Video Update: 17 Weeks to completion

The next public meeting of Stonebridge Park Tenants & Residents Association is at 7pm on Wednesday 7th March at Stonebridge Farm; you may contact SPTRA by e-mail at: stonebridgetra@gmail.com.

OVER £2 million of revenue has been raised by LHA_ASRA through the sale of 22 houses on the Stonebridge Park Estate in just one month !

Stonebridge Park Estate, Nottingham UK

An independent developer came forward in January who expressed an interest in building up to 20 new houses in Limmen Gardens within Phase 2 of the development area, side of Blue Bell Hill Community centre. In addition landlord Nottingham City Homes still wants to build houses on Stonebridge Park as part of its new house building programme announced in autumn 2011. Its short list of possible sites has now been reduced to 25 from the original 40 areas around Nottingham.

There are presently 61 houses in the consultation process ear-marked for environmental improvements, and Nottingham Energy Partnership, along with another organisation has now agreed to fund free external wall cladding for home owner occupiers, which is really good news.

The latest video update begins at the top of Magson Close, then Rocket Park, Flewitt Gardens, Dennet Close, Lytton Close, Eastham Close, Peveril pub site, and then views around the same area; It was a lovely mild day with blue skies.

Lytton Close & Eastham Close ~ Approved

CHEAP HOME LOANS FOR 5 YEARS

ELEVEN New houses have so far been sold on the Stonebridge Park Estate, If you are interested in buying one of the new houses here, best hurry! There is good news about low interest Rates, says: Richard Pearson.

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By Alison Little and Sarah O’Grady

MILLIONS of homeowners will enjoy cheap mortgages for another five years thanks to record low interest rates, experts predicted last night.

Optimism rose in the wake of ­economic forecasts from the Bank of England – although the news was bad for savers.

The Bank’s Governor Sir Mervyn King hinted yesterday that the base rate will stay at its historic 0.5 per cent low until at least 2014, while others forecast it would last up to 2017. But while that means low-cost home loans it spells disaster for savers like pensioners who rely on nest-eggs for income.

Sir Mervyn was accused of “sacrificing savers” by claiming raising interest rates would drag the UK back into recession.

The Governor said he felt “deep sympathy” for those getting near-zero returns on their investments but their suffering was part of the “painful adjustment” needed for long-term economic health.

The Bank stuck by previous forecasts of low growth but said there was now a less severe risk of Britain returning to recession in the first half of this year.

Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King was accused of “sacrificing savers” by claiming raising interest rates would drag the UK back into recession. 

Sir Mervyn said the economy was “moving in the right direction” although it would “zigzag” in and out of growth in 2012 and faced “choppy waters” including the risk from the Eurozone crisis.

Growth of about one per cent was expected this year and 1.8 per cent in 2013. Inflation, which fell last month to 3.6 per cent, was predicted to hit the official two per cent target at the end of this year. It will then drop to as low as 1.5 per cent the following year.

Sir Mervyn said that while increasing the base rate to four or five per cent would give an impression of higher savings returns, it would also reduce asset values, investment and consumer spending – and trigger a return to recession.

He said: “Many savers would find that the value of their wealth would fall more than enough to offset the apparently higher yield and everyone would be worse off.

“All groups in society are suffering from the consequences of the financial crisis.

“Our judgment has to be what is the right course of action eventually to steer the economy back to low inflation, close to the target, and steady growth.’’

Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: “We are sticking to our view that interest rates will not rise until at least late 2013 and could very well stay at 0.5 per cent until 2014.”

The Centre for Economics and Business Research think-tank believed the rate would stay at 0.5 per cent until 2016.

Stonebridge Snow Scenes

Stonebridge Park, Nottingham

There was significant snowfall yesterday evening, and this was a good opportunity to record snow scenes around Stonebridge Park. According to the Evening Post 10 houses have now been sold on the estate over the last 7 days, raising about £1m in revenue for Developer Leicester Housing Association, which is a not for profit organisation.

Street lighting has now been installed on the Long Hedge site at the top of Magson Close, and roofs were now being put onto the block of flats on Magson Close itself.

Stonebridge City Farm ~ Meet Lucy

BBC East midlands Today recently visited our local farm to meet the animals, and Lucy who blows ‘raspberries’ at visitors!

First Look inside new houses top of Magson Close

                                            Hine £69,500                                         

Hine

Eastham Close House prices

Video Update: 27 Jan 2012, Launch Day of show houses

Stonebridge Park, Nottingham

Letter from Chris Leslie MP

25th January 2012

Dear Richard

Thank you for contacting me about the development at Stonebridge Park.

Thank you for all the information you sent and for letting me know your concerns about the progress of this scheme, I visited the scheme at an earlier stage and talked to the Council and Ministers about releasing the funding to get it moving.

