Victoria Baths demolition works day five at the side of the Victoria Leisure centre. Now that the summer weather has arrived progress has moved up a gear as you can see from these latest photographs.
I was met by a local trader who wanted to show me a notice that had appeared in the window of one of the commercial units. This confirms the reliable information given to me by City council officers this week.
Early this week Newline began demolishing the Turkish Baths in Bath Street at the side of the Victoria leisure Centre. The foundation stone was laid by the mayor of Nottingham on 28th May 1928, eighty five years ago, and progress is going well. It is surprising just how much land there is available for developers to get involved to build new homes here.
On Wednesday afternoon Nottingham City Council officers got together to discuss the future of Sneinton Market, amid concern that the land owner of the commercial units had gone bust, and was unwilling to hold discussions with the council over the last 6 months.
At the same time I received an email from the Sneinton Market promotion team inviting local residents to meet the architects behind their planned regeneration project on Wednesday July 10th. They provided me with a copy of their plan for the area shown below.
I later shown this plan to City Council Leader Jon Collins, who said that he remained deeply concerned that the landowner did not have the available funds to refurbish all of the commercial units, and carryout the proposed environmental improvements that are shown in the illustration.
He said that he was optimistic that the city Council could negotiate a deal to purchase the land and then put in place its own improvement scheme for Sneinton Market in the foreseeable future.
Walter Halls Infant & Early Years School Mapperley
This week we have video of the Armed Forces Day celebrations, and Drum Head service in the Old Market Square on Saturday June 29th, which was seen by thousands of visitors. We also have a news update from the St Ann's area of the city.
On Wednesday 26 June 2013, the Chancellor set out Government’s spending plans for 2015/16. On housing specifically the Spending Round unveiled a £3.3bn package to support 165,000 new affordable homes over 3 years from 2015/16. This includes an extension of the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) with £957m of capital funding each year, for 3 years up to 2017/18; and a new Affordable Rent to Buy scheme with £250m in 2015/16 and £150m in 2016/17.
Further details for housing and other capital investment were set out on Thursday 27 June, with the publication of Investing in Britain’s Future. This included confirmation that the HCA will become the centralised disposal agency for surplus public sector land.
What does the affordable housing settlement mean for the sector?
It’s a strong settlement for the housing sector. I say this because it provides certainty around funding for affordable housing into the next Spending Period. Confirmation of the rent regime for housing providers over the next 10 years from 2015 will bring reassurance to the sector and its investors, as providers can make long-term decisions with increased confidence.
This is a significant amount of money and is a reflection of the Government’s confidence in the sector. It is also recognition of the importance of meeting housing need and supporting the supply of housing overall, as well as the direct role housing plays in driving economic growth.
What does it mean for the HCA?
As the Government’s affordable housing delivery agency, the investment is very significant for us. I’ve said above that it shows Government’s commitment to the sector and continues to demonstrate confidence in HCA as its delivery body.
The HCA will administer the allocation of the AHP investment – which builds on the current AHP, on track to meet government’s target for up to 170,000 new affordable homes by 2015 - and is likely to do the same for the new “Affordable Rent to Buy” scheme, outside of London. We’ll be talking to DCLG and the sector to establish the details of delivery, but as always, we’ll be keen to move quickly in getting new programmes up and running successfully.
What is the new Affordable Rent to Buy, announced in the Spending Round?
This is anew programme to help people who need a limited period of support through a sub-market rent, so they can save for a deposit and achieve their aspiration of home ownership. The £400m funding announced will help fund new build homes that will be let at Affordable Rent for a limited time before being sold, with the tenant getting the first chance to buy.
The HCA, as likely administrator of the scheme, will provide investment which is repayable when the period of sub-market rental ends. We will work with the sector to design the scheme and start delivering the new homes in 2015/16 and 2016/17.
What about the public land role and news that HCA will be the single disposer of public land?
This is exciting news for the HCA, and another endorsement of the Government’s confidence in the Agency as its trusted delivery partner on public land. It builds on the HCA’s role as the Government’s Agent to increase the amount of public land for development and speeding up the rate at which it is brought to market.
