The Starry Sky: October 2012

Video update: 1st October 2012

With the new street lighting being connected up below ground level, and work continuing on the roads & pavements around the new buildings, the estate looked more incomplete than usual, which is shown in this video presentation. City Council Housing Development Manager, Mark Lowe, informed local residents at the recent public meeting of SPTRA, that the construction works by Lovell’s on Phase 1a & Phase 1b will be completed at the end of October.

About 14 days ago opportunist thief's walked into Beacon Hill House apartments, and stole a dozen new refrigerators and ten electric cookers, loaded them onto a lorry and drove away. There were no security personnel on duty at the time, and contractors simply forgot to luck up after themselves!  Two security guards are now on duty at any one time doing 12 hour shifts to ensure this kind of theft never happens again.

Podcast: Recent meeting of local residents association

External house cladding debate continues

Mark Lowe updates residents on estate improvements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stonebridge Park Tenants & Residents Association held a public meeting on 26 September, which was well attended by locals from all over the estate. It was a chance for them to catch up on the latest information of what has been happening around the estate over the last six month. The meeting was chaired by Laura Summers (Shown here), with Treasurer Ben Rowson at her side, and assisted by Tenant & Leaseholder Involvement Officer Afzaal Nawaz.

From Nottingham City Council Housing Development Manager Mark Lowe updated residents on the External works to 51 houses which includes off road parking areas, perimeter iron railings & fences. The proposed ASRA development of 16 new houses to be built in Limmen Gardens, and Keepmoat Homes Ltd who have just acquired government funds to build a further 104 new homes around Jersey Gardens.

For Nottingham City Council Debra Ross is the Project Manager for the Limmen Gardens Scheme, and Michelle Walker is the Programme Delivery Manager for ASRA.

Mark Lowe then opened up a discussion on the whole subject of external wall cladding. For Nottingham City Homes the Project Manager is Derek Roberts, and Christine Neatby is the Tenant Liaison officer for WATES, the company doing all the work.

Podcast 1: Duration 14m 46s ---- Podcast 2: Duration 13m 09s

By Richard Pearson

Podcast: Work on new ASDA store to begin in August 2013

PODCAST Duration: 5m : 17s

Alice Rossi from Blueprint Regeneration travelled down especially from Manchester to attend the latest meeting of Stonebridge Park Tenants & Residents Association, and received a warm welcome.

Talking about the planned new ASDA store on the former Wright & Dobson land in Carlton Road, St Ann’s, Alice advised residents.

“We have just carried out the site investigations, they have not been fully analysed as yet but there is nothing unexpected.

“We have had some problems getting into the former Co-op site to see how much of a hole there is underneath the store that needs to be filled in before any new houses are built their.

“We have also carried out pre-planning consultations with planners & the City Council to make sure that there are no traffic problems at the new store’s main entrance on Carlton Road; no cuing up going into or out of the car park, that sort of thing.

“We hope to submit a planning application at the end of October for the new ASDA store along with an outline planning application for the new houses on the former Co-op site nearby.

“If we are successful in being granted planning permission early next year, we then have to apply for the road closure of Seymour Street; the street that runs down between the old Co-op store and the site of the new Asda Store.

“Therefore we hope to begin construction work on site in August 2013.

“We are also talking to ASRA with regards to the planned new houses on the former Co-op store site. We plan to build the necessary social houses on the land, and ASRA will buy these off us for rental to new residents wanting to move into the area. There are various options available, and some of the houses will be of 4 bedrooms.

“Upon completion, the ASDA store will create 200 local jobs, both full and part-time, which is good news for the St Ann’s area.”

Phase 1 Demolition of Robin Hood Chase shops is approved

Planning Application Ref: 12/02429/PADA

On September 24^th Nottingham City Council was granted planning permission to demolish the commercial buildings and dwellings above 2 - 10 Robin Hood Chase. The retail premises include the former St Ann’s Housing office & nearby pizza parlour, along with the current Co-op Chemist and General Food Store which are still trading.

Nottingham City Homes are presently relocating the residents living in Loxley House near the bottom of the Robin Hood Chase and finding them new homes elsewhere in the city. The next stage will be to relocate the residents living in the maisonettes above the shops beginning in November.

