David Watts

Liberal Democrat Councillor For Bramcote, Parliamentary Spokesperson for Newark, Editor of Challenge Magazine for the Green Liberal Democrats and Crime and Policing Spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Learn more

Broxtowe Enews 17th September 2016

by David Watts on 17 September, 2016

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. Thank you for all the correspondence following last week’s edition. I’m afraid that I have been snowed under with stuff this week so I haven’t replied to everyone yet. Please bear with me and I will try and reply this week.

1. Boundary Changes
The only place to begin this week is with the proposed changes to the boundary of the Broxtowe Constituency. The Boundary Commission published their proposals this week and they suggest splitting Broxtowe in two. They are putting Beeston, Chilwell and Toton in to the Nottingham South constituency and Bramcote, Stapleford, and the northern part of the borough (except Eastwood) is to be added to Hucknall and Bestwood in a new Broxtowe and Hucknall constituency. The Boundary Commission stress that these are initial proposals and they welcome feedback on them. You can see the detailed proposals at https://www.bce2018.org.uk/. These proposals only relate to the parliamentary constituency. They do not alter the council area at all, but I doubt that the ink would be dry on the new arrangements before the city proposed to swallow Beeston into the city council area.

2. Lib Dem Candidate
When the Liberal Democrats we were in Government we introduced the Fixed Term Parliament Act to ensure that the date of new general elections was known in advance and to deprive the sitting prime minister of the ability to simply pick a date to suit their party. This week, quietly and without any publicity, a new bill to repeal that act was laid before parliament. I know that Theresa May has said that there will not be a snap general election but I see no purpose in introducing such a bill otherwise. If the Conservatives want a snap general election the Lib Dems will be ready and I’m delighted to say that this week we have selected our local party chair, Tim Hallam, to be the candidate for Broxtowe if a snap general election is held. Tim is an engineer who spent many years in the RAF and lives in Stapleford with his family.

3. Beeston Library
Nottinghamshire County Council have announced that Beeston library is to close for 9 months whilst a significant refurbishment is carried out. This will be the first overhaul of the building for more than 40 years. The removal of a ‘significant’ amount of asbestos will be one of the main aspects of the work, while the replacement of roof, drainage, windows and lighting will also be carried out. A new IT suite will be created along with arts rooms, meeting rooms and an exhibition space. During the closure, which will come into effect on October 1 at 4pm, a temporary library will be set up in the Beeston Youth and Community Centre in West End, which will open on October 24. This will provide a selection of stock, some computer access and the continuation of some events such as the popular Rattle, Rhyme, Roll for children. Stapleford and Toton libraries will also extend their opening times to make up for the loss of the Beeston library

4. Age With Independence
On Wednesday 28th September at the Village Hotel, Chilwell Retail Park, Brailsford Way, Nottingham commencing at 1.00pm there is a free event for older people with their friends, relatives, carers and supporters, who want to find out more about healthy living and help available. Those groups attending include Macmillan Cancer, Parkinsons UK, The Police, Fire Service, NHS, Broxtowe BC, Alzheimer’s, Age UK, CAB, Mental Health, Carers Federation, Forces in the Community, Cruse Bereavement, Arthritis, National Osteoporosdis and others. The Mayor of Broxtowe is opening the event at 1.30 pm Come along and meet the specialists and have a cup of tea with them afterwards. The event is organised by Chilwell Valley and Meadows Surgeries through the support of Broxtowe BC and NHS Nottingham West.

5. Traffic Management on Brookhill Street, Stapleford
On Thursday morning, at a full meeting of the Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Jacky Williams presented a petition, signed online by 358 people and an additional 24 people at a public meeting for the residents of Brookhill Street. The petition asks for the Transport and Highways committee to give consideration and take action on traffic management on Brookhill street in Stapleford. The petitioners and their two Lib-Dem County Councillors are asking for a range of measures to be looked at, including limiting speed and restricting the weight of lorries using the road.

6. Knit and Natter Crochet and Chat
Each Friday between 10:00 to 12:30, Kitty’s Handmade, 210 Derby Road, Stapleford will be holding a knit and natter session. They say that there will be plenty of tea, coffee and biscuits. It costs £3.50 per person (please note, this is not a tutor session).

7. Labour Party Expulsion
The civil war engulfing the Labour Party has engulfed their local branch after the chair of Broxtowe Labour, Peter Radcliff, was expelled from the party. He was accused of being a member of an organisation called Alliance for Workers Liberty, which the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party have decided is incompatible with being a Labour Party member. Apparently Mr Radcliff was simply sent a letter telling him that this was the case, without being allowed any opportunity to contest the decision. This seems extremely harsh. We have had, in the past, the necessity of expelling people from the Liberal Democrats, but they have always been given a fair hearing and an opportunity to answer any allegations against them.

8. Beeston Public Toilets
A community toilet scheme for Beeston, where the local authority would pay shops and pubs to allow members of the public to use their facilities, has been rejected by the Conservative administration on Broxtowe Borough Council. Unfortunately they demolished the old toilet block at the bus station without building a replacement and they have now suggested that anyone needing to use the toilet should walk to the toilets in Broadgate Park. This does seem to be a long walk for anyone waiting for a bus.

9. School Places
Notts County Council has issued a reminder to parents that all applications for 2017 secondary school places need to be in by the end of October. The application process can be done online at www.Nottinghamshire.gov.uk/schooladmissions.

Catch UP
The following news items came out during the summer whilst I was having a break from the newsletter. This is the second of two catch up sections.

10. Foster Homes
Nottinghamshire County Council are looking for foster homes for 231 children, 157 of them over the age of 11.

11. Penalty Points
Nottinghamshire has more drivers with penalty points than any other area of the country except for Birmingham.

12. Kimberley Brewery
Local residents have expressed concern over revised plans for 25 of the houses to be built on the site of Kimberley Brewery and have asked the council to reject the proposed alterations.

13. Pokémon Hot Spot
Attenborough Nature Reserve reported a significant increase in young people visiting the reserve after it became a “hot spot” for characters in the Pokémon craze.

14. Pub of the Year
Congratulations to the Horse and Jockey pub in Stapleford on being voted CAMRA’s local pub of the year.

15. URC Chapel
An application has been submitted to the borough council to convert the former United Reform Church in Newthorne into a dwelling. This is a listed building which dates from the 17th century.

Finally may I welcome the one new subscriber that we have this week. I won’t mention who they are but they have taken us to a very significant number of subscribers, not only a new record number of readers but also achieving a new target for readers that I have long been aiming for. Thank you to everyone for your support for this free service, and if you know any other local residents who would enjoy reading it please do tell them about it. I already have new targets for readers that I’m aiming for.

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.

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