Enews 27th June 2010

Welcome to the Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. We’ve on;y had one new subscriber this week, the first time for ages that new numbers have been that low, but a special welcome to that new reader.

1. Free Swimming

You may have read in the press that the coalition Government have withdrawn the funding for free swimming places as one of the spending cuts that they have been forced to make. That cut is due to come into effect at the end of July. I have decided as leader of the council to ask our cabinet, and I’m sure that they will agree, that we should continue to provide free swimming until at least the end of the school holidays. Dropping it one week into the school holidays would be unthinkable. We will look at whether we can afford to keep it going in the future but until we’ve seen the figures I don’t know whether that will be possible.

2. Council Terminology

The County Council have decided to stop talking about Greater Nottingham and to instead refer to the “core city area” from now on. This is a phrase which has been used in council terms for ages but it seems to me that everyone knows where we talk about when we refer to Greater Nottingham and it would much more sensible to refer to that. Spending time and money changing the terminology to Core City Area does not appear to be a sensible use of very scarce resources.

3. Social Workers

Whilst on with the County Council I have read this week that they have spent £1.5 million on employing temporary social workers. This works out at £90,000 per agency member of staff, which is twice the maximum wage that they pay employed social workers. Social workers always get a bad press but they are vitally important in safeguarding children, and it seems to me that it would be a better use of our money to employ enough of them and not spend so much on the temps.

4. Kimberley Primary School Summer Fare

This will take place on 3^rd July from 10am through to 1pm, and attractions will include a bouncy castle, face painting, a penalty shoot out and an animal corner.

5. Broxtowe Community Celebration

I mentioned this last week but as it’s one of a number of special events on 3^rd July I thought I would give it another plug. This is a Round Hill School in Beeston and is a celebration of all the various cultures who live in the borough. This will be on from 11am to 4pm. The organisers are still looking for volunteers so if you’d like to help please email lizpierce@nottspct.nhs.uk

6. Attenborough Village Fete

Completing a trilogy of events on 3^rd July is St Mary’s Church Atttenborough holding their village fete. This will start at 2pm on the village green. Live music will be provided by Occasional Jazz.

7. New Mums Exercise Classes

During the summer the borough council will be running a series of exercise classes for new mums and their baby’s. These will start on Stapleford Sure Start centre on 7^th July, Beeston Fields Primary School on 8^th July and Sunnydale Primary School in Chilwell on 9^th July. Further information is available on 917 3572.

8. Councillors Expenses

The former Labour County Councillor for Eastwood, Ellie Lodziak, has recently submitted an expenses claim for £13,000 that she didn’t claim whilst she was acting as a councillor. It’s now over a year since she retired from her post aqnd the County Council have decided that they will not be paying this.

9. Kimberley Taxi Rank

Residents in Kimberley have submitted a petition to Broxtowe Borough Council objecting to the siting of a taxi rank in Station Street. Local residents say that the position of the rank would lead to anti social behaviour outside of their homes. The matter will be decided by the council on 28^th July.

10. Arts and Crafts Fairs

A series of art and craft fairs will be held throughout the borough over the summer. The first one will be on the 25^th and 26^th June in Beeston Square, followed by 10^th July at Beeston Carnival, and then at the Kimberley Pram Race.

11. Beeston Division Girl Guides

To mark 100 years of girl guiding a new flower display has been unveiled at Sherwin Island on the A52. As well as the borough council words the girl guide logo is now on display as well.

12. New Exhibition in Durban House

A new exhibition of photos of Vietnam has gone on display at Durban House in Eastwood. These were taken by photographer Alan Clayden.

14The World Cup

Finally as a football fan I have to just say how disappointed I have been with England’s performance throughout the world cup, cumulating in such a dismal performance today. The team have totally failed to perform and their complete inability to defend today left me speechless. I doubt that Mr Capello (or whoever replaces him) will seek my advice for the future but if they do I would simply say that he should decide now who are likely to be the key players four years hence and start building that team now. For me I would build the squad around James Milner (to my mind the best player in England’s squad), Aaron Lennon, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney. I would tell them not to bother with big money transfers for the sake of it but to make sure that they were in a team where they played every week, and to say to the country to forget about the European Championships, that we are building a team for the next world cup now. Sadly I don’t see that happening.

