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 especially to the new readers that we have this week.
Although September sees the restart of many activities I’m afraid that this newsletter may not cover everything that it should as I’m afraid that I left my notes in my office and I’m having to do this from memory. Hopefully I’ll cover everything but if not I’ll add them next week.
1. Stanton to Trowell Road – As you may know the developers wanting to build at Stanton in Erewash had proposed a new road coming into Trowell, which would have been the main way of getting out of the new development and would have resulted in gridlock. My colleague Ken Rigby, as well as many local residents, objected to this new road being built and I’m pleased to say that the developers have now abandoned the idea.
2. Bramcote History Group – As part of the Heritage Open Days Bramcote History Group will be having a display at St Michaels Church tomorrow (Sunday) showing the history of Bramcote and also selling copies of their new book on Bramcote during the war. The original print run of this ran out so it has been reprinted, and is available for £7.99.
3. Cossall Church – The church has been granted permission to replace the roof with modern material rather than with lead, as the lead has been stolen on a number of times recently. Whilst it is disappointing that they have had to do this the decision makes absolute sense.
4. Boundary Review – As part of the electoral reforms being brought forward by the Government they want to redraw constituency boundaries so that every MP represents more or less the same number of people. This seems extremely fair to me. The bill has been through the House of Commons and will now proceed to the House of Lords. It does however mean that in all probability the constituencies in Broxtowe will have to change. At the moment Broxtowe borough falls into two constituencies, Eastwood and Brinsley are in Ashfield and the rest of the borough is in the Broxtowe constituency. Both of these are larger than the 71,000 voter target for the redrawn boundaries, so alterations are likely to be needed. My personal preference, if the numbers work out, would be for a Broxtowe North and a Broxtowe South constituency, but the council will be looking at this in more detail later and making submissions when invited to do so.
5. Nuthall Graveyard – Broxtowe Borough Council has agreed to provide half the funding for running Nuthall Graveyard, which is owned by the parish council. They had asked for help with the costs and we’ve been happy to oblige.
6. Beeston Graveyard – Beeston Graveyard is getting full and the council on Tuesday looked at options for the future. We have agreed to explore two options, extending Chilwell Graveyard and also developing a new one at Bramcote crematorium. We have ruled out using some of Beeston Fields Park, which was one option that had been suggested. In the meantime some trees will be removed from Beeston Graveyard (the low grade ones, not the more established and prominent ones, which will extend it’s life for a further couple of years.
7. Chetwynd Barracks Estate – As residents who live on the Chetwynd Barracks estate will probably be aware, the major developer of the site went into administration leaving roads uncompleted and the public open space unfinished. I saw a letter that Anna Soubry sent to local residents last weekend saying that this was the fault of the borough council. It isn’t and it was extremely disappointing that Anna has said this. The council have now agreed to take over the ownership of the land for public space and also to fund the improvements necessary to make the site usable. Despite what Anna said the Conservatives on the council acted spoke against doing this! Work should start pretty quickly on this.
8. A52 Improvements – Work has now begin by the Highways Agency to carry out repairs and improvements to the A52. Unfortunately they managed to carry out the noisiest part of the work between 2am and 3.30 am on Wednesday, waking many local residents. My colleague Steve Carr, the local ward councillor, was one of those woken and Steve received 25 calls from local residents by 9am the next morning. He and I arranged for the Highways Agency to be contacted immediately, and they have apologised and promised that this will not occur again.
9. Street Lights – The County Council have decided to switch off or dim many street lights to save money. On main routes lights will be dimmed between 10pm and 7am and on minor routes they will be switched off between midnight and 5.30am. The work will actually cost £3 million but will save £1 million per year. The concern is that it will lead to increased crime or increased accidents, but we will need to wait and see what happens with these.
10. Stapleford Tip – Stapleford Tip was closed by the county council at the end of August. The borough council, who own the land, have decided that we will use it in the short term for storage of vehicles. This saves many vehicles having to drive to the current depot at Kimberley just to drive back again the next day, or even later that day, and should enable us to improve the services that we offer.
11. Garden waste Collections – as a measure to save money the borough council will not be collecting garden waste during December, January and February. The amount of material collected during this period is always very low and so it seems a sensible step to take. All three political parties agreed to this.
12. Greener Businesses – The borough council want to help businesses cut the amount of waste that they produce, and have just launched a consultation with local businesses about how to do this.
13. The Olympics – A team has been in Broxtowe this week seeking volunteers to help with the Olympics in two years time. If you missed them and are interested in participating then you can log on to their web site to volunteer: http://www.london2012.com/get-involved/volunteer/index.php
14. The County Council have launched a “Big Conversation” with local residents about how they will cut their spending in the future. Whilst I have been a regular critic of the county council I do applaud this. It’s about time they started talking to people, and I hope that they will listen to the answers that they are given. You can participate in this using their website at http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/. Whilst this is going on a number of Labour activists seem to be flooding the local papers with letters saying that cuts are unnecessary, which seems an awful attempt to rewrite history. Before the election the Labour Party were telling us that they would have to make massive cuts, they just wouldn’t tell us where they would do this. Here in Broxtowe we’ve tried to cut back office functions and have concentrated on maintaining the service we provide to local residents.
15. Printing Service – Just a quick advert. I’ve set up a new business providing cheap printing services for local residents. I can do 1,000 A4 sheets double sided for £40. If you’d like to use this service please ring me on 07854 409628.
As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. We now have an all time record number of subscribers and word of mouth remains our best form of advertising.
Best wishes
David
