Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. A special welcome to the new readers that we have. I’d expected during August that the growth in readers would stop, so I’ve been delighted to see that we are still getting new people signing up.
Congratulations to Shane Easton, the Conservative candidate, who won the Kimberley by election. In a real three way marginal, where all three candidates were within 200 votes of each other, Shane came out on top. This means that the political mix of the borough council stays as it was as the Tories were defending the seat.
There has been some criticism of the campaign that the Liberal Democrats ran, and I think we have to accept that we did misjudge the mood of the election. We spent too much time attacking the other parties when instead we should have been talking about the positive difference that the Lib-Dems make. After all, we do have a lot to be shouting about. We will learn from this and hopefully get it right next time.
Staying in Kimberley there is bad news about Kimberley Medical Centre. After local people managed to persuade the PCT to keep the centre open they advertised it to other doctors. Thirteen practices enquired but unfortunately not one of them put a bid in. Given this the PCT feel that they have no option but to close it down. Patients are being written to and asked to find new practices.
We’ll start off with a hat trick of Kimberley stories today, and I’m afraid that this one is also bad news. In the run up to the by election a Kimberley Councillor announced that he was working with the Co-op to bring new development to the brewery site, which he said would be extensive with a range of house sizes and also new businesses. He announced that he had also been working with the councils planning department on this. Sadly all of this was simply a case of someone playing fast and loose with the electorate to try and pick up a few cheap votes. There had, until this week, been no consultation with the planning team. The councillor did bring the Co-Op to meet planning officers this week and it turned out that they had no plans to redevelop the site at all, and were simply interested on working with others to develop some of the site as public open space if a developer could be found. Significantly they were not bringing any money to the table. The officers view was that the whole meeting was “a complete waste of time.”
The current graveyard in Beeston will be full in a couple of years time and the process of finding a replacement site has now started. Councillors will look at a range of possible sites in the next couple of weeks and try and narrow down a short list of two or three sites. These will be subject to public consultation.
Just a quick reminder that the Moorgreen show is on tomorrow and Monday. I will be there and I look forward to meeting some of you at the event. Broxtowe Borough Council remain a major sponsor of the event.
I was telephoned the other day by a local newspaper to ask for my views on the report that a firm were looking for oil in Broxtowe. This was the first I’d heard about this so I made some enquiries, and a firm are carrying out some tests in the north of the borough. This is part of a more extensive survey of parts of Nottinghamshire. The tests are carried out by a number of lorries with specialist equipment and should not cause any inconvenience to people, but I’ll be interested to hear any reports of people encountering them.
Bramcote History group have just launched their first book – “Remembering the People of Bramcote.” The book costs £7.99 and can ordered on 0115 925 1491.
Riverside Road in Beeston Rylands will be closed for the next two months as the Environment Agency build the next stage of the flood defences. During this period there will be no through access for road traffic although access will be maintained to the caravan park there. Footpaths in the area will also be subject to temporary diversions.
Voting has now started amongst businesses in Beeston Town Centre about whether or not we should create a Business Improvement District (“BID”) Zone. This is a scheme where firms pay a small increase in rates and that money is pooled to bring in extra services and promotions for the town. As an employer in the town the borough council has a vote on this and we have voted in favour of the scheme.
There has been a big jump in car crime in the south of the borough. During warm weather it is important to remember to shut windows and sun roofs, and not to give criminals an easy time. Crime has fallen a lot in recent years but we must ensure that we all remain vigilant.
As you may have seen on the national news the Government are encouraging councils to reduce the amount of road clutter that there is. I’d be very happy to hear any suggestions that people have for unnecessary signs which can be removed. Having said that I’m still trying to get the county council to make good on a promise they gave ages ago to install an illuminated speed sign on Coventry Lane in Bramcote. I was promised it would be in by the end of March, so they’ve missed that by a long way.
Just a quick note here to remind people that the A52 will be subject to night time closures from 6th September.
The Beeston and District Civic Society and Beeston and Stapleford History Groups have joined together to launch a series of blue plaques to commemorate locally significant people in the south of the borough. The first is dedicated to Mr T H Barton, the founder of Barton Buses. Others will follow in the next few months.
Thank you for your support for this newsletter and as ever I’m happy to receive any feedback.
Best wishes
David
