Broxtowe Enews 21st January 2011

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.

It’s been a busy week this week. On Wednesday I attended a reception with Norman Baker, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, to mark the launch of NET Line 2. I had a chat there with the chairman of Tramlink, who are building Line 2, and have invited them to open an office in the Broxtowe Council building in Beeston, so that local residents have a contact poimnt for any concerns. The next day I was in London to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister, discussing a range of issues relevant to local government, and then had a session with Andrew Stunnell, a Minister at the Department of Communities and Local Government. It is this department that produces the planning rules that are causing so much of a problem for Broxtowe, and was there to lobby him for changes. Effectively I was doing what our MP should have been doing, but she has decided that it’s more fun to attack the council instead.

1. Beeston Town Square

There was an interesting interview with Henry Boot plc in the Nottingham Post this week. Henry Boot is the company who own the lease to Beeston Square. They were blaming years of indecision over the tram for the delays in redeveloping the square, but say that they are now committed to pressing forward. I don’t accept this fully as Henry Boot themselves have caused significant delays, but it does show how the delays around the tram have already had a knock on effect.

2. Tram works

Tramlink have now started to take possession of the properties in Beeston which they need to demolish to make way for the tram. Fifteen properties have so far been compulsorily purchased, and more will be needed over the next few weeks. After the years of delay things are now rushing ahead. Trees are also being cleared, and these need to be done now before the bird nesting season starts.

3. East Midlands Trains

East Midlands trains, who run through Beeston station, have a 92.5% punctuality rate, according to Network Rail. This is above the national average which is 91.6%. Well done to them but I hope that they will continue to press to achieve closer to 100%.

4. Broxtowe Youth Mayor

There is a really interesting piece in yesterday’s Nottingham Post by Tilly Stone, the Broxtowe Youth Mayor, about her work. This can be accessed here:

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Today-s-teenagers-doing-bit-society-s-future/story-14984604-detail/story.html

5. Notts County Council

The County Council have decided to scrap their cabinet, and return to a system where decisions are made by a number of different committees. This was the way that councils used to work but the Labour Government of Tony Blair insisted that this system was scrapped. The coalition Government have relaxed this ban and said that councils can choose the method of operation which is best for them, and the County Council are one of the first in the country to change back. In Broxtowe the current system seems to work relatively well and we have no current plans to change.

6. Pensioners Electricity Bills

Age UK Nottingham and Notts have launched a new partnership with Eon to help pensioners claim fuel rebates that they are entitled to. Pensioners can often claim a £120 rebate on their fuel bills, and the new partnership is aimed to help them do this. Anyone who may benefit from this is invited to ring 0115 993 9982 for more details.

7. Road gritting

The County Council have issued a statement this week confirming that they are ready for any drop in temperatures, and the situation that was faced last year where they ran out of salt is unlikely to be repeated. So far this winter gritters have been out 31 times, compared with 72 times by this point last year.

8. Armed Forces Community Covenant

Broxtowe Borough Council has signed a community covenant with the armed forces, creating closer links between the borough and the military. I was present at the signing ceremony, which was presided over by our mayor, Lib-Dem councillor Jacky Williams. Part of this commitment will be making sure that proper provision is made for ex-service personnel within the borough. This is a very important step for the borough and it was very disappointing that not a single Conservative Councillor attended the ceremony.

9. Barncroft Day Services Centre

Work has started to refurbish the Barncroft Day Services Centre in Chillwell. This project, which is being carried out by the County Council, is costing approximately £800,000 and work will be finished by the summer. The centre is used each week by about 180 local residents, and this will increase after the work has finished.

10. Early Blooming Flowers

The County Council are asking for copies of photos flowers appearing in parks across the County because of the recent mild weather. Pictures should be submitted via the council’s Facebook site at facebook.com/Nottinghamshire.

11. Free swimming

The borough council have now confirmed that they will be offering free swimming again next summer to children aged under 16, throughout the summer holidays.

12. A453 Roadworks

The A453 will be closed overnight from tomorrow for four weeks. As a result traffic is likely to divert along the A52 instead, so drivers need to be ready for a significantly larger amount of night time traffic.

13. Eastwood Youth Centre

The new youth centre in Eastwood, which opened in September, is being credited with helping to reduce crime in the town. Crime in Eastwood has dropped by 20% overall, and the £2million spent on the youth centre will be seen as a very good investment if this continues.

14. Beeston Library

Beeston library has closed for four weeks for refurbishment. It is expected to reopen on 13^th February. The County Council says that a number of essential repairs are needed, and they are taking the opportunity to make some improvements as well.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback will be very gratefully received.

Best wishes

David

Broxtowe Enews 7th January 2012.

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. A special welcome to the new readers who signed up over the holiday and may I wish all our readers a very happy new year and I hope everyone had the opportunity of a good break over Christmas. Sadly I received yet more proof that I’m getting old, as the optician has dictated that I start wearing reading glasses! Apparently my argument that my arms just needed stretching a bit wasn’t persuasive!

1. Cllr Tom Pettengell

One piece of very sad news from over the Christmas holidays was that Cllr Tom Pettengell, who represented Toton on the County Council and who was for many years the borough councillor for Attenborough, passed away over the Christmas holidays. Tom was someone who had friends across the political spectrum and he will be sadly missed.

2. Field Farm Meeting

STRAG, the Stapleford and Trowell Residents Action Group, have organised a meeting next week for local residents to discuss the planning application for Field Farm. It will take place at The Jaguar Pub, Hickings Lane, Stapleford on Saturday 14th January from 2pm to 4pm. Everyone is welcome to attend. On the topic generally of further housing developments in the borough I met this week, in my capacity as portfolio holder for Planning on the borough council, with representatives from SABRHE, the residents group from Brinsley, to express their concerns and I’ve met with representatives from Toton for a similar reason. STRAG did invite me to the meeting next Saturday but I’m unable to attend and so I’ve offered to meet them on an alternative date.