As ever thank you for your support for this project. I am always grateful for the feedback that I receive and for the recommendations that people give, and which are our best source of advertising.

Best wishes

David

Broxtowe Enews 30 May 2010

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council.

1. Kimberley Medical Centre

I’m delighted to hear that Kimberley Medical Centre has been saved. The Health Authority had originally planned to close it but they have now reversed that decision and it will become a branch outlet of another medical practice. This is good news for patients and my congratulations go out to everyone who has been involved in campaigning to save the centre.

2. Notts County Council

The council have scrapped the Dial A Ride scheme for disabled people, in a bid to save £364,000 a year. The council have released figures which show that the scheme only had 28 regular users last year, and with such a low level of patronage it is hard to disagree with the decision. The city council are also discussing whether to switch off the street lights during the late night as a cost saving exercise. I’m open minded about this so far, and will be interested to see the research on which they are basing their decision. Whilst they are trying to save money the County Council have also announced plans to spend £1.5 million recruiting 32 new jobs, whose role will be to find other cost savings across the authority. This last decision does seem extremely difficult to justify.

3. Hemlock Happening

Just a quick reminder that the Hemlock Happening will be on at Bramcote Hills Park on Saturday 12^th June from 1pm through to about 10.45pm. This is usually a wonderful event, totally free, and I would encourage as many people as possible to attend. You can set the video for the England match and watch it later.

4. Moorgreen

A pond dipping event will be held for families at Colliers Wood on Saturday 5^th June from10.30am to 3pm, at the large pond. This is free to attend, and is targeted at families. Details can be obtained on 0115 938 5101.

5. Strelley Village

A spring fair will be held at Strelley Hall on Monday 31^st May from 1.30pm. Admission costs £1 for adults. Accompanied children get in free.

6. The Tram

The new Government have announced that the tram scheme for the city is under review. No-one is quite clear what the outcome will be, but I hope very much that the tram scheme will continue. A delegation of pro-tram supporters will be travelling to London in the near future to make the case directly to ministers that the tram scheme is needed. Whilst the coalition have also said that they will be making other cuts from funding local authorities it does not appear that Broxtowe will be badly affected by these. Of course there are still many more savings that the Government have to make and there is no guarantee that we won’t be badly affected by them.

7. Stanton Building

Plans are going on show about a proposed development of 3,000 homes at Stanton By Dale. This includes proposals to bring a new main road into Trowell, so that traffic could then link up with the A52. If this happens I fear that the roads will be gridlocked in a morning as huge amounts of extra traffic try to get into Nottingham. An exhibition will go on display from 10^th to 12^th June for people to view the proposals and make their comments. The exhibition will be at a Marquee on Lows Lane, Stanton By Dale, at the Saint Gobain offices. On the 10^th it is open from 2pm to 8pm, on the 11^th from 10-6, and on the 12^th from 10-3pm.

8. Attenborough Nature Reserve

A pond dipping workshop will take place at the nature reserve on Tuesday 1^st June from 10am to noon, aimed at children on their half term holidays. The session costs £5 per person and should be booked in advance on 972 1777. Children under eight will need to be accompanied by an adult. On Friday 4^th June there will be an orienteering workshop from 10am to noon. Children have to be at least 8 years old and it costs £5 per person. On Saturday 5^th June there will be an open day at Attenborough Sailing Club, from 11am to 5pm. This will include an opportunity to have a trip on a boat, a barbeque and a display of model boats.

9. St Michaels Church Bramcote

St Michaels Church, a grade 2 listed building, has received a grant of £56,000 towards its upkeep from English Heritage.

10. The Pearson Centre childrens activities

A holiday club is being held at the Pearson Centre this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday it is aimed at school years 1 to 3, with years 4 to 6 on Thursday and Friday. Each session, from 10am to 4pm, costs £6.

11. Parking In Beeston Rylands

The County Council has published details of its proposals for a controlled parking zone in the Rylands. It will only apply on specified roads and only between 9am and 5pm. Also being proposed is a new one way system round a number of streets.

