Gedling Borough Council has agreed to increase council tax for the next financial year, citing Government underfunding as a major problem.
Labour-run Gedling Borough Council set its budget for the next 12 months at a meeting on March 6.
Gedling will put its council tax up by 2.98 per cent which marks a yearly £5.48 increase for a Band D property.
Nottinghamshire County Council is also raising its portion of council tax, as well as Nottinghamshire Fire Authority and the Police and Crime Commissioner.
In January the Government announced a £600 million support package for councils across England but the money will primarily help councils with social care budgets.
Gedling Borough Council’s leader Cllr John Clarke (Lab) told councillors at the meeting the budget was set against “a backdrop of historic cuts to central government grant funding”.
Deputy leader Cllr Michael Payne (Lab) said: “This council has been held back for too long by people playing ideological dogmatic games in Westminster.
“This is a balanced budget, it protects every leisure centre and park in Gedling, it will see the expansion of children’s play parks, and it will protect 5,000 working-age families from paying any increase in council tax.
“This is a budget that has withstood the most horrific, egregious, despicable attacks on public services by this Conservative government over the last 14 years.”
Cllr Mike Adams, Leader of the Conservative Group, said his party’s amendment proposed reducing the number of cabinet members by two and buying two new street sweepers.
It also proposed to increase council tax by 1.98 per cent as opposed to 2.98 per cent.
The Liberal Democrats and Independents also proposed amendments which were rejected.
Responding to concerns, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said: “This additional £600 million support package illustrates our commitment to local government.
“We are in their corner, and we support the incredible and often unsung work they do day-to-day to support people across the country.”
After a cloudy start to the day, brighter spells develop across the region in the afternoon. Remaining largely dry. Breezy and feeling chilly in the brisk winds. Maximum temperature 10 °C.
Staying dry this evening with cloud building through the night bringing outbreaks of rain by dawn. Remaining windy with temperatures holding above freezing. Minimum temperature 3 °C.
Tomorrow you can expect a damp and cloudy start with outbreaks of rain. Some brighter spells developing later in the east although further rain arriving later. Staying breezy and rather mild. Maximum temperature 12 °C.
Three men from Arnold are due in court after people were injured in a street fight in Nottingham City Centre.
Police were called to a disturbance in Forman Street, Nottingham city centre, at around 10.20pm on Saturday (2).
A fight involving several males had broken out, with the violence spilling into South Sherwood Street.
Following inquiries, officers arrested four men in connection with the incident.
Reid McCutcheon, aged 24, of Thornton Avenue, Redhill; Brendan O’Donnell, aged 25, of Goodwood Avenue, Arnold; and Declan Stacey, aged 24, of Ashdale Road, Arnold, have been charged with using threatening / abusive / insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of, or provoke, unlawful violence.
All three are due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on March 21 2024.
The fourth suspect was released without charge.
PC Charlotte Carter, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “As highlighted in this instance we will continue to work relentlessly, day and night, to tackle and reduce violence on our streets.
“These kinds of offences are treated extremely seriously by the force and we will always do everything we can to quickly apprehend suspects.
“I am pleased we have managed to charge three suspects in relation to these allegations who now await court.”
From charity days to community occasions, if there was an event going on, Gedling Eye was there to share the moment. Do you remember these, or recognise someone in these photos from our archive?
1. New appointment
2015: Wayne Scott is welcomed to his new role as Carlton Town manager by club secretary Paul Shelton, left, and committee man Mark Steggles
2. Book reading
2016: Author Nicola Frost reads her new book Rod the Frog to Olivia Fenyn, 4, and Ollie Pantling, aged 5, from Netherfield Primary School.
3. Ladies Night
2017: A Ladies Night was held at the Elwes Arms in Carlton to help bring in money which can be used to buy new furniture and improve facilities for visitors at the Frazer Ward in Nottingham City Hospital.
2017: A selection of Netherfield’s most colourful characters appeared in a Nottingham art exhibition after being captured on canvas by local artist Dominick Cuming who spent the past two years painting the portraits of people living in Lily Avenue.
Meet 23-year-old Lucy Prescott, a gravedigger at Carlton Cemetery, defying stereotypes and forging her path in a traditionally male-dominated field.
Lucy is one of only a very small number of female gravediggers in the country, a tough job for anybody, working in difficult weather conditions, the health and safety risks and you also need to have plenty of empathy when dealing with families before and after a funeral.
Lucy is one of the remarkable women who shape our community and are being celebrated by Gedling Borough Council in the run up to International Women’s Day.
The gravedigger’s journey began when she rejected the confines of a typical office job. Instead, she sought adventure outdoors, drawn to the earth and the physical demands that come with this kind of role.