3. Mayors Musical Supper

The Mayor of the Borough of Broxtowe, Lib-Dem Councillor Jacky Williams is hosting a Musical Supper with the Beeston Musical Theatre Group at The Memorial Hall in Church Street, Bramcote on 28^th February at 7.30pm. The evening will feature Songs from the Shows sung by the fantastic Beeston Musical Theatre Groups 12 piece ensemble, as well as mouth-watering fish and chips provided by Andy's Fish Bar, Stapleford. Proceeds will go to the Mayor’s Charities.

4. Policing in Bramcote

Residents in Bramcote wishing to meet the police are invited to do so on Monday evening. Officers will be on Ranmore Close in Bramcote between 7pm and 8pm to answer any questions that residents have.

5. Fire Service on Twitter

Notts Fire Service now has its own Twitter feed. They are at @nottsfire and Twitter users are invited to follow them.

6. Advice event for business women

The next meeting to the Broxtowe Businesswoman’s Network will be on January 18^th from 5.30pm to 8.30pm at the Belfrey Hotel on Nottingham Business Park. It will be focusing on understanding their employees strengths and limitations, and costs £10 to attend. As I’m not a businesswoman I’ve never been, but these meetings receive rave reviews.

7. Greasley Beauvale School

The former Greasley Beauvale School, which was attended by DH Lawrence, and which closed last year, is to be auctioned by Notts County Council on January 26^th. It is likely that an application will be submitted to convert it to a residential use in due course.

8. Special Constables

Notts Police are holding an information session for any one interested in becoming a special constable next month. It will take place at Beeston Town Hall on Saturday 11^th February froom 10am, and anyone interested is invited to attend.

9. Beeston Barn Dance

The Stonebridge City Farm are holding a barn dance at Chilwell Road Methodist Church in Beeston on Saturday 21^st January at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £7 and are available from the church office on 0115 943 1164.

10. Car Park Charges

The borough council are currently considering changes to car park charges. The proposal is that some car parks should be designated as long stay, with a considerably cheaper all day tariff. A report has been submitted to the cabinet which will be debated and voted on next month. I was surprised to read that a Conservative Councillor had been criticising this report before it was even published. I’d much rather that comment was based on the actual evidence rather than simply on dogma.

11. Wilkinsons petition

As I’ve mentioned here before the plans for the construction of the tram mean that the Wilkinsons store in Beeston is likely to close at the end of March. This will hopefully be only a short break in service, and is something that I had been trying to avoid. However the campaign to ensure that Wilkinsons does return has gone from strength to strength and Matt Goode, who writes the Beestionia Blog, has organised a petition in support of the store which collected in excess of 1,000 signatures when launched. If anyone wants to add their name to this you can contact Matt via Beestonia.wordpress.com.

12. Free Swimming for the Olympics?

The borough council is discussing a proposal to provide free swimming during the Olympics at the borough’s leisure centres. A decision will be taken on this next month.

13. Kimberley School

Often have published their latest report on Kimberley School, which they have ranked as good with outstanding features. This is not far from the top ranking that could be achieved and everyone at the school should be very proud of what they have achieved.

14. Crime Figures

The latest crime figures published by the police show that, after a steady decline for a number of months, burglaries went up during October. At the same time sexual offences have dropped and clear ups of these have increased. These figures are for the whole of Nottinghamshire and I will get the figures for Broxtowe in due course.

15. Coal Board Entry and Inspection Programme

The Coal Authority, which is responsible for discussed mines and mine workings, is currently carrying out a major programme of inspections for these. They are writing to every effected property in the borough, so if your property is on disused mine workings they may be getting in touch with you. I have some material which I can pass on top anyone affected by these, if you let me know.

16. Poetry Performance

On 30th January 2012, there will be a free performance of the poems and other creative pieces which came out of Dave Wood’s historic Perambulation around the old Sherwood Forest Boundary, a walk previously completed in 1662. The first part of the celebratory afternoon will include British Sign Language Interpretation. The afternoon will conclude with a piece of Instant Theatre.

The performance takes place at the Carnegie Centre in Stapleford, starting at 2pm. The audience are asked to be in place by 1.45pm.

17. Boots Carbon Reduction

Congratulations to Boots for winning the excellence in carbon reduction (large Company) award at the Energy Awards 2011, just before Christmas. This was for reducing the emissions at the Beeston site by more than one third. Well done to everyone concerned with that.

As ever may I thank you for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback is gratefully received.

Best wishes

David

Broxtowe Enews 17th December 2011

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.

Happy Christmas to all our readers. This will be the last edition until the new year and so I hope that the festive period is everything that you hope it will be.

1. The Tram

The big news this week is undoubtedly that the tram has got the final go ahead from the Government. The contracts are now all signed and work will begin next month. In the first few months the programme is primarily one of site clearances and moving of utilities. Once this is done the track will be laid and there will then be an extensive period of testing before passenger services begin to run. The first commercial trams should be running in about three years time.

In Beeston 16 properties on Chilwell Road are to be demolished, and this should happen towards the end of January. In February three properties on Gwenbrook Avenue are due to be demolished. Also in January the park and ride site will be cleared and this will become the storage depot during the work programme, and a new children’s play area will be created in Chilwell to replace one that will later be removed.

Although the work is being done by NET the borough council will be heavily involved in making sure that things go as smoothly as possible. Pages have been created on the council’s web site giving details of what is going on, which can be accessed at http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9764. It is clear that there will be disruption for a significant period of time but we will try and minimise it as much as possible.

