Broxtowe Liberal Democrats

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.

May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

I'm afraid that this edition of the newsletter will be slightly truncated as my computer died on me during the week, taking all the notes that I'd already made for this week's edition with it. (That's not half as bad as the fact that it also took the text of a new book I've been writing which is nearly finished. Thankfully the computer engineer - Mark from Fixed at Home Computers in Stapleford - has been able to retrieve that file for me so all is not lost!)

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. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1. Open Cast Mining

As I've mentioned previously UK Coal have applied to the County Council for permission to create an open cast mine between Cossall and Trowell. All three local political parties are firmly opposed to this and there are two public meetings planned for people to express their views. These will take place in Trowell Parish Hall tomorrow, Sunday 13^th May, from 3.00pm to 4.30pm, and then at Awsworth Parish Hall on 25^th May from 7pm. Both meetings have been organised by the Parish Councils and our MP, Anna Soubry, will be attending both.

This message has been receiived today from the police:

PC2882 Barlow
Beat Manager - Bramcote and Stapleford Southeast
Stapleford Neighbourhood Policing Team
Tel: - 101 ext 8555760
Mobile: - 07525989423

Did you help elderly robbery victim?

Police are trying to trace good Samaritans who helped an elderly woman whose bag was snatched in Bramcote yesterday (Tuesday 1 May).

At the cabinet tonight Broxtowe have agreed that the proposals for the new local plan, governing housing figures in the borough, should be passed to council on 16th May for a full debate and a decision.

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.

1. Future Building Plans

Thank you for all the comments that I have received following my extra email during the week. We had a meeting of the Lib-Dem council group last night and I was able to relay these comments on to everyone else. I do believe that the decisions we take over the next couple of weeks will be the most important that we ever take as councillors as they will fundamentally affect the whole future of Broxtowe. I hope that next week I will be able to attach a briefing sheet to the newsletter setting out the issues as I see them, in a non-partisan way. May I also stress that the report by the officers which I circulated during the week is the starting point for discussion and this does not mean that their proposals are those that the council will adopt. I've had a letter, as all councillors have, this week from our MP asking us to reject the whole of the proposals. Unfortunately not only I it misspelt but she gets the law wrong about the consequences of us doing so. What I do promise everyone is that not one councillor of any party will take the decision lightly. The issues have been discussed at great length already and will be during the cabinet and council meetings.

1. 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. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

   I didn't produce a newsletter last week so there are quite a few things to cover but I've tried to be selective about what I'm including to make sure that things are relevant and interesting for readers.

   1. Housing Numbers

   I've grown very tired over the past year or so of reading wholly incorrect announcements from the Conservatives about the level of new housing that will be required in the borough. The truth is, as I have reported here in the past, that no decisions have been made about where any new housing will be built, or indeed if new housing will be built here at all. However we are moving now to the point where these decisions will be made. Papers will be issued this week by the council setting out all the options which councillors need to decide on. The first issue will be to ascertain the vision that we have for the long term for the borough, and then based on this to determine what level of development will be needed in the future. All the research that exists shows that Greater Nottingham will need 52,000 more houses over the next 15 years, and it is a major point of debate about where they should be located, or indeed whether a smaller number of houses should be built, but if so we need to recognise that this could be a significant barrier to growth in the area. The council are still engaged in a consultation process but I would really like to hear people's ideas personally as well. Please let me have your comments.

   1. New Lord Lieutenant

   Nottinghamshire has a new Lord Lieutenant, Sir John Pearce. The Lord Lieutenant is the Queens official representative in the county, and Sir John is the founder and former head of Experian.

   1. Beeston Maltings

   Heineken, who own the Maltings building in Beeston, want to demolish it. Legally the council have very few options to prevent this happening, although the Beeston civic Society are working to explore every avenue. I am very grateful for all their efforts, and also for those of the local councillors who have been assisting. A meeting took place with the owners this week, although I understand that no agreements were reached. However that does not mean for one moment that people are giving up the fight.

   1. Wilkinsons To Return

   The Wilkinsons store in Beeston has now closed but I was delighted to read a statement from the chain this week to say that they were committed to Beeston and wanted to return. I am extremely disappointed that the store has closed without replacement being ready, but it is encouraging to hear an unequivocal commitment from the company.

   1. Wildflower Planting

   Broxtowe Mayor JackyWilliams will join pre-school children in Watnall on Tuesday to plant wild flowers at Watnall Green, to mark the three new local nature reserves that we have declared in the borough this year.

   1. Calls for Rail Line Improvements

   A debate took place in parliament last week involving MP's from across the East Midlands calling for improved investment in the Midland Main line. The Transport Secretary conceded that there was a good case for improved investment, which is encouraging, but there is still a long way to go.