12. Archery at Durban House

People have the opportunity to try their hand at archery at Durban House, Eastwood, on Thursday 3^rd June from 10am to 3pm. There will also be an opportunity to handle owls from Sherwood Forest. Further details are available on 01773 717353.

13. Casework

I have received more casework since becoming leader of the council than I did in the whole of the last two years. I expected this and am quite happy to take matters on for people. If there are any issues you want me to look at please use my council email if possible, at david.watts@broxtowe.gov.uk.

As ever may I thank everyone for their support for this newsletter. Our best source of new readers is recommendations from existing subscribers, so please feel free to pass on the details to anyone you think might be interested. As it is half term there is no newsletter next week, and the next edition will be issued on 12^th June.

Best wishes

David

ENews 16th May 2010

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by our parliamentary spokesperson David Watts.

May I start by thanking everyone for their feedback and good wishes after the general election. A few people have asked what I will be doing now, and there’s more of that below. I’m needless to say delighted to see Liberal Democrats in government, something I have dreamed of since I joined the party in the 1980’s. I’ve been at the Special Conference today where the Lib-Dems overwhelmingly backed the position taken by the Parliamentary party. It’s quite scary to think that I’m on first name terms with the Deputy Prime Minister!

1. New Mayor

At the council meeting on Wednesday night Beeston Central Cllr Pat Lally was sworn in as the new mayor of Broxtowe, taking over from Stapleford North Cllr John Longdon. The deputy mayor is Cllr Jacky Williams who represents Stapleford South East, and who is one of the longest serving Lib-Dem Councillors on the borough.

2. Bridging the Gap

Broxtowe Borough Council are running a series of events this week under the title of Bridging the Gap aiming to show young people in a positive light. Basically we are fed up with young people always being reported in a negative light when most young people are excellent. More details are available to the special website, http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=7302. For the first time the council also has a Facebook page detailing events, at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bridging-The-Gap-Bringing-Generations-Together-in-Broxtowe-Borough/115206451851685.

Finally you can follow events on Twitter http://twitter.com/broxtowebc

3. Beeston British Legion

The Beeston Branch of the Royal British Legion have launched a petition calling for a sign to be installed showing the way to their premises as many visitors apparently have difficulty finding it. This petition will be presented to Notts County Council. Initially the council have asked the Legion to pay for a sign but the Legion hope that they may change their minds.

4. Council Leader

Also on Wednesday night the leader of the council, Michael Rich, publicly announced that he is standing down from that position with immediate effect. Michael intends to retire from front line politics next year, and so he is standing down as leader now to give the new leader time to settle into the role before the next borough elections next year. This means that the Liberal Democrats, as the leading party in the partnership running the borough council, have had to select a new leader. I’m very honoured to say that the person they have selected is me. I took up the role officially on Wednesday night.

I’d like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Michael’s leadership of the council, which has been second to none. He will always have a place in the history books as the first ever Lib-Dem leader of Broxtowe. He has, throughout his time as leader, tried to encourage others to take the front seat and to offer support from behind. He did not take on the role of leader of the council for any sort of personal reward of glory, but because he wanted to make a difference to people’s lives. I’ve asked Michael if he would accept an honour from the borough to mark his time as leader and his role on the council but he has refused point blank, showing the mark of the man. I hope that I can be as good a leader as him.

5. Brookhill Leys School

A new picnic bench has been installed at Brookhill Leys School in Eastwood, made out of recycled plastic bags. These have been collected by children at the school and the costs of making the bench were met by Warburtons Bakery.

6. Contact Details for Anna Soubry

Anna has now taken up her role as our new MP, and says that at the moment the easiest way to contact her is via her new email address, anna.soubry.mp@parliament.uk. I’ve already emailed her asking for a meeting about the green belt and the threat to build on it. I hope that this is something that we will be able to work together on this.

7. Care Charges

I’m pleased to say that the County Council have changed their minds over plans to change the costs of social care for the elderly. They have agreed to maintain the current rules, which mean that there is a maximum charge of £120 per week on a means tested basis. Congratulations to my colleague Stan Heptinstall who was instrumental in getting the council to change it’s mind.

8. M1

In case anyone hasn’t been along it recently all 4 lanes on the M1 are now open. However the 50mph speed limit remains in place whilst they test the communications systems on it.