Our public land work is core business for the HCA, but this confirmation by Government recognises our commercial expertise, experience of managing large portfolios of land, and delivery performance in contributing to the Prime Minister’s target to release enough land by 2015 to support development of 100,000 new homes.
How does the social rent regime affect the HCA’s regulatory role?
The guideline limit for social rent increases has been set at CPI (Consumer Price Index) + 1% per year for the next 10 years from 2015-16 to 2024-25, a change from the previous rent regime of RPI (Retail Price Index) +0.5%.
This provides the much-needed long-term certainty and stability I’ve mentioned above. It will give investors confidence and help landlords plan for future investment, and will support them to build more new affordable homes. As regulator we welcome this, and we’ll continue to focus on ensuring providers have appropriate management strategies in place to protect public interest and maintain lender confidence.
Nottingham City Council has received initial support* from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund for its plans to restore and improve the historic Highfields Park, it has been announced. The project aims to fully restore the Park, build upon its heritage and create a community facility for the 21st century.
Development funding of £280,500 has been awarded to help the Council progress its plans to apply for a full grant at a later date.
The restoration project, expected to cost over £4.2 million in total, will involve the refurbishment and repair of historic buildings on the site including the pavilions and ticket office; the rehabilitation of the lake; new features including adventure golf; vegetation and arboriculture work; and improvements to footpaths and hard surfacing.
The Grade II listed Park provides 121 acres of public space alongside the University of Nottingham campus off University Boulevard and features a large boating lake, landscaped gardens and a children's play area. It was first laid out in 1920 on the initiative of Sir Jesse Boot and fully opened to the public in 1926.
Councillor Dave Trimble, the City Council's Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture, said: "Nottingham boasts some beautiful public spaces and Highfields Park is one of our most historically important and popular. We're delighted that thanks to this initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund we can begin the process of restoring the Park to its former glory and introducing some new features which will ensure it can continue to be enjoyed by generations of Nottingham people in the decades to come."
Hilary Silvester, Chair of the Highfield Park User Group, said: "I am absolutely delighted to hear that our Stage One bid has been successful. The Council's Parks Development staff have worked tremendously hard on the project and we are looking forward to equal success in the second stage of the Lottery bid.
"Highfields is a very special and much-loved park, and the lottery funding will make it even better. I imagine that Jesse Boot, who gave the Park to the people of Nottingham, would be just as delighted to see his gift being so much appreciated.'
Carole Souter, Chief Executive of HLF, said on behalf of HLF and the Big Lottery Fund: "We're delighted to be able to provide this much needed support for Highfields Park, when it could not be more needed. Many public parks are really suffering in the current economic climate so this is particularly good news for Nottingham. Parks are important to all of us and add so much to our quality of life. Highfields Park will help to bring the local community together and now, we can help to secure its future."
*A first-round pass means the project meets HLF criteria for funding and HLF believe it has potential to deliver high-quality benefits and value for Lottery money. The application was in competition with other supportable projects, so a first-round pass is an endorsement of outline proposals. Having been awarded a first-round pass, the project now has up to two years to submit fully developed proposals to compete for a firm award. On occasion, an applicant with a first round pass will also be awarded development funding towards the development of their scheme.
In this program we take a look at the highlights of the July night sky. Our main theme is the Sun in action, and NASA's new spacecraft IRIS which will launch on Thursday to study the sun's atmosphere in fine detail.
The next edition of the BBC Sky at Night program will be around midnight on 7th July when the team will be looking at The Moon.
The plans, announced by The Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander today and published in Investing in Britain’s Future, set out more detail on how £3.3bn of investment will deliver 165,000 new affordable homes by 2017/18.
The announcement included:
• An extension of the Affordable Homes Programme with £957m funding each year from 2015/16 to 2017/18, and a £400m Affordable Rent to Buy scheme, to deliver 165,000 new affordable homes.
• Certainty that the guideline limit for social rent increases has been set at CPI + 1% per year from 2015-16 to 2024-25.
