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

23rd October 2011

1. Housing Development
It’s been an interesting week, with Broxtowe Borough Council being discussed
extensively in a debate in parliament organised by Anna Soubry, and extensive
TV coverage here as a result. Some of the statements made however have been
very wide of the mark, but the issue of where, if anywhere, housing development
will take place in Broxtowe will be debated at the full council meeting on
Wednesday. In the meantime if anyone wants to catch up on the debate in
parliament it is here:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=9134. If you’re
interested in this (which I hope people are)then you are very welcome to come
to the council meeting on Wednesday, which starts at 7pm at the town hall in
Beeston.

2. Chilwell Arts Theatre
There are a number of events coming up at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Chilwell
School. These are:
Paradiso Cinema
Friday 11th November, “O What a Lovely War (1969)
Friday 9th December, It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)
Friday 13th January, “The Tree of Life” (2011)
Friday 10th February, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961)
Tickets on the door cost £5 (£4 conc) and films start at 7.30pm. Come at 7pm
for refreshments.
Also at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Village Ventures productions present two shows,
on Sunday 5th February, New Rope String Band, (see
http://www.newropestringband.co.uk/) and on Thursday 29th March, Coope, Boyes
and Simpson, (see http://www.coopeboyesandsimpson.co.uk/ ). Tickets in advance
or on the door cost £8 (£6 con), £24 family (2+2). These are suitable for
all the family. Concerts start at 7.30pm. Ring 0115 925 2698 or 0758 426 3893
for tickets. Both bands are very popular so book early to avoid disappointment.

3. Rumbletums Café, Kimberley
Rumbletums have asked me to mention that they raised £36 for Macmillan Cancer
Support from our participation in their World's Biggest Coffee Morning at the
end of September, and they have recently started a Parents/Carers and Toddlers
group at the cafe, every Tuesday from 1.00pm to 3.00pm and the cafe will be
opening on Thursdays (we're currently only open on Fridays and Saturdays) from
3rd November. I’m delighted to do so and delighted that this venture is going
so well.

4. Tram Works
NET have told me that they are expecting to let the contracts for Phase two in
the next couple of weeks. They will be contacting all the traders on Chilwell
Road over the next couple of weeks to talk about the compensation packages that
are available. They will also be delivering letters to all the affected
properties shortly. Once this is done I will post a copy of the letter on the
Lib-Dem website so that anyone interested can see it.

5. Police Station Closures
Further to the item that I mentioned last week a number of people have asked
what the political control is on the police authority. It is in fact Labour
controlled, and the only Lib-Dem on the committee is my colleague Keith
Longdon, the County Councillor for Eastwood. Keith worked very hard to ensure
that Eastwood Police Station remained open, and deserves tremendous credit for
this.

6. Support for small businesses
The Lib-Dems have proposed a motion which will be debated at the council
meeting on Wednesday to help small businesses through the current difficult
economic conditions. We’re asking the council to commit to paying invoices
within 20 days, as opposed to 30 which is the current situation. This should
help the cash flow of small firms who we deal with.

7. Protecting Bees
Over the past year the bee population of the UK is estimated to have declined
by 17%. There are a number of reasons for this but one in particular is the
increase in the use of pesticides. I’ve proposed a motion to the council to
ban the use of particular pesticides (called neonicotinoids) by the council.
This is a strain of pesticides particularly associated with the decline in bees
so this seems to be a very practical step that we can take.

8. Events at Durban House
The DH Lawrence Heritage Centre at Durban House has announced the following
events which are coming up.
Christmas at D.H. Lawrence Heritage
Event: Fairy Grotto (Part of the Eastwood Christmas Light Switch On Event)
Description: Meet our beautiful fairy and make a special Christmas wish!
Date: Tuesday 22nd November 2011, 6pm – 8pm
Venue: D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum, 8a Victoria Street, Eastwood, Notts,
NG16 3AW
Price: £3.00 per child - Every child will receive a special Christmas wish,
bauble, and goody bag!