The demolition of the former Health Centre and commercial buildings on the Robin Hood Chase is expected to begin in March 2013, followed by Loxley House.

The area will be redeveloped with a number of new social houses on the site of the shops, and new retail premises will to be built in place of the health centre.

Police criticise their own crime figures

At the recent public meeting of Stonebridge Park Tenants & Residents Association held on Wednesday evening, local Beat Manager PC Paul Dean for our area of St Ann’s, informed residents that “the crime figures published on the Stonebridge Park website painted an inaccurate picture of the true level of crime around the estate.”

However, the crime maps and crime figures published on the Stonebridge Park website are all accurate and are reproduced precisely from the Nottinghamshire Polices’ local crime, policing and criminal justice website each month; shown above.

PC Dean informed me afterwards that “the crime maps and Police figures often refer to antisocial behaviour, ASB, on a particular street. When residents see ASB marked on their street, straight away they think of a group of teens intimidating local people antisocially. However, it may just be a youth sitting in a car playing load music.

“Also if the Police raid a house and find a small quantity of drugs on the premises, it is recorded as Drugs on the police website which looks bad, yet it may only have been a small incident.

“The published crime figures therefore tend to paint a black picture of Stonebridge Park, when the estate is really a nice neighbourhood.”

The government Home Office is headed by Home Secretary Theresa May who has the task of reducing the level of crime in local communities like our Stonebridge Park Estate.

I contacted the Home Office today and asked them if their policing and criminal justice website “painted an inaccurate picture of housing estates, as the crime figures & maps were misleading”?

I was informed that “the local crime, policing and criminal justice website was developed to provide the public with access to key crime and policing information, in a way they want and in a way that allows them to raise issues or take an active role in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

“Since its launch in January 2011, the website has given the public access to street-level crime and anti-social behaviour data. With over 50 million visits, and an average of 150,000 hits per day, it is one of the most popular government websites. It is updated monthly with new data released from police forces around the country including Nottinghamshire Police.

“Yes the website is accurate, and in the case of St Ann’s, is compiled from Nottinghamshire Police records of the local crime in the area.

“The site provides helpful information about crime and policing in your area. It has also been designed to help police officers to promote street level crime maps.”

That’s alright then ? 

By Richard Pearson

Limmen Gardens – first glimpse at the new plans

I want to encourage you to discuss your concerns with the two main officers dealing with Limmen Gardens today: For ASRA this is Michele Walker, who is the Programme Delivery Manager. Telephone 0116 257 6760. Alternatively you can Email ASRA at enquiries@lha-asra.org.uk.

For Nottingham City Council the Project Manager is Debra Ross: Tel 0115 8763955 Email debra.ross@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Leicester Housing Association (ASRA)  aim to build seven three bedroom houses, and eight two bedroom houses in Limmen Gardens provided planning permission is granted. Using 2012 house prices all of these properties will sell for a total of £1.7m.

The above detailed plan for the green area which some residents don’t want to see developed, is taken from the principal plan drawn up by Geoff Perry Associates Ltd of Walsall, which was on display at the recent SPTRA public meeting on 26th September.

These two illustrations from the same plan show the proposed new road that will be used to provide off road parking for residents in the new houses, and potentially for Limmen Gardens residents living opposite. The road has a number of raised traffic calming measures along its length, shown by the grey hatched areas. The grey boxes along the top represent the new houses, and areas marked P94 – P104 are parking bays.

This illustration from the plan shows the three new houses, marked H1, and their parking bays marked P106 – P108, which are to be built on the site of the former pedestrian subway (now filled in), and the luscious green area nearby. All of these new houses will be three bedroom, and will each occupy 937 square feet.

By Richard Pearson

The night sky: October 2012

As the nights begin to get shorter the autumn constellations are becoming more prominent with the great square of Pegasus high above the southern horizon. Pegasus makes a fine sign post to other nearby star patterns. Pisces lies to the lower left of Pegasus, with Aquarius & Capricornus to the lower right. However, the most interesting features are M33 which is a bright galaxy in the constellation of Triangulum, and M31 the Andromeda galaxy which may be seen in a pair of binoculars.