9. Exhibition at Durban House

A new exhibition of art inspired by the railways has opened at Durban House in eastwood and runs until 13^th June.

10. Hemlock Happening

This years Hemlock Happening at Bramcote Park takes place on 12^th June from 1pm to 10.45pm. This is an excellent free event in the borough. You may recall that last year it had to be cancelled because of the appalling weather that we had, so much that could not take place last year will be in this years programme.

11. Attenborough Nature Reserve

A wildlife cross stitch exhibition is being held at Attenborough Nature Reserve throughout may, organised by volunteers from Notts Wildlife Trust, and funds will go towards the Trust.

12. Book on Brinsley

Local writer Stan Smith has launched a new book about Brinsley, costing £1.99 and available from www.ztanzmith.co.uk. Profits from this will be donated to St James Church in Brinsley.

13. Local History Societies

The Beeston and District Local History Society will be having a talk about the Erewash Canal at Chilwell Memorial Hall on 19^th May at 7.45pm. It costs £2 for non-members. The Bramcote History Group will have a talk about the English Civil War on Monday 17^th May at 8pm, meeting in St Michaels Centre on Church Street.

14. Half Term Activities

The Borough Council are offering a range of activities for school children during half term week, including archery, orienteering, circus skills, trampoline sessions and go karting. These will take place at Bramcote Leisure Centre, Chilwell Olympia, Eastwood Leisure Centre and Durban House, and Kimberley Leisure Centre.

15. Leicester Housing on Lowes Estate

A petition was presented to Broxtowe Borough Council on 12^th May from residents of the Lowes Estate in Beeston, calling on Leicester Housing Association to take their responsibilities as a landlord seriously and take action against problem tenants who are causing problems for other local residents. This was organised by my colleagues Steve and Barbara Carr.

ENews 1st May 2010

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by our parliamentary candidate David Watts. A special welcome to any new readers this week.

It will only be a short edition this week. It’s not because of the hours I’m putting in for the election but simply there does not seem to be a lot happening this week! I could fill this up with election comments but this newsletter is about local activities and events and I don’t want to give people who have signed up over the past couple of weeks the impression that this is simply a party political list, which it isn’t.

1. Council Core Strategy

Having said that I want to start with the election, and to go back to something I raised last week, the fact that the local council had disclosed to Nick Palmer that Anna Soubry hadn’t made a submission on the councils Core Strategy consultation, which seeks the views of local residents about where new building might or might not take place. I said last week that I was deeply concerned about the council disclosing this, but having looked at the matter further I now realise that I was wrong. I hope that I will always be big enough to recognise when I have made a mistake and this was one such time.

On checking the position I was informed that the submission forms say on them that all submissions will be made public. If people have made a submission on that basis then clearly there are no confidentiality issues here. I don’t think that a council official should have told Labour that no submission had been received (council officers have to be completely neutral on political matters and not be seen to be helping one side or the other) but that is a minor point, and the more significant issue is that the Conservatives sent to submission in on this, despite Ms Soubry saying that she had done.

Someone contacted me this week to ask if I had made a submission. I can’t, because I sit on the council committee which will review them. I have to assess the comments made by everyone else, and if I submit my own answers I would be accused of having pre-determined matters and I would not then be able to participate. When we were debating this week in Beeston Nick Palmer told the audience that this was the reason why I hadn’t submitted a comment sheet even before I got a chance to say anything, although he left this particular fact off the email he sent round afterwards.

2. Castle College

I was very disappointed to read that Castle College is closing its venue in Middle Street, Beeston. Castle College has already moved a lot of courses from local venues to others in the city, and this will lead to a further decrease in placed for students staying in Broxtowe.

3. Development Control Committee

It has been my privilege to chair the Development Control Committee at Broxtowe Borough Council for the past seven years, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. However I announced at the meeting on Wednesday that I have chosen to stand down as chair, no matter what the result of the general election. After seven years I felt that it was time to move on to new challenges.

4. Grants from the Borough Council.

Broxtowe Borough Council have announced that they are paying out grants of £9,000 to local organisations. The two largest beneficiaries are Eastwood Volunteer Bureau and Framework Housing Association.