Event: Victorian Christmas Tradition Tours
Description: Discover the many Christmas traditions that began in this period
and soak the festive atmosphere of a Victorian Christmas.
Date: Thursday 1st to Friday 23rd December 2011
Time: Daily 11.15am Museum timed tour
Venue: D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum, 8a Victoria Street, Eastwood, Notts,
NG16 3AW
Price: £5.00 Adults, £3.50 Concessions (5-15 year olds), Under 5's Free.
Discounts for Broxtowe Leisure Card holder. Annual D.H. Lawrence Heritage
membership available. Places limited available pre-booking advised
Event: Santa’s Grotto and Creative Christmas Craft
Description: Tell Santa your Christmas wish and receive a special Christmas
goodie bag plus have a go at our special Festive Crafts.
Date: Saturday 10th December, 11am -3pm. Santa’s Grotto Open – 11am-12.30pm
and 1pm until 2.30pm.
Venue: D.H. Lawrence Heritage, Durban House Heritage Centre, Mansfield Road,
Eastwood, Notts, NG16 3DZ
Price: £3.00 per child, (1st Adult free, accompanying adult £1), £2.50
Broxtowe Leisure card holders, £1.00 for Santa for Annual Members
Further information for all these events is available on telephone 01773 717353
or by visiting www.dhlawrenceheritage.org

9. Improved Public Transport
This is a report back on an appeal I made last month. You may recall that the
borough council has money available to spend on public transport, and I was
asking for suggestions for how this might be spent. I received loads of really
positive suggestions and so have now submitted a detailed list to the councils
Chief Executive. In brief the suggestions fell into four categories:
a) Improved bus routes
b) Improved facilities for voluntary travel schemes
c) Improved cycle lanes and facilities
d) Mapping of existing services to identify gaps.
I know that officers at the council were reluctant to spend the money on bus
routes as these tend to require a more long term funding arrangement, but it
seems to me that if we can subsidise new routes for a year or so to see if
there is a sufficient demand to make them viable then this would be a good use
of money. I’ll keep people informed of progress.

10. Deliverers wanted
Could you help the Liberal Democrats by donating an hour of your time, four
times a year? We deliver Focus leaflets to much of the borough and we’d like
to increase our pool of deliverers. For those who don’t currently receive
them, Focus leaflets are information leaflets telling people what is happening
in their areas. They are like a printed version of this newsletter, paid for by
the Lib-Dems and delivered by volunteers. We do it because of our inherent
belief in community politics, in making sure that people are involved in issues
and decisions which affect them. Every hour that someone gives us means more
people able to receive leaflets. If you believe that people should be informed
about things happening in their area then why not volunteer to deliver. Just
contact me and I’ll make the arrangements for you.

11. Burglaries in Toton
I was sent this message this weekend which I thought was well worth passing on:
“As everyone is aware, Toton has suffered a significant number of Burglaries
recently.
An unknown ‘gentleman’ was spotted by a resident in the Lichfield
Close/Erdington Way area (Upper end of Banks Road) in the early evening acting
suspiciously. A white man, approx 6’-2” tall, possibly in his 50s, greying
hair, with either stubble or a ‘light’ beard, he was wearing ‘dark’
clothes with an Adidas style jacket and carrying some leaflets.
He twice walked the streets taking note of the houses. A resident was
concerned and challenged him. The ‘gentleman’ claimed he was working for a
double glazing firm and was looking for potential clients and ‘cold
calling’ upon houses. Because the ‘gentleman’ had passed his house twice
and NOT called or left a leaflet (his house has single glazing) he became more
suspicious. The ‘gentleman’ offered the resident a leaflet. The resident
took it saying he had missed him out, and gave the ‘gentleman’ a false
address.
The resident returned home and immediately tried to contact the double glazing
company. No reply on the telephone number – not even an answer-phone. The
resident ‘checked-out’ the business website and the business addresses
between the leaflet and the website did NOT match. The resident telephoned the
police and reported the situation. The police took details and said they would
patrol the area to look for him.
I can confirm that the Police did take action. My son came home from work just
a little later and saw a Police van and several policemen on foot patrolling
the streets.
The primary purpose of this note is to advise you of this ‘incident’ and
ask you to be vigilant. We can help each other here in Toton. If you are
unhappy with what you see – phone the Police. The second purpose of this
note is to praise, and thank, the Police for acting swiftly. The Police are
taking the Toton burglaries VERY seriously. So WE need to help them any way we
can – be vigilant – take a note of peoples’ descriptions, vehicle
registration numbers, AND contact the Police IMMEDIATELY if you have any
concerns.”
12. Police Contact Number
Following on from that story, the police have announced that they will be
adopting a new contact number. For emergencies (as above) the number remains
999, but for non-emergency calls the new police number from 7th November will
be 101.