I've been in touch with Councillor Liversidge and talked about concerns around delays to this scheme, and I know that he will contact me if there is anything I can do to help at this stage. I am happy to do what I can to work with the local Council and residents to make progress and I will make sure I stay in touch with Councillor Liversidge on this.

Thank you once again for taking the trouble to get in touch on this important matter.

Chris Leslie MP

Member of Parliament for Nottingham East

Best wishes

Chris

Stabbing Update by Caroline Lowbridge at the BBC

 

Stabbing incident in St Ann’s

At 6-30 pm on January 16^th 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 remains closed to traffic as forensic officers worked in the area. These photographs were taken at 11am today.

This is where the 16 year old boy was found, at the far end of this footpath.

Beacon Hill Rise Road closed as science officers work in the area

Northampton Street is also closed

VIDEO Update January

Stonebridge Park, Nottingham. UK

It was a cold day with the sun high in the sky. There are 25 weeks still to go before the scheduled completion of Phase 1a / 1b and it is clear that a great deal has been achieved so far.

The new road and pavements are being laid on the Long Hedge site at the top of Magson Close now that the houses have been completed, while the flats and apartment block are at the three story level on Magson Close itself.

Rocket Park was clean and fresh after the Christmas period, with spring in the air.

New houses are rising up steadily in Dennet Close, and the roofs are now being installed on a number of the building. A Planning Application to environmentally improve Lytton Close has been submitted to Nottingham City Council with the closing date for objections set for 1^st February.

The Peveril Apartments are now also at the third floor level, while roofs can be seen being added to the nearby homes under construction.

The video concludes with a look at the proposed Phase 2 lands at Limmen Gardens which are next in line for new building works if Leicester Housing Association is successful in obtaining the necessary Kick Start government funding later this year.

HOMEOWNERS are enjoying the cheapest mortgages

By Sarah O'Grady

HOMEOWNERS are enjoying the cheapest mortgages on record thanks to historically low interest rates.

On average people are paying £494 a month, a figure that represents just 15.4 per cent of their take-home pay.

At the height of the credit crunch four years ago homeowners were forking out an average of £601 in monthly mortgage payments – or 20.5 per cent of their take-home pay.

There was also good news yesterday for first-time buyers. The number getting their initial step on the property ladder increased markedly last year as banks became more willing to lend to those with only a small deposit.

There were 57,301 loans of 85 per cent or more of the property price, up from 43,379 in 2010.

The favourable lending conditions are likely to continue after the Bank of England left the base interest rate at its record low of 0.5 per cent yesterday for the 34th consecutive month.

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This is really good news for Stonebridge. Once the first houses are completed in the summer it will allow them to be sold more easily. In addition, it will give added confidence to investors in providing money to build new houses on our estate in the near future, knowing the developer will be able to sell them. Richard Pearson.

The Stonebridge Park Team

Meet the Officials urgently seeking new Kick Start funding for the community lead Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme in St Ann’s Nottingham. Please contact them directly if you are able to offer financial assistance to progress the Scheme forward, or if you are able to offer assistance in other ways to obtain the urgently needed funding in 2012.

Mr Matt Cooney
Chief Executive LHA-ASRA Group
3 Bede Island Road
Leicester
LE2 7EA
Tel: 0116 257 6700
Fax: 0116 247 0365
matt.cooney@lha-asra.org.uk

 

Lisa Culhane
Housing & Regeneration Manager
Leicester Housing Association
3 Bede Island Road
Leicester
LE2 7EA
Tel: 0116 257 6716
lisa.culhane@lha-asra.org.uk

David Liversidge
St Ann’s Labour Councillor,
Portfolio holder for Housing & Regeneration at Nottingham City Council
181 Windmill Lane
Nottingham
NG3 2BH
Telephone: 0115 915 5624
Mobile:    07507 650101
dave.liversidge@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Mark Lowe
Housing Development Manager
Housing Strategy
Nottingham City Council
Loxley House
Station Street
Nottingham
NG2 3NG
Phone: 0115 8763532
Fax: 0115 8763132
mark.lowe@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Stonebridge Social Housing Funding Appeal

Stonebridge54b@hotmail.co.uk

10^th January 2012

Letter sent today to members of Parliament: RT Honourable Grant Shapps MP
Minister for Housing
House of Commons
Westminster London W1

Dear Mr Shapps,

 

I am writing to bring to your attention the community led Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme in St Ann’s Nottingham.

There is an urgent need for good quality social housing in England to provide spaces for the thousands of people on council waiting lists, and for first time buyers to take the first step on the property ladder. At the moment your coalition arrangement of Conservative & Liberal Democrat MP’s are keen to give active support and finance to schemes that provide good quality social housing in the East Midlands.