• A review of the Government estate to be led by the Government Property Unit and a role for the HCA as the single public body charged with bringing surplus public land to market from 2015/16 onwards.
• An additional £150m funding for Enterprise Zones and an additional £102m to speed up delivery on large scale sites.
•£160m to reduce the backlog of non-decent homes, bringing the Decent Homes Backlog Programme to an end.
• Allowing the HCA to charge fees for the regulation of social housing providers.
Many of the programmes announced today will be administered by the HCA outside London, on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Andy Rose, Chief Executive of the HCA, said:
“This is a strong settlement for the sector. The commitment of £3.3bn for affordable housing to build 165,000 new affordable homes reflects the Government’s confidence in the sector and the HCA; as well as housing’s role in driving economic growth. This is core business for us and we are ready to work with our partners to deliver these new homes. This includes our role as regulator to ensure providers have appropriate management strategies to take advantage of the new opportunities.
“The announcement that the HCA will be the single public body charged with bringing surplus public sector land to market builds on the HCA’s role as the Government’s key delivery partner in increasing the amount of public land for development and speeding up the rate at which it is brought to market. It clearly recognises our commercial expertise, experience of managing large portfolios of land, and delivery performance to date in contributing to the Prime Minister’s ambition to release enough land by 2015 to support development of 100,000 new homes.
“There are significant opportunities in today’s announcement for house builders and providers to meet their development aspirations. Our role now is to maximise the impact of the investment that has been made available and we will be talking to the sector about implementation, to take advantage of these opportunities.”
Hello and welcome to The Time the Place. In the next TV video program we take a look at the highlights of the July night sky.
Our main theme is the Sun in action, and NASA’s new spacecraft IRIS which will launch on Thursday to study the sun’s atmosphere in fine detail. We also take a look at the launch of Shenzhou-10, China's fifth-ever manned mission to successfully lift off on the 11th June.
Asda want to build a petrol station and large car park on the former Co-op site.
Shown here is the Planned Netherfield development
In this week’s program we take a look at the history of the Stonebridge Park Estate in St Ann’s including old photographs of some of the streets, and buildings. Also the Defend Council Tax group held a successful meeting at the neighbourhood centre on the Robin Hood Chase this week
Please share this video among your friends, on face book & Twitter. You are also welcome to imbed it into your own website or blog. Visit our Our TV Video channel We are also on Daily Motion
If you like this week’s program you may also like The Time the place | St Ann’s Well.
If you have any ideas for news features or community group highlights then please Email us at stannsnews@yahoo.co.uk
If you have any ideas for news features or community group highlights then please Email us at stannsnews@yahoo.co.uk Also Email your comments to us at this address.
Until next week, Have a nice holiday, Good bye for now
Richard Pearson
![Dennett Close_thumb[3]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhl0n-SegLWdJvD5RYw_5fZLNvk594THsf3nDREfea0ZvuQfZwieEWtV5XGbu5LiS7eyPGE_cmLq4KT33cq3sXBug9KZq19NZ5dHlnNofsLpIgFro2auRCt6QZq2xukB2FOs38e6rFuAsh/s1600-h/Dennett%252520Close_thumb%25255B3%25255D%25255B3%25255D.jpg "Dennett Close_thumb[3]")
Locals are deeply concerned because the footpath running along side there homes is being replaced by a new side road that will have no pavements either side. Local residents will walk out of there front gates directly into the new poorly lit road. As many of the residents have young children, they say this puts there offspring at risk from being knocked down by cars using it.
The Developer Asra Housing group have planning permission to build 15 new homes in Limmen Gardens, and work may begin in the autumn.
The Executive Board of the city council meets this Tuesday, when councillors are being asked to approve new changes to the Housing Allocations Policy.
A joint report by Graham de Max, Policy and Partnership Manager, Housing Strategy, and Sue Lomax, Housing Options Manager, Nottingham City Homes will be presented to councillors at the meeting.
The report takes into account the impact that the Bedroom Tax is having on people living in Nottingham today, and its impact on the available housing stock of 29,000 homes.
