

15.   Recycling Centre Closing Times

The county’s recycling centres, including the one in Beeston, will close at 6pm throughout October. They will then be closing at 4pm from November throughout the winter.

16.   Oxylane Sports Village

As regular readers will know a planning application to build a sports village at Junction 26 of the M1 was withdrawn a few weeks ago. This has now been resubmitted and now includes a new swimming pool and sports centre as well as the facilities that have previously been suggested. This will be decided by the council’s Development Control Committee in due course.

17.   Potholes

It was disappointing to read this week that the County Council have missed their targets for repairing potholes. There are currently more than 60 miles of roads in the County in need of repairs. I know that we will all be able to bring sites to mind and rest assured that as local councillors we are regularly pressing for our streets to be repaired.

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

Best wishes

David

www.davidwatts.org.uk

www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.

Broxtowe Enews 30th September 2013

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. Many apologies that the newsletter is a day late, normal service will hopefully be resumed next week.

1.       Splitting Broxtowe

Nottingham City Council have made it clear in a number of statements recently that they are keen on splitting Broxtowe into two so that the south of the borough (Beeston, Chilwell, Toton, Bramcote and Stapleford)becomes part of an enlarged city council area. My personal view is that this is an appallingly bad idea as I do not believe that the city’s desire is motivated by a desire to look after residents of Broxtowe but instead it is driven by a desire to get their hands on Broxtowe’s spare land. If they succeed we would not be facing the possibility of 6,000 new houses but a much larger number instead. I’ve said what my view is but we as a party would like to know what you think. We have created a very simple one question survey on our website at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk and I’d be grateful if you would take a moment to complete it. We really do want the views of as many residents as possible so please can you mention this to your friends and neighbours as well.

2.       NHS Events

NHS Nottingham West CCG is holding two public events in October and you are warmly invited to attend. Come along to find out more about your local NHS, share your views and help shape priorities for future healthcare. The events are open to all and are being held on Tuesday 15 October, 6-8pm, Highfields Fire Station, Hassocks Lane, Beeston, NG9 2GQ and Thursday 17 October, 1pm-3pm, Durban House, DH Lawrence Centre, Mansfield Road, Eastwood, NG16 3DZ. Dr Guy Mansford, local GP and Chief Officer said: "We know the NHS is facing huge challenges, both locally and nationally. This includes more people living longer with complex conditions, an increased demand on services and greater public expectation. That's why it's important for us to understand the needs of our patient population to ensure high-quality, patient-focused services. These events provide perfect opportunity to participate in our future decision making." Our CCG is led by local GPs and other health professionals who are responsible for the planning and purchasing of almost £100 million worth of health services for patients living in places such as Eastwood, Kimberley, Stapleford, Beeston, Bramcote and Chilwell. Everyone is welcome to attend the events. The organisers would be grateful if you could register your place so that they are aware of numbers. Light refreshments will be available 30 minutes prior to the start time. Please register by emailing nottingham.west@nottinghamwestccg.nhs.uk or telephoning 0115 8835100 (office hours) or online www.nottinghamwestccg.nhs.uk/nhsevent

3.       Polling Stations

The council is currently reviewing the location of polling stations within Broxtowe. If you have any comments on where you go to vote please let me have them and I will pass them on to the team. Any proposed recommendations will be published later on this year.

4.       Credit Union in Kimberley

Volunteers  in Kimberley have decided to set up a credit union information point at Rumbletums (probably commencing late October/early November) with a view to this then being developed as a collection point for Nottingham Credit Union. Through the information point, people will be able to get details on the full range of services offered by Nottingham Credit Union and become members. This service will be staffed by local volunteers. There will be another meeting and initial training session for prospective volunteers at Rumbletums Cafe, 2a Victoria Street, Kimberley at 6.30pm on Tuesday 15th October. Anyone with an interest in supporting this new venture would be very welcome.

5.       Crossing The Floor

No, not me. I’m a Liberal to the very core of my soul. However we were recently joined in the party by former Labour activist Sarah Brown, and she has written an excellent piece on her reasons why for the Beestonia Blog. You can read it here: http://beestonia.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/breaking-the-political-taboo-sarah-brown-on-switching-parties/. You can see Sarah speaking at the Lib-Dem conference earlier this month here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KKTUveKX54 and she has written an article for Lib-Dem voice, one of our in house publications, which you can read here: http://www.libdemvoice.org/a-tale-of-two-conferences-36389.html#utm_source=tweet&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter

6.       Britain’s Greenest Borough

At a meeting of the council’s Climate Change Working Group this morning I unveiled a set of suggestions and proposals that I think could help to propel Broxtowe towards being Britain’s most environmentally friendly borough. This is a target that I would like to see us adopt and I’m pleased to say that the proposals were met with a strong level of enthusiasm. Broxtowe got on board with tackling climate change early on in the process but over the past few years we’ve lost our way a bit. I’m hoping that (in my new role as chair of the Climate Change Working Group) we can not only get the council freshly back on track but also to enable us to make it easy for people to adopt a greener approach to their own lifestyles. I’ll provide more information about how the council is getting on over the next few months.

7.       Housing Land Availability

At the council’s cabinet last Tuesday we endorsed a review of housing land available in the borough. The council faces significant pressure to provide new housing and we cannot accommodate everything on brownfield land, but I am pleased to say that the total number of houses that may need to be built on the green belt seems to be falling. We have been able to accommodate more housing on existing sites and we are committed to ensuring that no land will be taken from the green belt unless absolutely necessary. If anyone wants to see the list of sites that we’ve looked at just let me know and I’ll send you a copy. Linked to that we also agreed to carry out an extensive public consultation from now until next year seeking the views of residents about where future development might take place. I thought that everyone would be in favour of asking local residents their views but surprisingly the Conservatives decided to abstain. I am disappointed by that as I think that it is vital that local residents are given every opportunity to share their views.

8.       Oxylane Development

As regular readers may know Oxylane, the company who own the Decathlon Sports Store in Giltbrook, applied to build a sports village on land next to Junction 26 of the M1. This application was withdrawn at the last minute but Oxylane have now approached the council about the possibility of developing a leisure centre on the site as well. The council have agreed to discuss this with them on the explicit understanding that this will not prejudice the independence of the Development Control Committee to determine the planning application in due course. Potentially this could give the borough a state of the art sports centre along with the Oxylane Site, which could also generate hundreds of jobs. However the Conservatives again refused to back this.

9.       999 Calls

New figures published by the police this week made very disappointing reading. In the last twelve months they dealt with move than half a million emergency calls but only 12% of these related to crimes. If you believe that a crime is being committed or someone is in danger then 999 is absolutely the right number to dial, but for routine calls it most certainly is not. Notts Police operate a 101 number for these.

10.   County Councillors Allowances

The Liberal Democrats on Nottinghamshire County Council proposed to reduce councillors allowances as a money saving exercise. The county council needs to save £154 million next year and reducing councillors allowances was seen as a sensible way of helping. Sadly however the Labour councillors voted against this and as a result the proposal was defeated.

11.   Artists Display

Beeston artist Pam Millar will be opening her studio for people to look at her work on 5^th and 6^th October. This will be at Barrydale Avenue in Beeston and will start at 10am each day. She will be on hand to talk about her work and to provide advice to others, and light refreshments will be available.

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

Best wishes

David

www.davidwatts.org.uk

www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.