A charity in Arnold has reached out on social media to appeal for quick meal ideas to help those struggling with rising energy bills.
Arnold Foodbank, which is based on Mansfield Road, in Daybrook, said it had seen an increase in users who fear they can’t afford to cook after a huge spike in electricity and gas prices, with some bills more than doubling.
The charity said users are now asking for help to find meals that can be cooked quickly to help keep bills down.
A spokesman said: “Within the last week, we’ve had two families express how stressed they are about the increase in living costs.
“Whereas a few weeks ago they were putting £30 a week into their pre-pay meters, they’re now putting around £80. They’re worried they can’t afford the electricity to cook.”
Many are struggling with rising energy prices
The rise in requests prompted an appeal on social media and account followers were quick to respond
James Brookshaw posted: “We’ve been eating a lot of noodles. Buy them in bulk and you can do quite a bit with them!”
Naomi Prior advised: “Cook jacket potatoes in the microwave then just finish them off for 10 mins in the oven to crips up. Have with beans, cheese and salad for a cheap and balanced meal.”
Sarah Telling posted: Cous cous is a good one and only needs hot water and put with tuna is a nice tasty meal – especially as you can get many flavours of cous cous.”
Beth Buckley wrote: Slow cookers use a lot less energy than an oven and hob so if anyone has one of those they are definitely worth using. It’s so sad that this is the situation for people now.”
Police have launched an appeal after reports of a stabbing in Netherfield
Officers were called to Victoria Road after it was reported a man had been stabbed in the stomach.
He was taken to hospital for treatment, however his injuries are not currently believed to be life-threatening or life-altering.
Police said that multiple lines of enquiry, including a CCTV trawl, are ongoing to find the male suspect responsible for the attack which happened at 10.25pm yesterday (11).
Detective Inspector Richard Guy, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Officers were quickly at the scene following the call and enquiries are progressing as we hunt the suspect.
“We believe this to be an isolated incident and we have increased patrols in the area to provide reassurance to local residents as we continue with our investigation.
“I’d like to reassure people that we treat all reports involving weapon-enabled violence with the utmost seriousness and will always do everything we can to keep people safe.
“If anyone has information that can help us find those responsible more quickly I would urge them call 101 now. Their information could be vital to help us with our investigation.
“If you saw anything, have CCTV, mobile phone or dash-cam footage relating to the incident, or if you have seen someone you know acting suspicious, or unusually agitated, we want to hear from you.”
Anyone with information is urged to call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 816 of 11 April 2022, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Gedling borough residents could see their tax bills increased through the creation of a new super authority across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
The four authorities are seeking to create a new combined organisation.
This authority, if approved, would be the third largest in England, overseeing 2.2 million people.
A copy of a confidential and restricted bid to central government has been seen by the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service.
This bid does not propose a full “scrap and merge” of the two city and two county authorities and deletion of the district and borough councils,- but opposition to the plans suspect this could be part of plans in the future.
The bid calls for a large number of extra powers to be given to the East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority (the East Midlands MCA) from central Government.
It calls for the combined authority to have a directly elected mayor to oversee the Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area.
The bid calls for this mayor to have the power to introduce an extra precept – an additional section on your council tax bill – which could see residents across the two counties and two cities paying more every year.
Alongside this would be the power to use business rates gathered from across the two cities and two counties to fund services.
It also calls for the new mayor to take on some of the powers of the police and crime commissioners for both counties and cities.
These duties are currently split between two directly elected PCCs, Angelique Foster in Derbyshire and Caroline Henry in Nottinghamshire.
It appears as if the PCCs would retain their jobs through the plans but may cede some of their duties, in a bid to make it easier to tackle crime and justice across a wider area, and where issues cross boundary lines regularly.
In line with this, it has asked for a devolved fund to support community safety and to reduce domestic violence.
The bid calls for funding for some services to be pooled into one pot from across the four authorities, with examples including transport, infrastructure, business growth, inward investment and strategic regeneration.
It calls for the ability to introduce bus franchising across the two counties and two cities, as is being rolled out across Greater Manchester, in which the authority takes control of the bus network in a bid to improve services and reduce fares.