One piece of very bad news is that the Wilkinsons store in Beeston will close. The council have been demanding from the landlords (Henry Boot) that they ensure that Wilkinsons have a new property to move into so that there was no break in service, and they have promised us that this would happen. Sadly they have completely let us down.

Finally on the tram you may have seen an email from Anna Soubry this week saying what a great idea the tram is. This is a very different stance to the one that she took in the general election, and that the local Conservative Party still take, where even on Thursday we were sent an email from one of their councillors saying that no-one wants the tram.

2. Stapleford Residents Parking

The County Council will be publishing proposals next week for new residents parking in Stapleford. The first phase consists of changes to Cyril Avenue area (removal of Fredereick Avenue), Bailey Street area (shortening of Wellington Street) and Eatons Road areas. All areas will change to Monday – Saturday 9am – 5pm and all bays and yellow lines will be removed except at junctions to enable parking anywhere within the area by permit holders (as long as they don't cause obstruction). They will also be adding new schemes on Horace Avenue, West End Street and William Road (Mon-Sat 9am – 5pm), Albert Street (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm + one way and other parking restrictions) and St James Terrace (24 hour scheme). Residents will then have one month to submit any comments before the County confirms whether or not it will go ahead. There may also be a second phase covering other areas of the town at a later date.

3. Super Fast Broadband

I mentioned a week or so back that the Borough Council had declined a request from the County Council that we donate £80,000 towards the cost of installing super fast broadband in Broxtowe. Whilst the idea is a good one we simply couldn’t afford the money. The County Council have now come back and asked if we would pay £33,000 instead. This will be discussed by the cabinet at Broxtowe next week.

4. Open Mike Night

I’ve been asked to promote this event in January:

Scion Presents...

January 11th 2012 at 7.30pm. Two main performers: storyteller, Richard Young and poet, Dave Wood plus open slots of approx 5 mins each (but do bring some time fillers too). Free entry. all performances in the round..venue-the old cross, church street, stapleford. 7.30pm. also beer raffle for the rainbows hospice and you may fancy donating to them too. relaxed way try out your writing. email davewrite2002 @ yahoo. com or O77O 9977684. come to read or provide an audience. there will be a beer raffle for rainbow's hospice and any donations accepted to the hospice will be appreciated. no microphones - bring voice and writing only

5. New Chief Constable

Nottinghamshire Police will have a new Chief Constable in September. He will be Chris Eyre, the current Deputy Chief Constable, and he takes over from Julia Hodgson who is retiring.

6. Libraries Over The Holidays

The County Council have announced that their libraries will all close for Christmas on 23^rd December and will reopen on 3^rd January. The County Council offices themselves will be open from 28^th to 30^th December.

7. New Nottingham TV Station

The Government have announced that Nottingham is to get a new TV station. The city is to be a pioneer for a series of new local TV channels. Interested parties will be able to bid for the licence to run it next year, with a view to broadcasting beginning in 2013.

8. Food Voucher Scheme

A new food voucher scheme has been launched in Beeston. The Beeston and NG9 food bank is run by Hope Nottingham, and vouchers to obtain supplies can be handed out by doctors surgeries and the Citizens Advice Bureaux to needy residents. These can then be exchanged for food at venues in Beeston, Chilwell and Stapleford.

9. Field Farm, Stapleford

The planning application for Field Farm in Stapleford has now been received but is missing some documents and so has not yet been registered by the council. Once the missing documents have been received the council will place it on its web site and invite comments. I was surprised to read an email from the Conservatives this week talking about planning which said: “We are still waiting for Broxtowe Borough Council's report following the so called ‘public consultation’; it was due to be published weeks ago.” This claim is simply untrue. Nothing was supposed to have been published before now and the papers actually go to the cabinet at Broxtowe next week to decide how to go further.

10. Broxtowe Youth Council

At the council meeting on Wednesday Broxtowe’s youth mayor, Tilly Stone, reported that the County Council have decided to close down the youth council as a spending cut. This is extremely short sighted as the youth council, which has representatives from every secondary school in the borough on it, is a very successful and useful mouthpiece for young people in the area. Only last week Tilly was in Poland speaking to political leaders in Myszków, our friendship town there, about the youth council as they are interested in copying our model. However I’m glad to report that we hope that the borough council will be able to make good the funding shortfall so that the council can continue.

11. Complaints about the police

An interesting statistic that I saw this week was that the number of complaints against Notts Police has dropped in the last year by 29%. I hope that this means that the police are getting better at doing their job, and is a much bigger fall than the national picture, which shows a 4% drop in complaints.

12. Carol Services

A number of carol services are being held tomorrow and Monday. Tomorrow St Michael's Bramcote hold two services, the first at 5.30pm and the second at 7.30pm. Please contact 0115 943 0137 for more details. Also tomorrow the Salvation Army hold their Carol Concert at Albert Avenue in Stapleford, starting at 6pm. Please call 0115 949 7059 for more information. On Monday 19th December the Peace Light Carol Service takes place in Beeston, starting at 7.00pm at the 6th Beeston Scout HQ on Middle Street.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received. That can be sent by email, or by using the forms on the Broxtowe Lib-Dem website at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk , or my personal website at www.davidwatts.org.uk.

David

Broxtowe Enews 11th December 2011

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. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

As we get towards Christmas many services and events run down for the holiday, and as a result there is less news to report than usual, but there are still a number of things going on. Can I apologise for the typo in last week’s news about Chilwell Conservation Area. I of course meant to refer to options if you had missed the meeting, not if you had kissed it. Whoops.

