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.
1. Sainsbury’s, Kimberley
Sainsbury's in Kimberley is to extend. Planning permission has been granted and the larger store will in future carry electrical items and clothing as well as the current range of items. 40 new jobs (some full time, some part time) will be created.
2. Victoria Street Car Park Kimberley
The council is to introduce reduced prices for season tickets for Victoria Street Car Park. The new price will be £40 per quarter, which is reduced from £125 at present.
3. Affordable homes in Eastwood
22 new affordable homes are to be opened this week in Eastwood – this is more than were built during the whole of the last financial year. I’m very pleased to see this development coming on line.
4. Walk And Talk Events
Broxtowe Borough Council is putting on walk and talk events in Moorgreen each Monday and Wednesday with a walk of a couple of miles and a chance to get to know new people. More information is available on 0115 988 5542
5. Chinese New Year
Saturday February 5th sees the Chinese new year celebrations. The council still funds this, although not to the extent that we used to. There will be a series of events in Beeston Square from 10 - 12.30. Furtther information is available on from 917 3695.
6. School Crossing in Kimberley
Parents in Kimberley have launched a petition to have a new school crossing installed in Nottingham Road near the junction with Noel Street and Broomhill Road, to help prevent accidents. I will report on how this progresses in future editions.
7. Fight The Library Cuts Campaign
There will be a read in at libraries across Broxtowe, especially Beeston and Stapleford, on Saturday 5th February as part of the campaign to prevent the county council from cutting back on the hours and facilities that libraries offer.
8. Middle Street Resource Centre
For those who don’t know the Middle Street Resource Centre in Beeston offers a first rate service for people suffering with mental health difficulties. The county council consulted on closing it and a vigorous campaign was launched against that. I’ve posted below the most recent message from the campaigners in full so that you can see the achievements to date and the further efforts that are needed.
Dear Friend of Middle St Resource Centre,
Last year many of us service users wrote letters to ask Notts County Council not to close Middle St Resource Centre. That has had some success, but now the plan is to keep Middle St open but only for very severely ill people. This will mean that those of us who are being kept well by the support of staff and other service users will not be able to use the Centre any more.
If you care about the well-being of anyone you know who attends the Centre - a friend, family member, fellow church member etc - would you please write a letter or send an email to say that they should be able to keep using the Centre. You can address it "Dear Cabinet Member".
You don't have to name names or identify health conditions if you don't want to. This campaign is being co-ordinated by service users at the Centre. Please either email your support back to us or write a letter and give it to the service user concerned, or send it to:
Karen Medd
Middle St Advocacy Group (MiStAG)
C/O 74 Middle St
Beeston
Notts NG9 2AR
MiStAG members will ensure that everything gets to the decision makers. If you have any questions you can ask them via this email address.
Please do not involve staff at Middle St as this is a service user-led campaign. Closing date is 18th February.
Many thanks for your support.
MiStAG
9. GP Consortium
Primary Care Trusts, which run much of the NHS, are being abolished by the Government (and good riddance). Most funding decisions will now be taken by local GP’s, and in Broxtowe a consortium has been formed to coordinate these decisions. The doctors elected to manage this are Kelvin
Lim, Mike O'Neill, Andrew Hopwood and Guy Mansford.
10. Trip to Downing Street
On Wednesday of this week I will be at 10 Downing Street for a reception for Liberal Democrat council leaders. I’ve never been before and I’m looking forward to the experience.
11. Kimberley Brewery
I met the new owners of Kimberley Brewery last week. The new owner (Rafiq) seems to be a very approachable man with a willingness to engage with local people. His opening comment to us was that “if it works for local people it works for us,” and so I am very hopeful that we will get a long term development which benefits local residents. I have urged him to meet with SOBS, the local pressure group, which he has agreed to do.
12. Broxtowe Youth Council
I attended the meeting of Broxtowe Youth Council on Tuesday of this week. This comprises representatives from all the secondary schools in the borough. It was inspiring to hear them at work. They have already produced some really high quality material to deal with issues affecting young people and are looking at a range of topics to explore further. The current youth mayor, Tilly Stone, is an exceptional leader and a real standard bearer for young people. The youth council also led the act of remembrance on Thursday for Holocaust Memorial Day which I found exceptionally powerful.
13. Bramcote Park School
Bramcote Park Sport, Business and Enterprise School has been named as one of the 100 most improved schools in the country for GCSE results this year. Congratulations to all the staff and students in achieving this.
14. Bird watching in Attenborough
A bird watching session will be held at Attenborough Nature Reserve on Wednesday 2nd February at 10am. If you want to participate meet at the ticket machine in the main car park. Details are available from 0115 983 0946.
15. Open cast Mining
A private members bill is being introduced to the House of Commons next month which would ban open cast mining within 500 metres of a settlement. This is highly important for us locally as, if it becomes law, the proposed open cast mining between Trowell and Cossall would almost certainly not take place. The bill needs the support of 100 MP’s to have any chance of becoming law and I’m pleased that our MP, Anna Soubry, is backing it.
As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback is gratefully received.
David