In the northern sky the Plough (Ursa Major) lies low down on its back, with the ‘pointers’ in the forward part of the bowl leading the way to the pole star, and the W shaped constellation of Cassiopeia high over head. Cassiopeia lies in a dense part of the Milky Way so that binoculars will reveal numerous star clusters.

The Harvest Moon occurs on October 29^th. This full Moon is often referred to as the Full Hunter’s Moon, Blood Moon, or Sanguine Moon. Native Americans named this bright moon for obvious reasons. The leaves are falling from trees, the deer are fattened, and it’s time to begin storing up meat for the long winter ahead. Because the fields were traditionally reaped in late September or early October, hunters could easily see fox and other animals that come out to glean from the fallen grains. Probably because of the threat of winter looming close, the Hunter’s Moon is generally accorded with special honour, historically serving as an important feast day in both Western Europe and among many Native American tribes.

Of the planets, Jupiter lies in the middle of Taurus the bull, and is the brightest star like object in the eastern night sky at magnitude -2.6. The giant planet is visible though out the night, and transits the meridian at 04:25 am during October. On Oct 05th Jupiter is 1.7 degrees north of the Moon. The above photograph shows Jupiter as seen though a 12 inch reflector telescope on the night of 22nd of September.

The planet Venus is a brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky before sunrise shining with a magnitude of -4.05 in the constellation of Leo.

On October 26th the planet Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation (24.1°), and may be seen low down in the south western sky after sunset, in line with two other planets.

The planet Mars & the ringed planet Saturn are also low down in the south western sky just after sunset making them difficult to observe. On October 18th Mars lies 1.6 degrees south of the Moon, and on October 26^th at 02:42 am Saturn is at conjunction with the Sun.

Top, the northern sky, and lower the southern sky at 10 pm on the night of 15th October

   Sky Diary  
Oct 04 06:21 Pleiades 4.7°N of the Moon. Visible from current location, Altitude 53°, Azimuth 247° in the constellation Taurus the bull. Moon phase 83%
Oct 05 00:11 Hyades 4.1°S of the Moon. Visible from current location, Altitude 30°, Azimuth 087° in the constellation Taurus the bull. Moon phase 78%
Oct 05 05:37 Aldebaran 4.0°S of the Moon. Visible from current location, Altitude 68°, Azimuth 214° in the constellation of Taurus bull. Moon phase 76%
Oct 08 03:36 Last Quarter of Moon
Oct 15 08:02 New Moon
Oct 21 23:32 First Quarter of Moon
Oct 28th End of British Summer Time, clocks go back 1 hour
Oct 29 15:49 Full Moon

By Richard Pearson

Police update: Missing Person

Police are growing increasingly concerned for 42-year-old Lloyd McDevitt, who went missing from the St Ann’s area on Tuesday 21 August 2012.

Mr McDevitt, is black, around 5ft 11ins tall, and of slim build. He has cropped dark hair and has a gold front tooth.

If you can help, or know where Mr McDevitt is, call Nottinghamshire Police on 101 or call Crime stoppers on 0800 555 111.

© Clip from Evening Post 28 September 2012

By PCSO Nicola Parkin

Deputy Chief Constable Solves local crime mystery

A week ago we published the above post and asked why a violent crime had not been recorded in the January 2012 crime figures.

Today we received this answer from Deputy Chief Constable Paul Scarrott

“I can confirm that a violent incident did occur at that time in St Ann’s involving a 16 year old male who had received stab wounds. Officers initially managed a number of crime scenes and as you mentioned, the forensic teams examined each to gather as much evidence as possible to investigate the incident.

“”When the exact origin of the crime was established the incident was given a crime reference number and the coordinates of the location were sent to police.uk in February 2012. The location was recorded as an ‘on road’ offence so the exact location may not be showing on the website.

“To protect the privacy rights the following information may assist you. Our priority has been to ensure that the privacy of the individual is protected and we work closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office to ensure that all necessary safeguards are in place. For example:

“Dots are never placed over specific dwellings. Where possible we have included key locations such as railway stations, to map incidents which have occurred on or around that location and we will continue to work with the public and Police Forces to develop this further.