 

As a former tenant of Stonebridge Park, and enthusiastic supporter of the areas’ Stonebridge Park Tenants & Residents Association, I am keen to promote and encourage dialogue and financial negotiations between MP’s, government Departments and the Developer Leicester Housing Association which will lead to a successful conclusion in obtaining the Kick Start funding required to begin building Phase 2 of the scheme in the autumn of 2012.

 

The community led Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme actively began in January 2006 when the preferred developer Leicester Housing Association joined the programme. Following a period of local consultations, and planning application, the first blocks of unpopular flats were demolished in January 2008 and the turf cutting ceremony to begin building Phase 1a and Phase 1b was held on 17^th December 2010. The first completed house on Stonebridge was marked at a ceremony in October, and the completion date is due in 20 weeks time; sadly it is all taking a long while to achieve!

 

Lovell East, the contractor chosen to build all of the houses, flats and apartments on the Stonebridge Park Estate, have done an amazing job building the housing units to a very high standard in a short period of time. I have followed and photographed the building works every 14 days over the past year, and I praise their high standard of workmanship.

 

Unfortunately, while the community led Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme was given a high priority in 2010 to acquire government funding through the Homes & Communities Agency, in 2011 the priority has been given less importance. In addition while the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced new Kick Start funding of £17m for our Local Enterprise Partnership of Nottinghamshire, Nottingham and Derby in November 2011, in which Nottingham City council may benefit by more than £4.3m – Stonebridge Park does not qualify under the criteria.

 

Together this has led to significant criticism of the Coalition, and Housing Minister Grant Shapps from the media and Labour front bench spokes woman Maria Eagle who said: “Mr Shapp's latest announcement was trying to hide the fact that he has presided over a 99% fall in the last six months in new housing [construction project] starts. I think the issue about affordable housing is that there isn't enough of it. Yes, you have to crack down on abuse”, but added: "What we really need to see is more social housing being built - that's what Grant Shapps isn't doing."

 

At the present time there is great concern that there will not be any new Kick Start funding to progress the Stonebridge Park Regeneration Scheme for another two years. It will therefore be held in limbo for another 24 months at a time when new social housing is in great need.

 

I am therefore asking for your full support in giving our community led Stonebridge Park Regenerations Scheme a welcome financial Kick Start to allow the Developer Leicester Housing Association to begin building Phase 2. I am also inviting Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg & Housing Minister Grant Shapps along to visit Stonebridge later this year to capitalise on the amazing publicity their announcement would generate if they give our Stonebridge Park scheme their full support and provide the necessary finance needed to complete the scheme in the coming months.

 

If you are a member of the coalition, please contact your senior officers in the relevant government departments and encourage them to assist in providing the urgently needed financial support to the Developer Leicester housing Association for the Stonebridge Park Estate. Please also ask the Treasury for the additional £11m urgently needed to complete our Stonebridge Regeneration scheme in the months ahead.

 

I conclude by saying thank you for helping our St Ann’s community with your generosity.

  Yours sincerely
Richard Pearson

Stonebridge Park

 

The area of St Ann’s today known as the Stonebridge Park Estate, was planned and built by the developer Whimpey in 1976 following the major slum clearance of old St Ann’s. The majority of the houses have no cavity walls or insulation, making them cold during the winter months and are expensive to keep warm. All the tenants have now had their homes improved by landlord Nottingham City Homes with new modern bathrooms, kitchens and double glazing under the Decent Homes programme. Home owner/occupiers have not had this luxury, and with a large number being elderly or in fuel poverty, are unable to meet the costs involved.

 

The blocks of three tier flats were not popular with locals, as they became grotty & dismal through the lack of council maintenance, while some flats became a haven for drugs and antisocial behaviour. The many interlocking footpaths increased crime in the area by allowing dark corners were drug dealing could take place, and burglars & criminals could escape easily.

 

Today with the demolition of all of the flats, and with the new sensitive design for the lands which eliminate many of the footpaths, Stonebridge Park is becoming a new social housing estate fit for the century ahead. New government Kick Start funding is urgently needed now to keep the programme on track and to provide the new affordable social houses needed by hundreds of families on Nottingham City Council waiting lists.

The Master Plan

 

Outline planning permission was granted to LHA_ASRA in 2010, and full planning consent is a mere formality. All of the sites needed to construct new houses, flats and apartments have been cleared and made ready for building to begin in earnest, and the detailed plans for the new properties have been drawn up and are ready for the preferred construction company Lovell (East) to begin their work. The only thing that’s stopping the social housing scheme moving on is the difficulty of obtaining new Kick Start funding which is urgently needed to continue the momentum to take the project forward.