The report says Nottingham City Council’s Housing Allocations Policy is regularly reviewed to maintain its relevance in providing homes for people in need, which last happened three years ago.
Nottingham is currently experiencing increasing demand for social housing, in particular as a result of the Government’s Welfare reform agenda.
Currently there are just fewer than 12,000 applicants on the housing register. Approximately 1800 properties became available for re-letting last year, which means that supply is greatly outstripping demand.
The increased demand means that applicants who have low or no needs are placed on the housing register with little or no realistic chance of being offered a social tenancy.
In June 2012 parts of the Localism Act 2011 relating to housing allocations came into force.
Local Authorities throughout the country are making amendments to their Housing Allocations Policies to make use of the powers and flexibilities, particularly in relation to setting a residency qualification and in discharging homeless duties to the private rented sector.
The proposed new amendments include the Introduction of qualifying criteria for applicants to the Housing register, in relation to age and residency in the City; and non-qualifying criteria in terms of un-acceptable behaviour, home ownership, no housing need and unavailability to occupy accommodation.
In terms of city residency the qualifying period will change to 3 years to prevent immigrants from entering the UK and jumping the Nottingham housing cue, or transferring into Nottingham from other areas of the country.
It says that the Housing Register will be closed to new applicants with a low chance of success.
Re-designation of the holding band 5, which will become a band for lower need applicants who will qualify for older people’s accommodation.
Amendments to eligibility and occupancy criteria to relax previous age restrictions which were applied to ground floor flats. This is in view of the increased demand, particularly from those who currently have to pay the Bedroom Tax who want to down-size, or need to be re-housed due to regeneration.
There will also be amendments to the eligibility and occupancy criteria for two bedroom low rise flats to make best use of all accommodation which can be used for smaller families, many of whom are particularly impacted by the reductions in benefits due to the Bedroom Tax.
The introduction of affordability and risk assessments for all applicants prior to offer, to ensure applicants are only offered accommodation which they can afford and, where any risks can be managed.
Sanctions will also be introduced for those who are not bidding realistically or who are continuously refusing suitable offers?
There will be amendments to the Allocation Policy in order to facilitate decisions from Nottingham City to discharge their homeless duty to the private rented sector.
This is a controversial decision since the private rented sector is presently under a lot of pressure.
This is for two reasons. Firstly, Lettings agents in England charge tenants an average of £350 in fees on top of a deposit and up-front rent, a housing charity has said.
Shelter set up anonymous testing of 60 lettings agencies to record what they charged to set up a tenancy, make credit checks and other paperwork.
It called for new rules to ensure these fees were only paid by landlords.
But the lettings agents' trade body said it was fair that tenants made a contribution.
The Association of Residential Lettings Agents said that if this was not the case, then rents would rise.
Secondly, private sector housing rents are considerably over valued. The average rent in England and Wales is now 3.9pc higher than it was this time last year and yet the average wage in the private sector hasn’t gone up at all, with pay rises grinding to a complete halt.
The squeeze is especially acute in London, where rents are 7.6pc higher and where a quarter of residents rent privately and here in the East Midlands rents are up 4.1pc, according to LSL Property Services.
As a result we are starting to hear tentative calls for rent controls – compulsory limits on how much landlords are allowed to charge, and caps on annual rent hikes.
On June 12th the Institute of Physical Studies released a report showing that wages have fallen more in real terms in the current economic downturn than ever before.
"The falls in nominal wages... during this recession are unprecedented," said Claire Crawford from the IFS.
On top of the rising cost of living, one third of workers who stayed in the same job saw a wage cut or freeze between 2010 and 2011, said the Institute.
Whatever the decision of councillors at this week’s Executive Board meeting, it promises to be a significant turning point for every tenant, and those on the Housing Waiting List.
We are having a walkabout in Sneinton to view places of interest such as the windmill car park, the old Dale farm plot and the old Aerborn factory (cinema) site. This will take place on 18th June 13. For more info, please read on...