This would be a significant step up from the recent enhanced partnership plans that councils have formed with private companies, with franchising previously off the table due to the sheer monumental cost and potential legal battles.
The four authorities would like priority for a new rail partnership with Great British Railways, saying Derby is a “prominent” contender for the new headquarters and the East Midlands being the “rail capital of the UK”.
They have asked for the devolution of adult education powers and the core adult education budgets in a bid to push improvements over a wider area and take some of the burden from Government and relevant authorities.
The councils have called for the super authority to have the power to form mayoral development corporations – such as a joint company that would seek to develop difficult disused sites in the region.
Linking with these development aims, the super authority would like to have brownfield site funding devolved to it from central government.
This would enable the super authority to pool funding for the two cities and two counties and use it on key sites, instead of having the money ring-fenced to each area respectively.
The councils say: “The East Midlands area has a variety of brownfield remediation challenges – from post-industrial/former urban retail sites in our city centres, to former coal-fired power stations in our rural areas. We will therefore enter into discussions with government with the objective of securing a land remediation fund.”
In their bid, the councils say they would like the East Midlands MCA to have a strategic partnership with Homes England to collect affordable housing monies in a bid to accelerate the building of more, cheaper homes.
The councils have bid for powers to oversee some public health issues, due to the success of work between the authorities during the pandemic.
Their bid says: “We will consider optimal ways in which the East Midlands MCA could effectively participate alongside local authorities in initiatives that improve health.
“At a minimum, we will proactively consider health as part of key strategies and investment decisions.”
The bid includes the powers to create East Midlands Enterprise Zones; the allocation of extra money to combat homelessness and rough sleeping; a devolved “life chances” fund to support social mobility; a devolved fund to improve cultural projects; and funding to cover the cost of mayoral elections.
It claims that the East Midlands has suffered through persistent under-investment.
The bid says: “If Government wants to drive change, and to level up the United Kingdom, then as a starting point it need look no further than our region that has historically received the least, and where residents historically have had the least opportunity to have a fair chance in life.
“We have the opportunity to grow and expand on areas where we are strong, like manufacturing, or where we have already started ambitious local programmes such as in developing skills, to further contribute to UK PLC.
“We also have the chance to intervene where we have historically struggled, to boost education, transform public services and improve life chances.
“This is Government’s levelling up mission, and it is also ours.
“We recognise the vital role that local government and local areas must play in delivering these outcomes, and we ask Government to equip us with the powers and tools to make it happen.”
The bid continues: “Persistent structural inequalities have had a direct economic and social impact on local people and communities, and the productivity of businesses across the East Midlands MCA area.
“Government’s own data demonstrates a long-term pattern of under-investment relative to the rest of the country – compounding and sustaining these problems.”
It details that “among the nations and regions of the UK, public spending per person is lowest in the East Midlands at £12,113 – 10 per cent below the UK average”.
The bid says a 17 per cent increase in funding would be required to close the gaps shown in high levels of poverty, poor social mobility and lagging productivity.
An injection of funds, through the new super council and extra powers, would mean the region could contribute an extra £9 billion a year to the UK economy, the bid says.
The bid talks about the existing business expertise of Rolls-Royce, Alstom, Toyota and Boots and of the major tourism honeypots of the Peak District, Sherwood Forest and National Forest.
It talks of ongoing projects such as the cultural heart of Derby and Broadmarsh in Nottingham, along with three “world-class” universities based in the joint area.
The bid talks of the plans for an East Midlands Freeport – aimed at creating thousands of jobs, the HS2 hub at Toton and plans to develop zero-carbon technology at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.
Ultimately, it says the cities and counties “lead the charge” in numerous sectors but require funding and powers, through the new super council and its overarching mayor, to achieve more and to improve on years of underinvestment which have left troubling issues behind.
Gedling’s world champion boxer Leigh Wood was invited to reopen the revamped Four Bells pub in Woodborough over the weekend.
The boxer, who recently beat Michael Conlan to retain his WBA featherweight title, was invited to cut the ribbon.
The pub, which had been closed for some time, reopened its doors on Friday night after being taken over by new landlady Beccy Webster.
Beccy has successfully run a number of pubs in the area and is currently in charge of the Gedling Inn, in Gedling village. She will continue running both venues.
