Tom Randall MP has welcomed the news of the success of the Kickstart scheme across Gedling borough.
The scheme has benefited 70 individuals directly in the borough.
Kickstart Scheme pays businesses to create high-quality jobs for 16-24 year olds on Universal Credit. The scheme gives young people the opportunity to find work, develop their skills, and get a crucial first step on the career ladder.
Mr Randall believes that the scheme gives young people in the borough the best possible start in the workplace.
He said: “The pandemic has been tough for young people, especially those looking for a job, and I want to ensure that no young person is left behind as Gedling continues its recovery.
“The Kickstart Scheme is helping deliver on that mission – getting 70 young people into work across Gedling – as part of the 100,000 helped nationwide.
“This will give more young people the best possible start in the workplace – helping them get a high wage, high skilled job they will need for the future.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey said: “Kickstart employers in Gedling borough and up and down the country are giving young people the chance to get on the jobs ladder.
“Having hit the 100,000 milestone, we are now on the last lap and I encourage employers and young people to take advantage of this opportunity as we head towards the finish line of the great Kickstart scheme”.
Shoppers in Gedling borough are being urged to ‘be kind’ in a new campaign amid growing levels of abuse and violence against workers.
The Shop Kind campaign, led by the Home Office, unites the retail sector and encourages positive behaviour in shops as well as acknowledging the important role shop workers play in our communities.
Nottinghamshire Police is supporting the campaign following a series of successes throughout the county, including a crackdown on shoplifting at Victoria Retail Park in Netherfield.
Police say that when officers attend reports of shoplifting, they consider every potential offence, as well as thinking about the steps they can take to better support the staff affected, including patrols and regular engagement with shops.
As well as this, officers also work to refer offenders, where appropriate, for rehabilitation and ensure they get any necessary help for issues such as addiction and mental health.
Operation Reacher officers will also be out conducting proactive shoplifting patrols in throughout the week.
Retail theft incidents often include acts or threats of violence towards officers or staff, and according to government figures, around 400 shop workers are abused everyday across the UK, with reports nationally that some have even been threatened with weapons like knives and hammers.
PC Joanna Baxter, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Retail crime can often be seen as a victimless crime. However when shop staff suffer threats by these offenders they are left living in fear both inside and outside of the workplace.
INVOLVED: Co-op stores across the borough are backing the campaign
“We need to understand that and think carefully about what additional steps we can put in place to protect that person.
“That could include arresting someone for more serious offences such as affray, and also considering other civil measures such as community behaviour orders.
“As well as this, incidents can very often go hand in hand with addiction and mental health issues. So, we proactively look to help refer those who require support for this to the relevant organisations and ensure they get the help they need. By tackling any potential underlying factors, our aim is to prevent any further incidents.
“We’re encouraging local businesses and shop staff to get involved in this local campaign and make use of the resources on the Home Office website.”
Pharmacy giant Boots is one of the retailers backing the campaign and have a number of stores across the borough.
Iona Blake, security and incident manager at Boots, said: “At Boots, we have been very active in working with others in the retail industry as well as local authorities and police forces to tackle retail the rise in violence and abuse towards retail workers.
“Locally, we work very closely with Nottinghamshire Police to tackle these issues and bring perpetrators to justice. It is fantastic to see our local police officers getting involved in this campaign alongside retailers to raise awareness of this issue.
“Our team members in stores have a right work in a safe and respectful environment.”
Victoria Crorken, is group head of Risk for The Co-op, who are also getting involved
She said: “As retailers, our priority is to protect our store colleagues. It isn’t part of their job to be physically assaulted or verbally abused while serving their local communities.
“We want our shop workers to be treated with the respect they deserve and have worked closely with Nottinghamshire Police to identify and prosecute those offenders who have caused the most harm.”
ShopKind is a Home Office backed national campaign to tackle violence and abuse against shopworkers. To find resources you can use for your business, and find out more about the campaign, visit the dedicated ShopKind page.
A man is due in court today (Monday, 22) following a police investigation into blazes in Bestwood Village.
The man has been charged with five counts of arson which took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning (November 16).
A number of officers quickly responded to the reports of a fire in School Walk which was able to be extinguished quickly.
A further fire in Bestwood Village was also discovered that involved construction machinery.
PICTURED: School Walk in Bestwood Village
Blazes also took place at an industrial estate in Wigwam Lane, Hucknall.
A further two fires were reported a short time later at different areas within the industrial estate where another four vehicles were found alight and a skip was found burning.
Following an extensive investigation by Nottinghamshire Police, officers have now charged 28-year-old Patrick Harrison, of Mansfield Road, Carrington, with five counts of arson.
He will appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court tomorrow (Monday 22 November).
Detective Sergeant Matt Scott, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “The fires caused a considerable impact on both Nottinghamshire Police and Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service on the day but thankfully due to the quick response the damage was minimised.
“Arson is a serious offence and following our investigation we have now charged a man in connection with the incidents.”