13. Pampered Women
There will be a pampering and shopping evening for women in Beeston at the
Pearson Centre, Nuart Road, on 11th November from 7.30pm. The money raised will
be used to fund activities for children aged from 4 to 18. I do have to declare
an interest here as one of my daughters attends the Girls Brigade there, so
obviously I hope as many women as possible will turn up. Tickets cost £2 in
advance or £2.50 on the night, and are available from 0115 925 4112.

14. Crime Figures
The latest figures released by the Home Office show a reduction in recorded
crime of 13.4% for Nottinghamshire. Burglaries fell 38%, which was the highest
fall in the country. There is always a difference between the actual levels of
crime and those which are reported to the police, but all the evidence shows
that crime is falling quite significantly, which is very encouraging news. I
haven’t had the detailed breakdown yet showing the situation here in Broxtowe
so I will post that when I have it

15. Reporter Nominated
Congratulations to Nottingham Post reporter Alex Britton, who covers Broxtowe,
on being nominated for the Exclusive of the year award by the National Council
for the Training of Journalists Awards for Excellence 2011. The report which
has earned Alex the nomination is his coverage of the mix up in May when the
wrong winner was declared in the Eastwood ward for the borough council.

16. Heritage in Danger
A new report on architectural heritage in Nottinghamshire has identified three
properties at risk in Broxtowe. These are the Summerhouse at the Yews,
Kimberley Road, Nuthall, Bennerley Viaduct, Awsworth and Beauvale Priory.

17. Renewable Energy in Beeston
Greening Beeston, which promotes renewable energy in the town, is looking at
sites for a community renewable power project and is wanting local residents to
select from a shortlist of three. There will be a public meeting at Beeston
Library on Saturday October 29th between 1.30 and 3pm.

Thank you for your support for this newsletter. As ever any feedback will be
gratefully received (although I was somewhat unimpressed when a Labour
councillor phoned me up this week to swear at me (strongly) about the
newsletter, as apparently I’d reported something that he wanted to take the
credit for).
Best wishes

David

15th October 2011

1. Web Site
Broxtowe Lib-Dems have a new web site. The address is the same as previously,
www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk but every aspect of it has been redesigned.
We will be adding more pages in the next few weeks as well, so please drop by
and have a look.

2. Cabinet by internet
I’m trailblazing on Tuesday. It’s the cabinet meeting at the council on
Tuesday but I have to be in London for a business meeting at 6pm. I’ve
therefore arranged for a Skype link to be set up so that I can attend the
cabinet meeting virtually. We’ve had a councillor attend via a video link
from elsewhere in the council building before, where she has an illness which
meant that she couldn’t attend the main meeting, but I will be the first
person to attend from elsewhere in the country.

3. Police station closures
The police have announced their final plans for cutbacks, which have been
modified following the public consultation. I’m pleased to say that the front
counter at Eastwood Police Station will now remain open, but Kimberley and
Stapleford Police Stations are to close, with the police working out of other
local offices. These changes will save about £720,000 per year, or putting it
another way it avoids cutting 50 front line officers. The police also hope to
raise in excess of £800,000 from the sale of surplus buildings.

4. Roger Helmer quits
Arch-euro sceptic Conservative MEP Roger Helmer has resigned from his seat,
saying that he is disillusioned with the way that the Tory party are going.
Under the terms of the election system for MEP’s the Tory party get to
appoint a successor to fill in the rest of the term.

5. Extra money for schools
The Pupil Premium, which was a key Lib-Dem policy in the general election last
year, has resulted in an extra £684,000 for schools in Broxtowe this year,
according to figures released this week. This works out as an extra £488 for
every chid receiving free school meals, which is considerably higher than was
expected to be announced. This is a very real illustration of the positive
impact that the Lib-Dems are having in government. It wasn’t a Tory policy
and without us there this money would never have been made available.

6. No Trick No Treat
Broxtowe Borough Council have partnered with Notts Police again this year to
run our “No Trick No Treat” campaign again for Halloween. If you don’t
want children to call trick or treating then there is a free poster you can
download on the borough’s website at
http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9767.

