Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council.
1. Chetwynd Barracks Estate
A good public meeting took place on Wednesday to discuss the state of the roads on the Chetwynd Barracks estate. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend because of a pre-existing business commitment in Cardiff. Briefly the problem is that the developer went into administration leaving the roads unbuilt and unadopted by the council. The County Council won’t adopt them until they are built and the developers have contributed money towards their upkeep. TThe council have been trying to resolve the problems for the past few years, but have to date been unable to do so. Anna Soubry, as our new MP, has got involved and contacted all the relevant people. She has managed to identify that the developers had already put the money to build the roads into a separate account and it may well be possible therefore to get this work done sooner rather than later. I hope I will always be fair in my comments on other people and I do think that Anna deserves credit for her intervention. Certainly matters have progressed more in the past couple of months than they appear to have done all year prior to now.
What I am less impressed with is that since I became leader of the council not one of the local councillors (who are all Conservatives) has contacted me about the problem or even tried to draw it to my attention. I’ve checked with my predecessor and they never raised it with him either. This is disappointing as local councillors are there to represent local people and deal with issues exactly like this.
2. Meeting with Kay Cutts
I have a meeting on Monday morning with Kay Cutts, the leader of the County Council. I will be stressing how the cuts that they are making are impacting on local people here in the borough and also expressing my strong concern that the County Council are hanging on to money which they have previously paid through to the borough councils. Doing this directly impacts on the services that we are able to provide to local people.
3. Chilwell School
Chilwell school are currently raising money to refurbish the theatre, which is used by the community as well as by the school. They have two events coming up. On Saturday 9th October at 7.30pm in conjunction with Beeston Probus, Paradiso Cinema presents Singin’ in the Rain at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, Queens Road West. Tickets on the door - £5. Second on Friday October 22nd at 7.30pm Village Ventures present Vertigo by the Oxfordshire Theatre Company at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, Queens Road West, tickets £8, £6 (conc), £24 family (2 adults + 2 children), available on 0115 925 2698 or 07584 263893
Made famous by Alfred Hitchcock in his 1958 film of the same name, Vertigo is a story of obsessive love and an almost perfect murder. Age 14+.
4. Stapleford NHS Walk In Centre
I mentioned the rumours that this is to close last week. I’ve now been notified that a public consultation will begin on the 1st November about the provision of services at the centre, so we’ll have a better idea then about exactly what the NHS are proposing. As soon as I have further information I’ll post it.
5. Lib-Dem Conference
We had an extremely good Lib-Dem conference this week. We firmly set out our policies as a party and hopefully killed off some of the silly stories about us being split as a party. The reality is that our membership is up, both nationally and locally, and we have already accomplished a lot in Government. Scrapping ID cards and the surveillance state, scrapping plans to build all over the green belt and restoring the link between pensions and earnings were all Lib-Dem policies which have now come into force.
6. Council Tax Revaluation
Another Lib-Dem policy was that there would not be a revaluation of properties for council tax. The Government have now ruled this out for the lifetime of this parliament which means that there will be no unexpected rises in council tax.
7. Crime Rates
Crime rates in Nottinghamshire have fallen in August to the lowest since 2002, which is encouraging. However not all crime is recorded (the highly reputable British Crime Survey suggests that less than half of all crime is) and even if crime falls that’s only half the battle as people also need to feel safer before success can really be claimed. This change is still to happen.
8. Beeston Tip
There was a risk that Beeston tip could be forced to close because of an industrial dispute between Veolia, who run the tip, and the GMB union. I’m pleased to report that this threat has now been lifted as the two sides have managed to reach agreement.
9. Runners Wanted
Broxtowe Sport have set up a new running club in Brinsley and is appealing for members. The first meeting will be on 18th October at Brinsley Recreation Ground, starting at 6.30pm. Runners of all ages and abilities are invited to attend. Further details can be obtained on 01773 770100. Also on the subject of running entries are now open for the annual Goose Fair Gallop, which starts from Kimberley Leisure Centre. Details can be found on www.kadsrunning.co.uk
10. Stapleford Litter Pick
There will be a community litter pick in Stapleford on Staurday 9th October from 10am to midday. This will be led by the Lib-Dem mayor of the town, Kevin Thomas. Everyone is invited to help. Meet at the Carnegie Centre on Warren Avenue at 10am.
11. Poland Trip
A group of councillors from Broxtowe have been in Poland this week, promoting links between there and here. Before anyone raises the issues of expenses I’m pleased to report that each councillor paid their own costs of travelling and none of it fell on the public purse.
12. Ed Milliband
Congratulations to Ed Milliband on being elected as the new Labour leader. I hope that Labour will now tell us how they intended to cut £44 billion from the budgets, which they promised before the election but seem to have forgotten since. I’m pleased to see that Labour use the AV system to elect their leader, so hopefully they will support that for electing MP’s in the future. However I am extremely confused about how Mr Milliband managed to win when he wasn’t the choice of either the members of the party or the MP’s!
As always thank you for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback is gratefully received.
David
