A year in review: Gedling Eye looks back at 2020 – January to March

Gedling Eye looks back at the highs and many lows of 2020 across the borough, starting with January to March…

January

It was announced that a heroic D-Day veteran honoured for helping to liberate French families in the Second World War had died. Ray Mellors, who was a patient at Nottinghamshire Hospice in Mapperley, passed away at the age of 94. Mr Mellors had been awarded the Legion d’Honneur – France’s highest honour – for the role he played in liberating the country during the Second World War.

A popular bar in Arnold closed down suddenly just a year after reopening. The Townhouse Bar and Kitchen had a ‘Forfeiture’ sign on the door and was shut to the public. Property owner Nick Howdle posted on social media to confirm that his company had ordered bailiffs to repossess the property but hoped it would reopened in a few months.

Construction on the new Gedling Access Road began on January 6. Main construction work should now be completed in the Autumn of 2021. The road, which will be almost 4km long, will run between the existing A612 Trent Valley Road/Nottingham Road and the B684 Mapperley Plains Road.

Gedling Eye took Netherfield resident Neil Slack, a committed vegan, across to nearby Victoria Retail Park to sample the new meat-free treats on the menus at KFC, Subway, Costa and Greggs. The winner of the meatless taste test was the Vegan Steak Bake at Greggs, which Neil called “Superb’. He said: ‘You wouldn’t know that it didn’t contain meat; it tastes the same. It’s spot on.”

The worst pothole in Gedling borough was named on National Pothole Day. Readers drew attention to the junction of Mays Avenue with Mays Close in Carlton. Paul Farrell was one of the readers to nominate the holes for the accolade. “My pictures don’t do it justice,” he said.

The leader of Nottingham City Council turned down a request from Gedling councillor Sam Smith for the Nottingham Council House bell to ring and mark the moment the UK leaves the EU on January 31. A letter was sent to David Mellen, who leads Nottingham City Council, calling for Little John to ring at 11pm as the UK left the EU to mark the beginning of Brexit. But the council leader said the chimes would stop at 10.30pm as usual. He said: “The bell chimes up until 10.30pm every day to protect nearby residents from disturbance through the night. Brexit has the ability to divide our community and for the many people who would support this, there are many who would not.

The Environment Agency said it had no plans to give the public access to a bridge across the River Trent at Colwick sluice flood gates as it would pose a ‘significant health and safety risk’. The Agency was responding to recent calls from the public to open the bridge, which is used by EA teams, to all so it could be accessed by people to cross the River Trent and enjoy the facilities at Holme Pierrepont Water Sports Centre. The bridge idea had gained momentum on social media and the idea was welcomed by residents in Colwick.

Gedling Conservatives accused Labour councillors of ‘ignoring democracy’ by handing the borough’s highest honour to former MP Vernon Coaker. The group posted on social media in reaction to the news that Gedling Borough Council planned to make Mr Coaker an Honorary Freeman of the Borough. In a post they said: “Gedling’s former MP spent four years ignoring the views of Gedling residents by blocking Brexit and now Gedling Labour councillors want to ignore your vote to remove Coaker at the General Election by rewarding him the highest honour. Vernon Coaker is to receive the highest honour the borough can bestow in recognition of his years of dedicated service to the area.

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Gedling borough was named in the top 50 best places to live in Britain in 2020. The Halifax Quality of Life survey ranked the borough as the 29th best place to live, factoring in the area’s employment rate, earnings, housing affordability, health and wellbeing, education, traffic and crime rates. Gedling was one of only three areas in Nottinghamshire to make the list and one of five listed in the East Midlands. Deputy leader of Gedling Borough Council, Michael Payne, took to Twitter to celebrate the result. He tweeted: “Proud to see Gedling in UK’s top 50 places with best quality of life. Gedling is 29th in the UK, 4th best place for quality of life in the East Midlands and 3rd in Nottinghamshire.”

FEBRUARY

Police officers launched a new operation to crackdown on shop thefts at a crime hotspot in Netherfield. Officers carried out regular patrols to reduce the number of shop thefts at Victoria Retail Park. Working with partners at Gedling Borough Council and retailers, Operation Quartz aimed to quickly identify offenders on the site and look to disrupt their efforts. Sgt Ebbins from Gedling South Neighbourhood Policing Team said at the time: “Shop thefts remain a policing priority for the Gedling area and we will continue to work with our partners to stop offenders operating on our patch”.