Two men who helped to turn a suburban bungalow in Mapperley into a booming drugs factory have been jailed.
Cannabis with a street value of around £1m was seized when officers raided the property in Lucknow Drive, Mapperley, on September 10 this year.
Inside they found a large-scale cannabis grow, with more than 1,400 mature plants crammed into multiple rooms across the detached, secluded property.
The plants were taken away and destroyed, and an array of sophisticated growing equipment was put beyond use.
CS Spray, a telescopic baton and a quantity of cash were also seized.
Jevgenij, Babkov, aged 24, and Noyus Kastenas, aged, 20 were both arrested at the scene.
When they were interviewed by officers they admitted to tending to the plants but claimed they had been employed by others to live and work at the address.
Both men later admitted charges of cannabis production and appeared for sentence at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (12 November).
Babkov, formerly of Lucklnow Drive, was jailed for one year and ten months.
Kastenas, also formerly of Lucknow Drive, was jailed for one year and six months.
PC Brian Dacunha, of Nottinghamshire Police, led the investigation. He said: “Acting on local intelligence we carried out a warrant at a large, detached bungalow.
“The building had been turned into a very large, sophisticated and profitable drugs factory, with mature cannabis plants in multiple rooms in the house.
“As is the case with most similar cannabis grows the electrics in the property had been bypassed and left in a very hazardous state.”
Inspector Karl Thomas, local area commander for Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Clamping down on drug related crime is a top priority for the local policing team. I am aware, however, that some people are still of the view that this ‘is only a bit of weed’ and that we should be focussing on different issues.
“But in reality, these kind of large-scale grows are very often linked to ruthless organised criminal gangs from home and abroad whose members won’t think twice about using extreme acts of violence to protect their investment from other equally ruthless criminals. Domestic cannabis grows can also create a very substantial fire risk to neighbouring properties and will never be tolerated by Nottinghamshire Police.”
Gedling councillors clashed over a letter send by local MPs in response to the proposed motion to stop raw sewage being discharged into waterways.
The letter – written by MPs Tom Randall MP and Mark Spencer as a response to the raw sewage Council motion – was read out by Trent Valley councillor Michael Adams during the full council meeting held on November 17.
Adams, who is leader of the Conservative Group, said that instead of putting forward a motion, the group decided to write the MPs directly and ask about their position on the matter.
The response from Randall MP and Spencer MP stated: “We note that a motion is to be debated and voted upon during a meeting of Gedling Borough Council on Wednesday 17 November calling on us, as the Members of Parliament for our Borough, to publicly support the banning and elimination of the discharge of raw and untreated sewage into our waterways, rivers and oceans and for us to campaign and vote for a statutory requirement on water companies to reduce the discharge of raw and untreated sewage into our waterways, rivers and oceans.
“Contrary to some misleading reports and Tweets, we have never voted to allow water companies to pump sewage into rivers. We have both voted in favour of a package of measures to reduce harms from storm overflows, including a new duty directly on water companies to produce comprehensive statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management plans, setting out how they will manage and develop their drainage and sewerage system over a minimum 25-year planning horizon, including how to storm overflows will be addressed through these plans.”
The text also said that the Environment Act 2021, voted by both MPs is set to produce a statutory plan to reduce discharges and produce a report setting out the actions needed to stop discharges from storms overflows.
Additionally, the Act creates three new duties on water agencies to publish data on storm overflows and to monitor the quality of waters and of sewage disposal works.
PICTURED: Gedling Borough Council Civic Centre in Arnold
Cllr Adams said he was glad that the MPs backed the council calls to improve waterways and that he as a representative of the group will fully support the council’s call.
The motion – put forward by Labour Councillor Michael Boyle and backed by the full council – pushed for a statutory duty on all water companies to take “all reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows”.
It also aims to eliminate the practice of discharging raw sewage into English rivers, waterways and oceans and not simply progressively reduced.
The Council also resolved to engage with agencies including Severn Trent Water, the Environment Agency, Nottinghamshire County Council, and the UK Government to urge swift action to stop the discharge of raw/untreated sewage into waterways and rivers.
The motion also called for local Members of Parliaments, Tom Randall, and Mark Spencer to publicly support the call for the elimination of sewage and discharges.
But, the MPs’ letter sparked heated reactions from Labour councillors.
Leader of Gedling Borough Council Cllr John Clarke said it was let down by the reaction from the MPs.
He said: “I am particularly disappointed by the knee-jerk reaction of the chief whip Mark Spencer and our local MP Tom Randall who are straight putting their hands up instead of asking those simple questions as us laypeople are doing tonight.”
“We need to do something together.”
Cllr Clarke said there had been an increase in use of local waterways for leisure pursuits like open swimming and they needed to be cleaned up.
“You wouldn’t have a bath in your toilet, would you. That’s what they are asking us to do.” he said.
Deputy leader Councillor Michael Payne seconded Councillor Clarke and said: “I really welcome the support from across the chamber.