“Streets with fewer than 8 postal addresses have been excluded

“Incidents are grouped into eleven separate categories to ensure that most sensitive crimes are not identifiable

“On this occasion the incident was grouped with another near to the junction with Northampton Street and BlueBell Hill Road. To assist, I have provided a walk through guide to take you to the crime incident on police.uk.

1. Open police.uk

2. Select ‘Crime and Outcomes in this area’

3. Select January 2012

4. Select Violent Crime

5. Zoom in on the map

6. You will see an orange circle with the number 2 in the centre on Blue Bell Hill Road near to the junction with Northampton Street. This indicates that two similar incidents occurred near to that location, one of which relates to the incident you refer to in your correspondence.

“I appreciate you taking the time to bring this matter to our attention and I hope that this explanation satisfies your concerns regarding the disclosure of crime statistics.

“The local Beat Manager for your area is PC 873 Paul Deane. He can be contacted at St Ann’s Police station on 101 Ext 811 6766.”

Yours sincerely

Paul Scarrott

Council Tax Overhaul

 Today’s i Newspaper & the Independent raise the possibility of a hike in Council Tax bills for everyone in the UK, including Stonebridge Park.

The present Council Tax Bands are based on an evaluation carried out in 1991, so a re-evaluation is long over due.

While the Lib/Dem’s objective is to make the more wealthy pay substantially more, any revue could lead to adjustments being made to normal Council Tax bands.This in turn could eventually lead to an increase in the level of Council Tax payable by all.

Shown above are the Council Tax Bands as they stand at the present time.

Comment by Richard Pearson.

Cladding update: Day 56

With 100 days to completion on 31^st December, these are the latest photos of the external wall cladding being fitted by WATE’s around our estate. The presentation begins in Lytton Close, Paxton Gardens, Stonebridge Road, back to Lytton Close. Then we view the houses around Melville Gardens on the northern edge of the Stonebridge Park Estate.

Look out for new canopies now being fitted over the front door, and the unusual finish being applied to the cladding in Paxton Gardens adjacent Stonebridge City Farm; horizontal boards across the front of the houses.

The music is the theme tune to Joe 90 from the 1970s Gerry Anderson TV series.

A new feature has now been added to our website

All of our video updates, including those showing ‘Old St Ann’s’ & Stonebridge Park as it use to be in 2007, can now be found in one easy to follow archive. Please click here to visit.

Updates will continue to appear here as they happen, and will be found in our video archive after a few days.

Over the last two years we have taken over 4,000 photographs, and a dozen videos around our estate. We also have over 700 old photographs of Stonebridge Park dating back to 2003.

All of this archive material takes up 45 Gigabytes of space, and is stored on an external hard drive. In addition, our archive is stored on two 25 Gb Blue Ray disks as a back up in case our hard drive were to fail.

By Richard Pearson.

Police update: What’s on

Video update: 15th September

This is the latest update of photographs taken around our estate this afternoon, and a lovely sunny day. It comes on the occasion that Keepmoat Homes Ltd have announced they intend to put in a planning application before Christmas to build a further 104 new houses on Stonebridge. In January I wrote a 10 page letter to government ministers and the Homes & Communities Agency asking for urgent kick start funding to help complete the Stonebridge Park Estate, and followed up with 3 more letters up to & during George Osborn's budget. I am very pleased with the outcome.

I want to do all I can to make Stonebridge Park a nice area in St Ann’s in which to live.

Richard Pearson

No evidence to support ‘Free Cladding’ rumour

If you are a owner/occupier and have concerns or any questions about external wall cladding, please contact the Project Manager Derek Roberts Tel: 0300 333 8100, or the Project Liaison Officer Dawn Vernon Tel 07946813107 who will be happy to answer your questions.

Over the last seven days I have received a number of phone calls from concerned home owners saying they have heard that some owner/occupiers were getting the external wall cladding free of charge.

I have personally visited a number of residents around Stonebridge and have been unable to track down any leaflets with this information, or a home owner who is getting the cladding for free.

