Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. May I give a special welcome to the new readers who have subscribed over the summer. One big change that has happened with this edition is that we are now hoping to produce this on a Saturday rather than a Sunday. I now have a commitment on a Sunday evening and so it is no longer very easy to produce the newsletter then.
Because there has been a long break since the last edition I have included a number of very short stories at the end catching up on some on the major news stories for Broxtowe during the summer.

1. New Housing Consultation
In 2015 the Conservatives won control of Broxtowe Borough Council with promises that they would not allow any building on the green belt. It is therefore a big surprise to report that they have published a consultation on allocating new land for home building, including a large area of green belt land in Bramcote. The other sites are at Chilwell Garrison and at Nuthall. I would encourage as many people as possible to read the consultation and have their say at www.broxtowe.gov.uk.

2. Proms in the Parks
There are two proms concerts coming up next weekend. On Saturday 17th Beeston Prom will be at the Dovecote Recreation Ground between 7pm and 10pm. Tickets cost £6 in advance or £8 on the door. The next day, Sunday 18th, the Colliers Wood Prom will take place between 3pm and 6pm at the Colliers Wood Nature Reserve. Tickets are the same prices as for Beeston. Tickets can be obtained from www.broxtowe.gov.uk/broxtoweevents.

3. Kimberley Heritage Day
Next Saturday, 17th September, is the Kimberley Heritage day. This will include a vintage motor vehicle exhibition – come and vote for your favourite in each category, with prizes being awarded! There will also be a guided walks of the Kimberley Heritage Trail with a local historian.

4. Vote For Bramcote Hills Park
Bramcote Hills Park is one of the Borough’s most popular sites and is visited by thousands of people each week who enjoy it’s many attractions, including the play area, Walled Garden, Holocaust Memorial Garden, open park and woodland and heritage attractions. After celebrating its tenth year as a prestigious Green Flag Award winning park earlier this year, what better way to end the year on a high than being named a People’s Choice Award Winning park! This year, Keep Britain Tidy are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Green Flag Award, there won’t just be one People’s Choice winner – there will be ten, all voted for by the public. The voting has begun and ends on Friday 30 September. The ten most popular parks and green space in the UK will be announced in October. You can vote at http://www.greenflagaward.org/park-summary/?ParkID=511.

5. D2N2 Employers Survey
D2N2 LEP and its stakeholders are keen to engage with and hear from employers across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to find out the challenges and issues they face in relation to skills, training, recruitment and accessing support. This survey will provide strategic direction to align investment and delivery of activities to meet local employer and local economic needs and to influence a cohesiveness across business, education, careers and employment. This survey is open between Monday 5th September 2016 to Friday 30th September 2016. A summary of the results of the survey will be made available on the D2N2 LEP website in October 2016. Contact and business details will not be made public. You can complete this survey at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfzAdUk8Ou5ysbwq6xO9v2pjDmctVz7dJq1sZT8Ulyq3gW5vQ/viewform?c=0&utm_name=&w=1

6. Beeston Post Office
The Post Office has decided to go ahead with its proposed move of the Beeston post office, despite protests from local residents and councillors. The existing post office on Chilwell Road will close next month and will re-open in the WH Smith store on the High Road, just 400 metres from another post office.

7. Defibrillator at Bramcote Memorial Hall
A defibrillator has been fitted on the outer wall of Bramcote Memorial Hall for the use by the public. This is the property of Broxtowe Borough Council who are responsible for the equipment. If it is necessary to use the equipment call the emergency services on 111 and they will provide the code for opening the front door. Once the door is open the machine gives instructions on its use.

8. Household Waste Recycling Sites
The Borough Council are reminding residents of the need to register their vehicles with Nottinghamshire County Council’s new recycling centre access scheme which came into force on 1 September. Registration is quick, free and easy and allows Nottinghamshire residents to continue to use any of the county’s network of 12 recycling centres. For more information and to register online please visit http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/recycling-centres/using-our-recycling-centres/register?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

9. Tram Repair Work
NET, who run the tram network, have told residents living alongside the route that they will be repairing drains by the track overnight from 12th September for a month. It is disappointing that such extensive work is necessary when the line has only been operating for a relatively short period of time, and is another black mark for the construction process.

10. Kimberley Miners Welfare
Kimberley Miners Welfare, which closed in 2008, has reopened as a micro-brewery. I’d like to wish the new owners every success with this venture.

11. Police Recruitment
Nottinghamshire Police have ended their two year recruitment freeze and are hoping to recruit 25 officers this year and a further 60 next year. The force is particularly keen to recruit extra officers from the black and ethnic minority communities, who are currently under-represented in the force.

12. School Admissions
With children having gone back to school this week there has been a lot of attention on the changed policies of Nottinghamshire County Council, who have decided to no longer give priority to children with siblings in the same school when allocating places. This has already resulted in a number of families having children at two different schools, and it seems to me that this change is one that is not beneficial to families and should be replaced.

13. Hindu Temple Changes Rejected
Broxtowe Borough Council has rejected an application to put a new front on the Hindu Temple in West Crescent in Beeston. Officers had recommended approval but the planning committee felt that it was alienating and rejected the application.

14. Marks and Spencer
After years of rumours Marks and Spencer is eventually coming to Broxtowe. The chain will be opening a new store at the Chilwell retail Park next month. This will be a food retail store and will also include a café.

The following short stories are catch up matters from over the summer period.

15. Tram Benefits
A study published over the summer concluded that the tram extensions have generated 1,600 new jobs and also provided £100 million of extra investment for local businesses.

16. Dangerous Cars
Nottinghamshire Trading Standards have announced that in the last twelve months they received 1,600 complaints about second hand cars. They advise people to carry out careful checks before buying a new car and not to simply rely on it having a valid MOT certificate.

17. New 3G Pitch
Eastwood Community Football Club have unveiled their new 3G artificial pitch during the summer. They have been able to purchase this after receiving a £400,000 grant from the Football Association.

18. New Plaque
A commemorative plaque was unveiled over the summer in St Helens Churchyard to mark the towns Saxon Cross. This is thought to date from approximately 800AD.

19. Devolution Deal Scrapped
The proposals for more devolution for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, which was conditional on the region having a directly elected mayor, has now officially been scrapped and will not be proceeded with.

20. Hemlockstone Paths
BMX cyclists have complained that the council have destroyed their home made track around the Hemlockstone in Stapleford. Whilst I sympathise with them that they do not have a suitable track in the local area it seems to me that it was completely inappropriate for them to build a track around an important local monument and in an area which caused a great danger of a collision with walkers.

21. Lidl Bakery
The Lidl store on Wollaton Road in Beeston has added an in-store bakery to the list of services that it offers.

22. Care Home Rating
I’ve reported on a few negative comments about care homes in the past so it is nice to report that the 1 Devonshire Avenue care home in Beeston was rated as “Good” by inspectors when they visited in June. Their report was published last month.

There will be a further catch up series of reports next week to bring us right up to date.

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

Best wishes

David
www.davidwatts.org.uk
www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk
Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.

   1 Comment