7. Foil Recycling
The council has launched a 6 month trial allowing people to recycle used foil
packaging. We have installed four recycling bins for these, at Sainsbury’s in
Beeston and Kimberley, Morrison’s in Eastwood and the Co-Op in Stapleford. If
these work then the scheme will hopefully be made permanent.

8. A52 Works
The Highways Agency have announced that the improvement work on the A52 is
running to schedule and they expect the work to be finished by the end of next
month. When finished there will be new traffic lights and pedestrian crossings
at Thoresby Road and the Priory and QMC Islands.

9. Beeston Litterpick
Broxtowe Mayor Jacky Williams will be leading a residents litter pick on Monday
in Beeston. This is part of the “Love Where You Live” campaign that the
council are supporting. Residents are also urged to report any “grotspots”
in the borough on www.broxtowe.gov.uk/lovewhereyoulive.

10. Register to Vote
The council have announced this week that there are approximately 11,000 people
in the borough are yet to register to vote. If you haven’t done so yet it is
important to do so, to ensure that you don’t lose the right to vote. Every
household should have received a form to register, but if you’ve lost it
contact the Democratic services team on 0115 917 7777.

11. EvoEnergy
Congratulations to Attenborough based business EvoEnergy who were named as the
Solar Installer of the year at the 2011 Renewables Award.

12. Festival Of Comedy
Next Saturday, the 22nd of October, Beeston will be host to a massive bunch of
musicians, comedians, poets and others, all for a good cause. Oxfam have chosen
Beeston as the host of this years Notts Oxjam, part of a national fundraiser
that, for one day, collectively becomes the UK's largest festival. All the
details can be found at
http://www.oxjambeestontakeover.org/p/oxjam-music-festival.html

13. Green Belt debate
Anna Soubry MP has arranged a debate in parliament on the future of the green
belt. This will be on Tuesday morning. Anna has also arranged a couple of
further public meetings in Broxtowe to discuss potential development sites, but
I’m afraid that I have mislaid my notes on this so can’t say where they
are. Hopefully Anna’s team will be able to send them through to me.

14. Dave Wood
I mentioned earlier this year that Stapleford Poet Dave Wood was undertaking a
walk around the historical boundaries of Sherwood Forest. Dave is now on the
last leg of this, delivering poetry readings and events as he goes. Details for
the final leg are on line at
http://creativesherwoodforestperambulations.blogspot.com/2011/03/home.html

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

David

9th October 2011

1. Twitter
I’m now on Twitter and will start tweeting (I think that’s the right
phrase) from this week. If anyone wants to follow me I’m DavidWatts12.
Updates from the newsletter will be tweeted as often as possible, including any
significant decisions straight after council meetings. I hope people will join
me there.

2. Paint
Thanks to a reader for alerting me to this. The household waste site at Beeston
won’t take tins of paint, and on checking with the County Council they say
that these should be taken to Calverton. This would be a 30 mile round trip
just to get rid of a tin of paint! The County Council said that they are
looking at alternatives and I’ll be pressing them to do this quickly.
Unfortunately they tell me that it is unlikely to be before next summer.

3. Sale of Bramwell
I reported previously about how the County Council had sold 6 nursing homes,
including Bramwell in Bramcote, massively under value. Lib-Dem County
Councillor Stan Heptinstall has now written to the District Auditor asking them
to investigate the sale. Councillors have a duty to act in the best interests
of the whole county, and selling assets massively under value does not seem to
be doing that. We’ll keep you posted.

4. Rumbletums Fundraising
A TRUSTEE of Rumbletums café in Kimberley is having all her hair shaved off to
raise money for the charity. Wendy Tompkins, who lives in Bramcote, has raised
£700 in sponsorship and is splitting the money between the café in Newdigate
Street, which offers training opportunities to students with learning
difficulties, and MacMillan Cancer. Well done to her.

5. Grants to Artists
Artists and community groups across Nottinghamshire are being urged to apply
for funding from a pot of more than £30,000 from Nottinghamshire County
Council. Grants of between £500 and £2,500 areavailable for a range of
one-off arts projects from the Nottinghamshire Arts Fund. For more details and
to apply for funding, visit Nottinghamshire County Council’s website at
www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/artsgrants.