PICTURED: Locals packed into the reopened pub on Friday (PHOTO: Facebook/FourBells)
Major work has been taking place over the past few months to revamp the village boozer, with roof repairs, car park resurfacing and a new-look cellar being put into place.
Locals packed the place on reopening night and were delighted to get their village pub back after it closed during lockdown.
Food is now being served at the venue and a new menu was launched today (11) . A new Sunday lunch menu will also be available from this weekend.
When asked about the reasons for taking on the pub Ms Webster said: “I love this village and I can see great potential in the pub despite it having being closed for a long time.”
Travel for public transport users in Gedling borough just became even easier – with the rollout of the first Oyster-style contactless ticketing system in the country outside of London
The ‘Tap and Go’ ticketing options have been rolled out by Nottingham City Transport (NCT), Nottingham Express Trams (NET) and on the Linkbus network operated by CT4N – three of the city’s major public transport operators – giving passengers the benefit of the same speedy, flexible ticketing options that are available in most prominent cities across the world.
The latest development is the final stage of the Nottingham Contactless scheme which was conceived in partnership with Nottingham City Council and the three transport operators utilising funding from DfT.
The phased introduction of INIT’s contactless technology across the city’s fleet of buses and trams started with INIT’s introduction of contactless payments on NCT buses at the start of the pandemic in 2020.
The ticket equipment was then installed on CT4N’s Link buses and on NET tram platforms, but this final stage of the rollout sees just one daily capped charge introduced across the three operators on both modes of transport.
To take advantage, passengers simply need to tap their contactless payment card, smart phone or smart watch on the bus or tram validator before every journey and still only pay one, capped daily fare for the day’s journeys.
INIT’s intelligent fare management system then aggregates their journeys throughout the day and charges a multi-operator day ticket, guaranteeing they pay the best price for their travel.
Jens Mullak, managing director of INIT, said: “We are thrilled to deliver this exciting ticketing solution, which makes public transport more attractive – particularly important as our sector tries to attract people back to our trams and buses. From our dedicated Nottingham office in the Lace Market, INIT continues to deliver modern, simple fare solutions that Nottingham’s passengers expect and deserve, and which has been propelled, in part, by their wish to pay using contactless during the pandemic.”
INIT continues to explore other ways to further improve the journey experience for Nottingham’s public transport passengers with their innovative ticketing technology.
Anthony Carver-Smith, head of marketing at NCT, said: “With over 2.5 million contactless transactions on NCT buses to date, contactless is proving a popular and convenient way to pay for bus travel in Nottingham. The extension of adult contactless capping across NCT, NET trams and Link buses is an excellent addition to the Nottingham Contactless scheme, providing even greater convenience and flexibility for customers.”
Andrew Conroy, chief operating officer at NET, said: “Nottingham already has a fantastic public transport system and adding a ticketing solution that allows customers to move from one form of transport to another without any penalty is a great addition.”
The Covid pandemic saw instances of fly-tipping soar and under new proposals councils could scrap charges for getting rid of some waste
Under the plans put out for consultation today, there would be no charge for waste including plasterboards, bricks and bath units.
Local authorities dealt with 1.13 million fly-tipping incidents in 2020/21, up by 16% from 2019/20. A call for evidence on the use of booking systems at recycling centres is also being launched today amid concerns it increased fly-tipping.
The new crackdown on fly-tipping will also see councils in England awarded grants to tackle fly-tipping through trial projects, including CCTV to target hotspots.
Environment Minister Jo Churchill said: “When it comes to fly-tipping, enough is enough. These appalling incidents cost us £392 million a year and it is time to put a stop to them. I want to make sure that recycling and the correct disposal of rubbish is free, accessible and easy for householders. No one should be tempted to fly tip or turn to waste criminals and rogue operators.
“Furthermore, the funding that we have announced for Local Authorities today will help them trial innovative new projects to put a stop to fly tipping. We will learn from the successes – and replicate them.”
Executive Director of the Environmental Services Association (ESA), Jacob Hayler, said: “There is no single ‘silver bullet’ to tackle the scourge of fly-tipping so we are pleased to see the Government announcing a range of new measures today to help deter this deeply anti-social criminal behaviour.
