Welcome to the Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. We’ve on;y had one new subscriber this week, the first time for ages that new numbers have been that low, but a special welcome to that new reader.
1. Free Swimming
You may have read in the press that the coalition Government have withdrawn the funding for free swimming places as one of the spending cuts that they have been forced to make. That cut is due to come into effect at the end of July. I have decided as leader of the council to ask our cabinet, and I’m sure that they will agree, that we should continue to provide free swimming until at least the end of the school holidays. Dropping it one week into the school holidays would be unthinkable. We will look at whether we can afford to keep it going in the future but until we’ve seen the figures I don’t know whether that will be possible.
2. Council Terminology
The County Council have decided to stop talking about Greater Nottingham and to instead refer to the “core city area” from now on. This is a phrase which has been used in council terms for ages but it seems to me that everyone knows where we talk about when we refer to Greater Nottingham and it would much more sensible to refer to that. Spending time and money changing the terminology to Core City Area does not appear to be a sensible use of very scarce resources.
3. Social Workers
Whilst on with the County Council I have read this week that they have spent £1.5 million on employing temporary social workers. This works out at £90,000 per agency member of staff, which is twice the maximum wage that they pay employed social workers. Social workers always get a bad press but they are vitally important in safeguarding children, and it seems to me that it would be a better use of our money to employ enough of them and not spend so much on the temps.
4. Kimberley Primary School Summer Fare
This will take place on 3rd July from 10am through to 1pm, and attractions will include a bouncy castle, face painting, a penalty shoot out and an animal corner.
5. Broxtowe Community Celebration
I mentioned this last week but as it’s one of a number of special events on 3rd July I thought I would give it another plug. This is a Round Hill School in Beeston and is a celebration of all the various cultures who live in the borough. This will be on from 11am to 4pm. The organisers are still looking for volunteers so if you’d like to help please email lizpierce@nottspct.nhs.uk
6. Attenborough Village Fete
Completing a trilogy of events on 3rd July is St Mary’s Church Atttenborough holding their village fete. This will start at 2pm on the village green. Live music will be provided by Occasional Jazz.
7. New Mums Exercise Classes
During the summer the borough council will be running a series of exercise classes for new mums and their baby’s. These will start on Stapleford Sure Start centre on 7th July, Beeston Fields Primary School on 8th July and Sunnydale Primary School in Chilwell on 9th July. Further information is available on 917 3572.
8. Councillors Expenses
The former Labour County Councillor for Eastwood, Ellie Lodziak, has recently submitted an expenses claim for £13,000 that she didn’t claim whilst she was acting as a councillor. It’s now over a year since she retired from her post aqnd the County Council have decided that they will not be paying this.
9. Kimberley Taxi Rank
Residents in Kimberley have submitted a petition to Broxtowe Borough Council objecting to the siting of a taxi rank in Station Street. Local residents say that the position of the rank would lead to anti social behaviour outside of their homes. The matter will be decided by the council on 28th July.
10. Arts and Crafts Fairs
A series of art and craft fairs will be held throughout the borough over the summer. The first one will be on the 25th and 26th June in Beeston Square, followed by 10th July at Beeston Carnival, and then at the Kimberley Pram Race.
11. Beeston Division Girl Guides
To mark 100 years of girl guiding a new flower display has been unveiled at Sherwin Island on the A52. As well as the borough council words the girl guide logo is now on display as well.
12. New Exhibition in Durban House
A new exhibition of photos of Vietnam has gone on display at Durban House in Eastwood. These were taken by photographer Alan Clayden.
14The World Cup
Finally as a football fan I have to just say how disappointed I have been with England’s performance throughout the world cup, cumulating in such a dismal performance today. The team have totally failed to perform and their complete inability to defend today left me speechless. I doubt that Mr Capello (or whoever replaces him) will seek my advice for the future but if they do I would simply say that he should decide now who are likely to be the key players four years hence and start building that team now. For me I would build the squad around James Milner (to my mind the best player in England’s squad), Aaron Lennon, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney. I would tell them not to bother with big money transfers for the sake of it but to make sure that they were in a team where they played every week, and to say to the country to forget about the European Championships, that we are building a team for the next world cup now. Sadly I don’t see that happening.
As ever thank you for your support for this project. I am always grateful for the feedback that I receive and for the recommendations that people give, and which are our best source of advertising.
Best wishes
David
