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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.

26th November 2011

1. Constituency Boundary Review
The public consultation on new electoral boundaries closes on 5th 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 11th 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
You can leave this list by sending an email to:
broxtoweenews-unsubscribe@lists.libdems.org.uk

12th November 2011

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 1st 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

5th November 2011

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 7th to the 12th 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 25th November from 6.30
– 8.30pm at the Parish Hall. The Cossall Village winter market will take
place the next day on Saturday 26th November starting at 12.00 midday. Everyone
is welcome to attend. There is also a craft fair at Greasley Parish Hall on
12th November from 11am onwards. The Victorian Market takes place in Greasley
on 26th November from 10am onwards.

14. Broxtowe Business Women’s Network
The next meeting of the Broxtowe Business Womens network will be on 14th
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 18th November
Eastwood 22nd November
Beeston 26th November
Stapleford 1st 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 – 10th November, Church Hall, Back Lane
• Beeston Rylands – 15th November at Beeston Rylands Community Centre
• Attenborough – 23rd November at Lucy and Vincent Brown village hall
• Beeston Central – 23rd November at Queens Road Methodist Church
• Nuthall East – 23rd November, venue tba
• Stapleford North, 24th November, Pastures Road Community Church
• Bramcote – 28th 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

29th October 2011

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 5th 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

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