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 that we have this week. I’d also like to thank my colleague Stan Heptinstall who has provided much of the material for this weeks newsletter.

1. Scouts Campsite on Common Lane, Bramcote

For many years the scouts and guides have used the land owned by the University of Nottingham on Common Lane as a campsite, but their ability to use the area into the future has always been uncertain. This has now changed because the University has now leased the land to the Scouts. The Scouts are now looking into the possibility of enhancing the usefulness of the site by providing some facilities (a toilet block for example). Incidentally, the date for the annual Fireworks Extravaganza on the site this year is Saturday 31 October.

2. Bramcote School

Bramcote residents will be aware that the Bramcote School wishes to rebuild and has been looking at the options available to raise the funds for this. They have now sent a letter to parents informing them that the school wish to sell an unused playing field which adjoins Coventry Lane for housing to fund the scheme. This land is currently in the green belt so if the scheme is approved the borough council will need to be satisfied that very special circumstances exist to grant planning permission.

3. Kimberley Chapel
Historic England (previously called English Heritage) have agreed to designate Kimberley Cemetery Chapel as a listed building. The chapel has been given Grade II status and Kimberley Town Council have announced that restoration work to enhance the chapel will begin shortly.

4. Beeston Shopmobility
Beeston Shopmobility used to be based at the multi-storey car park but had to move out of there when it closed. They were relocated to Devonshire Avenue but this site is really not satisfactory as it is too far away from the shops. The new administration at the council is now proposing to move them to the council offices at Foster Avenue. This will be an improvement on the current site but not much of one. It will still be a distance from the shops and the other side of a busy road. I’m sure that Shopmobility were hoping for a better solution than this.

5. Bramcote Liberal Democrats
The next meeting of Bramcote Liberal Democrats will be tomorrow (Monday 27th July) at 8 Cranston Drive, Bramcote. All members, friends and supporters of the Liberal Democrats in Bramcote are welcome to attend.

6. Highways Issues

There are a number of highways issues affecting the south of Broxtowe at the moment. First there are a number of road closures occurring in August.

The most significant closure if the junction of University Boulevard and Queens Road East, which shut on Friday and according to the leaflets that NET distributed will be closed for three weeks. This is to enable work on the traffic lights at the junction to be completed. I have seen a lot of chatter on the internet suggesting that the tram might start running on 10th August but the fact that these works are scheduled for three weeks seems to suggest that this date is too optimistic.

Town Street in Bramcote will be closed between its junctions with A52 Derby Road and Peache Way from Monday 27th July 2015 until Friday 21st August 2015 (07:00 hours until 17:00 hours daily). Town Street will also be closed from 07:00 hours until 14:00 hours on Saturday 1st August and Saturday 15th August 2015. Cow Lane in Bramcote will be closed between its junctions with Town Street and Beeston Fields Drive from Monday 17th August 2015 until Friday 21st August 2015 (07:00 hours until 17:00 hours daily). Finally Chapel Street will be closed between its junctions with Town Street and Church Street from Monday 17th August 2015 until Friday 21st August 2015 (07:00 hours until 17:00 hours daily).

Turning to other highways issues a resident suggested that Arundel Drive between Thoresby Road and no 20 is becoming very uneven and that this may be due to subsidence. In consequence a highways inspector assessed this road on 21st July and reported that he did not find any evidence to suggest that the road was subsiding; however he did state that the road surface was uneven with a number of utility reinstatements and tracks. Although he advised that this did not give a good aesthetic view of the road, it is deemed as safe and currently there are no defects that breach the County Council’s safety intervention levels for action. The inspector will monitor this site during his routine inspections in the area.

Residents have been asking for a 20mph limit for the whole length of Cow Lane in Bramcote, not just the section outside the school. We have passed this message on to the Highways Department at County Hall and are frustrated at the lack of response. Consequently Stan Heptinstall have taken up the matter with Alan Rhodes, the Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, and we are hoping for action quite soon.

Central Avenue, Stapleford has several areas of carriageway awaiting repair. The Senior Highways Inspector has chased the works order up with the County Council’s Operations Team and we are assured the required works will be completed imminently.

It has been noted in a recent routine inspection that the carriageway surface on Stanley Drive is deteriorating. As such the road has been highlighted for a new repair treatment. This bespoke programme is scheduled to begin in August.

We are told that there are still problems at the junction of Hickings Lane and Washington Drive junction, Stapleford with a local garage engaged in repair work on the public road and causing congestion near the new Co-op and other shops. We are hoping these will now stop, but do please report any further incidents to Stan Heptinstall on stan.heptinstall@broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

Finally in respect of highways matters cyclists and motorcyclists on the footpaths through The Chancery in Bramcote are perceived to be of danger to other footpath and road users. Following a site-visit with a council officer it has been agreed to erect a safety fence at one particular point where other users are particularly at risk.