Her previous experience as a bricklayer provided a solid foundation, but an apprenticeship opportunity at the cemetery was a challenge that she knew she wanted to take and a chance to break down barriers.
For a year now, Lucy has been an integral part of the cemetery team, taking the physically demanding work in her stride and gaining respect and admiration from her colleagues.
She understands the delicate balance between strength and compassion as she tends to the final resting places of loved ones.
The 23-year-old says she is proud of her work ethic and achievements.
“No matter what the job is, don’t feel you’ll be pushed out because you’re a girl,” she said.
“If you want the job, go for it. Just because you’re female it doesn’t mean you can’t do a job that is normally done by men. You can do it”.
Councillor Kathryn Fox, portfolio holder for life chances and vulnerability described Lucy as an ‘impressive young woman’
She said: “Lucy is achieving her goals in a traditionally male driven environment. I feel very proud that Gedling Borough Council is a place where so many strong women are making such a positive impact on the lives of our residents
“For Lucy and all the brilliant women in Gedling, we celebrate progress, resilience, and the power of determination.Lucy’s story reminds us that no job is off limits, regardless of tradition or expectation.”
International Women’s Day takes place on Friday, March 8 and Gedling Borough Council will be celebrating the great women who live and work in the borough, throughout the day with a number of events and social media posts, which you can find out about at www.gedling.gov.uk/events
A Gedling borough town is set to benefit from a pot of £400m for investment in regeneration and community projects.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced that Carlton is to be included in its Long Term Plan for Towns scheme in his Spring Budget through which the town could benefit from up to £20m in funding.
The town will receive a 10-year ‘endowment-style’ fund to support long-term delivery of projects over multiple years.
The £20 million fund will be spent on Carlton’s priorities, including regenerating the town, keeping the community safe, improving transport links and growing the local economy.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt with Gedling MP Tom Randall following the announcement of £20m for Carlton as part of the government’s Long Term Plan for Towns projectSome of the money will spent on modernising Carlton’s high streets
Gedling MP Tom Randall believes the “transformational” funding will help bring much needed support to the borough town.
Mr Randall said: “Our towns across Gedling matter. They are engines of our economy, offering local jobs and exporting goods to all corners of the world. And our town halls and neighbourhoods are the fundamental heart of our communities. But for far too long our towns have been neglected and this has resulted in diminished high streets, run-down town centres, anti-social behaviour, and a lack of good local jobs.
“This £20 million for Carlton will fund and support regeneration projects over the next ten years to enable Carlton to achieve its full potential. A Long-Term Plan to invest in and regenerate Carlton, based on the priorities of local people, will now be developed and put to local people for consultation.
“The £20 million of investment will then be spent on issues that matter to local people, including regenerating high streets and tackling anti-social behaviour.”
A brave woman from Carlton who had a golf ball-sized brain tumour removed from the centre of her brain and had to learn to talk again has thanked the therapy teams at Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust who helped her.
30-year-old Nora Flynn had been experiencing extreme fatigue and dizzy spells for a year but it had been chalked up to stress as blood tests continued to come back clear.
But on June 10, 2023, Nora collapsed as she got off a bus and was taken by ambulance to Queen’s Medical Centre where CT and MRI scans revealed that she had a large but benign brain tumour.
Four days later Nora underwent brain surgery to remove the mass, but due to its location it had damaged the area of her brain which control her motor functions so she had a long road of rehabilitation ahead of her.
Nora, originally from Bulgaria, said: “My last memories before waking up on the D10 ward were from May, so I’ve lost a couple of weeks before I collapsed.
“The consultant explained that given the rate of how slowly these tumours grow, it had probably been there for 25 years, if not all my life.
“To begin with, I could open my eyes but couldn’t move my face or make any expressions, and I could only just move my arms and legs.
“Then I could only give a thumbs up or down, and eventually I progressed to be able to write on a whiteboard, but I still couldn’t talk as I could only just open my mouth.
“A friend of mine joked that every time he visited, I had a different method of communicating.
“It was very frustrating and I was jealous of people who could talk. All my thoughts were coherent but I couldn’t express them.”
Nora was transferred to the Linden Lodge rehabilitation unit at City Hospital where she worked with a whole team of therapists to regain her speech, her mobility and her independence.
The Speech and Language Therapists worked closely with Nora to help her to start using her vocal chords again and making noises – although of course it was all in her second language, English.
Nora was taken by ambulance to Queen’s Medical Centre where CT and MRI scans revealed that she had a large but benign brain tumour.Emma Dent is the Speech and Language Therapist who specialises in neuro rehab and supported Nora whilst she was at Linden LodgeOccupational Therapists worked closely with Nora to enable her to carry out actions independently. This included going to the shops to buy items, using planning and budgeting skills, and then cooking a simple pasta meal.
