Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council
1. Wind turbines
The University of Nottingham have unveiled plans to install three giant (120 metre high) wind turbines near Beeston Rylands. These will clearly have an impact on the visual amenity of the area and possibly on noise as well. There has never been an application like this is the borough before so the council will examine it very closely. Only one of the turbines is actually in Broxtowe, the other two are in the city. When I asked the University about this they said that they would go ahead with the project even if they only got planning permission for two units, so the decision that the city council take will have the biggest impact here.
2. Eric Pickles
I went to London on Tuesday to meet Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for local Government. I made the case for a fair financial settlement for Broxtowe, and pointed out that under the previous Government we had been paid over £1 million less in grants than their own figures said that we were entitled to. Mr Pickles seemed to listen, but we won’t know what impact it has had until we see the full extent of the figures for local councils, which won’t be published for some weeks. I’d like to thank Anna Soubry MP for her assistance in setting up this meeting.
3. Tree Felling
Next weekend the large beech tree on the corner of Ewe Lamb Close in Bramcote is to be felled by the council. Although the tree looks healthy it has been attacked by a fungus and this has eaten the roots away. Sadly it is now in a very dangerous condition and needs to be removed.
4. Durban House
As you will be aware I wrote to various authors who had sent a letter to the Observer calling for Durban House to be saved. I invited each of the authors of the letter to contribute to a trust to maintain the building. You may (or may not) be surprised to hear that not one of them has replied to me letter so far.
5. Tesco
The Tesco store in Beeston opens at 8am on Monday. I went on a tour of the building on Friday and I think architecturally it works well. There were three challenges we set ourselves with this store, did it work as a piece of architecture, did the road system work and did it contribute to the town overall. We now know the answer to the first question and will see the answers to the others in the next few weeks. The store employs about 360 people, about half of whom live in Beeston.
6. East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains, who operate Beeston Station, have been named as the most reliable long distance rail operator for the second year in a row. More than 94% of their trains apparently arrive on time.
7. Trick and Treat
Notts police have posters available, which you can download from their website at http://nottinghamshire.police.uk/uploads/library/364/No_Trick_or_Treat-new.pdf, asking people not to call if they are trick-or-treating.
8. Car Park petition
Kimberley residents have launched a new petition calling for car park charges in the town to be scrapped. I expect that this will be presented to the council in December. I have already assured all town and parish councils that we will review car park charges next year, when they have been in place for twelve months.
9. Stapleford Walk In Centre
Thank you to everyone who has signed our petition on this so far. We are still distributing sheets to people but we have already obtained several hundred signatures and have over 600 people showing this as a “Like” on our Facebook page. We will be pressing forward with this campaign over the next few weeks, and the official consultation launches on Monday. We do need as many people as possible to respond to this so that all your voices get heard.
10. Fair Votes Campaign
Also launching on Monday is the Fair Votes campaign, calling for a Yes vote in next May’s referendum. This is a cross party campaign calling for a change to the voting system to make things fairer. I was disappointed to read that Anna Soubry will be opposing this. Her argument seems to be that the AV system, being proposed, is not the fairest system available. I agree with this but it is considerably better than the first past the post system that we currently have, and so I will be voting yes.
11. Photography session at Attenborough Nature Reserve
There will be a photography session at Attenborough nature reserve next Saturday starting at 8.30am. The aim is to enable photographers to capture the wildlife at its best. The session lasts about two and a half hours and costs £32. More details are available on 0115 972 1777.
12. St Johns College
Two notices on behalf of St Johns College, the theological college in Bramcote. First they have a vacancy for a part time admissions assistant. Application packs are available from Kate Ellis on 0115 925 1114. Second they are on the lookout for three and four bedroomed houses to rent in the vicinity of the college. If you have a property to let from September then please contact Paul Stuttle on 0115 968 3206.
As ever thanks for your support for this newsletter and any feedback is gratefully received.
David