“In addition to helping individuals recycle their household waste materials at HWRCs (household waste recycling centres), of particular importance is stopping this material from falling into the hands of organised waste criminals leading to larger scale fly-tipping, which is why the ESA also strongly supports digital waste tracking and reform of the licensing regime for carriers, brokers and dealers of waste material. This protects both the environment and legitimate recycling and waste operators.”
Gedling MP Tom Randall has been working with former world champion boxer Amir Khan to create an outdoor gym for use by Ukrainian orphans at a centre in Poland.
Mr Randall is in the country learning more about the Ukrainian refugee situation and visiting centres taking in those displaced since Russia invaded.
Boxer Khan has set up the Amir Khan Foundation with Instagram beauty queen Faryal Makhdoom to help Ukrainian refugees and has chosen the month of Ramadan, where Muslims are urged to carry out charity work, to donate to the cause.
The gym was installed by the volunteers at Koscierzyna, west of Gdansk in Poland.
MP Randall said: “Being an inexperienced gardener, this was quite hard work but it was really good to be involved in something practical that will make a difference.”
During the previous day the Gedling MP had visited the Polish – Russian border where there is a small exclave of Russia, known as Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea.
Mr Randall said: “While there is historic tension between Poland and Russia, officials told me that relations on the ground are good and the border is usually busy, with lots of business and trade each way.
“On our visit, the border was eerily quiet and the border guards understandably very nervous. The economic cost to both sides is yet another consequence of Putin’s aggression.”
A burglary suspect was arrested and cannabis seized from a property in Arnold.
Officers were called to an address in High Street shortly before 5am on Monday, April 4 when a break-in was reported.
A car that was reported leaving the scene was later traced to nearby Woodfield Road in Strelley and a suspect was located nearby.
A 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary and has since been released under investigation.
Cannabis plants found at the address were later taken away and destroyed.
Inspector Chris Jury, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Officers were very quickly on the scene of this break-in after receiving a report of a break-in.
“Armed with that report we were able to bring a suspect into custody very quickly and also take illegal drugs out of circulation.
“Our investigation is continuing and anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting incident 58 of 4 April.”
A list revealing the salaries of Nottinghamshire‘s council chief executives has been published.
The figures were published by pressure group The TaxPayers’ Alliance, which releases a ‘Town Hall Rich List’, showing the number of council officer posts across the country which earn more than £100,000 a year.
Newark and Sherwood District Council has been revealed as having the highest-paid chief executive of all district councils Nottinghamshire.
The council also employs a deputy chief executive, meaning the authority spends a combined total of £233,723 a year on the two posts.
None of the Nottinghamshire councils made the top ten on the list of highest-paid posts, but the figures show Newark and Sherwood District Council spend more on its chief executive, John Robinson, than any other borough or district council.
Mr Robinson’s salary at Newark is £128,281, which is higher than all the other six district council chief executives, and also higher than the Nottingham City Council chief executive, Mel Barrett.
All of the Nottinghamshire council chief exectuive roles command salaries above £100,000 a year, and some officer positions which are unique to their respective authorities are paid higher than the chief executive.
The chief executive for Gedling gets paid £115,753, in Broxtowe £115,328, in Bassetlaw £121,404, in Rushcliffe £113,316, in Mansfield £116,000 and in Ashfield £114,761.
Newark also has a deputy chief executive as well, who is paid £105,442 a year. The only other local authority to have a deputy is Broxtowe Borough Council, which pays £97,027 a year for the role.
Nottinghamshire County Council spends more than any of the other local authorities in the county, with its chief executive Anthony May paid £185,386 a year.
A spokesman for Newark and Sherwood District Council defended the wages it pays its chief executive and deputy chief executive.
In a statement, the Conservative-run authority said: “Newark and Sherwood is geographically the largest district council out of seven in Nottinghamshire and covers approximately a third of the county with 65,134 hectares of land including 84 civil parishes and 21 wards.
“As a district council we deliver essential services to around 121,000 residents across 56,780 households in the district. We employ 634 people and for the current financial year 2022/23, our annual gross budget for non-housing services is just under £48million.
“We are one of the few Nottinghamshire authorities who have our own social housing stock of more than 5,541 homes with an associated annual budget of £26.5m.