5. ”Labours Only Hope”

On Tuesday evening I went in to the council offices. There I bumped into a senior Labour Councillor. He asked how my campaign was going and I said that it was going really well. His response was to say “Don’t say that. Ours is awful. In fact we were only saying today that you were our only hope.” This is the first time I have ever been called Labours only hope. I think what he meant was that they were hoping that I was taking more votes from the Conservatives than I was from Labour. An article in the Evening Post today says that where the Liberal Democrats do well we usually take more votes from the Conservatives than from Labour, and this has been my perception in this campaign. I do think that people are swinging to us from both other parties, but probably more from the Conservatives.

I did see that the Labour run blog Broxtowe2010 had an article yesterday suggesting that I will come second, beating the Conservatives. Their projection was 37% Labour, 33% Liberal Democrat and 30% Conservative. Of course all the polls in the world don’t actually count for anything, it’s how you use your vote on Thursday that counts. However this poll does run very counter to the usual Labour line that the Lib-Dems just can’t win here.

My personal view is that people will vote this time for what they believe in, rather than vote against what they don’t. I suspect that this election will be very close, and I predict that there may be as few as 500 votes covering all three main parties.

6. Volunteering In Kimberley and Eastwood

Sessions have been set up in Kimberley library for people who are interested in volunteering. These are run by Voluntary action Broxtowe and further details can be obtained on 0115 917 8080.

7. Your Vote

I do hope that you will vote for me on Thursday, but the most important thing is that people actually go out and vote. Most of the worlds population do not get to vote at all, and in this country many people gave their lives to ensure that we could each have a vote. Please honour their memory by using your vote this Thursday.

Thank you as ever for your support for this newsletter. I will post the election results on Friday when they are announced, but there will be no newsletter next Saturday. After the stresses of the election I’ll be having a day off.

Best wishes

David

Broxtowe ENews 255th April 2010

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, our parliamentary candidate. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

As we get close to the election I will of course cover that, but there are other things going on in the borough as well to cover.

I’d like to begin with an endorsement of my candidacy, this time from the former Labour chair of the County Council and mayor of Broxtowe Maureen Tewson. Maureen said:

“I’m backing David Watts in this election. I’ve seen David work as a local councillor and seen how effective he is. Labour has failed and David will be an excellent new MP for Broxtowe. I’d urge everyone to vote for David.”

This follows on from the endorsement from former Labour councillor Alan Buttery last week. I also have a former Conservative borough councillor in my campaign team, and my perception is that voters from both other parties are swinging to the Liberal Democrats. I had an email this week from a former Conservative Party member in Bramcote who no longer backs them and will be voting for the Lib-Dems as he believes that Vince Cable offers the only hope for the future of our economy.

1. Local TV Debate

I’m afraid that you didn’t get the chance to see the three main Broxtowe candidates on TV today. I received a call from the Politics Show on BBC1 on Tuesday to ask if they could come to Broxtowe. They had been planning to be in Ashfield, just up the road, but the Labour candidate suddenly refused to participate. (She’s also pulled out of other debates in that constituency.) I was all in favour of this but they had to ring back later to say that Nick Palmer wasn’t able to attend and so it couldn’t take place.

2. Beeston Town Centre

I’m pleased to report that Henry Boot, who run the town square in Beeston, have confirmed that they are still committed to redeveloping the square, and they will start work as soon as possible after contracts are signed with the council. This is extremely encouraging as to keep Beeston as the prime shopping centre outside of Nottingham city itself we need to redevelop as soon as possible. However the plans won’t be rushed through and there will be detailed consideration and the opportunity for people to have their say through the planning process.

3. Hustings Meetings

I’m pleased to say that there are opportunities to hear the candidates in Broxtowe as we have participated in a number of debates, most recently tonight. There is still one debate to go, next Thursday at St Michaels Parish Hall, Church Street, Bramcote, starting at 7.30pm. We were missing Chris Cobb, the UKIP candidate tonight, and the BNP were not invited. We were almost missing the Tory candidate as well. I had a call from Anna yesterday morning to see if there was a debate today as she hadn’t got it in her diary. Given that she has been late for two debates already it doesn’t bode well should she win. However my impression is that this is a fading possibility.