1. Sale Of Care Homes

Sadly the District Auditor has decided that he will not intervene in the decision of the County Council to sell six care homes, including Bramwell in Bramcote, to a private company at a significant under valuation. My colleague Stan Heptinstall had asked the auditor to look into this sale as it seems to us that this sale does not represent anything like good value for local residents, even leaving aside the question about whether the sale was right in principle or not. You can see the letter from the District Auditor on our web site at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk.

2. Christmas Concert

There will be a Christmas Carol Concert at Chilwell Road Methodist Church in Beeston on 17^th December. As well as soloists the Eastwood Male Voice Choir will be performing. Tickets cost £6 each and are available from 0115 919 6659.

3. Car Parking at Bramcote Hills Park

As people may have noticed the car park at Bramcote Hills Park is currently being upgraded. The council had been looking at whether or not they should introduce charging for this car park, but when the matter was discussed by the council’s cabinet they agreed with the arguments put forward by the Lib-Dems that this car park should remain free of charge.

4. Snow

The County Council have issued a statement this week to reassure motorists that they are ready to cope with any snowfall this year. You may recall that last year they ran out of grit in the really harsh winter that we have, but they have been at pains this week to stress that they are well stocked with grit and salt for this year. They have however told district councils that there is no budget to install any further grit bins this year.

5. New Tree In Bramcote Park

Bramcote History Group have donated a new tree, a Juglan Nigra, to Bramcote Park. It was planted this week by the group along with Broxtowe’s Mayor, Cllr Jacky Williams, as part of National Tree Week.

6. Domestic Violence Victims

The Borough Council have launched a new campaign to provide help and support to victims of domestic violence locally. New posters will appear in libraries, Sure Start centres and doctors surgeries as well as others to raise awareness of the issue. Further information and help area available from 0115 917 3028, or from hlc@broxtowe.gov.uk.

7. Broxtowe Sports Awards

Congratulations to the young sports people honoured at the Broxtowe Sports Awards this week. Amongst the winners were 15 year old Lauren Gill, a swimmer from Kimberley, and 23 year old gymnast Sam Hunter of Chilwell.

8. Solar panels for the County Council

The County Council has agreed to install solar panels on eight of its buildings to help generate electricity. These will cost £800,000 but should pay that back many times over during their lifetimes. They will cut costs and also enable the County Council ton get income from the Governments feed in tariffs scheme. Sadly none of the buildings is in Broxtowe, but we should all benefit from the move.

9. Health Walk at the Nature Reserve

Local residents are invited to take part in a health walk at Attenborough Nature Reserve on Monday 19^th December. The walk starts at 10am from the visitor centre, is free to attend and will last for about an hour. Details are available from the visitor centre on 0115 972 1777.

10. Kimberley School

The Governors at Kimberley school are currently looking at whether to convert to an academy. However the National Union of Teachers have indicated that they will ballot their members over strike action if the move goes ahead.

11. High Speed Broadband.

The County Council have approached Broxtowe Borough Council about contributing to the cost of installing high speed broadband cables across the borough. Unfortunately, whilst the borough council are supportive of the scheme, the County requested far too much money from the borough. With resources being as tight as they are the borough council simply cannot find almost £100,000 at the drop of a hat. The County Council have suggested to the boroughs that they should contribute on a 50/50 basis with the County, despite the fact that the County get 90% of the council tax money.

12. Council Tax Survey

At the moment councils collect council tax over 10 months, which means that for the last two months of the year we don’t pay anything. The Government is currently consulting about whether this should change to collecting over 12 months. This would mean that people paid less each month but there would no longer be the payment holiday at the end of each financial year. To help me respond to this and accurately reflect people’s views I’ve set up an opinion poll on my website and I’d be grateful if you could take a minute to express your views. My website is at www.davidwatts.org.uk

13. Bramcote Hills Golf Course

Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey that I and my colleagues have been running about a suggestion that land at the closed golf course in Bramcote Hills should be used to build a retirement village. At the moment there is no formal proposal but we wanted to know the views of residents about this scheme, and overall we got just over 170 responses, with just over 100 people opposed to the idea.

14. Major Oak Sapling planting

I’ve reported here before about Stapleford Poet Dave Woods “Creative Perambulations Around Sherwood Forest,” walking the historic boundary of the forest (the first person to do so in about 300 years). To mark the end of the project Dave will be planting a sapling from the Great Oak on Ilkeston Road Recreation Ground, Stapleford. If you’d like to come along to this historic tree planting in Stapleford on 22nd December at 2pm, please let Dave know on O77 O99 77684 or email davewrite2002 @ yahoo.com.

15. New Church web Site

St Michaels Church in Bramcote has a new website. You can view this at http://www.bramcotechurch.org/. I’ve had a quick look round and it seems quite good.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received. That can be sent by email, or by using the forms on the Broxtowe Lib-Dem website, or my personal website, the addresses of which are above.

David

Broxtowe Enews 26th November 2011

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. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

Sorry that there was no enews last week but I was away for the weekend and didn’t want to publicise the fact, especially after we had been the victims of crime so recently in any event.

1. Constituency Boundary Review

The public consultation on new electoral boundaries closes on 5^th December. In Broxtowe the proposal is that we keep the existing boundaries but with the addition of some villages from south of the river, current part of the Rushcliffe constituency. You can make your comments on the Boundary Commission website at http://consultation.boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/.