“In addition, the council has capital schemes to deliver over the next four years to a value of £130m. The council’s senior management worked to secure £25m for Newark’s Towns Fund Deal, which will leverage other third party funding in order to provide new educational, training and employment opportunities.
“More recently, £20m of Levelling Up funding has been secured to unlock the completion of the A1 to A46 link road that will enable completion of the development of around 3,000 new homes to the south of the district.
“Newark and Sherwood District Council, nor any local authority in Nottinghamshire, is included in the Town Hall Rich List Report, which determines the top ten or twenty individual salaries, bonuses and expenses. We do not offer bonuses for our employees.
“The data from the TaxPayers’ Alliance shows that the salary for our chief executive is ranked 188 out of 317 local authorities and 6 out of 24 for the East Midlands and is proportionate to the high level of responsibility of the role.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked each local authority to provide reasons for the £100,000-plus salaries. Some responded, others did not.
Nottingham City Council:
Corporate director – development and growth – £130,859
Corporate director – covid response and recovery – £123,042
Corporate director – people – £143, 850
Corporate director – commercial and operations £38,679 + 88,170
Chief executive – Mel Barratt – £104,891
Director of Public Health – £107,362
Director for legal governance and monitoring – £103,445
A Nottingham City Council spokesman said: “Large unitary authorities have annual budgets in the hundreds of millions of pounds and need high-calibre managers to steer a wide range of complex services – from care of the elderly through to housing, public transport and many more.
“Nottingham City Council serves one of the biggest and fastest-growing cities in the country, delivering public services to almost 350,000 people.
“It’s important to remember that more than 99.9 per cent of our staff are not in this pay category and are dedicated to delivering the vital local services that people have particularly relied on over the past two years of the pandemic.
“Senior manager and director-level pay in the private sector in similar-sized organisations is generally much higher than it is in councils.”
Nottinghamshire County Council
Chief executive – Anthony May – £185,386
Corporate director – £147,118
Corporarte director – £137,494
Corporate director – £132,356
Service director – £102,974
Service director – £102,974
Director of Public Health – £98,869
Two undisclosed posts, both at £102,500
Anthony May, chief executive of Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “Nottinghamshire County Council is the 10th largest local authority in England and directly employs 7,500 council employees, 14,000 including our maintained schools, with a further 1,471 people employed in the council’s arms-length companies.
“The county council has a gross budget of £1bn and provides more than 400 services to a population of over 810,000 people, including some of the county’s most vulnerable people.
“The council is committed to openness and transparency in its approach to setting the pay of our most senior officers whose salaries are independently evaluated external to the council .
“The number of employees receiving over £100,000 total remuneration is eight, which is in line with the average across all local authorities in the UK.
“The county council has been at the forefront of Nottinghamshire’s response to the pandemic and will play a key role in the county’s recovery. It is important that the council continues to attract the best quality leaders.”
Rushcliffe Borough Council
Chief executive – Kath Marriott – £113,316
Executive director £90,705
Executive director £87,906
Executive director £87,906
Executive director £85,569
A Rushcliffe Borough Council spokesman said: “We deliver high quality services to over 115,000 people across the borough with the lowest council tax rate anywhere in Nottinghamshire and within the lowest 25 per cent in the country.
“Our dedicated teams across the organisation balance the council’s priorities on the environment, quality of life, efficient services and sustainable growth bucking the trend to similar-sized councils and operating services with no debt.
“With other Local Resilience Forum partners, the council has been among those fronting the response to Covid-19, playing a vital role in distributing over £36m of grants and £19.2m of reduction in business rate bills and assisting communities’ transition to the central government living with Covid plan.”
Chief executive – £121,404. David Armiger is currently the interim chief executive so it is not certain if he is paid this wage.
Mansfield District Council
Chief executive – £116,000
Strategic manager – £84,000
Strategic manager – £82,000
Mike Robinson, co-chief executive officer (Interim) at Mansfield District Council, said: “All the senior officer salaries at Mansfield District Council are subject to approval by the council’s Personnel Committee after benchmarking salaries across the East Midlands for local authorities.
“Pay awards are made in line with the Joint National Committee for Chief Officers. The salaries are more or less in line with the average in this region for these roles.”
