Update Chris Leslie MP (Nottingham East)

Our MP was on the Robin Hood Chase on 26th April – This photo was taken in the old library building.

A big welcome to the new ‘IntoUniversity’ centre now located at the former Library site on the Chase in St Ann’s – where youngsters from primary and secondary schools will be given the chance to learn about how Universities work and hear how their aspirations could be fulfilled through higher education. It is part of a University of Nottingham campaign to help all children have the same chances of getting into higher education as others; the new learning centre is located where there is traditionally a low proportion of children going to university. I met with the team working with local schools when I visited on Friday (pictured below) and am delighted that they are engaging with young people in this way.

2. I’m also pleased to learn that Greater Nottingham Groundwork, a voluntary organisation focused on environmental regeneration, has been awarded development funding through the Big Lottery Fund’s £100 million Talent Match investment to support them in submitting a plan on tackling long-term young unemployment in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire. Greater Nottingham Groundwork will lead a partnership of voluntary, public and private sector organisations to target young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). I’m told that the funding will enable the partnership to develop a detailed plan that demonstrates how young people aged 18 – 24, who are furthest from the job market, will be provided a pathway into sustainable employment or enterprise.

3. The number of unemployed claimants in Nottingham East constituency in March 2013 was 5,469. This represents a rate of 11.3% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64, the 18th highest of the 650 UK constituencies. (1st = highest rate of unemployment, 650th = lowest rate of unemployment.)

4. The new 20mph zone is now in place in residential streets in Sherwood as part of the city council’s trial programme to make the streets a safer and friendlier place for pedestrians and cyclists. The initiative follows a six month consultation process – and while there were mixed views about how useful it will prove, it will soon become clear whether the benefits are felt locally. My hope is that the police can play their part in enforcing the zone, as without the back-up of monitoring and appropriate penalties, it will not have the deterrent effect on the small minority who show inappropriate care and attention.

By Chris Leslie

The Night Sky: May

St Ann's Valley Centre "Highly Commended"

St Ann's Valley Centre became the latest joint service centre in Nottingham to receive recognition yesterday when it won "Highly Commended" in both the Community Benefit and Regeneration categories in the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) 2013 Awards for the East Midlands.

The RICS Awards showcase the most inspirational regional initiatives and developments in land, property, construction and the environment. The Community Benefit and Regeneration categories recognise outstanding achievement in providing facilities which directly benefit the local community and schemes that have conserved or improved the built or natural environment in a way that has contributed to the viability of the area.

The judges visited St Ann's Valley Centre as part of the judging process. Award winners were announced at a ceremony in Nottingham's Conference Centre last night.

St Ann's Valley Centre was developed and built through a partnership between NHS Nottingham City, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham City Homes and the local community. The building was designed by local architects CPMG and built by construction company Willmott Dixon, which was recently awarded silver in the Considerate Constructors Scheme for its work on the Centre.

St Ann's Valley Centre has also been short listed for Library of the Year in the Bookseller Awards. The winners will be announced on 13 May.

St Ann's is one of several joint service centres in the City. Bulwell Riverside Joint Service Centre was nationally recognised as the Best Community Project in the 2012 Partnership Awards.

Terry Allen, Chief Finance Officer, NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "I am really pleased that our vision to provide modern accessible multi agency facilities in the heart of local communities has been recognised. In the St Ann's Valley Centre we have proactively engaged with partners to provide a "warm welcome" to patients and residents whilst designing and programming complementary services and promotions to improve the health and wellbeing of local people."

Councillor Dave Liversidge, Nottingham City Council's Portfolio Holder for Adult Services, Housing and Community, said: "St Ann's Valley Centre has been an enormous success and I am delighted to see the community's involvement in the Centre recognised. Nottingham City Council knew that local involvement was critical to the Centre's success and we worked hard with NHS Nottingham and our other partners to ensure that citizens helped decide what the centre should look like and how it should operate. It's great that the RICS judges have understood and recognised the strength of community ownership of the building.

"I am also pleased to see the Centre recognised for regeneration. St Ann's Valley Centre is the first part of the regeneration plans for St Ann's. We are now completing feasibility studies on further renewal work in this very deprived area of the city".

Gill Moy, Director of Housing for Nottingham City Homes, said: "We work very closely with our tenants to make sure that we get our services right for them. So we're delighted that the involvement of tenants and other residents in the St Ann's area is being recognised through these prestigious awards."

Mr Anderson from the St Ann's Valley Centre Friends Group, who has been involved in the Centre from the very beginning, said: "Lots of local people had the opportunity to feed into the Centre's design and structure. It's wonderful that it has won Highly Commended. The Centre gives the area a new look and it's a blessing for the people of St Ann's to have something so positive."

Press Release

New Robin Hood Chase plans given thumbs-up by local councillors

Updated All of remaining shops on the Chase are to close within 14 weeks

New plans to regenerate the Robin Hood Chase shopping precinct in St Ann’s, came a step closer last Wednesday as local councillors had the chance to see them at a special private viewing in the Chase neighbourhood centre.