4. My Facebook Page

If you want to keep up to date with how things are going in my election campaign you can visit my Facebook page and read the various comments on that. It’s available at:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/David-Watts/108146162557473

5. Emailing Anna Soubry

I’ve been sent copies of a number of emails from Anna Soubry and others have been published on the Beestonia Blog. Basically she has refused to answer emails from constituents, claiming that there is a concerted campaign to waste her time with lots of emails. I suspect that this is a bit of paranoia on her part. I’m getting between 50 and 100 emails a day at the moment from people wanting to know my view on some subject or other, and I’ve managed to reply to them all. (At least I think I have, if you are waiting for a reply to me I’ve overlooked it so please send it again.)

If you want to read the emails they are available on Beestonia at http://beestonia.wordpress.com/.

6. County Council Legal Bill

The County Council have run up a legal bill arising out of a dispute with Veolia over publishing details of contracts they have, and this has now reached £60,000. This seems to be entirely the fault of the council whose drafting of the contract with the company was poor. If they had got matters right in the first place there would have been no problems. In tight financial times the Council cannot afford to throw money away like this.

7. Visit of Harriet Harman

Labour have had a visit from the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman. I wouldn’t normally mention this except that another party has told a local paper that they shouldn’t report it. The paper (quite properly) won’t tell us who objected, but I know it wasn’t us and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been Labour, so that only leaves one prime candidate. II think that this behaviour is appalling. The free press are a really important part of the UK, and a safeguard for our democracy, and no political party should ever try and restrict that.

8. Stapleford Business Forum

The Stapleford Business Forum have published their annual plan, which includes proposals to boost the local economy by better promotion and marketing of Stapleford, improvements to the environment, improvements to shop security. All of these features should help make Stapleford a better place to shop and so I wish them every success. If elected I will of course try and get thee best result for all of our local town centres.

9. Campaign Trails

I’ve been overwhelmed by the levels of support that we have received from people in Broxtowe during this election. The level of support has been phenomenal. I haven’t seen much of the Tories and I hear reports about significant infighting there as they place the blame for their poor performance. There was also a concerted attack on me by a Labour blogger over the past few days, which at times went far too far. When he attacked my children another Labour supporter did post a message taking him to task for this. I’m inspired though by the words of Mahatma Ghandi – “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win.”

We have really made Broxtowe a three horse race. For me to win in this election I need to persuade about 1 in every 8 people who voted elsewhere last time to vote Lib-Dem this time. That is something which really is doable, especially when you consider how the Labour party locally has slipped into meltdown, dropping from the largest to the smallest party in the borough council and losing all their county councillors.

There has been a lot of rubbish put out by some supporters of other parties. I assume that the candidates themselves are not involved in this but amongst the things people have been told are that I have withdrawn from the race and am urging my supporters to vote Labour, that I have been banned from preaching by the Methodist Church, that we have asked the Labour Party for a copy of their email database and finally that I objected to a church meeting taking place. There is no truth in any of these whatsoever. If you hear something about us and think that it sounds a bit bizarre then the chances are that it is not true and is just a smear from another party.

10. Possible Disclosure of Confidential Information

At the debate in Beeston tonight Nick palmer and Anna Soubry clashed over her opposition to building in the green belt, something which I am totally opposed to. At an earlier hustings Nick had asked her if she had submitted comments on the consultation paper published by the Borough Council. Anna hedged around it but eventually said that she thought that she had. Tonight Nick palmer revealed that he had since telephoned the council and been told that she had not. Whilst this is a very poor performance by Anna, and might give the impression that she was just saying what she thought people wanted to hear, I do agree with her that the council should never have given out this information in the first place. As the only one of the candidates who is a local councillor I have tonight written to the Chief Executive expressing my deep concern about the apparent breach of data protection and asking that an urgent enquiry is carried out.

As ever thank you for your support for this service. The number of readers we have has doubled over the past few weeks, and I hope that people will continue to find it useful.

Best wishes

David

Weekly News 12th February 2010

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by our parliamentary candidate David Watts.

1. Council Tax

Tory run Greasley Parish Council have decided to raise their element of the council tax for this year by £10 per person. Given that parish councils amount for only a small element of the total council tax this represents a pretty big increase. Other town and parish councils will be announcing their council tax rises over the next few weeks, before Broxtowe and the County Council settle on their figures.