I have today spoken to Project Liaison Officer Dawn Vernon, along with Debra Ross, who is a Housing Development Officer with Nottingham City Council, and they were unable to confirm that any home owners were getting free cladding. Only tenants of landlord Nottingham City Council are having the cladding carried out free of charge, which has always been the case.

Debra Ross said today “You asked about a leaflet which was handed round to some home owners explaining about free cladding - the only information that we are aware of being distributed is the Nottingham City Homes newsletter dated 10 Aug which explains how the quotations for the work were reached.

We have heard rumours that residents have been offered ‘free’ cladding by some companies, however we have not seen the actual leaflets that state this or any evidence that the cladding can indeed be provided free of charge.”

The relevant section of the newsletter is reproduced here

Post by Richard Pearson

House prices January - March

 The average price of the new houses sold on Stonebridge Park is £105,000.
Two bedroom homes have sold for £65,500

New car park to help visitors at Phoenix Square

Phoenix, the independent cinema and art centre in Leicester’s Cultural Quarter, is set to benefit from the opening of a new 24-hour car park.

Developer Blueprint - which developed the wider Phoenix Square complex with Leicester City Council, Phoenix and De Montfort University - has leased 1,390 square metres of neighbouring land to the council for use as a car park.

The car park is now opening on a temporarily free basis from Friday 14th September with a pay and display machine due to be installed shortly. The car park is at the corner of Midland Street, Nichols Street and Burton Street. The new facility comprises 42 spaces plus three disabled. It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It will be free to park after 6 pm – a boon to evening cinema-goers and café bar crowds – with normal council pay and display tariffs at other times (£1.00 for the first hour, £1.50 for two hours, £2.00 for three hours or all day for £4.00), similar to the charges for on street parking in the area.

The car park is also likely to be popular with people visiting the offices and apartments at Phoenix Square, which are close to sold out.

Rory Palmer, Deputy City Mayor and Executive lead on transport, said: "I am pleased that our continued close working relationship with Blueprint means that we can now offer additional car parking right in the heart of the city's busy Cultural Quarter.”

Patrick Welsh, marketing manager at Phoenix Cinema and Art Centre, said: “We expect the new car park to play an important role in supporting the Phoenix cinema and café bar. It should make life a lot easier for our customers.”

Ashley Walters of Blueprint, said: “We were delighted to be able to help Leicester City Council make this happen. We are committed to encouraging the arts in Leicester’s Culture Quarter.”

Mike Candler, Cultural Quarter Project Director at Leicester City Council, said: “We are very grateful to Blueprint for allowing us to have use of the land on reasonable terms.”

Phoenix Square is a unique cultural building, which combines contemporary living space with an independent cinema, art centre and café bar, and state of the art workspaces and office studios housing Leicester’s growing number of creative businesses.

Post by Sophie Heffernan

Policing Stonebridge Park – come along & have your say

The next public meeting of Stonebridge TRA is on 26^th September at Stonebridge City Farm, and local Police Beat Manager PC Paul Dean and his team will be attending to answer questions from tenants & residents living on our estate.

Please come along and have your say, and please help Stonebridge Park Tenants & Residents Association keep going, and remain a strong presence on our estate by becoming a committee member. By volunteering a little of your free time you will be helping your community.

Do you think the Police are doing a good job? Are there enough regular Police patrols around the Stonebridge Park Estate to help deter & reduce antisocial behaviour (ASB) and crime?

Here are the published Police Crime figures for Stonebridge Park, January – July, if you wish to raise the subject of crime on our estate with Police officers attending the meeting.

Flash Back: “At 6-30 pm on January 16^th 2012, a 16 year-old boy was stabbed in the legs in Paxton Gardens on the Stonebridge Park Estate. He is in a stable condition in hospital recovering from his injuries. Today Northampton Street and Beacon Hill Rise Road remained closed to traffic as forensic officers worked in the area.“

There is no mention of the above violent crime in Paxton Gardens or of Northampton Street in Police crime figures for January 2012 – Why do you think the Police did not record it ?

