Video: Peveril Pub & Eastham Close Jan 2007

Stonebridge Park, St Ann's, Nottingham

This is a new archive film to add to your collection, it was taken in January 2007 showing Eastham Close flats, and the Peveril public house a short time before demolition. On 17th January gun shots were fired through the front window of a house in Kelverdon Gardens opposite the public house, which is the reason for the police cars. A guest appearance by Loraine Crofts who lives in Eastham Close appears at the end! The accompanying music is Morecombe & Wise ‘Bring me Sunshine’.

VIDEO: Update 15th October

Stonebridge Park, Nottingham. UK

The First House to be completed on Stonebridge is shown below

The rest of the Long Hedge street is shown in the above photo

Matt Cooney use to be the Housing Manager for St Ann’s, Nottingham, so we were all very pleased to see him at the turf cutting ceremony in January, and again at the official opening of the first house to be completed on Stonebridge Park this month.

THE FIRST HOUSE to be completed on Stonebridge was officially opened on the morning of 13^th October 2011 on the Long Hedge site, top of Magson Close. It is a significant achievement after work began on the Estate just 10 months ago.

This is the latest Video of the Estate taken on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon. It begins in Eastham Close, then round Dennet Close, the Peveril Pub site, and Eastham Close again! Fairholm Court, Rocket Park, Jersey Gardens, round the back and into Wray Close, then Magson close to the top. We continue up St Matthias road to view the New Albany House complex, back into jersey Gardens, and then we follow the footpath along Melville Gardens.

The LHA-ASRA Group comprises LHA, ASRA Greater London Housing Association, and Nottingham charity Family First.

With offices in Leicester, Nottingham, and London, it owns and manages more than 11,000 homes across an area extending from Nottinghamshire across Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, to London, and employs 547 staff.

It is an approved Investment Partner of the Homes and Communities Agency, and has a capital programme worth over £140 million gross. LHA-ASRA works with 35 local authorities including Nottingham City Council, and 27 London boroughs.

Group member Family First provides community services (including recycling), housing services, care services and children/family services.

The Group provides a mixture of general needs accommodation and care and supported housing (managed by Group members ASRA, Family First and LHA Support Services).

HYSON GREEN: Planning Blunder of Nottingham Council

This 1978 film was made by ATV and shows the living conditions in Hyson Green, Nottingham, that eventually led to the Hyson Green flats being demolished. Today the ASDA super store occupies much of the site, which is regenerated and the local economy improved. Balloon Woods flats, St Ann’s, Phase 10  / Marple Square (St Ann’s) are other example of planning defects by the Nottingham City Council!

Flewitt Gardens Decision bad for Stonebridge

 

Top: Flewitt Gardens

Below: 2009 & Sept’ 2011 Dennet Close opposite Flewitt Gardens

 

The front row of houses in Flewitt Gardens lies within the Phase 1 Construction area, and is situated opposite the new houses being built on Dennet Close opposite. All of the tenants & home owner/occupiers that live here are angry that they have not been included in the latest round of consultations for off road parking, new perimeter fences and cladding. It was pointed out at the last SPTRA meeting on 5th October that these houses should have been given priority over other areas outside the Phase 1, in Wray Close & Stonebridge Road. The decision to exclude this row of homes was taken without the knowledge of Stonebridge Park Tenants & Residents Association, and no announcement was made at the August public meeting on the Estate.

Lytton Close Road

View Looking down Lytton Close

I was surprised that it is the intension of LHA_ASRA to name this section of road: Dennett Road as it is actually an extension of Eastham Close Road. With all of the tenant home owner/occupiers of Lytton Close not wanting there street re-named, it brings into question whether the two new shoebox houses built next to Mr Whyman’s home of 9 Lytton Close will be located in Dennet Close or Eastham Close, even though they have been constructed on the Eastham Close area!

The main concern of the Lytton Close locals is that this section of new road has no pavement either side, and no street lighting is to be introduced in the near future. Despite the recent reassurance from Mr Alex Barras (Stonebridge project Manager LHA_ASRA) that there will be street lights (24^th August meeting), I am advised by the street lighting dept they have no plans to lay street lighting cables in front of Lytton Close prior to the construction of this new road.

 

If you are unable to persuade the street lighting dept to do otherwise, it means that the road will be built to a high standard, and then contractors will come along and dig two narrow trenches either side of the road, along the full length, to install the necessary Street lighting cables! Or there will be NO street lights here at all making the roadway a serious safety hazard for locals, as we have said all along.

 

The other consideration is the use of traffic calming -- staggered humps -- along the proposed road in front of Lytton Close. I am advised by the cleansing section of NCC that this would make the road difficult for bin-lorries to travel along, in addition to emergency vehicles.

Shoebox Houses

Above: B1 type house under construction on Eastham Close

Above: B2 type houses under construction on the Long Hedge Site, top of Magson Close

I fully agree with the Developer LHA_ASRA’s  company motto: "Building Better Homes, Better Communities and Better Lives.” This applies to Stonebridge Park along side the tenants of their properties in other areas of the midlands.

 

I am deeply concerned that the 10 small houses marked B1 & B2 on the building plans for Stonebridge (6 on the Long hedge site; 2 on Eastham Close), and referred to as “Shoebox houses” by the Royal British Institute of Architects, will not be suitable for new families. Not just because the personal space of each new occupant per dwelling is too small to be healthy, it’s the small gardens outside each home that are unsuitable for children to play in. The garden space does not allow enough area for parents to erect play equipment!

 

Inside the two shoebox houses on Eastham Close, there is no closet to store children’s toys/play equipment, in addition to garden tools, ironing board, mops, brushes or even shoes or wellies!