 

Providing new kick-Start funding is made available this year 2012, Phase 2 will see about fifty new affordable social houses being built on the site. Phase 2 will also have more grass open space, and will be environmentally friendly. Phase 3 lies at the centre of our Estate were 23 new homes will be built. Phase 4 is next which will see a about 50 houses being constructed, including a row of large family homes (shown in pink) facing out onto St Matthias Road. The grey blocks indicate the positions of the retained housing of the existing residents.

Video Update: 17 December 2011

Stonebridge Park Estate, St Ann’s, Nottingham. UK

ONE YEAR AGO Today we had the turf cutting ceremony on Stonebridge Park, and now look at what has been achieved over the last 12 months – just amazing! This latest video begins in Jersey Gardens, then along to the Long Hedge site at the top of Magson Close, a look at the new flats being built on Magson itself, and St Matthias apartments at the bottom of the road.

We then resume looking at the same houses from the rear, into Rocket Park which has a new sign! A look at the former Fairholm OAP site, Pym Walk Flats area. Dennet Close (Top row), Dennet Close (Bottom row), Lytton Close, Eastham Close, the former Peveril pub site, and views of the same taken from Beacon Hill Rise. The Bollywood Apartments from Dennet Close Road and the film ends looking at Bluebell Hill Community Centre with the new buildings in the distance.

It has been an amazing year full of surprises, but the new homes are the star attraction of 2011.

Looking for cash injection to kick-start estate regeneration

By Emily Winsor emilywinsor@hotmail.com

A CASH injection is needed to kick-start the second phase of the multi-million pound regeneration of a St Ann's estate.

Nottingham City Council and housing association LHA-ASRA say they hope to secure money to bring the next phase of improvements on the Stonebridge Park estate – but admitted it could take up to two years to find.

The estate is being regenerated by the council, LHA-ASRA and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Phase one of the development, building 95 homes at a cost of £22m, was partly paid for by kick-start money from the HCA, which provided £5.7m – but no kick-start cash is available for phase two.

LHA-ASRA chief executive Matt Cooney has high hopes that the next phase, of 115 more houses and 48 flats, will begin in the next two years

.

Former city council district housing manager Mr Cooney said: "Times are tough at the moment and we do not have the same funding privileges for phase two that we had for phase one.

"We are currently looking at ways to finance the completion of the estate – and we hope to secure funding soon so that phase two can get going."

He said he was pleased with phase one of the regeneration.

"If you go back in time to the early 1990s when the buildings were all grey and drab and compare it to today, it looks totally different.

"I take my hat off to Nottingham City Council because they are doing this at a very difficult economic time when other local authorities would shy away from it.

He went on: "Our hope is that the effect of phase one will lift the value of some of the existing properties in St Ann's too and the area will begin to flourish."

He added: "The idea is basically to rebrand the area by the time we are finished as something different and new – something which gives aspiration to those who live there."

Part of the plan is the recently completed Albany House, a £9m supported housing scheme for elderly people which was built by LHA-ASRA on the former site of Welland Court, a warden-aided complex in St Matthias Road.

St Ann's city councillor Dave Liversidge, portfolio holder for housing regeneration and community sector, said: "Phase one of this scheme has been brilliant and we're really keen to build on that success with phase two.

"We're in active discussions with our partners in the private and public housing sectors, including housing associations, to provide funding to take phase two forward to the same great success."

VIDEO Update 30 November

Stonebridge Park, St Ann’s, Nottingham.UK

Autumn is upon us and thankfully the weather is much kinder that of the hard frosts a year ago. This updates begins in Jersey Gardens, then a distant view of the Alcester pub and row of new build houses at the top of Magson Close. On the Long hedge site the new road and pavements are being put in place, and roofs are going on the large houses at the front of the site.

We then stroll down St Matthias Road looking at the rear of the Magson Close flats, with a distant view of the new roofs on the new built houses on Long Hedge. Then a look at the new St Matthias Apartment at the junction of Stonebridge & Magson Close Roads, and the new flats under construction up Magson itself.

We then have a view looking across the former Fairholm Court site at the bottom of Flewitt Gardens, a stroll into Rocket Park. We see the Pym Walk flats site, and then the new houses under construction on Dennet Close (top-row), new house on Dennet Close (Bottom-row), and then Eastham Close.

Next we view the Peveril pub site adjacent Beacon Hill Rise Road where the new roof is now being fitted to the second block of flats, and the Bollywood Apartments are being built rapidly. We then stroll down Dennet Close Road to see the new houses under construction, and a distant view of Flewitt Gardens. The film ends with views of the Peveril pub site from Beacon Hill Rise, and a look at the big crane that lifted materials onto the top of the Bollywood Apartments earlier in the week.