Broxtowe Enews 10th February 2013

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1. By election result
May I start by congratulating the Lib-Dem team in Eastwood on a fantastic by election victory for the Town Council, winning a seat from Labour.  The result was Lib Dem David Hallam 831, Lab 227, Ind 221. The turnout was 18.4% (dreadful but better than for the police commissioner) and Labour held onto 2nd by 6! The majority was 604 and David Hallam polled 65% of the vote.

2. Employment News
Also very encouraging this week were the latest employment figures for Broxtowe. Employment is up and unemployment and benefit claimants down. 2,162 people claimed Job seekers Allowance in December 2012, down from 2,443 a year previously. At the same time 532 people signed off benefits compared to 389 in December 2011. It is far too early to claim that the economy is functioning properly yet but employment nationally is at record high and things are certainly going the right way.

3. Rough Sleepers in Broxtowe
A survey was carried out by the council and the housing charity Framework at the start of this month about the number of people in Broxtowe sleeping rough. I’m delighted to say that this fairly extensive survey found no-one sleeping rough anywhere in the borough. The survey  will be repeated late this month and I’ll publish the results as soon as I have them.

4. Oxylane Application
Oxylane, the company who own the Decathlon Sports Chain, have now submitted an application to build a new store and sports village just to the west of junction 26. This is a green belt location which is a big  argument against it, but it will bring new jobs and new facilities, and the applicants are offering to do significant work on the Nuthall Island to improve traffic flows, which are three reasons that the applicants say make it a special circumstance. In due course this application will be considered by the Development Control Committee, but in the meantime you can see the plans and make any comments at:
http://planning.broxtowe.gov.uk/(S(1vn02j2f3lc30tei2abun055))/ApplicationHistorySummary.aspx?RefVal=12/00644
At the moment this is an outline application, meaning that a lot of the detail is not yet included. The applicants at this point are trying to establish the principle of use of the land and will then need to submit a further application with the details later.

5. Temple Park
 I had a meeting this week with the developers who want to build a housing estate directly to the East of the M1 at junction 26, directly opposite the development referred to above. It’s fair to say that they were a little put out with the proposals for HS2 as these go straight through the middle o their site. Nevertheless they still intend to put in a planning application which they  expect will be submitted next month.

6. Stanton Ironworrks
The third big planning application affecting the borough this week was for 2,000 houses to be built at Stanton Ironworks. Although this is in Erewash much of the traffic would be bound to come though Broxtowe. I’ve not had chance to look at the plans yet but they have now come online and are available at http://www.erewash.gov.uk/planning-building-control/stanton-planning-application/what-is-proposed.html.

7. Phone mast Upgrades
I’ve been notified this week that O2 and Vodaphone are proposing to upgrade a number of phone masts that they jointly operate in the borough. These are at Shortwood Farm in Trowell. The electricity substation on Toton Lane in Toton, Hilltop Farm in Stapleford, Derby Street in Beeston, the electricity substation on Queens Road in Attenborough and on Woodhouse Way in Nuthall. A plan showing these can be seen at http://batchgeo.com/map/7ca6841edf587770dec42c0dce6e0e69.

8. Bramcote Hills Tree Planting
The latest addition to the growing arboretum, a European Nettle Tree, will be planted at Bramcote Hill Park Arboretum on Tuesday at 10am. The tree is a very large specimen and will be lowered into the planting pit using a mechanical digger. The Mayor of Broxtowe, Councillor Margaret Handley  will be there to help backfill the hole and all attendees will be most welcome to join in.
The planting will be witnessed by children from several local schools who are taking part in a bigger project to restock the woodland with native trees and wildflowers. The children will also be planting flower bulbs around the trunk of a very large Beech tree which collapsed last year and helping to think of ideas for a chainsaw sculptor to interpret and carve into the trunk.  The sculptor will then be coming to the park in a few weeks to begin carving and the children will visit again to see their ideas brought to life and listen to a storyteller who will have conjured up tales about the tree, park and woodlands to entertain them.
The project is a joint venture between Broxtowe Borough Council and Greenwood, with help from The Trust for Conservation Volunteers and financial assistance from local Lib-Dem County Councillor Stan Heptinstall.

9. John Bell
I heard this week that former Labour councillor John Bell, the man I defeated when I first won my seat on the borough council, has passed away. John represented Stapleford for many years.

10. Stapleford Library
Stapleford Library is due to close for refurbishment at the end of March for about six weeks. Arrangements have now been made that during the renovations the library will be housed in the Carnegie Centre of Warren Avenue.

11. Severn Trent Water
Figures from the Government released this week suggest that average water bills in the Severn Trent area will rise by £7 next year. However the good news is that they will still be the lowest in the country.

12. A52 Bus Lane
Earlier this week the police carried out an enforcement exercise against carts driving on the bus lane on the A52. In just over 2 hours during the morning rush hour they stopped 15 motorists using the lane, each of whom received a £30 fine. I saw three cars being stopped as I queued to get onto the Priory Island. The police say that they will repeat the exercise later this month.

13. Cat
I put an appeal out last week for people who live near me to assist in the return of my cat. I don’t know if it was coincidence or not but she came back at 7.00am the next morning. Thank you if you encouraged her back.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback is gratefully received.
Best wishes
David
www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk
www.davidwatts.org.uk
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