Afterwards a reliable source who attended the meeting said that the plans were excellent and would make the Chase fit for the 22nd century.

The new plans are essentially unchanged from those described last November, and shown in part at a public consultation meeting by project managers Alan Parker & Gill Callingham.

The above image shows one of the blocks of shops with maisonettes
above due to be demolished later this year.

There will be a new large supermarket fronting St Ann’s Well Road, and up to four new shop units with their frontages facing the new St Ann’s Valley Centre. These are to be constructed on the land now occupied by the former Health Centre. Above these commercial units will be sheltered homes for the elderly.

The small Chase car park will remain, then in place of the commercial block of shops currently occupied by the Co-op chemist and general store, there will be a small number of social houses.

Livingstone Street will end at this point, and will not be a through Road linking up to Aster Road nearby..

The commercial block of shops at the rear of the wooden Neighbourhood Centre will be demolished to make way for a community open space, which will extend over the area of the present Livingstone Street, to a point adjacent the rear of the houses in Beverly Square.

The Chase Neighbourhood Centre will remain where it is, while the public open space above the community centre, will be developed with up to 18 new homes nicely spaced. The present retail units that once housed St Ann’s Library & former Co-op, along with the current block of open shops, will be demolished to make way for the new houses.

Aster Road will be extended to run down, and around into the heart of the houses to end at the site of the present Chase mosaic, which is surrounded by benches. This is to enable off road parking areas for the new properties.

St Ann’s Post Office is to close down on the Robin Hood Chase in late summer, and will relocate into the large convenience store in lower Bartholomew's Road. While the Co-op Chemist has been awarded the new NHS contract to occupy a new unit inside the main entrance of the nearby St Ann’s Valley centre, which will open in the autumn.

A date for the next public consultation event is yet to be arranged, however, I have been informed this will be in the second week of May; while a planning application for the Chase Regeneration Scheme will be submitted in July.

By Richard Pearson

Nottingham has celebrated St George's Day in style

To mark St George's Day, the city hosted a lunch time concert in the Old Market Square with artists playing traditional English Music.

Here reporter Richard Pearson followed the day’s events, and was on hand to witness the precession of St George along-side the Victoria centre into the old market square.

Then the square quickly filled with other a 1,000 visitors, who enjoyed the musical entertainment by the Keith Kendrick Band and the Winter Wilson duo.

Richard also met ‘occupy Nottingham’ peace campaigners offering hugs to the bemusement of onlookers.

Britain at War: (6)

Homes for Heroes was the slogan following the war when the returning soldiers all needed somewhere to live.

There was a major house building programme that led to the first new housing estates around the UK.

This is the last of a series of films documenting the lives of ordinary people during the course of World War 2, showing their Bulldog Spirit and determination to carry on in the face of danger.

All of these films are being shown to commemorate & advertise  Nottingham Armed Forces Day 2013. Nottingham is proud to announce it will host the Armed Forces Day National Event this year with a parade through the city centre and a day of celebrations at Victoria Embankment on Saturday 29th June. Please come along to Nottingham on this splendid occasion, it will be a great day out for ALL the family.

Event highlights:

• City parade (City Centre)
• Drumhead Service (City Centre)
• Flypasts (City Centre & Victoria Embankment)

Victoria Embankment (10am - 6pm)

• Armed Forces through the ages (Living history camp)
• Past and present military vehicles
• Exciting displays (throughout the day)
• Live entertainment (main & community stages)
• Veterans marquee

Blue Ribbon warn by Charles I on show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An exhibition In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion will be held at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace from May 10 to October 3.

On 24th August 1642 King Charles I raised his standard in Nottingham (Top Left) at the start of the English civil war, the war was lost and some time later the King was executed. For over 670 years King Charles I has been associated with the heritage of the city of Nottingham. Today an iconic replica painting of Charles I, can be seen under the dome of the walk through colonnade of the council house in Nottingham’s market square.

Now the blue silk garter ribbon worn by Charles I in his famous van Dyck portrait (Top Right) may have been discovered - attached to a book.
 
Researchers believe four pieces of cloth could be the sash owned by the monarch after one was radiocarbon dated to the mid 17th century - the period when the King ruled.
 
The discovery was made after Anthony van Dyck's portrait, which features three images of Charles, was selected for a new exhibition and Royal Collection Trust curators decided to examine the silk pieces which were attached to a book about the King.
 
The 17th century tome called the Eikon Basilike - The Royal Portrait - was published 10 days after the monarch's execution on January 30, 1649, and was once owned by the Queen's grandmother Queen Mary.

The 17th century book, probably written in part by Charles, contains accounts of various events and hardships the King encountered in the years before his defeat.
 
It features an inscription that claims the pieces of cloth are from the garter worn by the sovereign but this was treated with caution by curators as the wording appears to date from the 18th century.
 
The garter ribbon and the portrait will be reunited in the trust's new exhibition In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, which explores the fashionable attire of European royal courts in the 16th and 17th centuries.
 
