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 this week. Can I start by apologising for not replying to most of the emails that I have been sent this week, but I’ve had problems with my PC. Eventually I threatened to reprogram it with a mallet and that seems to have scared it into behaving itself!
1. Eastwood Christmas lights switch on
Asda in Langley Mill have donated £2,000 towards the cost of the switch on of the Christmas lights in Eastwood, so this will hopefully be a truly memorable event. You may recall from my reports in the summer that the lights in Eastwood are completely new this year and have been provided by the borough council, with a contribution also from the town council.
2. Kimberly lights switch on
I didn’t have the date of this last week so thanks to Cllr Mel Crow for providing it. Kimberley lights will be switched on 26th November at 7pm. Richard Spurr from Radio Nottingham is performing the switching on.
3. Stapleford town centre litter pick
Stapleford’s Lib-Dem mayor Kevin Thomas led a group of local people who worked with the Keep AStapleford Tidy group on 4th November during the town’s annual litter pick, during which they collected 8 sacks of rubbish from the town centre. This is an excellent effort, but how sad it is that there were 8 sacks full of rubbish laid around the town.
4. New website for Trowell parish council
Trowell Parish Council are launching their new community website on 30th November at 8pm. The website will cover any events going on in Trowell, and can be found at www.trowell.org.
5. Free tree giveaway
Broxtowe Borough Council is giving away more free trees. After last year's successful event the Council is giving away a range of pot grown trees, which are easy to handle, store and plant. The trees which can be planted in front and back gardens are between 0.5 metre and 1 metre in height and perfect for planting now. The trees will be available to residents of the Borough at a series of events in late November and early December. This year the number of free tree events has been extended and the Council will be working with 5 parish/town councils to increase the number of locations across the Borough where trees will be available.
To qualify all residents need to do is turn up at the designated time and date with some identification which contains your home address.
Up to 3 trees are available per resident, allocated on first come first served basis. The trees are funded by the Broxtowe Borough Partnership as part of the Borough Council's campaign to plant 100,000 new trees over a 5 year period.
The tree species that are available are all British Natives and include Birch, Cherry, Crab Apple, Field Maple, Hazel and Rowan. Trees play an important part in reducing temperatures and help provide shade. Trees also help to make towns and gardens more attractive and provide homes for wildlife. All those taking park in the free tree initiative are helping the Borough Council towards its target of planting 100,000 new trees.
For more information about the tree giveaway event contact Broxtowe Borough Council Parks and Environment on 0115 917 7777
The events will take at the following venues:
Beeston – Beeston Square, Saturday 20th November, 10.00am – 2.00pm
Eastwood – Eastwood Library, Saturday 27th November, 10.00am – 2.00pm
Nuthall – Temple Centre, Nottingham Road, Nuthall, Saturday 27th November, 10.00am - 12 noon
Trowell – Trowell Parish Hall, Stapleford Road, Trowell, Monday 29th November, 11.00am – 1.00pm and Sunday 5th December, 11.00am – 1.00pm
Stapleford - Albany Allotments, Pasture Road, Stapleford, Sunday 21st November, 10.00am – 1.00pm
Kimberley– Parish Hall, Newdigate Street, Kimberley, Saturday 27th November, 10.00am – 2.00pm
Awsworth – Shilo Recreation Ground, Meadow Road, Awsworth, Saturday 27th November, 10.00am - 12 noon
6. Castle College
Castle College, which has venues throughout Broxtowe, is to proceed with it’s merger with South Notts College, and it has now been announced that this will happen on 1st April next year. Whilst I recognise that this merger is probably necessary to secure the long term survival of the colleges, I am very worried that it will lead to the closure of facilities within Broxtowe.
7. Using new technology
We had a first in the council at the Development Control Committee on Wednesday evening. Nuthall councillor Jill Owen is ill at the moment, and has been told to avoid contact with anyone who might be carrying germs, and so she has been unable to attend council meetings. On Wednesday evening she was actually able to appear by video link and to participate in the meeting. I’m delighted that we are able to use new technology to enable residents to be represented when otherwise they simply would have been disenfranchised.
8. Long Eaton Textiles
The council agreed on Wednesday to grant permission for the building of a new housing estate on the site of the old Long Eaton Textiles site on Bye Pass Road in Chilwell. The estate will have 85 houses and flats, accessed from two roads. The developers will also provide money for refurbishing children’s play areas in the local area.
9. Broxtowe Youth Mayor
Congratulations to Tilly Stone, who has been elected as the new youth mayor for Broxtowe. She succeeds Kerry Pink, who did an excellent job. I look forward to meeting her soon.
10. Beeston Wind Turbines
There will be a public meeting to discuss the proposal by Nottingham University to install three wind turbines close to Beeston Rylands on the edge of the Trent. This will be at the Leyton Crescent Community Centre in Beeston Rylands on 22nd November at 7.30pm. All are welcome.
11. Beeston Wildlife Group
Also in Beeston Rylands the Beeston Wildlife Group are having a talk about the Island of Skye (one of my favourite places to holiday) by mountaineer Gordon Gadsby at Trent Vale Infants School on 15th November at 7.30pm. Entrance costs £2.
12. Regional Spatial Strategy
You may recall that this was the policy by the last Government to determine how many houses would be built in each borough in the country, and where they had decided that Broxtowe could somewhere accommodate an extra 6,500 houses. This was scrapped by Eric Pickles in one of his first actions as the new Secretary of State for local government. However the High Court has now ruled that the power he did this under did not allow him to act in this way and so they have declared his actions invalid. I understand that the Government will be bringing legislation forward shortly to scrap the strategy, which would be lawful, and so we will get back to the same place, but in the mean time the threat that we thought we had seen off to the green belt has been revived. The sooner it is killed off for ever the better.
13. Petitions
We have two petitions running at the moment, one to save the Walk In Centre in Stapleford, and the other to save the Citizen’s Advice Bureaux in Beeston. The CAB has had a huge amount of it’s funding pulled by the County Council, and given that it provides a vital service to thousands of local residents each year we are concerned about the future. The manager of Broxtowe CAB came to speak to the Lib-Dem councillors last week and as a result we are now collecting signatures on a petition in support. If you would like to collect signatures for either of these let me know and I’ll let you have petition forms.
14. Office Map
It may be a very little thing but I’ve achieved something that no other leader of the council has achieved for the last thirty years. There has been a map of the borough on the wall in the leaders office for the last thirty years or so, and it has obviously been getting more and more out of date. As an example, my own estate, which was built in the 1980’s, doesn’t appear on it. I’ve now managed to get it replaced with an up to date map, showing the borough as it is now. Hopefully it won’t still be there is another 30 years time!
As ever thanks for your support for this newsletter and any feedback is gratefully received.
David