Nora said: “We started with the basic vowel sounds, and general noises. Then we were playing a game where the therapist was counting and I had to try to say the next number.
“She counted one, but I couldn’t do two or three. And then she counted three and I managed to say ‘four’. So that was my first word.
“My voice was very stilted and robotic with no inflections to begin with, because I hadn’t used it in a month.”
Emma Dent, a Speech and Language Therapist who specialises in neuro rehab, supported Nora whilst she was at Linden Lodge and was pleased to see her make such rapid progress.
She said: “It’s rare for us to see patients who aren’t able to speak at all recover so quickly, so I was particularly surprised when Nora said her first words and was able to speak normally quite soon after that, the therapy we were doing with her seemed to unlock something in her brain.
“It’s a great feeling when you are helping to give someone back their ability to communicate, which is so important to each of us because it’s what allows us to have relationships with other people.
“First we looked at her oro-motor movements – so the movement of her lips and tongue – to determine whether she had any problems with the nerves there, and then I got her to copy sounds which she could do.
“After that, we focussed on automatic speech tasks, things that are coded in the brain and are more spontaneous such as counting or singing ‘Happy Birthday’, before then working on picture naming.”
Emma explained that there are a variety of different patients who she sees when they come to Linden Lodge, including people with traumatic, acquired or hypoxic brain injuries, or tumours.
Speech and Language Therapists also support patients with swallowing and eating, functions which are often affected by the illnesses or injuries they have experienced.
This can include assessing patients at their bedside or observing their eating and drinking while having an x-ray, and then recommending changes to their food or drink and helping them with swallowing exercises.
Emma said: “Eating and drinking are important as it’s not just eating, it’s all the social aspects that go with it, like having dinner with your family, or being able to go to the pub with friends for a drink.”
Regaining her speech was just one of the challenges Nora had to overcome in her recovery. Physiotherapists worked with Nora to enable her to use a wheelchair before progressing to standing, and then taking small steps, and soon Nora was walking backwards and sideways to test her abilities.
She said: “The whole team were really sweet and supportive. They had to keep coming up with different exercises and tests for me as I kept acing them.
“Then being able to walk to the bathroom and take showers by myself was amazing.”
Psychologists were part of Nora’s therapy team, who carried out cognitive assessments to understand the impact the tumour and subsequent surgery had had, and as she moved towards being able to go home.
The Occupational Therapists worked closely with Nora to enable her to carry out actions independently. This included going to the shops to buy items, using planning and budgeting skills, and then cooking a simple pasta meal.
As a result, and as her mum had travelled from Bulgaria to support her, Nora was able to return home to her flat in Carlton at the end of July.
She said: “Rehabilitation provides a very important bridge from when you are ready to be discharged from the QMC, but not able yet to return to normality and independence.
“I am very lucky to have recovered so quickly, partly because I’m so young and determined, but also because of the staff on D10 and Linden Lodge, including the custodial staff.
“They were all absolutely amazing, and I didn’t have a single negative experience.”
Nora added that she looks forward to seeing the opening of the National Rehabilitation Centre near Loughborough as hopefully it will enable patients even more progress and independence throughout their recovery.
Nora is now able to live fully independently again, recently celebrated her 30th birthday, and this week returned to her career in IT.
Additional information on Speech and Language Therapy at Linden Lodge
Our speech and language therapists provide support to patients with speech, language, communication and swallowing difficulties.
This includes difficulties such as aphasia, dysarthria, cognitive communication difficulties and apraxia.
Aphasia is where the patient struggles to understand speech and/ or express themselves. Our therapists may help with communication aids such as apps on an iPad or communications books where the patient can point to a picture of what they are trying to say. They may also work with the individual patient to improve their expression and comprehension. Working closely with the patient’s family is important to help them communicate together.
Patients with dysarthria experience slurred speech due to muscle weakness. Therapists can help to develop clearer speech by promoting strategies such as slowing down and over-articulating their words.
Patients with cognitive communication difficulties may have changes to their social understanding, attention and memory which impacts their ability to communicate day to day. Patients with apraxia –can’t coordinate the muscles that form speech and therapists use a variety of different techniques depending on their specific needs.
Last month Nottingham Triathlon Club members, Jack Westley from Nottingham Rugby, Outlaw Triathlon, Paul Robinson, arch2arc London to Paris Triathlon 300 miles, and Richard Walker, a GB Age Grouper met to do a social run of the route for the upcoming Nottingham 10k route that takes on March 10, 2024.