In the van Dyck portrait, the King is wearing a lace collar or 'cloak band', decorated with a soft scallop design popular during the mid-17th century.

A rare surviving lace collar, thought to have been worn by Charles I and dating from around the same year as the painting, completed in 1636, has been lent to the exhibition by the Bowes Museum.
 
Anna Reynolds, the trust's curator of the exhibition, said: "The exhibition presented us with a unique opportunity to bring the painting back to life through some of the fashionable items the artist recorded the King wearing and to compare the three-dimensional objects with the two-dimensional image.

"It's incredible to think that these lengths of silk could in fact be the garter ribbon in one of the most enduring images of the King."

Update: Homes & Communities Agency – Right to Buy

 Updated  George Osborne's flagship scheme to boost the housing market may not help first-time buyers and could cost the Treasury large sums, MPs warned today.

The government will guarantee mortgages for three years from January where applicants can put down a 5% deposit.

The Treasury Committee warned the chancellor's plan made the government an "active player" in the market with a financial stake in propping up prices.

Labour say the plan amounts to a "spare home subsidy" to existing home owners.

Ministers aim to extend the current Help to Buy scheme to make it easier for first-time buyers or those looking to trade up to get access to home loans if they do not possess substantial equity of their own.

Example: for a £100,000 home the buyer will need to find £5,000 (5% deposit), the government will then add £15,000 to make the total deposit to £20,000 (20%) of the purchase price.

Further information for buyers is available from the Treasury website.

Potential buyers through Help to Buy should contact their local Home Buy agent, details can be found on the Home Buy website. Potential buyers should also read the Help to Buy Buyer’s Guide (to follow).

Subject to the terms below, it is intended that Help to Buy will replace First Buy from 1 April 2013.

What is the Help to Buy equity loan scheme?

Help to Buy is an equity loan scheme that makes new build homes available to purchasers struggling to buy. The Help to Buy equity loan is funded by the Government through the HCA.

Help to Buy is available in England from registered house builders and will run until 31 March 2016, or earlier if the funding is taken up. House builders may register with the HCA at any time.

The Help to Buy product will be available to eligible purchasers and will be paid directly to registered house builders. It offers a maximum 20% equity loan (minimum 10%) on new build properties up to a maximum purchase price of £600,000. The equity loan will be made by the HCA to the purchaser; there is no house builder contribution.

The HCA will agree projected unit sales and funding forecasts with house builders registered and contracted to deliver Help to Buy. These will be agreed for each of the initiative’s three years, initially for 2013/14, and subsequently for 2014/15 and 2015/16. Forecasts will become the anticipated contractual delivery position. They will be periodically reviewed by the HCA and may be increased or decreased, based on delivery performance.

• House builder registration/participation guidance - PDF (157KB)
• House builder standard contract template - Excel 2010 (53KB)
• House builder standard contract template - Excel 2003 (105KB)

Key contacts

For general Help to Buy enquiries please email helptobuy@hca.gsi.gov.uk

Update – From local MP Chris Leslie (Nottingham East)

Nottingham has recorded double-digit growth in rail journeys over the last five years, despite the double-dip recession.

Figures released by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) show that Nottingham notched up an extra 10% of journeys since 2008, the same rate of growth as London. After years of declining use, rail travel has grown almost every year since the 1990s, making it more popular now than at any time since the 1920s. The last time train travel was this popular was almost 90 years ago when the rail network was around twice the size.

Ø The Boots factory in Nottingham has announced changes to their ‘third party manufacturing’ lines, which will see a reduction of around 200 jobs over the next two years at the site. A spokesman for Alliance Boots said that they would be making every effort to offer redeployment opportunities elsewhere in the Boots Group.

Ø Some good news..! Nottingham children’s charity ‘Playworks’ have been awarded a £234,853 grant by the Big Lottery to improve play opportunities in parks across the city. The project is based on developing and sustaining play spaces by encouraging local communities to take ownership of their local parks in order to create more playful, active and safer places to play. The project will deliver weekly play sessions to 12 identified park sites (four sites a year, with 40 play sessions delivered at each site). Congratulations to all involved!

Ø A proposal to extend Our Lady and St Edward’s Primary and Nursery Catholic Voluntary Academy in Gordon Road, St Ann’s has been submitted to the city council in order to accommodate a foundation class for the children. The planning application proposes to enlarge the existing building from 1376 sq metres to 1450 sq metres.

Keepmoat Homes Ltd make shortlist to receive government funds

Up to 10,000 new homes for private rent will be underway by 2015, Housing Minister Mark Prisk said today.

The minister announced the first 45 projects to be taken forward using the £1 billion Build to Rent Fund, and Keepmoat Homes Ltd is one of the developers shortlisted on the list. The company now have planning permission to build 111 new social houses on the Stonebridge Park Estate in St Ann’s, and will be submitting a planning application in May to build new houses on the site of the former Kings Thorpe flats complex, which has since been demolished (shown here).

Mr Prisk said that the innovative new projects, a quarter of which are for London, will be the first step toward creating a more balanced rental market, driven by quality instead of demand.

