Parliamentary Candidate for Newark
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
by David Watts on 2 February, 2014
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council.
The owners of Beeston Business Park have been developing their plans for the future of the park and the Trent Vale Sorts pitches. They will be unveiling these at a public consultation on Tuesday 18th February from 2pm to 7.30pm. Their proposals include commercial, residential, retail and sports facilities. Everyone is welcome at the consultation which will take place at the Business Centre, Beeston Business Park, Station Road, Beeston, NG9 2ND.
I had been given some slightly incorrect information in respect of the talk been given by John Hess at the Beeston Civic Society meeting on 14 February. He will be talking about being a BBC political reporter in Nottinghamshire. The Civic Society are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, and as part of this they will be planting 40 new trees in Bramcote Park next Wednesday. The Woodland Trust have provided the trees, which are a mixture of silver birch, rowan and wild cherry.
I am delighted to report that the Highways Agency have agreed to postpone the works they were proposing to do at Bramcote Island. Many people were extremely unhappy about the proposal to carry out work whilst so many other major works were going on. My colleagues Stan Heptinstall and Steve Carr, who sits on the County Council, made this point to them very strongly and the Highways Agency have seen sense. No date has yet been given for when this work will now be carried out.
I have been extremely disappointed for a number of weeks about the repeated incorrect information that Anna Soubry has been issuing regarding the council’s proposals for land-use in and around Toton. I have therefore written to Anna inviting her to debate all of these issues with me in public. I’m afraid her initial reply completely evaded the question, but I’ve sent a further invitation and I hope that she will be willing to engage in this debate. I will keep readers posted about how this develops.
The government’s consultation about the route of the HS2, which they are proposing includes a station at Toton, has now closed. The Borough Council submitted a formal response strongly supporting the station proposal, but at the same time making the point very firmly that the scheme for Strelley, which involved a cut and cover tunnel construction, was inappropriate and would cause serious damage to the conservation area. We have called for a significant rethink of this proposal. The council did also raise concerns regarding a number of other issues, and the full response can be seen in the minutes of the Cabinet meeting which took place last Tuesday, which are on the Council’s website at www.Broxtowe.gov.uk.
The Borough Council had objected strongly to the proposals to carry out opencast mining between Trowell and Cossall. The county council had allowed this, but we have written to the Secretary of State asking for him to intervene. We have now received an initial reply saying that the matter is being looked at and that we will hear further in due course. Unfortunately I have to say that the initial reply did not give me any cause for optimism.
I have received a number of reports from concerned residents about a group of young motorists seemingly using Stapleford Lane in Toton as a race track in evenings and at weekends. I have passed this to the police and asked them to investigate. There are enough problems on that road already without this sort of behaviour adding to it.
There seems to be a significant Toton bias to the first few stories this week. That’s not deliberate, is just the way that they come about. I noticed this week that the owners of the Toton News and off-licence have applied to convert their shop into a fried chicken outlet. This will have to be considered by the council in due course. Before any decision is taken the council would want to know what the proposals were forbidden with noise, smells, rubbish and any inconvenience to neighbours.
A ‘laugh out loud’ event is being held on 19 February at the Beeston library in Foster Avenue from 2 to 3:30 PM. This is aimed at children between the ages of seven and 11 and their families, and will include a joke current, funny face craft session, Joe collecting and funny books. This is one of a number of activities taking place throughout the borough during half term week.
Nottinghamshire county council had previously agreed to fund the creation of a new skate park in Toton. Unfortunately they have now renege on this promise and it will not go ahead. They are also ‘reassessing’ their commitment to help create a park at the Long Lane recreation ground in Attenborough. I am very disappointed about the cuts that the county council are making, especially when the Labour majority on the council have rejected proposals put forward by the Liberal Democrats to help save money in other ways.
The long-awaited revamp of Beeston square has now started. Work will take place throughout this year with the aim that it will be completed by November. The council are very keen to make sure that work was completed by the time the first trams started running.
I have reported in the past about the difficulties that the East Midlands Ambulance Service has had in hitting its targets for response times. I was pleased to read this week that the latest figures are improving, although they are still not at the level that they were aiming to be at. Part of the improvement has come from investing in new vehicles and also recruiting five new managers, and part come from contracts with private and voluntary ambulance services.
Yesterday saw the launch of the Nottingham Credit Union service in Kimberley. This is based at the Rumbletums cafe in Newdigate Street, which offers supported training and work experience placements to young people with learning disabilities. I am constantly amazed at the vision and enthusiasm of the people behind Rumbletums, and I am sure that the credit Union will prove another very worthy success.
Nottinghamshire police have seen the biggest increase in full-time officers of any force in the country according to new figures. In September last year the force had 2,130 police officers, together with their civilian support staff and PCSO’s.
It was disappointing this week to hear that Vaughan’s restaurant in Stapleford has closed. This was a very small but extremely pleasant business, and I’ve had the pleasure of eating there on a number of occasions. Sadly the owners have decided to retire and the premises are now up for sale. I wish them a very happy retirement, but it does mean many of us will have to find alternative places to eat.
It is pretty much impossible to prepare a newsletter for Broxtowe at the moment without mentioning the tram. I’ve expressed my annoyance in recent editions about the latest problems that have been caused, and I do think there has been a lack of good planning in organising the work. However NET have this week been trying to scotch a number of rumours that are circulating, that they say are completely untrue. They do say that they still expect to be running a service on the new lines from 14th December, and the testing of track will begin in the late spring or early summer. They also say that the rumour that part of the track was laid upside down through Beeston is simply untrue. They have installed extra traffic cameras at the junction of Queens Road and University Boulevard, which will help deal with the problems there. I understand that part of the chaos on day one of these was because the batteries had been stolen from the temporary traffic lights.
Following their recent public consultation the police in Kimberley have announced that their Safer Neighbourhood Team will be focusing on burglary, vehicle crime, and antisocial behaviour over the next few months.
An application has been submitted to Broxtowe Borough Council to convert woodcocks butcher’s store in James Street in Kimberley into a fast-food store. The butchers closed last August and since then the premises have stood empty. This application will be determined by the borough council in due course, and as with the similar application for Toton that I talked about earlier the council will need to be satisfied about the impact on neighbours, noise, smells and rubbish.
A group of more than 30 men, including my colleague Bob Charlesworth from the borough council and a number of firefighters, will be walking through Eastwood wearing high heels on Saturday, 15 February, starting at 11 AM. That is to raise money for the Broxtowe Women’s Project, which works to protect victims of domestic violence. They will be collecting sponsorship en route, and if anyone else would like to donate to this just let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Bob.
Finally may I remind readers that new, lower, car park charges come into force in 13 car parks across the borough on Monday, 17 February. There are also significant reductions in annual permits. Full details of these can be obtained from the borough council on (0115) 917 7777.
As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received.
Best wishes
David
www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk
Follow me on Twitter @davidwatts12.
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