Above Left: crime scene in January 2012. Right: forensic officers working at the junction of Beacon Hill Rise & Stonebridge Road. Below left: Stonebridge Park Crime Map for January 2012 – the violent crime is not recorded.

 

 

 

 

 

Police Crime figures Dec 2011:
Melville Gardens Drugs 1
Lytton Close Criminal damage 1
Jersey Gardens ASB 1
Flewitt Gardens Violent Crime 1
Beacon Hill Rise/Dennett Close Criminal damage 1

January 2012
Lytton Close: ASB 1
Flewitt Gardens: ASB 2
Melville Gardens: Drugs 2

February 2012
Melville Gardens: Criminal damage 1
Jersey Gardens: Theft 1
Paxton Gardens: (Old subway) ASB 1
Paxton Gardens: ASB 1
Eastham Close (Old subway): ASB 1
Wray Close Theft 1

March 2012
Flewitt Gardens: Vehicle crime 1
Dennett Close: ASB 1
Lytton Close: ASB 2, drugs 1, criminal damage/arson 1
Paxton Gardens: ASB 1
Jersey Gardens: Theft 1

April 2012
Lytton Close: ASB 1
Magson Close: Burglary 1
Melville Gardens: (Old subway) ASB 1

May 2012
Limmen Gardens: ASB 1
Melville Gardens: ASB 1
Melville Gardens: (Old subway) ASB 1
Magson Close: Robbery 1
Wray Close: Public disorder/weapons 1
Lytton Close: Burglary 1 Theft 1
Eastham Close (old subway): Violent crime 1

June 2012
Eastham Close: (Old subway) Violent crime 1
Paxton Gardens: ASB 2, Theft 1
Limmen Gardens: (Old subway) ASB 1, Theft 1
Limmen Gardens: ASB 1, Vehicle crime 1

July 2012
Lytton Close: ASB 1
Paxton Gardens: Public disorder/weapons 1
Flewitt Gardens: Vehicle crime 1, Drugs 1

Update: New St Ann’s Asda store

Nottingham Developer Blueprint are behind plans to build a new Asda store on the former Wright & Dobson factory site in Carlton Road next to the Stonebridge Park Estate, along with new houses on the site of the old Co-op store nearby.

Blueprint applied for funding to the government Homes & Communities Agency in the spring, under the Building Homes for the Future program. However, the developer recently withdrew its application which came as a complete surprise. This has raised concerns that the building of the new affordable houses may not go ahead.

Peter Conboy of Blueprint has today clarified the situation:

“I’m the Project Director at Blueprint for the scheme. Blueprint withdrew the Get Britain Building bid for this site because we were unable to meet the strict HCA timescales attached to this funding route. The scheme is still very much on course overall but we’ve had a delay to the planning application submission mainly caused by the time it is taking to get all the legal agreements in place with the other landowners (those other than Blueprint) and with Asda. We have other options for funding the residential part of the scheme and further information on the proposed housing mix will be available with the planning application.”

New Apartments renamed: Eliot Goodwin House

As work began constructing the new 95 homes as part of the Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme on 17th December 2010, Leicester Housing Association went on to employ 10 apprentices to help with the project.

Eliot Goodwin was the assistant to Project Manager Alex Barras. Last December Eliot passed away.

Today ASRA, formerly Leicester Housing Association, has named the new block of apartments in Magson Close ‘Eliot Goodwin House’ in remembrance of a well liked apprentice. A dedication ceremony is planned in the near future.

Left: Stonebridge apprentices help local councillor Jon Collins at Stonebridge City farm in July 2011.

Asra consultations for Limmen Gardens in progress

The above video is a look back at our estate in February 2012.

The closing date for submitting objections to the closure of public footpaths and a road in Limmen Gardens expires on the 21st September. It is not
known if there were any objections submitted to the Department for Transport
Assuming everything is fine, the next stage is for Asra
to submit a planning application
to allow them to build 16 new houses on the land.
Consultations in the area have been on going for a while as project Managers
Debra Ross (City Council) & Michele Walker (Asra) are visiting local residents in the area.

Speeding car collides with local shop

The photograph shows a view looking down Beacon Hill Rise Road from Dennett Close. It was along this road on the evening of Friday 14th September two cars raced each other at speed up & down the road at about 10pm.