   1. Drought Notice

   You may have failed to notice this with the appalling weather over the past few weeks but he East Midlands is now officially in a drought. However the good news is that Severn Trent Water assure us that there are no plans to introduce any sort of hosepipe bans, although hopefully we will all take care to preserve water where we can.

   1. Eastwood Town Council

   One of the most bizarre news stories over the past few days was the decision of Labour run Eastwood Town Council to throw a local resident off his allotment simply because he was a pensioner with a hip replacement. This clearly breached all sorts of equalities rules, and was taken by a completely Labour run committee without any reference to the full council. After the story appeared in the national media my Lib-Dem colleagues on the council were able to force an emergency meeting and discussion on the issue and the council reversed their decision. My colleagues Josie Forrest and Keith Longdon deserve considerable credit for forcing some common sense on the council, and the whole affair reflects extremely badly on Labour councillor David Bagshaw, the leader of the Town Council, who should frankly be considering his position as a result of this farce.

   1. Garden Waste Recycling

   Broxtowe Borough Council have announced that we have signed a new agreement with Wastecycle to recycle the garden waste that we collect. Wastecycle are a local company and I'm delighted that we were able to place this contract locally.

   1. Beeston Hindu Temple

   The new Hindu temple in Beeston Rylands officially opened last week. After some negative actions by BNP supporters in the run up to the launch I'm delighted that local residents went out of their way to welcome the temple to the area and to show those who practice race hate that their views are not welcome here.

   1. Queens Jubilee Parties

   Notts County Council have announced that they have received 108 applications to close streets in the county to hold street parties to celebrate the Queens diamond jubilee. Twelve of these are planned to be in Broxtowe.

   1. Reporting Water Leaks

   Severn Trent Water have launched a new service for reporting water leaks. The web site is designed to work with smart phones and to use GPS to locate the leak immediately. If you need to use this visit www.stwater.co.uk and click on the "Report a Leak" button.

   1. Demolishing The Multi Storey

   The face of Beeston will change for ever from the 8^th May when work begins to demolish the multi storey car park. This has been closed since the end of March and needs to go to make way for the tram. The Shopmobility team, which was based in the car park, has moved to 17 The Square and continues to operate.

   1. Raleigh Take Over Talks

   One of Nottinghams most famous firms, Raleigh Bikes, who are based in Eastwood, have confirmed they are discussing a possible take over by Dutch firm Accell. If this happens there must then be considerable doubt over how much work would continue in Eastwood, but I hope that they will and the Economic Development team at the borough council are looking at what we can do to help.
   

   1. Lost The Plot Writing Sessions

   On 16th April 2012, supported by Stapleford Town Council, Dave Wood's performance, 'Lost the Plot' launched a series of creative writing sessions at The Carnegie Centre, Warren Avenue, Stapleford; the sessions will be 23rd April, May 14th, May 28th and June 11th. Cost is £16 for the full course. For those interested in being creative with words, they can contact Dave on O77O9977684 or email him on davewrite2002 @ yahoo.com.

   As ever thank you for your support for this newsletter, and any feedback is gratefully received. I'll just end with this little anecdote from today. It's my birthday tomorrow and my five year old daughter decided to demonstrate her maths ability to me this afternoon. "Daddy, how old are you now?" "I'm 45 darling." "So tomorrow you'll be 46." "Yes darling, well done." "Gosh, that's really old!" As they say, from the mouths of babes and sucklings…

   Best wishes

   David

   www.broxtoweliberaldemocrats.org.uk

   www.davidwatts.org.uk

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Recent Decisions & Initiatives

Committee System for Nottinghamshire County Council

It has been decided that the cabinet/scrutiny system of governance will revert to a committee system from May 2012. Portfolio holders with particular responsibilities within a cabinet will instead become the chairs of committees with decisions being taken within those committees rather than by a cabinet.

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. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1. Beeston Multi-Storey Car Park

The multi-storey car park in Beeston closes tonight for the last time, prior to being demolished over the next few weeks to make way for the tram. Even if the tram hadn't been coming the car park would have needed substantial work on it to bring it up to modern standards. Alternative parking can be found at the following locations:

Short Stay Car Parks
Foster Avenue
City Road (North)
City Road (South)
Regent Street

Long Stay Car Parks
Albion Street
Middle Street and Middle Central
Derby Street (Middle)
Derby Street (South)

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. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

1. Revamp of the Square

I was delighted to read a statement this week from Henry Boot, who own the lease on Beeston Town Square, to say that they hope to complete the first stage of redeveloping the Square by early 2014. This is what councillors had always worked for and wanted, and it has been a real benefit in negotiations that the council has always acted unanimously over this. I hope that the necessary contracts can be signed as quickly as possible to that work can proceed.