For first time buyers with young children, these shoebox houses on Stonebridge do not appear to be value for money, and new families don’t have much of a choice. The only people that would want to buy these shoebox homes are those seeking to buy-to-rent, or to make a quick sale for profit..

In recent years, this is what has happened on the Wishing Well pub site, and opposite Hendon Rise (a former quarry) both in St Ann’s Well Road. Neither of these options has worked, and for sale signs are present all the time

 

At the recent SPTRA public meeting, my intension was to draw attention to the 24^th September publication of the RIBA report that looked at new build homes around the country, and in June I provided detailed plans of the B1 & B2 type houses so these could be decided upon as well.

 

There is no doubt that all of the new houses, flats & apartments under construction on Stonebridge are being built to a very high standard, and that your partner Lovell’s is building them speedily and on target. It’s not the quality, it’s the size that matters, and that is what I am referring to along side the smallness of the gardens.

 

I am not against the regeneration of Stonebridge Park; I am 100% for it. I do want the scheme to succeed and be a lovely estate on which people would want to live. I also know that the scheme nearly did not happen, and that locals are lucky to have this new phase 1 redevelopment. However, it must be done right.

 

In the 1970s & 80s Nottingham City Council made a number of planning blunders around the city of Nottingham: Hyson Green flats, Balloon Woods, St Ann’s, and Phase-10 / Marple Square (St Ann’s); all of which either had to be demolished and the region rebuilt, or the area regenerated after a relatively short period of time. The blocks of flats which once stood on Stonebridge Park had a lifespan of only 32 years!

 

I do not want to see the planning defects of today become the slums of tomorrow!

Rocket Park Lifts Off

By Caroline Lowbridge

Caroline.Lowbridge@nottinghampostgroup.co.uk

RESIDENTS have celebrated the transformation of a park which has been redesigned to reduce anti-social behaviour.

Rocket Park used to significantly dip in the middle, meaning troublemakers could hide there without being seen.

But the sunken park has now been raised to make it more visible and safer for children. New paths, litter bins and benches have been provided, and plaques have been placed on two of the benches in memory of Maureen Graham, who campaigned for regeneration of the estate.

The improvements were welcomed by PCSO Michelle Kent, who covers the Marmion and Stonebridge beats in St Ann's.

She said: "It was a run-down park before and no one used it. It was just broken bits of metal and wood. It couldn't be used for children.

"People tend to go down to the run-down areas and they think no one is paying attention so they can do what they want. Now some work has been done, hopefully people will give it some respect."

Maureen Graham, who formed Stonebridge Park Tenants' and Residents' Association (SPTRA) almost a decade ago, died in August 2007.

She and her new members gave the estate its modern name of Stonebridge Park in an effort to turn its image around.

SPTRA chairwoman Laura Summers hopes the transformed Rocket Park will be well used by families.

She said: "I remember playing on it as a child but it deteriorated over the years. It looked like a scene out of the beginning of Terminator.

"There's a lot less chance for anti-social behaviour now."

St Ann's ward councillor Dave Liversidge opened the park following the first phase of improvements. He did this at a fun day held on September 30, which was attended by dozens of residents.

Consultation is starting with residents on the second phase of the scheme, which will look at a play area for the park.

Just over £145,000 of council funds was set aside to improve the open space, which is also known as Jersey Gardens.

Mr Liversidge said: "It became known as Rocket Park because it had rocket-shaped climbing frames, but it was just used for druggies to sit on.

"It used to go right down in a dip. It used to be at least three times further into a dip. The people in the surrounding houses couldn't see people, so kids couldn't play and it became a place where druggies used to sit.

"This is what the community wanted at the time, to get it into a state we could use."

SPTRA treasurer Ben Rowson, who lives in Jersey Gardens, overlooking the park, said: "Parents couldn't see their kiddies playing because it was hidden too deep. I think it had just not been maintained and it got worse and worse. It will be good when they put new play equipment here."

Mrs Graham has been widely credited with turning the estate around.

The plaques on the benches also credit her husband. The plaques say: "In memory of Maureen and George Graham and their contribution to the work of the Stonebridge Park Tenants' and Residents' Association."

Video: Update 2 October 2011

Stonebridge park, St Ann's, Nottingham UK

This is the latest slide show of images around Stonebridge showing the installation of the new hot water ring main, and heating pipe-work of the EnviroEnergy District Heating Scheme. Waste refuse is burnt at the Eastcroft incinerator in London Road, Nottingham, turning water to boiling point. This is distributed around pipes to homes & businesses in Nottingham City centre and St Ann’s. Households use it for bathing and washing etc.

The route begins in Melville Gardens, Magson Close Long hedge site, Magson Close proper, Fairholm Court, Rocket Park, Pym Walk flats site, Dennet Close, Eastham Close, and ending at the Peveril (pub) site next to Beacon Hill Rise Road. The last images show the Eastham Close houses front & back yards.

Video: Rocket Park Memorial open day

On the 30th September in glorious sunshine Councillors Dave Liversidege & Sue Johnson dedicated a plaque in memory of George and Maureen Graham, in doing so they opened the new look Rocket Park to the public. David said that £447,000 was made available to transform the park, and some money remained to add new play equipment on the site. Maureen Graham was the chairlady of SPTRA from 2003- 2007.

Did you take any photographs on the day, would you like to share them? If so please send images by e-mail to richard.pearson53@yahoo.co.uk no later than 15th October 2011, and they will all be edited into the above slide show, in return I will send you a copy on a DVD that you may play on your TV and make copies for your friends & family. Or Share the video with others on your Facebook web site.