Ten minutes later both cars made contact at the zebra crossing at Paxton Gardens, and one vehicle veered out of control colliding with the window area at the side of Paul’s grocery shop in Campbell Grove causing structural damage.

There have been a number of accidents over the years along this stretch of highway.

It again highlights the problem of speeding cars driving down hill towards Sneinton Market, and the dangers that local residents face crossing this road during the hours of darkness.

UK Construction of new buildings down 10%

On the Stonebridge Park Estate Lovell’s have build 95 new homes to a high standard of workmanship in a short period of time – a fine achievement.

The government department for National Statistics says that construction in the UK is 10 % down from 2011:

The figures show In constant (2005) prices, non-seasonally adjusted, the total volume of construction output in July 2012 is estimated to have been 10.1 per cent lower than in July 2011.

Comparing the three months from May to July 2012 with the same three months one year ago (constant (2005) prices, non-seasonally adjusted) we see that:

    The volume of construction output decreased by 10.0 per cent. New work decreased by 14.2 per cent and repair & maintenance decreased by 1.2 per cent

Over the same period:

    The volume of new infrastructure work decreased by 23.9 per cent;

    New public housing decreased by 22.4 per cent; and new public other work (excluding infrastructure) decreased by 21.5 per cent;

    Three sectors showed positive growth; infrastructure repair & maintenance (3.5 per cent), private industrial new work (1.5 per cent) and private non-housing (excluding infrastructure) repair & maintenance (0.7 per cent)

As we do not have enough data to seasonally adjust the monthly data we focus in this release on the year-on-year changes as described above. However, it is perhaps worth noting that the volume of construction output non-seasonally adjusted, increased by 2.2 per cent between June and July 2012. This compares with falls between the two same months in 2010 and 2011 of 1.4 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively.

This month, we have also produced an ad hoc analysis of public and private housing work.

Users should also be aware that, in line with our usual revisions policy, later responses to the survey, as well as updated deflators and seasonal adjustment factors, have led to revisions for the previous 12 months. The largest revision in constant (2005) prices, seasonally adjusted terms was in quarter two 2012 where the estimate has been revised up from a decrease of 3.9 per cent to a decrease of 3.0 per cent. The estimated impact on quarter two 2012 GDP from this release of construction data is an upwards revision of 0.1 percentage points. As usual, construction data will continue to be subject to revisions due to late responses to the survey and revisions to seasonal adjustment factors.

‘What's on’ ~ The Robin Hood Pageant 2012

29th to 30th October

Step back in time, join in the festivities, relive the life and times of Robin Hood and enjoy this great family fun day out.

Nottingham Castle, the ancestral home of Robin Hood’s arch enemy - the Sheriff of Nottingham, plays host to the two-day Robin Hood Pageant, re-creating an atmosphere of a time long past.

The grounds of Nottingham Castle will be transformed into a medieval village encampment complete with re-enactments performed by a host of colourful characters allowing you to travel back in time to the 12th Century.

Cheer on your hero in the amazing live jousting tournaments and enjoy combat displays in the arena. Children can then try their hands at archery and jousting by participating in the medieval sports day with team captains Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

Meet Robin Hood and his Merry Men, King Richard I in his royal camp, look out for living history demonstrations, experience wandering minstrels and historical entertainers, try your hand at turning lead into gold at the Alchemist’s laboratory or visit the medieval alehouse!

Children will love interacting with the costume characters and trying their hands at medieval crafts. See traditional skills such as falconry at practise, wood carving, table weaving and fletching, have a go at archery and much, much more!

TICKET PRICES:

ADULTS £8
CHILDREN &
CONCESSIONS £6
FAMILY £20 (2 ADULTS
AND UP TO 3 CHILDREN)
UNDER 4s GO FREE

Every effort is made to ensure this guide is correct at time of print. Visit www.mynottingham.gov.uk/whatson to check listings closer to the time.

Tickets available from the Royal Centre Box office on 0115 989 5555.

