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.