The Build to Rent Fund is designed to help developers invest in homes built specifically for private rent by reducing the up-front risk in a relatively untested market.

Mr Prisk said that demand for the fund, which was initially set at £200 million, was so overwhelming that the Chancellor increased the cash on offer to £1 billion in the Budget last month.

A first round of 45 projects will now proceed to a competitive clarification and due diligence process, to receive a share of £700 million, with a second round of bids for the remaining fund expected to open later this year.

Projects going forward in this round have the potential, subject to due diligence, to deliver between 8,000 and 10,000 homes, and include:

• Genesis Housing Association, with plans for new rental homes around London
• Place First, along with Together Housing Group, who will be building across Northern England
• Crest Nicholson, who intend to bring a significant number of homes to market over many sites across the country

Mr Prisk said that the varied mix of developers, from brand new organisations and small housing providers to long-established developers, will bring new blood into a market currently dominated by small-scale buy-to-let landlords, and will help to give tenants more choice when choosing a home in the future.

Housing Minister Mark Prisk said:

“This government is determined to get Britain building, and the Build to Rent Fund is set to help us deliver, with up to 10,000 new homes to be built from these projects.

“We’ve seen overwhelming demand for the fund, and it’s become clear that there’s a real appetite for rental investment. We want to support that, which is why we’ve made a £1 billion Budget boost to the fund.

“Now, these new projects will help us map this almost uncharted market, bringing in new blood to improve rental quality and choice, and building the new homes that this country wants and needs.”

Richard Hill, Deputy Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, said:

“The £1 billion Build to Rent fund presents a fantastic opportunity to bring about a step change in the way we meet the growing demand for rented homes in this country, while the incredible initial response to the fund clearly shows that builders are ready to take up that challenge. Our role is to ensure that the right schemes are supported in the right places, allowing quality and well-managed homes to come forward quickly to meet local demand.”

New traffic calming announced for Beacon Hill Rise

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday evening Friends of Stonebridge Park held there second meeting at the Blue Bell Hill Community Centre which was well attended by over 50 locals.

The meeting was attended by PC Paul Dean, PCSO Michelle Kent and CPO Jordan Cashmore. Laura Summers & Ben Rowson also came along who were the former SPTRA Chair & Secretary; while Afzaal Nawaz of Nottingham City Homes also came along.

Bill Robson was elected Chairman; Sylvia Miller is Vic Chair; Richard Pearson Secretary and Mr Robert Bryson is the new Treasurer.

Much of the meeting covered the serious road safety concerns of Beacon Hill Rise Road & Stonebridge Roads, and there were many questions & comments from all the residents attending the meeting.

St Ann’s Councillor David Liversidge (Portfolio Holder for Adults, Housing and the Community Sector), said that all of the ward's councillors had listened to our road safety concerns, and our petition was well received.

David said that the City Council's Highways Department had carried out a survey of these and neighbouring roads and provided a total cost of a new road safety scheme to sort out most of the problems. He and the other St Ann's councillors, Sue Johnson & Jon Collins along with the Area 6 (East) committee members had approved the funding in principal so the work can go ahead.

A series of single/double yellow lines and no parking signs are to be put in place to stop cars double parking on the streets, principally Stonebridge & Beacon Hill Rise Roads.

Some road humps will be put in place on Beacon Hill Road to stop cars speeding along this highway towards the city centre.

Local resident Anna Whyman of Stonebridge Road informed the meeting that speeding cars were not the problem where she lived; it was the large number of double parked cars. She said that she was pleased with David’s announcement.

Richard Pearson, Bill Robson, Bill Wyman and other local residents were on today’s   BBC  Radio Nottingham’s  Andy Whittaker breakfast show. Andy Whittaker Andy Whittaker

The next meeting of Friends of Stonebridge Park will be in the last week of May.

• Using the above link our slot is 60 min’s into the programme, and we get a mention on the news bulletins.

Life Expectancy among locals in St Ann’s ‘is the worse in Nottingham’

Exclusive ST ANN’S has the worst Life Expectancy rate in the city: Age 76 if you are a women & 71 for men. That is the shocking finding of a special report to be given to the ‘Nottingham City Health and Wellbeing Board’ which meets next Wednesday, 24th April.

The committee will receive two reports from health officers. One of the more interesting of these is that of Caroline Hird, Consultant in Public Health, which looks at Life expectancy across the city of Nottingham.

In summery Caroline says “Life expectancy is increasing both nationally and in Nottingham. Current figures show that life expectancy in Nottingham is almost 3 years less than England overall. There is a 14 year gap in life expectancy between Wollaton West and Arboretum for men, and an 11 year gap between Wollaton West and St Ann’s for women.”

She also says that “Nottingham is lagging behind England due to high rates of premature mortality from the 4 ‘big killers’: circulatory disease, cancer, respiratory disease and liver disease.