2. Service of Remembrance at Bramcote Crematorium

Bramcote Crematorium will be holding a service of remembrance for friends and relatives to remember loved ones who moved away. They’ve done this for the last few years and this year it will take place on Sunday 11^th December at 2pm. Everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, please contact Bramcote Crematorium on 0115 917 3849, email bramcotecrem@btconnect.com or visit www.bramcotecrematorium.org.uk

3. Council Tax Rises

The County Council have announced that they will be accepting an offer from the government to keep council tax at last years levels. As the substantial majority of council tax collected goes to the county council this will have a significant impact on people. However the position is not as clear for councils as it was last year. The government last year committed to provide funds to the councils to keep council tax down, and that they would commit these funds on an ongoing level. However they haven’t made that offer this year so if council tax stays where it is then next year councils face either a loss of income or a substantial council tax rise.

4. Dr Margaret Colley

Bramcote residents may remember Dr Margaret Colley who was the village GP for 35 years. I’ve had a phone call from her son this week to inform me that she sadly lost her battle against cancer. There will be a private funeral in Suffolk, where she had been living, but a memorial event will be organised early next year in Bramcote which everyone will be welcome to attend. Dr Colley established a web site in her later years to reflect back on her life, and this is available at www.margaretcolley.co.uk

5. Christmas Choir Event

Carlton Male Voice Choir will be performing a concert at Chilwell Road Methodist Church in Beeston on3rd December 2011, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £6 (£5 in advance) and are available on 0115 943 1164.

6. Awsworth Buses

Residents in Awsworth are campaigning to have an improved bus service to the village. Following the withdrawal of the Phoenix Flyer there are now few buses running to the village, leaving many people feeling virtually cut off. Readers may recall that a couple of months ago I asked for suggestions for where the council might spend £500,000 of money we had available to use on public transport schemes. The most common suggestion was to use it to improve bus services, although legally this is the most difficult. The officers at the council are currently exploring whether we can overcome the many hurdles that there are, and if so services to Awsworth are on the list to address.

7. The Big Tree Plant

Beeston & District Civic Society, together with Broxtowe Borough Council, are launching a project to replace as many as possible of the large trees along roads that are missing. They plan to locate areas in streets and on small grassy patches in Beeston and district where extra trees will improve the appearance of the street ~ and they need your help to do this. When the sites have been chosen, the council will check suitability with regard to services below the pavement and liaise with Nottinghamshire County Council who have ultimate responsibility for the roads and footpaths. The council will apply for funding from The Big Tree Plant funding scheme. The Civic Society, with your help, anticipate planting the trees, which will be 8 – 12’ or so high (at planting), in Autumn 2012. At that point they will need TREE GUARDIANS - ideally the householder nearest the tree - to water and generally keep their eye on that tree for 2 to 3 years until it has matured sufficiently to be included in the council tree maintenance programme. If you would like to take part or want more details please email: babsel@ntlworld.com

8. Erewash Valley Landowners and Managers Event

If you own or manage land in the Erewash Valley then there is an event for you on Monday, from 6pm to 8.30pm, at the Town Hall in Beeston. There will be informal presentations on the Erewash Valley and the partnership developing the landscape for people and wildlife; Stewardship and funding opportunities; Business opportunities for landowners to buy into renewable technology concentrating on solar and wind, saving costs and an opportunity to see various displays. In addition free trees will be given out to all attendees.

9. Heat recycling at Bramcote Crematorium

Bramcote Crematorium is seeking the views of the public, Council employees and wider stakeholders on whether it would be appropriate to reuse the waste heat from its processes to heat its building. At present, all the waste heat is simply vented into the atmosphere, increasing global warming and costs. The Crematorium is considering installing a heat exchanger which would harness the surplus heat from its mercury abatement plant and turn it into usable energy for the rest of the Crematorium. This is a practice already used in a number of crematoria across the country. Views can be submitted on the councils website at http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9876.

10. Beware of Bogus Charity Collectors

A bogus team of charity collectors have been doing the rounds in Bramcote again this week, claiming to collect for the Notts Air Ambulance. They have nothing to do with the air ambulance and so please do not give them anything.

11. Field Farm Stapleford

Westermans Builders have published information about their proposals to build a new estate on Field Farm in Stapleford. These are available at www.fieldfarm.info. They have not yet submitted an application but will probably do so shortly. The information that they are currently putting out is something that the coalition are requiring developers to do in the future, so that local people can be kept fully informed about what is being proposed. Once again I’ve seen an email from the Tory’s accusing the council of treating this as a done deal, exactly the same thing that they were saying about proposals to build in Toton even on the day that we dropped them.

12. Bramcote Hills Golf Course

Thank you to everyone who has so far submitted their views about the idea to allow building on the site of Bramcote Hills golf course. We have had over 130 responses so far, and I’ll publish the full results in a couple of weeks.

13. Paradiso Cinema

The film at the Paradiso Cinema, Chilwell School, Queens Road West, Friday 9th December will be “ The Bishop’s Wife” (1947). This is a change to the original advertisement as they were unfortunately unable to get a licence to show, "It’s a Wonderful Life". Instead they are showing this film, starring Cary Grant, Lorretta Young and David Niven. Tickets on the door £5 (£4 conc). Films start at 7.30pm. Come at 7pm for refreshments.

14. Milan Radulovic

The current leader of the borough council, Milan Radulovic, is unwell at the moment so may I take this opportunity to wish him a full and speedy recovery.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback will be very gratefully received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 12th November 2912

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. A special welcome to the news readers that we have this week. We had pretty much plateaued in terms of readers for a number of weeks but over the past two weeks we’ve had a big increase in readers.

1. Bramcote Hills Golf Course

Readers in Bramcote may be very familiar with the problems at the golf course. It closed a few years ago and since then the owners have been trying to persuade the council to allow them to build houses on it (which we’ve always opposed). The latest idea that they have been talking about (although there is no application yet) is to apply to build a retirement village there, and make the rest of the site public open space. I have a survey running on my web site asking whether people would support this as an idea or not. As there is no application yet we can’t give any specific details about what the details would be, but what we would like is simply whether people would support this as an idea or not. If you’re a Bramcote resident would you take a minute to visit my website at www.davidwatts.org.uk to express your view.