Keepmoat ready to build new houses

A spokesman for developer Keepmoat Homes Ltd said today “I can confirm that we have now received an offer of financial support from the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) in line with our submission. It is widely recognised that Stonebridge is a priority for the area and one where we can not let the good work which has been done to date be undermined. We are now working with the HCA and Nottingham City Council to design a scheme which addresses the complicated technical issues on site whilst allowing us to develop homes for private sale at affordable levels.

We are optimistic of being in a position to submit a planning application for the next phase by Christmas with a view to being on site by June 2013. The project will be delivered by our Midlands region.”

Keepmoat Homes wish to build 104 affordable houses on the land once occupied by the old blocks of flats which have since been demolished. These areas are in Jersey Gardens & Flewitt Gardens, including the site of Farholm Court and the area of land at the top of Wray Close.

My Nottingham Evening Post News Item

Posted by Richard Pearson

Letter sent to the Homes & Communities Agency

Website manager
Mr. Richard Pearson
Stonebridge54b@hotmail.co.uk

The Homes & Communities Agency
Get Britain Building Program
Central Business Exchange II
406-412 Midsummer Boulevard
Central Milton Keynes
MK9 2EA

8^th September 2012

Dear Sir,

Stalled Housing Project: the Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme, St Ann’s, Nottingham

Earlier this year, January through March, I wrote directly to a number of Ministers including Nick Clegg, George Osborne and Grant Shapps to bring to their attention our Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme.

It was launched in 2006, and with a HCA grant of £5.6m, developer Leicester Housing Association has now built 95 new houses, flats & apartments on Dennett Close (Phase 1), and Magson Close (Phase 1a/b). Lovell’s the building contractor has done a great job building the residences to a high standard; this first construction phase is now close to completion after 21 months.

Sadly the Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme has been ‘stalled’ since 2009, and progress has been slow due to the recession & change of government.

New ‘kick-start’ HCA funds are urgently needed to help complete our Stonebridge estate in the near future, save local jobs and boost the local Nottingham economy. Without new kick-start funding both will suffer which will not be helpful to the Prime Minister’s quest to improve the UK economy & lift us out of recession, preventing a double-dip. As you are aware, the slump in the house construction sector is still problematic for David Cameron & Nick Clegg so our ‘stalled’ project ~ Stonebridge Park - is really important for them to achieve their objective.

Local residents would have liked to have seen HCA kick-start funding made available at the time of the Chancellor’s March budget. However, the HCA has maintained a wall of silence, and your department does not appear to be committed to assisting stalled house building schemes like Stonebridge Park in Nottingham?

Keepmoat Homes Ltd was short listed under the Get Britain Building program in June, and I understand the company is presently going through the due diligence process, alongside Developer Blueprint who want to build 40 new homes in Carlton Road close to Stonebridge Park. Blueprint is the company behind the new ASDA store to be built on the former Wright & Dobson land close by.

I want to do all I can to encourage the HCA to provide the necessary kick start funds for Keepmoat Homes Ltd who wants to build 104 new homes on our Stonebridge Park Estate to complete our area and make it a nice place in which to live. I also want to ask the HCA to please provide the necessary kick-start funding to developer Blueprint, as the new ASDA store will make a big difference to the lives & wellbeing of local residents & boost our local economy.

Thank you for your support.

Yours sincerely

Richard Pearson

Blueprint withdraws its bid for funding

In a surprise move Nottingham Developer Blueprint have now withdrawn its bid for funding under the government Homes & Communities Agency's ‘Get Britain Building Program.’

Blueprint made their application in the summer to provide financial assistance to allow them to build 40 new social houses on the site of the Co-op store in Carlton Road, which closed down in 2008.

Blueprint is the developer behind the new ASDA store which is to be built on the former Wright & Dobson land nearby.

Sandhya Ward, Area Manager of the Homes & Communities Agency in Nottingham said today “I can confirm that we are still working with the bidder [Keepmoat Homes Ltd] to progress through the due diligence stage in respect to Stonebridge Park, however, Blue Print have withdrawn their submission for funding”.

Representatives from Blueprint will be at the next public meeting of SPTRA to be held at Stonebridge City Farm on 26th September to give an update on the ASDA store development.