7. Highway Changes at The County Council

Over the next year all those who work for the Highways Authority at Nottinghamshire County Council will become employees of a public-private partnership organisation that will take over the running of the highways service. Cuts in funding from the Government have had severe effects on the ability of the Highways Authority to continue to operate as a purely public company, and county councillors voted in favour of a partnership with a private sector company as being the way forward.

8. Public Toilets
At a meeting last week members of the new Conservative administration at the borough council identified ten sites where they said that they wanted to build new public toilets. Whilst I welcome the provision of toilets they have said nothing about where they will find the money to cover the costs of building these or of running them once completed. I wait to see these details with interest.

9. Paying For Council Services
Broxtowe Borough Council have recently upgraded their web-based payment facilities. Users will be able to review their payment history and the service now offers all the facilities of an e-store. This should make it easier for people to pay for council facilities online.

10. Real time bus information

I am told that the ‘real time’ bus stop information for the i4 route, though somewhat improved, is still not accurate. If you have examples of problems please let Stan Heptinstall know.

11. Cats Protection League Open Day

The Cats Protection League in Nuthall are holding an open day on 13th September. This will take place that their premises at The Gate House, New Farm Lane in Nuthall and will run between 1pm and 4pm. Entry is free and there is also free parking at the location.

12. Stapleford Town Centre

My county council colleagues Jacky Williams and Stan Heptinstall showed Dave Walker, our Highways Manager, the state of the painted lampposts, benches and other street furniture in Stapleford Town Centre. Apart from the Walter Parker Memorial Square where all the items were repainted in March this year, everything else is now very tatty and in need of both maintenance and a coat of paint. Dave suggests that a bid is made to the Supporting Local Communities Fund at the County Council to deal with this issue. We hope to obtain support for this from the Stapleford Town Centre Management Group, Stapleford Town Council and Broxtowe Borough Council working together with the County Council to “Restore Stapleford’s Glory”.

13. BMX Bike Event

On 19th September there is to be a BMX Bike Event on Hickings Lane Recreation Ground in Stapleford. It is being organised by the Youth Workers in Stapleford with input from the young people in the area.

14. New Lamps for Old

Street lamps are being changed in the Bramcote and Stapleford areas over the next couple of months. The “bulk clean and change process” involves changing all the lamps, cleaning the lanterns and checking that that light is working before moving on to the next. To further improve lighting levels it has been decided to upgrade the old high-pressure sodium (Orange SOX) lanterns with a white LED alternative.The LED’s will be pre-set to dim down between the hours of 10pm-7am and this will make energy savings of around 60% when compared to the old SOX lanterns.

15. Broxtowe’s response to a needle injury

Following a report of an injury to a child playing in Bramcote Hills Park who picked up a discarded needle, Broxtowe Borough Council has instructed the teams that undertake maintenance in the park to be extra vigilant to ensure the safety of the public. The Neighbourhood Warden team has also been tasked with undertaking extra patrols to deter this form of anti-social behaviour.

16. Rumbletums Café

I was pleased to read this week that Rumbletums Café in Kimberley has been awarded a grant of £30,000 from comic relief. The café provides work experience placements for young people with learning disabilities and the grant will enable them to continue to employ a support worker for an additional two years.

17. Tram Sign
As I have said before on here I am a big fan of the tram but not of the incompetent way that it has been constructed. The latest blunder has occurred at the tram stop on Chilwell Road where the construction team have managed to spell the street name incorrectly. There really is no excuse for this sort of incompetence.

18. Ilkeston Railway Station
Work is now due to commence on building Ilkeston Railway Station, whose car park will be in Broxtowe, next month. However there is still a shortfall in funding of £500,000 which needs to be resolved by Erewash Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council before the work can begin.

19. Car Park Charges
At its meeting on Tuesday the borough council’s cabinet will consider changing the car park charges in the borough. The Conservatives have always said that they are opposed to these so presumably they will be scrapped. It will be interesting to see where they propose to make up the shortfall in income though.
20. Shop Occupancy
I reported last week that the occupancy of shops in Beeston was at 94%. Figures have now been published for the other towns in the borough. Eastwood’s occupancy rates is 91%, Kimberley 92% and Stapleford 90%. These are all above the national average.

21. Accidents At The Borough Council
The accident report presented to the Borough Councils Safety Committee on 8 June 2015 revealed the lowest levels of workplace accidents ever recorded. There were 46 workplace accidents for the year 2014/15 and with 6 “reportable accidents” being reported to the Health and Safety Executive via the Reportable of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). The number of workplace accidents has halved in the last ten years

As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter. Any feedback is gratefully received. This will be the last edition until September. As has been the case in previous years I will not be producing a newsletter in August.

Best wishes

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

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