6. School Rebuilding
PRIMARY schools in Eastwood and Brinsley could be re-built as part of plans to
give 55 of the county’s schools a makeover. Nottinghamshire County Council
has applied to the Government for a slice of the £2bn it is making available
to rebuild schools. The council will ask for funding to rebuild 11 secondary
schools, two academies, one special school and 41 primary schools – including
Lynncroft Primary School in Eastwood and Brinsley Primary School.

7. Council Customer Service Award
The Borough Councils customer service team have been awarded the Institute of
Customer Service ServiceMark award for the second year running, showing the
emphasis that the council places on dealing with members of the public to the
highest standard. The council were also shortlisted for five awards at the
Association of Public Service Excellence awards.

8. Money for Community Groups
British Land, who own the Giltbrook Retail Park, are making money available for
community groups. They are looking to fund community projects between £1,000
and £50,000 as part of their community responsibility fund. My colleague Ken
Rigby is the County Councillor for the area and will happily receive any ideas,
which he will pass on to British Land.

9. Good news from the Post Office
One piece of good news this week is that the Padge Road delivery centre in
Beeston has been guaranteed to be protected from closure. The Post Office have
confirmed that they are closing other offices but they are moving the
facilities to Beeston.

10. Wind Turbine in Beeston
Nottingham University have flown a blimp at the site they wish to erect three
wind turbines on showing how high they will be, although protestors are
complaining that the blimp was actually flown at the wrong height. I’m afraid
that I didn’t see it to be able to comment.

11. New Kits For Priory Celtic
Priory Celtic Football Club in Kimberley have been awarded £5,000 from the
Football Foundation to pay for new kits.

12. Brinsley Carnival
I’m afraid that it’s now been confirmed that Brinsley Carnival is over. The
committee running it has been unable to attract new volunteers and so the
carnival has been wound up.

13. Kimberley Leisure Centre
A new range of activities launch at Kimberley Leisure Centre tomorrow (10th
October) including street dance for adults and children, as well as Zumba.
Details are available from the Leisure Centre.

14. Beeston North CAT
The Community Action Team meeting for Beeston North takes place at Boundary
Road church on 11th October from 7.00pm. Any local residents are welcome to
attend.

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

David

1st October 2011

I had a lot of feedback from last weeks newsletter and I’m very
conscious that haven’t been able to reply to everyone yet. Please bear with
me and I’ll get to you.

1. New car park in Beeston
It is likely that the multi-story car park will be demolished early next year
as part of the process to build the new tram system, and so the council are
making arrangements to find alternative provision. We looked at this at the
council’s cabinet this week and have made arrangements for a couple of sites
to be looked at further, so that shoppers visiting Beeston will not be unduly
inconvenienced.

In addition to these the council will be consulting on changes to other car
parks. We’re looking at the possibility of introducing a three hour limit at
Bramcote leisure centre (but with no charge) to stop commuters leaving their
cars there all day. This should mean that there are more spaces available for
people who actually use the centre, which should be a good thing. Also in
Bramcote we’re looking at whether the King George’s park car park should be
limited to a maximum to three hours. This should again stop people leaving
their cars there all day, so that users of the park have more chance of getting
parked.

These are consultations at the moment and so I’d be really interested to hear
peoples views.

2. Housing proposals
The council are still consulting on proposals for new building in the borough.
These are still simply ideas and no decisions have been taken, despite what has
been suggested by other people. I’ve also seen suggestions on the Tory party
web site that the council is wanting to build all over the green belt, which is
not true. The map shown on that site is not a plan showing where the council
wants to build, but simply a record of where people have made enquiries about
building in the past. The last government required that councils kept this sort
of information. The consultation period is due to end on Monday but any
submissions made after that will still be taken into account.
I’ve met Anna Soubry this week to talk about the housing plans. I think that
Anna’s basic position is similar to mine, that the green belt should be
protected wherever possible, but I have told Anna that I am unhappy about the
way that she has gone about things.

3. City Council Housing Plans
The city council is also looking at where they will allow new house building
within their boundaries. One area that they have identified is around the
Nottingham Business Park next to the A6002. Their proposals would mean that new
houses could be built stretching right down to the edge of Strelley Village,
which is a conservation area. There is a little bulge where the border of the
city crosses the A6002, and the city have decided to try and fill this full of
houses. Their plans have no real impact on the city but will cause untold
damage to the borough. I will be pressing for the borough to oppose these
plans.