One of the benefits of a Neighbourhood Plan is that you can have a say about developments first rather than objecting to proposals. For the developer it would mean proposals are less likely to meet resistance as they would put forward proposals that are consistent with the area's NP. Parts of Sneinton are a conservation area but the rules are being bent by some residents and developers and the Council can struggle with enforcement. A NP would also beef up the existing conservation order and a Neighbourhood Forum could liaise with the authorities to ensure they are notified about anybody ignoring the order.
If any of this interests you may want to join the newly forming Sneinton Neighbourhood Forum or you may wish to feed you thoughts into it. Neighbourhood forums are community groups that are designated to take forward neighbourhood planning in areas without parishes. It is the role of the local planning authority to agree who should be the neighbourhood forum for the neighbourhood area.
Sneinton Alchemy have organised a walk about/place check on 18th June 13. A place check is a method of taking the first steps in deciding how to improve an area. Place checks are often able to kick-start change in a way that might not otherwise be possible. They can lead to anything from litter clear-up days to neighbourhood planning. If you would like more info on any of the issues raised, would like to join the place check walk about on 18th June or would like to be part of a local Neighbourhood Forum please contact me at steve.smith@sneinton-alchemy.com or on 07972049539.
In this week's program we give St Ann's a health check, and ask why the area is just as impoverished today as it was 44 years ago. We have film of the Robin Hood Chase 'Save our Co-op' protest; more news about the Bedroom Tax, and we take a look at the history of King Edwards Park.
Please share this video among your friends, on face book & Twitter. You are also welcome to imbed it into your own website or blog. Visit our Our TV Video channel We are also on Daily Motion
If you like this week’s program you may also like The Time the place | St Ann’s Well.
If you have any ideas for news features or community group highlights then please Email us at stannsnews@yahoo.co.uk
If you have any ideas for news features or community group highlights then please Email us at stannsnews@yahoo.co.uk Also Email your comments to us at this address.
Until next week, Have a nice holiday, Good bye for now
Richard Pearson
The Time the Place | Walter Halls Music Night by The-Time-the-Place
In this week’s program we show-case Walter Halls School Music Night. We also have news from the Defend Council Tax Benefits Group; Mapperley Councillor Emma Dewinton successfully defends one of her constituents from the threat of eviction due to the bedroom Tax, and highlights of the June Night Sky.
Please share this video among your friends, on face book & Twitter. You are also welcome to imbed it into your own website or blog. Visit our Our TV Video channel We are also on Daily Motion
If you like this week’s program you may also like The Time the place | St Ann’s Well.
If you have any ideas for news features or community group highlights then please Email us at stannsnews@yahoo.co.uk
If you like this week’s program you may also like The Time the place | St Ann’s Well. And The Time the Place | 20th may
If you have any ideas for news features or community group highlights then please Email us at stannsnews@yahoo.co.uk Also Email your comments to us at this address.
Until next week, Have a nice holiday, Good bye for now
Richard Pearson
In today's program. Plans for the new ASDA store in Carlton Road are under revision again. A full news bulletin, plus video of St Georges' Day parade in Nottingham; Moffatt Close Community Garden; and St Ann's residents pay tribute to The Dambusters 70 years on. This was the last social gathering at the now closed Westminster pub.
Please share this video among your friends, on face book & Twitter. You are also welcome to imbed it into your own website or blog. Visit our Our TV Video channel We are also on Daily Motion
If you like this week’s program you may also like The Time the place | St Ann’s Well.
If you have any ideas for news features or community group highlights then please Email us at stannsnews@yahoo.co.uk
Comment I live opposite where this store would be and wholeheartedly support ASDA building a larger store with Petrol Station. Local businesses survived with the co op and therefore, should survive now ... Unless they are the ones selling beers and spirits to the homeless people in the area. The local council should ask the local people who have got homes in the area what they want, and not make decisions based only on their opinion, especially as I bet they do not live in this area. Come on ASDA stand up to them and give us the large store our area is desperate for. Anonymous
Until next Monday, have a nice week, Good bye for now
Richard Pearson