2. Changes to the NHS

If you are interested in the changes that are happening to the NHS then come along to an event that is taking place at Beeston on Thursday 24 November at Chilwell Road Methodist Church, Chilwell Road, Beeston NG9 1EH from 7-9pm, or at St Mary’s hurch, hurch Street, Eastwood on 1^st December. Local GP’S will be responsible for buying health services from April 2013. 12 GP Practices in the Broxtowe area form Nottingham West NHS Clinical Commissioning Group. Representatives will be present for you to ask questions. Please register your place – email: nwc.admin@nottspct.nhs.uk or tel: 0115 883 5224.

3. New County Councillors Newsletter

My colleague Stan Heptinstall, County Councillor for Bramcote and Stapleford, produces a regular monthly newsletter. The November edition is out now and can be accessed from the Broxtowe Lib-Dem website at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk.

4. Beeston Wind Turbine

The County Council have announced that they are opposed to the proposals by Nottingham University to build three large wind turbines along the bank of the River Trent. The County Council say that there may be an ancient stream on the site.

5. HS2

MP’s have suggested to the Government that they should bring forward the date that High Speed rail trains run to the East Midlands. This is potentially very important for us in Broxtowe as Toton has been suggested as the East Midlands station for the new HS2 line. This is, at this stage, simply a report from MP’s and not government policy, but it is encouraging to see how the MP’s are supporting the scheme.

6. Growing Places Fund

The Government have announced that they are making £17.5 million available for schemes in Nottinghamshire to kick start building on infrastructure schemes. This is a very welcome investment but we will need to see what schemes come forward as a result.

7. Events at Rumbletums Café in Kimberley

Friday 18th November (6.00pm – 8.00pm) – Special evening opening for Kimberley Christmas light switch on.

Saturday 19th November (10.30am – 12.30pm) – Table Top Sale offering Christmas gifts, hand-made cards, second-hand goods and jewellery (cafe open as normal).

Saturday 3rd December (7.30pm to 10.30pm) – Open Mic Night for young people with disabilities, their friends and families. Bring your own CD’s, MP3’s and sing, dance, tell jokes or whatever

All the events above take place at Rumbletums Cafe, 2a Victoria Street, Kimberley... and don’t forget, we’re now open on Thursdays from 10.00am to 3.00pm as well as Fridays and Saturdays.

8. Fire Call Outs in Notts

Figures released by the Nottinghamshire Fire Brigade show that the number of call outs each year has dropped from 30,000 in 1995 to 13,000 now. Of those 13,000 call outs, 6,000 were false alarms. I’m not sure if there are any significant reasons for the fall but it is a quite staggering amount.

9. Valuables In Cars

The police have launched a new initiative to encourage people not to leave their valuables on show in parked cars. If the police find a car where valuables are on display then officers will record the number and will then write to the registered owners.

10. Crime Reduction

Congratulations to the staff running the County Council’s crime reduction team, whose targeting youth programme was the runner up in the national Youth Justice Board Innovations Award. This scheme works with a number of schools across the county and seems to have considerable success in reducing offending rates.

11. Kimberley Youth Gym

Kimberley Youth Gym have been awarded nearly £50,000 from the County Council for new equipment specifically for disabled users. This is excellent news and new machinery should start appearing shortly.

12. Children in Need

Three members of staff at the Charlton Arms in Chilwell are fundraising for Children in Need by spending 14 hours sitting in a bath of stout. I can’t begin to imagine how disgusting that this will feel at the end of their session, so hopefully they will raise the £1,500 they are aiming to.

13. Drug Seizures in Notts

The police have published figures showing that the number of drug seizures in Notts has gone up 11% this year, from 2,273 seizures last year to 2,528 this year. The police say that this is the result of better targeting and the better use of intelligence.

14. Eastwood Town

Health and safety officers have reduced the capacity at Eastwood Town’s Coronation park ground by 50%. The capacity is now 400 people, although the club have said that they are intalks with the County Council to address their concerns and to tackle this.

15. County Council Budget Consultation

I reported last week that the County Council were slashing ever more off their budgets. You can now comment on these online at https://secure.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/your--‐

council/consultations/budget--‐conversation/budget--‐proposals/

16. Bramcote Branch Meeting

If you’re a Lib-Dem supporter in Bramcote why not come along to our branch meeting on Tuesday at 7.30pm, at 8 Cranston Road. Everyone is welcome to attend.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. The next edition will be in two weeks time, but any feedback in the meantime is gratefully received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 5th November 2011

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. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week, it’s been a very good week for new subscriptions.

1. Toton Garrison

I read an email from Anna Soubry this week which claimed that the council were in talks with the MOD about plans to build 2,500 houses on the garrison. She even produced a plan of the alleged site. All of this is completely incorrect. The council are not in discussions with the MOD and the plan was actually one prepared by council officers for an all-party discussion held last week about places where we might look for new development. The garrison was rejected as a site, apart from anything else because the MOD have no plans to release the land. We have asked them to notify us if they are intending to sell any part of the site, but there has been no discussion other than that. I was disappointed to hear the claims being reported as fact on the BBC, although heartened to see them being dismissed by the Nottingham Post.

2. New website

Following the upgrade to the Broxtowe Lib-Dem website I’ve also updated my personal web site this week. Why not have a look at www.davidwatts.org.uk and tell me what you think. The site has the opportunity to report problems or volunteer to help, and I’m starting to build up a database of community links and groups. If you want to be added to this please let me know, with the relevant details.