“These are driven by key lifestyle behaviours with high prevalence in Nottingham City: smoking, low physical activity and unhealthy diet, and harmful use of alcohol. There are wider social determinants of health which influence these lifestyle behaviours.”

In the report Caroline Hird explains “Life expectancy is the number of years that a person can expect to live on average in a given population, and is a commonly used summary measure based on death rates of the population. Life expectancy is calculated from age specific mortality rates in a given population, which are then applied to a hypothetical population of new-born babies to give an indication of how long babies born today could expect to live, given the current age specific mortality rates. As mortality rates fall, the life expectancy in an area increases.

“Life expectancy in England is currently 78.6 for men and 82.6 for women, the Nottingham figures are 75.7 and 80.7 respectively. The Global Burden of Disease study (Lancet, 2013) has shown that whilst mortality rates have fallen nationally over the last 20 years, and hence life expectancy has increased, the increased years of life gained are likely to be spent in ill-health.

“There have always been differences in life expectancy by socioeconomic group due to factors such as affluent groups having better living conditions, nutrition and access to healthcare than more economically deprived groups. These differences persist today. The Marmot review (2010) described a comprehensive picture of unfair distribution of health and length of life in England, with a finely graded relationship between the socioeconomic characteristics of the area in which people live and life expectancy.

“In Nottingham life expectancy is lower than England and this gap is increasing. In the early 1990’s the gap was 2 years and it is now nearly three (see Figure 1). Nottingham has a lower life expectancy than England and a lower life expectancy than the average of its peer local authorities.”

Life Expectancy Rates for Nottingham

New tram route to Queens Medical Centre ‘A great asset’

Visitors to our hospitals will enjoy much improved journeys in the future when significant improvements to Nottingham's transport infrastructure are complete.

Nottingham and the surrounding area will benefit from more than a billion pounds worth of improvements to roads, rail and light rail from 2015.

The QMC site will be the only hospital in the country linked to a tram network. As part of the Phase Two development of Nottingham Express Transit (NET) QMC will be served by a new line linking Nottingham's railway station to a park and ride site near junction 25 of the M1.

In addition to QMC, it will also connect some of Nottingham's other large employers including the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Science Park and the ng2 Business Park to major residential areas in Beeston and the Meadows.

Visitors coming to QMC from the west of Nottingham will be able to park near junction 25 of the M1, just off the A52 and, within 15 minutes of getting on board a tram, will arrive at the heart of QMC.

The ambitious project will see a new tram stop integrated into the bridge connecting QMC's South Block and the Nottingham Treatment Centre. A new bridge will be built over the A52, from which the tram will descend to ground level as it enters the University of Nottingham campus.

The tram line to the hospital will link into the newly I ('developed Nottingham Railway Station. The multi-million pound station project will see a new tram stop and interchange built above the existing platforms, and a refurbishment of the iconic station buildings. The green light has also been given to electrify the Midland Mainline making train journeys to and from Nottingham faster.

In parallel to this, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire's road network is undergoing a facelift which will also benefit NUH.

Last year work began to widen the A453 - one of the UK's busiest trunk roads - which links Nottingham and its suburbs to the M1. The widened A453 will also benefit from the extended tram network, as another park and ride will serve the most southern terminus of the tram off the A453 in Clifton.

The A453 is most likely the preferred route for NUH visitors arriving by car from the south of the region. Not only will they benefit from a widened A453, or an extended tram network, but improvements to Nottingham's ring road, which links to the A453, will improve their journeys further.

In Spring 2013, work will begin on key junctions along the ring road which will help improve traffic flow and reduce congestion, starting with Aspley Lane junction. NUH staff that regularly makes the journey between QMC and City Hospital will benefit from this improvement work.

John Simpson, E & FM director and NUH lead for the tram project: “The trust attracts more than a million patients a year, and then there are the relatives and friends who come to visit.

"If you're making regular journeys to and from NUH premises the last thing you want is to be stuck in traffic for hours on end.

"As one of the region's largest organisations, good local transport links are key to our future success.

"Having better transport connectivity also makes NUH a more attractive employer. We already have a good track record of innovative transport solutions and our free Medilink bus service has won numerous awards.

"Hopefully, we can take advantage of improved transport links and work with local bus and tram operators to make it even easier for people to get to and from our sites."

Nottingham University Hospitals News

The Meadows sees first new tram track

The first 'on-street' section of tram line will be welded into place this week in The Meadows, as part of the 17.5km extension to Nottingham's NET tram service.

Eighty metres of track will be secured into position on Meadows Way in The Meadows along the route which will travel to Chilwell via QMC and Beeston.

The first tram track to be laid on-street marks a major milestone in the project known as NET Phase Two, which will see Nottingham's existing tram line from Hucknall and Phoenix Park in the north and north-west, extended to Clifton and Chilwell in the south and south-west of the city.

Councillor Jane Urquhart, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport at Nottingham City Council, said: "This is an exciting milestone in the Phase Two project. People will really start to see the tram extension taking shape. Building the 17.5km NET extension is a major construction project, therefore it's easy to underestimate the vast amount of work that has to be done to prepare for the tracks to start being laid.