Storm Ciara lashed Gedling borough with heavy rain and winds of more than 90 miles an hour, forcing the cancellation of train services and closing major roads in the area. A number of trees were brought down during the storms which blocked major routes in and out of the borough. Traffic was brought to a standstill on Main Road in Gedling, after a tree fell, closing the road for several hours while it was removed. Traffic had to be diverted back up Arnold Lane via the roundabout and away from the village by police during the incident. Spring Lane at the junction with Mapperley Plains was also closed off to traffic after a tree fell into the road. Lowdham Lane in Woodborough and Calverton Road near Dorket Head were also closed to traffic. Trains serving Netherfield Station were cancelled during the morning and early afternoon after a tree was brought down onto the tracks. It was eventually cleared by Network Rail.

A resident in Arnold took to social media to mock a council after they carried out what he described as ‘truly awful’ repair work to a street blighted by potholes. James Street was resurfaced and repaired by Nottinghamshire County Council, but their efforts weren’t appreciated by one resident who quickly slammed their efforts on Twitter. In a tweet over the weekend @Russiankareoke wrote: “Congratulations on the truly awful job done resurfacing James Street in Arnold’ and posted a photo of the job.

One of the Silent Soldier statues, which had been placed in locations across the borough, was damaged back in February. Pictures emerged showing a silhouette located near outside Carlton Fire Station with damage to its head.

A well-known pub in Gedling looked to have closed its doors for the final time after being put up for sale. The Phoenix pub had briefly reopened at the end of 2019 after being shutdown while a new landlord was found. But it was announced the pub would close for good after the current tenants announced they would be leaving and the brewery said it was being put on the market.

While many of our pubs were closing their doors for good, one boozer in Netherfield was bucking the trend by celebrating its 21st anniversary. It’s Inn The Bank first opened up to the public on February 28, 1999 and has gone from strength to strength. The couple at the helm David and Nicola Murphy shared their favourite memories. David said he’d experienced many highs and lows whilst running the public house on Victoria Road, but was quick to point out his most memorable moment. “It was when I met my wife while working here,” he said. “She came in for a drink one night and I fell in love with her immediately. She then started working behind the bar a few months later and we eventually got together. Wife and co-owner Nicola Murphy said the pub’s continual success was down to having so many loyal customers who continually support for their endeavours. “It’s an absolute honour to serve the people who drink here in Netherfield,” she said.

MARCH

A new CCTV camera was installed to help deal with increasing reports of anti-social behaviour in and area of Arnold. Gedling Borough Council erected the CCTV camera on a pole on Rolleston Drive in a bid to help cut down on crime. The camera covers the junction of Rolleston Drive and Brookfield Road, near the Major Oak pub. The council decided to install the camera at the crime hotspot after incidents were reduced when surveillance equipment was installed at Smithy Crescent in the town.

Volunteers banded together to repair the damage done by vandals to an empty building locals were working on transforming into a community hub 12 volunteers turned up at the former Gedling Youth Club and Gedling Station building on Shearing Hill to clean up the mess created following a suspected vandal attack. Windows were smashed, tables overturned, chairs broken and a microwave was destroyed during the incident.

A Nottinghamshire County Councillor said that speculation over Gedling borough facing a shortage of secondary school places in the future was ‘complete nonsense’. Councillor Philip Owen dismissed claims from people in the local community that the borough will have a shortfall in secondary school places. He said: “I must stress once again that comments that there is a shortage of places is complete nonsense. There is no shortage and we have a clear plan in place for the future.”

Pictures from supermarkets across Gedling borough showed shelves had been emptied as the coronavirus crisis started causing many people to panic buy. Queues were reported outside Tesco in Carlton at 5.30am, with customers waiting for the 6am opening. A lot of stock was gone just minutes after opening. A store worker, who didn’t wish to be named, at one supermarket in the borough emailed to say she’d received abuse off customers when challenging the amount of food they were trying to buy. “We had a limit of what people could buy but when we stopped them taking more, we received lots of abuse.” In a bid to stop the unnecessary panic, borough stores including Tesco, Asda, Lidl and Aldi put restrictions in place, including limiting products and reducing opening hours. The main Co-op in Netherfield started putting down the shutters at 8pm, despite having original opening hours of 6am- 10pm, so they could restock,

Gedling borough’s bulky waste and glass collection services were suspended due to council staff shortages. Gedling Borough Council today said it had made the decision to stop all bulky waste and glass collections ‘to ensure its critical waste collection services can continue to be prioritised’. The council blamed reductions in staffing levels and an increase in the amount of waste being created due to people staying at home in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. Staff from other areas of the council were redeployed and trained up to assist waste collection but the pressure on COVID-19 is placing on the council’s frontline workers means there are currently insufficient crews to maintain all waste services at this time.