3. Work on the A52

The good news is that work on the A52 is nearly completed. The bad news is that for the next week they will need to close the road at night between the Priory Island and the QMC. Road closures will be between the hours of 8pm and 6am from the 7^th to the 12^th November.

4. Winter Gritting

The County Council have produced a new leaflet on winter gritting. I‘ve put a copy on our website at www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk where it’s available to download or read online.

5. Tree Planting

Tree planting season is upon us and a perfect time to plant trees to improve local communities and schools by making them more attractive, provide shade and improve biodiversity. The Greenwood Community Tree Planting Grant Scheme provides funding and advice to help schools, community groups and parish councils to carry out small-scale tree planting projects. The scheme has taken place for more than 10 years and in that time over 100 schools and community groups have received grants to plant thousands of trees.

The scheme is designed to be flexible and offers up to £250 to cover the cost of buying trees, shelters, tree stakes and ties. To be eligible, your scheme must:

· Plant native tree or shrub species (advice is available on suitable choices)

· Involve the school and/or local community

· Be situated within one of the following districts: Ashfield, Broxtowe, Gedling, or Mansfield.

· Be located on school grounds or publicly accessible land

Application forms for the 2011/12 planting season (November to March) are available from the Greenwood Community Forest Team. The deadline for applications is 16th December 2011, but funding is limited so apply early. For further details contact the Greenwood Team on 0115 977 2188 or email greenwood@nottscc.gov.uk.

6. Police Phone Number

Don’t forget that from Monday the police have a new non-emergency telephone number – 101. For emergencies dial 999, but everything else will now be on 101.

7. Cars in Bramcote Park

This is an example of how effective newsletters like this can be. A reader contacted me at the start of the week to raise problems with cars using the private road from the school across Bramcote Park during the school holidays. Dog walkers had to jump out of the way on at least one occasion. We’ve been able to raise that with the school and Kevin Dean, the Executive Head at the White Hills Park federation of schools has emailed to say that they will look at closing gates or constructing a barrier to stop cars out of school hours. Ideally we will still want pedestrians and cyclists to be able to use the route.

8. Bramcote Hills Park

Sticking with Bramcote Hills Park for the moment, resurfacing work will be carried out on the car park from mid-November through to late February. The car park will hopefully be open throughout but with a reduced number of spaces.

9. County Council cuts

The County Council have announced that they will be cutting back next year by a further £12 million compared to this years budget. Worryingly this includes cutting £10 million from Connexions, the career advice service for young people. At a time when youth employment is already far too high I think that this is a misplaced cut.

10. Council Housing in Stapleford

The Borough Council disclosed last week that the reason ten new council houses in Stapleford haven’t yet been occupied is because Severn Trent Water have failed to connect the water supply, despite having been paid to do this six months ago. Congratulations to my colleague Cllr David Grindell who highlighted the issue, and we will keep an eye on this to make sure things are now dealt with quickly.

11. Enterprise Zone

It was disappointing, if not altogether surprising, that the Enterprise Zone on the Boots site, part of which is in Broxtowe, was not allocated any money from the regional growth fund in the announcement this week. Added to that was an announcement from Network Rail that they had no plans to electrify the Midland Main Line and it’s been a poor week for infrastructure. We do need an improved transport network to Nottingham, and improving the A453 (which will have a major impact on Broxtowe even though it doesn’t come into the borough) and getting the HS2 Rail Line, would appear to be our best hope for the future.

12. The Politics Show

I’m on the Politics how on Sunday on BBC1 discussing the threat to the green belt. We recorded it on Friday and it seemed to go okay, although we were very pressed for time. The interviewer was Marie Ashby, and some years ago she interviewed me on the first ever edition of the Politics Show to come from the East Midlands. The point I was making this week was that changes being brought about by the Government threaten the green belt and the relevant ministers seem oblivious to the threat.

13. Trowell, Cossall and Greasley Events

The Trowell Christmas Special will take place on Friday 25^th November from 6.30 – 8.30pm at the Parish Hall. The Cossall Village winter market will take place the next day on Saturday 26^th November starting at 12.00 midday. Everyone is welcome to attend. There is also a craft fair at Greasley Parish Hall on 12^th November from 11am onwards. The Victorian Market takes place in Greasley on 26^th November from 10am onwards.

14. Broxtowe Business Women’s Network

The next meeting of the Broxtowe Business Womens network will be on 14^th November at the Belfrey Hotel in Nuthall, starting at 5.30pm. The speaker will be Jeannette Tokeley, MD of Dash Corporations, talking about how to gain, manage and retain clients. Details are available from the council on 0115 917 7777.

15. Christmas Lights Switch On

I mentioned these dates a few week ago but am repeating them because of the number of new subscribers we have had over the past couple of week. Christmas lights will be switched on as follows:

Kimberley 18^th November
Eastwood 22^nd November
Beeston 26^th November
Stapleford 1^st December.

Everyone is of course very welcome to attend.

16. Building on the Green Belt Part Two

After having read and heard so much over the last few weeks about how the Tories tell us they are going to save the green belt I was very surprised to heard last week that the Conservative controlled County Council had approached the borough to enquire about getting planning permission to build houses on green belt land the County own adjacent to Coventry Lane in Bramcote. They were told a very firm No.