2. Vandals Target Church

Thieves and vandals seem to have targeted St Mary’s Parish Church in Eastwood, smashing stain glass windows and causing several thousand pounds worth of damage. If anyone knows who is responsible for this please pass this on to the police or to Crime Stoppers.

3. Oaks Medical Centre

I was disturbed to read that the Oaks Medical centre in Beeston has thrown 120 of its patients off their register. They say that they need to reduce patient numbers to maintain care, but frankly it seems to me that this is a poor way of going about things, with patients simply being given 28 days to find somewhere else.

4. Tesco’s

Work starts this week on the new Tesco for Beeston. Whether you supported or opposed the store, I’m sure that everyone will welcome the end of having a large patch of derelict land in the middle of Beeston. Removing that is an important part of the redevelopment of Beeston Town centre. However Tesco’s have also applied to build a new store in Sandiacre. Although this is in Erewash it is close to Broxtowe and would impact on business here. Broxtowe have formally objected to this new store being built.

5. Housing

The councils latest consultation on where new development might take place will be launched publicly next week. The council have also arranged for two public meetings where people can have their say and ask any questions that they have. These have been arranged for Roundhill School, Beeston on Thursday March 4th at 7pm and for George Spencer School, Stapleford on Wednesday March 10th , again at 7pm. There will also be a further meeting arranged for Trowell but the date for this hasn’t yet been confirmed.

6. Toton Trees Meeting

May I remind people that a public meeting is being held tomorrow at the Greenwood Community Centre in Toton at 4pm to discuss the chopping down of the trees on Toton Sidings. Anyone interested is welcome to attend. Nick Palmer, Anna Soubry and I will all be attending.

7. Geoff Hoon

Ashfield MP Geoff Hoon, whose constituency includes Eastwood and Brinsley, has announced that he will not be seeking re-election. Although the press are suggesting that this is because of the internal warfare going on in the Labour Party (and his attempt to force a leadership vote last month didn’t make him popular with many of his own party members) I suspect that the growth of support for the Lib-Dems in Ashfield, which has been very significant over the past few years, also contributed substantially to this. Ashfield is now one of our most significant target seats, and I confidently expect voters there to return a Lib-Dem MP after the next election.

8. Bramwell Nursing Home

As you may well be aware the Tory County Council have proposed selling off this nursing home to private business (as well as others in the county). I am totally opposed to this. I think that it creates fear and uncertainty for the residents, and demonstrates the uncaring nature of the new administration at County Hall. Tory candidate Anna Soubry also says that she is opposed to this plan, but Anna really can’t have it both ways. She cannot in all honesty stand on a platform saying this shouldn’t happen whilst at the same time urging people to vote for the party who are making it happen.

9. Bramcote Hills Primary School Family Fun Day

May I thank all the parents and children who made this event such a great success, and especially those who voted in the family photograph competition. The challenge was to take a picture of the family engaging in a hobby, and I’m delighted to say that the Watts family picture, showing us playing guitars or singing (not me singing as I can’t carry a tune in a bucket) was voted as the overall winner. Although I’m a keen photographer I think this is the first time I’ve ever won a photo competition, so thank you all for your votes. (I hope I’m saying that on May 6^th as well.)

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is very welcome.

David

Changes to this blog

Sorry that there hasn't been much on this blog recently but instead I've been editing a weekly newsletter. I'll now be posting that on here each week as well.

Iraq Inquiry A Farce

So Gordon Brown has decided to have an enquiry to "answer the questions" about Iraq. This is designed to restore the public's confidence in the Government, from the man who promised a more open and transparent form of politics. The members of the enquiry team are hand appointed by the prime minister, the enquiry will sit in closed session, the terms of reference do not permit it to apportion blame or express a view as to any potential criminal or civil proceedings against any person, no witnesses will be compelled to attend and evidence will not be delivered under oath. Does the word "whitewash" spring to mind. If Brown believes taht people will accept this he is even more misguided than I thought.