4. Sporting heroes
The Broxtowe Borough Sports Review will take place on 4th December, and the
organisers are looking for nominations for the boroughs sporting heroes. These
will be people who devote time in the borough to coaching, volunteering or
participating in sport. Nominations can be made by ringing 0115 917 3572.

5. Ebooks from the Library
Users of the libraries in Nottingham will now be able to download ebooks from
the library web site at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/libraries. This will make
books available to those who are unable to visit the library in person, but
each download does cost £1. I hope that this new service will be successful.

6. Black Bin Collections
The announcement from Eric Pickles that the government wanted councils to
return to weekly black bin collections came completely from the Tory side and
was nothing to do with the Lib-Dems, who have already announced their
opposition to it. It also flies in the face of the Governments much cherished
localism agenda, where they say that they will give local councils the freedom
to do what they want to with their money. The announcement that Mr Pickles made
was that the Government will give councils an extra £250 million, but only
where they agree to return to a weekly black bin collection.

If the Government have £250 million to give away then councils will very
happily find a use for it, but we should have the freedom to use it in the way
which most benefits local residents. All the research says that where weekly
bins are reintroduced recycling rates drop, which is something that we should
avoid where possible.

7. Fire at Albany Court
As people may have seen on the TV this week, there was a fire at Albany Court
in Stapleford where the fire service needed to rescue people from one of the
flats. Once again I find myself in awe of the bravery of these people, and
it’s thanks to them that no-one was hurt.

8. Bramcote Lib-Dems
If you’re a Bramcote resident and a supporter of the Liberal Democrats why
not join us for a meeting this Monday, 3rd October. It starts at 7.30pm and is
at 8 Cranston Road, the home of Cllr Stan Heptinstall. All supporters are
welcome to attend.

9. Stapleford Walk In Centre
Sadly the walk in centre is now shut, meaning that one of the best medical
facilities anywhere in the region is no longer around. The Lib-Dems have led
the campaign against the closure and we are really disappointed that it
hasn’t succeeded. All the Lib-Dem councillors in Stapleford worked really
hard on this, and we’d like to thanks everyone for the tremendous support
that they gave us.

10. Goose fair
Just a reminder that the Goose Fair is on this week, running from Wednesday
until Sunday. There will be extra bus and tram services put on, and parking
around the site itself is very limited. If you’re going have a great time.

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

David

24 th September 2011

A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.
There is quite a lot to cover in this edition as there was no news last week as
I was at the Lib-Dem conference in Birmingham. It was an excellent conference,
which seemed to confound the national media. They were there in droves,
expecting us to engage in a civil war over the poor election results in May,
but instead it was an extremely upbeat and entirely united conference by a
party finally adjusting to being in Government. Enough of that though, lets
turn to the news.

1. Boundary Change
The biggest story of the week was the Boundary Commissions proposed new
boundaries for the Broxtowe parliamentary constituency. They are suggesting
that the village of Gotham should be added to Broxtowe, despite the fact that
it is the other side of the Trent with no direct connections to the rest of the
constituency. I know that this will make the figures work for the commission,
but frankly it seems a very odd idea to me.

2. Future Development
The consultation on housing in Broxtowe for the next 20 years closes in just
over a week, so if you haven’t had your say yet please do. You can submit
responses at www.broxtowe.gov.uk or by post to the borough council. I attended
a meeting at Toton today organised by Anna Soubry, where some strong views were
expressed. I contacted Anna some weeks ago suggesting that she and I should
meet to discuss what might be proposed, and I’m pleased to say that we have
been able to schedule the meeting for this coming week.

3. Greening Beeston
The Greening Beeston campaign, which promotes a greener lifestyle in practical
ways, is to hold a meeting on Tuesday at the Baptist Church on Dovecote Lane
starting at 7.30pm. The aim is to kick start the next phase of the campaigns
work, and it would be great to have a large turnout of local residents.