"The first on-street tracks to be laid are another significant step forward in Nottingham's ambitions to extend the city's tram service to Clifton and Chilwell. Not only will the city benefit from one of the best integrated transport networks in the UK, but also from the economic growth with investments in jobs for local people and companies.”

Approximately 550 people have already been employed locally to work on the construction of NET Phase Two. The tram extension is expected to open to the public by the end of next year after a period of testing.

City Council Press release

Stonebridge Park Friends to hold public a meeting

Friends of Stonebridge Park are to hold there next public meeting at the Blue Bell Hill Community centre on Wednesday evening.

Beginning at 7pm – 8:30pm, FOSP will elect its new committee members into office, before hearing the latest updates about Stonebridge Park, and St Ann’s, from the Police, Landlord Nottingham City Homes, and the City Council.

High on the agenda is the group’s road safety campaign, which was launched a month ago to try to do something about speeding motorists using Beacon Hill Rise Road as a ‘race track.’

The photo shows (Left to right) Lucy Auma Okia, Sylvia Miller, Richard Pearson, with Joan Ding in the foreground

There is also the significant problem of double parked cars along Beacon Hill Rise Road/Stonebridge Road. The obstruction of these vehicles means that local residents have no choice but attempt to cross these hazardous roads by walking between the cars. This is very dangerous, especially for all of the children living in the area who cannot be seen by fast moving traffic travelling down hill towards the city centre.

St Ann’s Councillor Dave Liversidge (Portfolio Holder for Housing, Adults and Community Sector) will also be attending the meeting.

David Cameron under pressure to “Introduce a tax break for married couples”

By Tim Shipman | The Daily Mail

Anti-mums: The new Budget is 'undermining the family,' according to Mothers at Home Matter's Laura Perrins
 
Stay at home mothers have accused the Government of forcing them to abandon their children and return to work.
 
The attack comes as David Cameron faces a fresh headache with his own MPs threatening to derail Budget legislation unless he introduces a tax break for married couples.
 
Pressure group Mothers at Home Matter warned ministers that their policies on childcare and tax are ‘misguided’ and risk the ‘cohesion of society’ by undermining the family.
 
Spokesman Laura Perrins, who recently confronted Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on his radio phone-in, said: ‘This Budget is a misguided attempt to force mothers to leave their children and return to work.
 
‘Survey after survey reveals that many women who work full-time would prefer to reduce  their hours. Nothing in this Budget helps women to do this,’ she said.

Special Report: The Institute of Fiscal Studies

Disability Living Allowance is replaced by Personal Independence Payment.

From April 2013, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will start to replace Disability Living Allowance for adults aged under 65. This is a major reform: DLA is the most widespread benefit payment on grounds of disability, with 1.9 million working-age claimants and an estimated total spend for that group of £7.5 billion in 2012–13. This compares with only 1.2 million working-age claimants and an exchequer cost for that group of £4.3 billion in 1997–98 (in 2012–13 prices). The transition from DLA to PIP is expected to reduce spending by about £1.5 billion per year by 2016–17, as a result of an expected one-fifth of DLA claimants being assessed as ineligible for PIP. 54 Existing DLA claimants aged 65 or over will be able to continue on DLA (new claimants aged 65 or over already have to claim Attendance Allowance rather than DLA, and that will continue). The government has committed to a separate consultation before any move to extend the migration from DLA to PIP for children currently entitled to DLA (of whom there are about 350,000).

The transition to the PIP is scheduled to take place between 2013 and 2016. New claimants aged under 65 will be assessed for entitlement to PIP from April 2013 in a small number of areas and from June 2013 elsewhere. Reassessment of existing DLA claimants aged under 65 will begin in October 2013 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

The government has said that the disability test for PIP will involve an assessment of the ability of an individual to participate fully in society rather than the severity of impairment. This means that, unlike in DLA, there will be no medical conditions that will lead to automatic entitlement to PIP. The PIP will also involve continuing assessment of claimants’ needs. The assumption is that it will be awarded for a fixed term, of between one and ten years. Claimants will automatically be reassessed at the end of their term, as well as during that term if circumstances change.

Existing DLA claimants are found largely towards the middle of the income distribution – often because their DLA income pushes them up to the middle of the income distribution (though note that they are likely to face higher living costs due to their disability, and standard measures of household income do not account for this). However, it is unknown whether those assessed to be eligible for PIP will be similarly distributed.

Free nursery places in St Ann’s

FREE Nursery places for 2 - 5 year olds at Blue Bell Hill Community Centre

Dennett Close, Stonebridge Park Estate, St Ann’s, Nottingham.

Little daisies Community Nursery is beginning soon with morning and afternoon places.

Parents must be on Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance or Seeking Asylum.

Please Text or Call 07783826838 or Email littledaisies@live.co.uk

Nottingham Black Community event ‘went well..’

On April 10th the Black Community Archive held a successful ‘Community Capsule Road Show at Nottingham’s Central Library in Angel Row.