TV Discussion

I will be appearing on the Politics Show on BBC1 this Sunday along with a representative from the Green Party to discuss the new Tesco store in Beeston, which was given planning permission last night. I chaired the meeting and voted in favour of the scheme. It seems to me that having a store so close to the High Street, with free parking, may well attract more shoppers into the town. Afetr all, people park at Sainsbury's and visit other shops as well. By ensuring that Tesco's provide free parking for all shoppers for a minimum of 2 hours, which they will sign a legally binding agreement to do, and by removing a shop from the High Road to open up access to the car park, which they have done, I think that the store can be a benefit to the town.

It is however only part of the work. We desperately need to renovate the Square and get new facilities built there. We don't have enough large shop units in Beston to attract the range of retailers that we need, and as a result many companies who would like to have come to us have stayed away. We need to bring them in.

As well as major traders we also need to ensure that there are still spaces for local traders and speciality shops. We don't want to lose the chacater of Beeston so that it becomes just another identikit town.

Issues like this illustrate the genuinely difficult decisions that local politicians have to make week in and week out.

The Ineffective Labour Party

This weeks developments show just how ineffective the Labour Party in parliament is - they can't even organise a coup properly. It was obvious on Thursday, with a number of ministers resigning, that there was a plot against Gordon Brown. However it's been botched. All that has happened is that it has left the Prime Minister with a considerable weaked power base and resentment running large through the Labour Party. The Prime Minister has been briefing against his close colleagues, and they have been briefing that they were going to get rid of him. In the end it has all been a farce. throughout all the public have wanted is for there to be a general election so that we can get this lot out of office, but it has never been forthcoming.

Public Good or Private Gain

Labour MP's today need to ask themselves what they value more, doing the right thing for the country or getting the best for themselves. If they want to do their best for the country then they must force Gordon Brown to either quit or call an immediate election. Their all time record low of 15% of the vote in the Euro elections shows that they no longer have any mandate to govern. If they believe that the British people really want them to carry on as they are then let the British people have their say on this.

However these same MP's know taht if there is an election huge numbers of them will lose their seats. They may therefore decide taht it is better to cling on to the bitter end and milk every penny out of the system they can before the public give them the boot.

Apparently the Parliamentary Labour Party have a meeting tonight. We should know very quickly whether they want to do what's right by the country, or whether personal self-interest is their overriding concern.

Election Results

Well done to all our Broxtowe candidates in yesterdays elections who gave us our best ever set of results. We won five of the ten seats in the borough and polled 29% of the vote, above the national average and well above Labour's 19%. The Tories polled 35% so we've got 6% to make up on them.

Nick Palmer has worked hard as an MP but he supports Gordon Browns Government. Labour have come third in Broxtowe now in the last two elections and it is clear that Nick will not win a fourth term as MP. The only question for voters is whether to elect a Tory who doesn't line in the constituency or me, a long term local resident who even Dr palmer himself said would make a very good MP.

Resignations

To lose one minister is unfortunate.
to lose two ministers in careless
To lose three ministers in appalling.
But now, to lose four ministers in the period of 24 hours is unprecedented.

Anyone who thinks that the Gordon Brown's government is not falling completely apart is fooling themselves beyond measure.

If Mr Brown really thinks that he has the support of the British public then he can prove it - call the election now. If the public support him they will vote him back in and his authority will be considerably strengthened. On the other hand ....

D-Day

President Obama has said in an interview with the BBC this evening taht he is doing all he can to ensure the Queen is invited to the D-Day commemerations on 6th June. Two thoughts immediately leap to mind. The first is that many thousands of British soldiers fought and died bravely on D-Day for the liberation of Europe, and for the French not to have ensured that the Queen was invited as a matter of course is a national insult. Second Gordon Brown, as Prime Minister, should have ensured that she was. His failure to act is lamentable. He eventually agreed to go himself, only after pressure from vetrans, but never botehred to ensure that Her Majesty was invited. That it falls to the American President to arrange this represents a serious dereliction of duty by Mr Brown. It's yet another sign, if any more were needed, taht he is not fit for office and that he should call a general election now.

I myself am a pacifist. However I recognise fully the bravery and sacrifice of my grandfathers generation, who fought against the tyrrany of Hitler. Their self-secrifice and what they endured is something that all of us should keep strongly to mind. Not inviting the Queen is an insult to all their memories.