Bringing Nottingham Clubs and artists together was all thanks to Chris Thorne from Nottingham Triathlon Club and welcoming the athletes back to the city’s historic Nottingham Castle were Sarah Williams from British Triathlon, Mike McCabe and Katie Logan from Nottingham Triathlon Club and Benji Howard aka the Kingdom Rapper.
The club with a number of Gedling borough members that held its first sessions online during the Covid pandemic recently scooped three awards, including East Midlands Club of the Year, in the Triathlon England Awards.
The Nottingham 10K that returns to the city centre this weekend (10) starts in Old Market Square and finishes inside the grounds of Nottingham Castle.
PICTURED: The 10k route (Courtesy of Jane Tomlinson’s Run for All)
Partner charities for the 10k event include the Jane Tomlinson Appeal, Maggies, Mind, Notts County Foundation and Trent Bridge Community Trust.
The event welcomes participants of all abilities and ages, whether that be as part of fundraising efforts or for their own goal or reason.
Nottingham Triathlon Club is a British Triathlon affiliated club catering for all ages and abilities. Awarded the British Triathlon Bronze TriMark award in 2019 and East Midlands Triathlon Club of the Year in 2022 and 2024.
The club offers over 118 training places in the swim, static bike and run at 4 venues across Nottingham.
Further information including contact details can be found on the club website www.nottinghamtri.com/ , on the club’s social media HERE or by email to hello@nottinghamtri.com.
EVENT CINEMA: Titanic the Musical – Bonington Cinema, Arnold
Fri 8 – Wed 13 Mar, Various Times £12.50pp
Winner of 5 Tony Awards (including Best Musical), Titanic – The Musical is a stunning and stirring production focusing on the hopes, dreams and aspirations of her passengers who each boarded with stories and personal ambitions of their own. All innocently unaware of the fate awaiting them, the Third Class immigrants dream of a better life in America, the Second Class imagine they too can join the lifestyles of the rich and famous, whilst the millionaire Barons of the First Class anticipate legacies lasting forever.
Peppa’s Cinema Party (U) – Extra Screenings Added – Bonington Cinema, Arnold
Fri 8 – Thu 14 Mar, 10:30am
Come on everybody it’s time for Peppa’s Cinema Party! This year Peppa Pig celebrates her 20th anniversary and to mark such a HUGE occasion she is throwing the MOST EPIC PARTY EVER – and all of her friends are INVITED! (That’s YOU!) Featuring the voices of Katy Perry as Ms. Leopard and Orlando Bloom as Mr. Raccoon in an episode of the 3-part Wedding Party story, the whole family can enjoy 10 never-before-seen Peppa Pig episodes!
And with 5 brand new songs, as well as 11 interactive entertainment shorts with Peppa and her friends playing, dancing and singing in the real world, you and your little ones will be moving and grooving with Peppa in a whole new way! So grab your coat and jump into your boots, let’s be on our way to the Peppa Cinema Party!
Bob Marley: One Love (12A)- Extra Screening added – Bonington Cinema, Arnold
Fri 8 – Thu 14 Mar, Various Times £6.80pp £5.00pp on Tuesdays
Bob Marley: One Love celebrates the life and music of an icon who inspired generations through his message of love and unity. On the big screen for the first time, discover Bob’s powerful story of overcoming adversity and the journey behind his revolutionary music. Produced in partnership with the Marley family and starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the legendary musician and Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita.
“Kingsley Ben-Adir is a beautifully faultless Bob Marley in One Love biopic” Metro ★★★
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green With Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch 1hr 44 mins // US 2023
Bonington Film Programming Q&A –Bonington Bar, Arnold
Mon 11 Mar, 6:15pm £2.00pp
Ever wondered how we decide what to screen? Why not come down and speak to our Film Programmer Jeremy, who will be taking questions on how the film programme is shaped and what factors we take into account when booking the films! It’s also a great chance to let us know what you’d like to see!
The Q&A will take place in the bar, and will last approximately 1 hour.
Gedling borough residents can expect a dull start today with low cloud, mist and fog only slowly lifting and clearing through the morning. Skies brightening by midday as winds strengthen. Chance of isolated afternoon showers. Maximum temperature 9 °C.
Tonight will see showers clearing to the north through the evening, becoming dry overnight. Cloud breaking to give clearer skies, allowing temperatures to drop away with a risk of rural frost patches forming. Minimum temperature 4 °C.
Tomorrow will be bright and breezy with lengthy sunny spells. Slight chance of an isolated afternoon shower, otherwise remaining dry. Feeling rather cool towards coasts given strengthening onshore winds. Maximum temperature 8 °C.
