Sunday 27 October 2013

Broxtowe Enews 27th October 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.       Eastwood Post Office
At their meeting last week, Eastwood Town council decided to buy the Post Office building for their new offices. This week they met and appointed a solicitor and an architect. This means that the council will now have a permanent base again in town. Although part of the building will be used for offices, the main area will be used as a community facility where, for a small fee, any group in town will be able to use the room. Another upside to this is that the Post Office will remain. If a developer had bought the property he could have ended the lease and put in an application to pull it down and build flats. Eastwood would then have been left with no Post Office.

2.       HS2 Benefits
Research by accountants KMPG, published this week, suggests that Broxtowe could benefit from the HS2 by between £154million and £331million. The council has set up a working group to look at the area and how we can ensure that we are maximising the benefits, and I have the honour of chairing that. We have our first meeting this week to get the process moving and we will be contacting interested parties in due course to invite them to participate as well.

3.       “No Trick or Treat” Posters
As usual as we approach Halloween the police have made available posters that people can display to show that trick-or-treaters should not call. These can be downloaded from http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=17538&p=0 or from http://bramcotetoday.org.uk/.

4.       Nottingham Credit Union, Rumbletums, Kimberley
The rescheduled meeting to discuss the proposed Nottingham Credit Union information point at Rumbletums will take place at the cafe (2a Victoria Street, Kimberley) on Thursday 31st October at 6.30pm. For more details about this contact Jeff Buck on jeff.buck2768@btinternet.com.

5.       Focus Deliverer Needed
The Lib-Dems currently need a new deliverer to deliver Focus in Bramcote on Chesham Drive, Sloan Drive, Wembley Gardens and Kilburn Close. As residents of these streets will know we deliver Focus every quarter in Bramcote, free of charge, to all of the village (as we do in many other parts of the borough). Delivery rounds take about 45 minutes each four times a year, so if you could help us do this we would be very grateful. Just get in touch with me if you can help. We’re always also grateful for any offers of help elsewhere so if you can assist please just let me know.

6.       County Council Minerals Plan
Notts County Council are currently consulting on their new mineral plan. This is a significant matter for Broxtowe as the mineral plan deals with, amongst other things, where and when open cast mining would be permitted. The consultation is available at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/minerals and the closing date is Wednesday 4th December.

7.       Remembrance Day Parades
Stapleford’s Remembrance Day Parade takes place on Sunday 10th November and will lead to a number of road closures between 10.45 and 12.00. The parade starts on Halls Road, travels to Walter Parker Square on B5010 Derby Road for the Remembrance Service. Upon completion of the service the parade continues along B5010 Derby Road, turns right onto B6003 Toton Lane, then right onto Eatons Road. It then turns right again onto Victoria Street, then left back onto B5010 Derby Road where it travels back to the starting point on Halls Road.
Nuthall’s Remembrance Day parade will result in roads being closed from 10.30 to 12.00. Nottingham Road will be closed between Nuthall Roundabout and Watnall Road.

8.       Daybrook Learning Centre
This is based in Arnold but I’m mentioning it because the County Council say that their current consultation, about whether or not to close it permanently, would affect people in Broxtowe. If you wish to have a say then visit the County Council's website  where you can completing the council's response form on-line. The closing date for the receipt of comments on this proposal is Friday 6 December 2013.


9.       College House Fireworks
College House junior school in Chilwell are holding a fireworks night on Saturday 2nd November starting at 6pm. Admission costs £3.50 for adults and £2.50 for children.


10.   Shortwood Farm
The consultation on whether to permit open cast mining at Shortwood Farm in Cossall has now reopened. This is because the county council rejected the original application for technical defects and it has been resubmitted.  I have ensured that the Borough Council have already resubmitted our complete objection to the scheme.

11.   Ambulance Response Cars
East Midlands Ambulance Service has unveiled new response cars to enable it to achieve the response time targets for 999 calls. The cars enable trained volunteers to give assistance prior to the arrival of the paramedics and are equipped with two way radio’s as well as medical equipment. One of these cars will be based in Beeston.

12.   Train Times
East Midlands trains have unveiled their new timetable for the winter and from December trains from Beeston to London will be up to 8 minutes faster, due to the work that has taken place this year. This is welcome news, but I’ve already seen on the web that the train I was due to get to take me to London tomorrow morning has been cancelled because of the storms forecast for tonight. Whilst talking about the trains may I also mention that Network Rail have submitted plans to install wi-fi at Beeston station which will be available for commuters to use.

13.   Stapleford History Society
The next meeting of the Stapleford and District History Society will take place on Wednesday 13th November at Maycliffe Hall in Stapleford, starting at 7.30pm. The meeting will include a presentation about Hopewell Hall and entrance is £2.50.

14.   Parking Consultation
Notts County Council is currently consulting on introducing a residents-only parking scheme for Endsleigh Gardens and Muriel Road in Beeston. The consultation is open until 6th November (sorry about the short notice – I missed this originally) and permits will cost £25 each, although they will be free for those over 75 or holding a blue badge. If you have any comments on the proposals please write to The County Council, Trent Bridge House, Fox Road, West Bridgford.

15.   Solar Panels at Ikea
The borough council have granted planning permission for Ikea to install 1,000 solar panels on the roof of their store in Giltbrook. This is part of their programme to get their stores entirely dependent on renewable power and I’m delighted to welcome this initiative.

16.   Kimberley War Memorial
A campaign has been launched to raise £20,000 to restore the Grade II listed war memorial in Kimberley. The organisers hope that this can be done before a march next year by the Royal Engineers based at Chetwynd Barracks.

17.   University Numbers
An interesting piece of information released this week was that nearly half of all youngsters in Broxtowe go on to university. 46% of all school leavers in the borough go on to university, compared to 54% from Rushcliffe, 36% from Gedling and 23% from Ashfield.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received.

Best wishes

David
Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.