Laura Summers (Shown here on the left), who is a member of the Archive team, said today “The event went well with about 34 people attending and people brought lots of photos to scan in and add to the project archive etc. There was a good mix of ethnicities and ages too with people who married English people and their subsequent generations. The BBC have been kind to us too with promotion!”

The Archive aims to collect Ancestral & nostalgic background information from Black or Afro Caribbean people living in Nottingham today, including old photographs.

Contact: nottinghamblackarchive@gmail.com Tel 0777 509 3367 or visit www.nottinghamblackarchive@wordpress.com 

Nottingham ‘Homelessness Prevention Strategy’ to be aired

The Overview & Scrutiny Review Committee is to meet on Tuesday 17th April to consider a detailed 67 page report: 'The Homelessness Prevention Strategy (2013 - 2018) by Councillor Dave Liversidge. A copy of the Draft Report is available to download here in Adobe pdf format.

In the Forward to the Report, Councillor Liversidge writes:

Homelessness is a complex problem with multiple causes requiring flexible solutions. Over the course of the previous Homelessness Prevention Strategy, Nottingham City Council and our partners have worked to establish a range of homelessness prevention options which have achieved national recognition as effective interventions. Additionally, in the face of rising levels of street homelessness nationally, Nottingham is maintaining low levels and has achieved No Second Night Out status.

Across a range of services Nottingham has recognised the importance of targeted early intervention approaches to meet the needs of our diverse range of citizens. To achieve the best possible results for our citizens and our city, it is essential that partners across different sectors and departments understand their important contribution. Likewise, it is crucial that these partners appreciate the cyclical benefits that our homelessness prevention services have on all of their service areas including health, the criminal justice system, children and families
and education.

Our new homelessness prevention strategy for 2013 is set in a challenging climate of economic downturn and high levels of unemployment, government austerity measures including significant reform to the welfare system and difficult housing market conditions. We know that individually, these factors can disproportionately effect vulnerable people and increase the risk of homelessness. Collectively, these factors produce an environment that is bound to have a considerable impact nationally and locally.

It is a high priority for Nottingham to withstand the effects of the current environment and mitigate its impact. The challenge is significant; however, we do not want to produce a homelessness prevention strategy that is merely reactive. We remain ambitious in our vision and know that we have experienced, skilled and innovative agencies within local partnerships that will rise to the challenge and continue to prevent homelessness effectively and achieve Gold Standard status for our city.

By Councillor Dave Liversidge (St Ann’s)
Portfolio Holder for Housing, Adults and Community Sector

Police update: Vehicle crime St Ann’s/Sneinton

Unfortunately we have seen a recent increase in vehicle crime in the area which we are working hard to address. It appears some vehicles have been targeted because the owners have not properly secured them or have left valuable items on display.

This type of crime can be easily avoided and I would encourage you to double check you have locked your vehicle and make sure no valuable items are visible from outside the car which may attract the attention of a thief.
 
Please read the attached crime prevention advice which has some helpful tips to reduce vehicle crime and share it with your family, friends and neighbours.

By Police Insp. Simon Allardice

20mph speed limits set to be implemented around the city

Under a new City Council initiative St Ann’s & The Dales is to receive about £133,300 in 2014 for the provision of 20 mph road signs to make neighbourhoods safer.

The City Council’s Executive Board meets on Monday 16^th April to receive a report by Councillor Jane Urquhart, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation. Following the approval of the overall Local Sustainable Transport Fund Allocation given at the Executive Board on 17 July 2012, the Board is being asked for approval to proceed with developing proposals to implement 20mph speed limits in all residential areas of Nottingham, subject to the relevant consultation and legal procedures.

The City has been divided into 10 areas (plus the City Centre). These areas are not based on ward boundaries, but the natural intersection of roads, and have been labelled as Sherwood, Bestwood, Bulwell, Bilborough, Radford, Wollaton, Clifton, Wilford, Meadows and Dales.

In January 2011 the Government announced the details of a £560m Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) for 2011/12 to 2014/15, specifically for packages of transport measures that support economic growth and reduce carbon in their communities.

The successful award of the LSTF main bid funding allocation to the City Council in June 2012 included Work strand B ‘Establish a network of Community Smarter Travel Hubs’. Part of this work strand included funding for a programme of 20mph speed limits to be implemented across the City to improve safety and create a more attractive walking and cycling environment.

Following a successful bid, an allocation of £300,000 for the financial year 2012/13, £400,000 for 2013/14, and £350,000 for 2014/15 has been committed from the LSTF for the development of 20mph speed limits. This has enabled the delivery of the 20mph programme to be accelerated.

A strong year for the Homes & Communities Agency

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), working with local authorities, developers and registered providers, has reported a strong year of delivery in 2012/13.

The early assessment of the HCA’s year end figures shows that despite continued challenging market conditions the Agency has met or exceeded its key output targets over the last year.

As well as supporting businesses and jobs by exceeding the target for employment floor space by over 170% and leveraging nearly £1bn of private sector investment, the Agency also anticipates reporting a strong performance on housing starts and completions.