4. Bramwell Care Home
Bramwell Care Home in Bramcotee is one of six care homes (valued at something
like £19 million on the open market) which are being sold by the County
Council for £2.5 million. There is a covenant that they are to be maintained
as care homes for a specified period of time and they have been sold to a
company which runs care homes, so that will provide some reassurance to
residents. However not selling them at all would be a far better idea. My
colleague Stan Heptinstall has been an active member of the Friends of Bramwell
campaign which has opposed this sale, and all the Liberal Democrat county
councillors voted against the proposals.

5. Chief Constable to Retire
The Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, Julia Hodgson, has announced
that she is to retire next spring. The process of appointing her successor will
be commenced later this year by the Police Authority.

6. Changes to County Council Procedures
The County Council are consulting local residents about whether they should
change their method of operating to return to a system of committees that
existed until about ten years ago. All councils used to work through a series
of committees, but the last Labour Government forced them to abandon this and
move to a portfolio based system. The coalition government have decided to
allow councils to decide how they want to operate, and this is why the county
council are now consulting about reverting to the previous system.

7. House Building
One way that central government provide funding to local authorities is through
a scheme called the “New Homes Bonus,” which provides cash grants to local
authorities based on the number of new houses built in the borough the
previous year. The government have now announced that this year Broxtowe
Borough Council is to receive £190,873. This is the lowest of any authority in
Nottinghamshire, and a key factor is that Broxtowe just does not have spare
available land. This is a flaw in the scheme which I have drawn to the
attention of ministers until I’m blue in the face but I’ve got nowhere.

8. Lawrence Novels 100th Birthday
The DH Lawrence Heritage Centre at Durban House in Eastwood (which will
shortly start opening on Sunday’s, something that we have not been able to
do for the past couple of years, are holding a special exhibition to celebrate
the 100th anniversary of the publication of The White Peacock, Lawrence’s
first novel. The exhibition is on now and will run until 30th October.

9. Police Station Closures
The consultation being run by the police about their proposals to close a
number of police stations, including Stapleford and Kimberley, is now half way
through and they have published their initial findings. So far more than half
of respondents have said that they are opposed to the scheme. If you haven’t
responded yet may I encourage you to do so at
http://www.nottspa.org/Welcome.html.

10. Green Guardians
Are you a green guardian, or do you know someone who is? Nottinghamshire
Wildlife Trust is still looking for nominations for their green guardians
awards, which have a closing date of October 3rd. Nominations can be made on
www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/green-guardians.

11. Tesco Toton
Tesco’s at Toton have been ordered by the council to remove a new storage pod
which they erected without permission. Tesco’s say that they will be
appealing this decision.

12. Over 40’s Football
A new scheme has been launched by the borough council in Eastwood to encourage
the over 40’s to get involved in football. This is being run with the Mars
Just Play initiative. This is being held at the Eastwood Community Sports
Centre, and sessions will cost £2 per person. Details are available on 0115
917 3572.

13. Redevelopment at Boots
Boots have set out their ideas for how parts of their site might be
redeveloped. Although most of this is in the city some of it is in Broxtowe,
and the proposals for us could include 500 houses being built. This is a long
term aspiration, as far as I can tell, but if it comes to be it would ease the
pressure on sites elsewhere.

14. The Crown Inn
Congratulations to the Crown Inn in Beeston, who have been named the East
Midlands pub of the year by CAMRA, the real ale society. This is the second
time that it has won the award in the past couple of years.

15. Pet Microchips
The Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre is offering cut price micro-chipping for pets
to raise money for charity. This will be on 2nd October and costs £10, with
£9 of the fee going to Brinsley Animal Rescue. Details are available on 01773
712999.

16. City Council Proposals
The city council has unveiled it’s plans for new development within its
boundaries. Significantly for the borough they are proposing new development
around the Nottingham Business Park, to the west of the A6002 just north of
Strelley Village. Due to a quirk of the boundaries there is a bulge of land to
the west of the road leading to Nuthall Island which is part of the city rather
than in Broxtowe, and the city council seem very happy to build on it.
Effectively they seem to feel that if they build here it will be Broxtowe’s
problem and not theirs.

17. Winter Gritting
Notts County Council have announced that this year they are ready for the
forthcoming winter. The authority have stockpiled 9,000 tonnes of road salt,
which should be enough to cope with a winter of the severity of the last couple
of years.

As ever thanks for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback will be
gratefuly received.

David

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