Sunday 17 November 2013

Broxtowe Enews 17th November 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.       Coventry Lane
In the early hours of Wednesday morning a large water main burst under Coventry Lane in Bramcote. This is the A6002, which goes past the crematorium and is the main route heading towards junction 26 of the M1. The road is still closed as we speak but Severn Trent hope to have the road reopened at some point tomorrow.

2.       Flooding
The big problem when a water main burst is that the water has to go somewhere. Unfortunately for my immediate neighbours and I on this occasion the water came straight through our houses. When I woke up at about 2.30am there was a foot of water in my house. The damage is extensive and we will have to move out for the foreseeable future whilst repairs are carried out. The insurance company have informed us that part of the house may have to be demolished, which shows the extent of the damage.
Of course at the other side of the world at the moment thousands are struggling with the effects of the typhoon in the Philippines. Their flooding is vastly more severe than ours, and if anyone would like to support the relief efforts you can donate to the Disasters Emergency Commission appeal at http://www.dec.org.uk/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_term=Republic%20Of%20The%20Philippines&utm_content=Location%20Only&utm_campaign=Philippines&gclid=CPvh__3M7LoCFcXKtAodAF8A9Q

3.       Broxtowe Core Strategy
The enquiry onto the core strategy has now finished. The inspectors full report will be received some time around Christmas but two key items have already emerged, one of which is very good and one s very bad. First the good news. The inspector has indicated that she agrees with the councils calculations for the demand for housing over the next 15 years. All of the developers argued that across Greater Nottingham we should allow a further 20,000 homes to be built. If we had lost this then we would probably have found that about 5,000 of those would have had to come to Broxtowe, which would have been a complete disaster for the borough. This absolutely vindicates the approach that the council took of basing our decisions on numbers on the evidence that we had collected about demand in the future.
The bad news unfortunately relates to Toton. The council had not included this as a strategic site for housing and we faced objections from the developers about this. Unfortunately they were aided in this by objectors from other areas, particularly those who didn’t want us to allocate the land at Field Farm in Stapleford. Their representative at the enquiry argued strongly that Toton should be included in preference to Stapleford. I know that this will disappoint a lot of STRAG members (the campaign group for Stapleford) who expected that they would be arguing that there was no need to allocate any green belt land for building. The upshot of all this was that the inspector indicated that the council should not only include Field Farm but should also include Toton as a strategic site for development. This will come as a real disappointment for Toton residents, and I’m absolutely gutted about it. I had argued that we should not develop at Toton and it was my privilege to bring a motion to that effect to the council which was unanimously supported.
In summary therefore we’ve been able to protect the vast majority of the green belt land in Broxtowe but sadly we lost the battle over Toton.

4.       Chilwell Arts Theatre Events
Paradiso Cinema presents: Winter Kills at 7.30pm on Friday 22nd November at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, NG9 5AL. Tickets £5 (conc £4) on the door. Come at 7pm for refreshments.  19 years after President Timothy Keegan was assassinated, his brother Nick discovers a dying man claiming to have been the gunman. While trying to avoid his wealthy and domineering father's attempts to control his actions, Nick follows the clues that have been handed to him. As he progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern the real trails from the dead ends, and increasing dangerous as unknown parties try to stop Nick from uncovering the truth.  The film was released in 1979 and stars Jeff Bridges, John Huston and Anthony Perkins.
 Beeston Probus Club and Chilwell Arts Theatre present: Festive Friday, a programme of entertainment for all the family, with Aaron Calvert (mentalist & hypnotist), Adam Guest (local singer & actor) and Beth Frisby (singer/songwriter). On Friday 6th December at 7.30pm at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell School, NG9 5AL. Tickets £10, senior citizens £8 from 0115 9252698 or 0777 205 3412. Light refreshments will be available. All profits to Victim Support.

5.       Season of Lights Festival
Season of Lights festival on Sat 30 Nov 2.30-5pm at Chilwell Road Methodist Church Hall (next to the old Beeston Police Station). A free community event for all ages, celebrating seasonal festivals from around the world through music, crafts, information and food. Organised by the Broxtowe Community Celebration Group.

6.       Stapelford Library Reopening – Correction
I reported last week that Stapleford Library was reopening but I got the date wrong. The 30th November, which I mentioned, is the celebration day but the library will actually reopen on 25th November. Many apologies for the error.

7.       Survey about moving to the city
May I thank everyone who has completed our survey about whether the city council should be allowed to absorb the southern half of Broxtowe into an enlarged city council area. The survey is still open and we have received more responses to this than any other survey that we have ever run. So far respondents are 96% against the idea. If you haven’t completed the survey yet you can still do so on our website at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk.

8.        Parking restrictions at Kimberley School
Proposals have been unveiled for parking restrictions, including double-yellow lines, to be brought in outside Kimberley School. The proposal is for parking and waiting to be banned outside the school in Newdigate Street to stop people double parking on the bend opposite the school. No waiting restrictions will also be placed on a short section of nearby Victoria Street. The news comes following several years of complaints by local residents. My colleague Ken Rigby is the County Councillor for the area and I would like to congratulate him for his success in getting these plans brought forward. The plans are now out for consultation and comments can be submitted to tmconsultation@nottsc.gov.uk.

9.       Stapleford Lifestyle Outreach Programme
Residents in Stapleford are being offered a chance to access healthy lifestyles as part of a new health outreach initiatives. The project, funded by the West Nottingham CCG /NHS Lifestyle Initiative and run by volunteers headed up by local Jan Goold will have it’s inaugural outreach event on November 21st 2013. The first drop in event is at Hickings Lane health Thursday centre 21st November between 2.30pm -4.30pm. Participants can join the scheme at any of the four drop in sessions, and will be open to anybody within Nottingham West Consortium catchment.

10.   Beeston Wildlife Group
On Monday 18th November Beeston Wildlife Group will be holding a talk about British Butterflies by Dr Tim Melling. This will take place at Trent Vale Infants School, Trent Road, Beeston Rylands, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. Entrance costs £2.

11.   Traffic Restrictions – Bembridge Court Bramcote
The County Council is proposing to install yellow lines in Bembridge Court to prevent vehicles parking there between 9am and 5pm Monday to Saturday. If you have any comments on this scheme please let me know before 28th November and I’ll pass them on to the County Council.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received. I will try and keep this service running during the disruption that we’re currently undergoing.

Best wishes

David
Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.