17. CAT Meetings

There are a number of Community Action Team meetings coming up this month. Local residents are welcome to attend:

· Nuthall West – 10^th November, Church Hall, Back Lane

· Beeston Rylands – 15^th November at Beeston Rylands Community Centre

· Attenborough – 23^rd November at Lucy and Vincent Brown village hall

· Beeston Central – 23^rd November at Queens Road Methodist Church

· Nuthall East – 23^rd November, venue tba

· Stapleford North, 24^th November, Pastures Road Community Church

· Bramcote – 28^th November at Bramcote Memorial Hall

18. Belize Scam

Last week I reported an apparent scam from Belize. This was a message I had received via neighbourhood watch, which is usually a very reliable way of filtering out hoaxes. However I’ve been informed by the police this week that, whilst the scam was genuine, the phone number was closed down about 5 years ago and so is no longer a problem. Many apologies if this caused anyone any distress or worry.

19. Residents Parking In Stapleford

I am told that the County Council will publish their proposals for a resident’s car parking scheme in Stapleford this week. Hopefully I’ll be able to provide details next week.

20. Feedback

Each week I end this newsletter by saying that feedback is welcome. A reader from one of the web sites who carry this newsletter contacted me to say that there is no easy way to send feedback from them, which I accept. You can post feedback on either the Lib-Dem website or my personal website, both of which have their addresses above, or why not get the newsletter delivered by email and you can just use the reply button to send me a response. You can sign up on either of the web sites I’ve already referred to.

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback is always gratefully received.

David

Broxtowe Enews 29th October 2011

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

1. Future Development Sites

I was delighted on Wednesday night to move an amendment at the full council meeting to delete the Toton site next to the A52 from the list of preferred sites for future development in Broxtowe. I also explained some of the difficulties that the council find themselves in with Government regulations, which are forcing us to look at the possibility of redrawing the green belt boundary. The amendment was passed unanimously, which was great news. The Toton site was the subject of a significant amount of lobbying from local residents, and they deserve tremendous credit for having this site removed. Needless to say loads of people are now trying to claim the credit (I even had an email from someone in Poland claiming the credit) but really it was the efforts of the local residents which have borne fruit. It’s not simply a numbers issue, but the quality of the arguments that they presented which won the day.

2. A Bee Friendly Council

A second success for me on the council this week was the passing of a motion banning the use of neonicotiniod pesticides by the council and also banning their use by council house tenants and allotment holders. I previewed this last week but we were able to widen the terms of the motion to make it more comprehensive than I’d originally anticipated. Existing tenants and allotment holders will not be caught by the ban, although I hope that they will voluntarily follow it, but it will be a condition for any new lettings. Neonicotinoids are a relatively new form of pesticides, and there is fairly strong evidence that they are linked to the massive fall in the size of the bee population. Given that one in three items that we eat comes from crops pollenated by bees this is a significant issue. I’ve already received enquiries from other councils in the East Midlands wanting to follow suit. We will be making information available for those potentially affected to explain any steps that they should take.

3. Small Business Support

It was three out of three for me on the council on Wednesday when I also proposed a motion to help small businesses in the difficult financial situation at the moment, which was also passed unanimously. What the council has now committed to do is to ensure that we make every effort to pay all invoices within 20 days, rather than the usual 30, to help firms with their cash flow.

4. Trading Standards Scam

I’ve been asked by two separate people this week to pass on the following message:

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a Premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £315 for the phone call. If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655.

5. Theft

Having mentioned the message above I’ll also mention that my family have been the victim of thieves this week. Someone forced an insecure gate at the side of my house on Thursday and stole two bikes, one adult (my wife’s) and one child’s (my daughters). My seven year old daughter is heart-broken as the bike was her birthday present from my wife and I last year. I’d like to thank Conservative councillor Mick Brown, from Mick Brown’s Cycles in Eastwood, for helping sort out a new bike so quickly.

6. Bulldog Security

Carrying on the crime theme the following message was sent from Notts police on Tuesday:

Bulldog Security sales people are operating in the area. It has been reported to us that they are making false statements about Nottinghamshire Police. That the police will not attend alarms, that neighbourhood watch is of no use whatsoever and that the police no longer attend due to lack of funding.

Nottinghamshire Police do not in any way endorse this company and have referred such claims to Trading Standards. The company have been contacted and are withdrawing their sales staff from the area and will be conducting an internal review.

Nottinghamshire Police do respond to sequentially confirmed alarm systems.

Neighbourhood Watch schemes in this area have provided early alerts for many suspicious people in the area, the local neighbourhood policing team has responded quickly and the individuals have been located and requested to leave the area. There has been very positive results for the scheme and if your area is not operating a local scheme then please contact PCSO Chris Archer, who can assist with setting one up locally.

Please report any suspicious salespeople in the area on the 0300 300 9999 number, or 999 if an emergency.

7. Green Energy at the Council

Broxtowe Borough Council are looking at a range of schemes to introduce green energy to its buildings. I’m hoping that we will opt for a fairly extensive scheme of PV panels on the roof. I’ll keep you informed of how that goes.

8. Road Safety Campaign

The County Council have launched a campaign to encourage road users to wear bright clothing when out on dark nights. They also want to remind cyclists in particular of the need to use lights when out after dark. This is a campaign I wholeheartedly endorse.

9. Awsworth Primary School

Congratulations to Awsworth Primary and Nursery School who have been given the British Councils International School Award for fostering links with schools in other countries. This is an excellent achievement.

10. Safeguarding Children

Chilwell Olympia is to run a course for football coaches and trainers working with young children on the issue of Safeguarding Children on 5^th November at 10am. The course costs £15 for borough residents (£25 for non-residents) and details are available by ringing 0115 917 3572.

11. Trick and Treat

If anyone wants a "No trick or treat" poster these can be downloaded from the councils website at www.broxtowe.gov.uk

12. Clocks

Don’t forget that the clocks go back one hour tonight.

Thanks for your support for this newsletter. As ever any feedback will be gratefully received.

David