Through the Get Britain Building programme, helping unlock stalled sites by providing access to investment finance, the HCA had entered into contract on 182 schemes, of which 170 have started on site to provide more than 11,000 homes.

In 2012/13, through its main investment programmes, the HCA:

• Contracted 182 schemes under the Get Britain Building programme, of which 170 have started on site to provide more than 11,000 homes.
• Disposed of enough land for 4,704 homes, against a target of 3,370.
• Created over 322,000 sq. m of office, commercial and employment floor space, supporting new and expanding businesses and jobs, against a target of 185,658 sq. m.
• Created or maintained nearly 12,000 jobs in the construction and supporting industries.
• Attracted nearly £1bn of private sector investment into the sector.
• Brought more than 113 ha of previously developed land back into use for housing or commercial development, against a target of 94 ha.

These results will now be audited and formally reported in June. Full details of housing starts and completions cannot be reported until June due to their status as official statistics, however the HCA anticipates reporting a strong performance.

Richard Hill, CEO, said:

“Against a tough economic background and with a great deal of challenge and change in the housing sector, the HCA and our partners have again achieved a strong performance and helped get Britain building.

“We are responding to the government’s ambition to release surplus public land into the market to accelerate the development of new homes, and we’ll build on this early success next year through our own programmes and support other government departments with their efforts.

“This all puts us in a strong position for the forthcoming year, and with challenging targets, new programmes and £4.5bn of further investment announced in the Budget, we will continue to need the support of the wider sector in creating successful places with homes and jobs.”

Among the sites unlocked with Get Britain Building investment include Ancoats gateway scheme in Manchester, the Wapping Wharf development in Bristol city centre and Brockholes in Kirklees.

The HCA’s total programme investment for the year was as planned, at £1.39bn.

The results have been delivered through a number of the HCA’s programmes including, Accelerated Land Disposal, Property and Regeneration, Economic Assets and Decent Homes.

St Ann’s pub to be transformed into flats

A planning application 13/00718/PFUL3 was submitted to Nottingham City Council by a Mr Ubhi of Alfreton Road Nottingham, on 2nd April, to turn the former White Lion public house in Carlton Road into 8 single flats. The Architect is Molyneux Smith whose Office address is 54 Gertrude Road . West Bridgford .

The site occupied by the White Lion public house stands on the comer of Alfred Street South and Carlton Road, some half mile from the City centre. Alfred Street serves mainly commercial and light industrial properties.

The site therefore is located on the north side of what is a very busy local distributor road. The existing building  housed the former White Lion public house until falling into disuse in 2009; it had  been a trading pub for over 80 years. The former use of the building as a public house required large areas of space at ground level, and the upper storey served as generous accommodation for the landlord and his family.

The Lord Alcester public house in St Matthias Road, St Ann’s, was turned into flats in 2012, and Herron Foods Ltd has now put in a planning application to turn the former Westminster pub in St Ann’s Well Road into two large food stores..

Margaret Thatcher "The Iron Lady" Dies aged At 87

RIP Mrs Margret Thatcher

The first lady Prime Minister of Great Britain | 13th October 1925 to 8th April 2013 | Funeral service 17th April St Pauls Cathedral, London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kingsthorpe Close planning application to be submitted in May

Housing developer Keepmoat Homes Ltd look set to put in a planning application soon to transform the former site of Kingsthorope flats in Mapperley, Nottingham.

Regeneration Officer Debra Ross who is the City Council Project officer for the scheme said today “We are still working with Keepmoat regarding the development and I understand they are aiming to submit a planning application early in May.”

In March Keepmoat Homes Ltd were given planning permission to build another 111 new houses on the Stonebridge Park Estate.

In February 2012 Nottingham City Council published a ‘planning brief’ showing how they would like to see the land redeveloped. The Draft Planning Guidance for the former Kingsthorpe and Kildare Flats was written by Sukjinder Johal (Officer for Planning & Transport Strategy.

The other colleagues who have provided input to the Report were: Debra Ross, Housing Strategy’ Edmund Hopkins, Development Management; Kate Perrey, Planning & Transport Strategy; James Dymond, Parks & Open Spaces; and Matt Leek, Traffic Management.

 

According to the plan in the Planning Brief (Shown here), retained existing houses are shown in purple, while the black zebra pattern shows the proposed new houses which are to be built on the land.

All of the proposed back gardens of the new properties will mainly over look the Wells Road above the steep bank, shown in light green on the plan. Trees are indicated by the dark green areas.

The red tracks are the proposed roads into, and around the new housing development.

The plan also shows a new children’s playground.

The area shown in light blue at the bottom of the plans are an entirely separate development site. This is the land of the former Gardener’s pub, and St Ann’s ‘Magical Well.’ Developer Thurcroft Properties Ltd, of Bingham, Nottingham, has successfully gained planning permission to build 9 houses on the land, after an archaeological excavation has taken place in the near future.

The planning application was approved in October 2011, and expires in 2016.

By Richard Pearson