“It is interesting. We started this debate with Councillor Boyle saying that as a resident and constituent in the Gedling borough constituency that he has written to the MPs on this issue and is still waiting for a response.
“But, nonetheless as Councillor Clarke says I am really happy that councillor Boyle and the motion here tonight have dragged the MPs kicking and screaming to finally realise they were absolutely in the wrong three weeks ago in the House of Commons.
“There is no hiding from that.
“You [Conservatives] will not pull the wall over the eyes of residents by pulling out a letter from two MPs and try to suggest the Conservative Government’s amendment to the Environment Bill does that the public expect.
“What the public expect is the elimination of discharging raw and untreated sewage.
“The reality is this government is mired in muck.”
Commenting on the response from the MPs, Cllr Boyle added: “We need MPs to deliver on their words and work on this issue and strengthen the legislation and the fine regime.”
Calls for a public inquiry into maternity services at Nottingham hospitals are being backed by a family whose baby girl was stillborn after failings in her care.
Nottinghamshire County Councillor Michelle Welsh (Lab), who represents Arnold South, is campaigning for the inquiry following baby deaths and injuries at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH), which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital.
Nottingham parents Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose baby Harriet was stillborn in April 2016, backed the calls, saying the independence of any inquiry is key.
Maternity services at the trust are currently rated inadequate and the trust as a whole is rated as ‘requires improvement’ by watchdog the Care Quality Commission.
NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) are currently carrying out their own review into “maternity incidents, complaints and concerns” at the trust.
The review is expected to complete by the end of 2022, but councillors and the Hawkins family say this is not enough.
Chief Nurse for Nottingham University Hospitals, Michelle Rhodes, said: “We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the families using our services get the best possible care and are fully co-operating with the on-going independent review.”
A motion will be tabled at next week’s Nottinghamshire County Council meeting asking the Government to conduct a full public inquiry into maternity services at the trust.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Welsh said: “This situation is even bigger than I thought it was.
“Nothing short of a public inquiry will allow that trust to improve – a government-led public inquiry that is totally independent of Nottinghamshire.
“Mothers and fathers have not had the answers they should’ve had. It is horrendous and scandalous, and it cannot go on.
PICTURED: The Queen’s Medical Centre
“It would give families the confidence and reassurance that they are going to get the answers they need.
“A lot of families are speaking up. They are so brave and so courageous for doing it. It is the most horrendous things that can happen to anybody
“This isn’t about politics, it is about the protection of mothers and babies going forward.
“It is important for me to have this motion because it allows me to give members in Nottinghamshire the message. Local government combined with members of parliament is a powerful force.”
Jack and Sarah Hawkins, who are both former employees of NUH, said changes were needed “rapidly”.
An external report into Harriet’s death found that her deterioration could have been spotted sooner and her life could have been saved if she and Sarah were better monitored by staff.
The Hawkins said: “This is ongoing, it is not historic. We don’t believe the CCG inquiry is powerful enough or independent enough to give what Nottingham really needs. The independence of a public inquiry is the real key thing.
“We have felt very alone with this and have blown the whistle so many times and been ignored until the pressure has got to this level.
“We are so grateful to (Nottingham South Labour MP) Lilian Greenwood and Michelle Welsh, who are working tirelessly towards improving maternity services in Nottingham.
“We have been saying it for nearly six years since Harriet died needlessly, and to finally be heard is huge and it is not going away now.
“It is the closest we’ve ever been to things actually changing and for there to be accountability.”
Councillor Penny Gowland (Lab), who is seconding the motion, added: “The situation at NUH Maternity Department now needs to be thoroughly and independently investigated: we need this for the parents, the children and indeed for the staff, many of whom are working under very difficult conditions.
“These hospitals are so important in the lives of everyone in Nottinghamshire: we want them to be the best, not just adequate or not failing.”
The motion will state: “Nottinghamshire County Council will call upon the government to conduct a full public enquiry into maternity services at NUH and resolves to write to the Secretary of State for Health to express serious concerns and to present the case for a full public enquiry into the maternity services at NUH [and] ask the secretary of state to meet with the Health Scrutiny Committee and families affected regarding maternity services at NUH.”
Councillors will discuss and vote on the motion during a full council meeting on November 25.
A higher proportion of Nottinghamshire patients waited longer than two weeks to see their GP in August 2021 compared with a year earlier.
Data from the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which manages and operates GP services in the city and county, shows about one in six people waited 15 days or more to see a doctor across the 31 days in August.
This amounted to 76,224 out of 454,315 appointments, or 16.77 per cent, with 20,048 of those patients waiting longer than four weeks to see their GP after calling up for an appointment.
When comparing the data with a year earlier, it shows the number of patients waiting 15 days or more increased per proportion of total appointments year-on-year.
In August 2020, 52,736 patients had to wait more than two weeks to see their GP, which equated to 13.21 per cent of the 399,056 appointments conducted throughout the month.
It comes as the figures show GP surgeries in the city and county conducted 55,259 more appointments in August this year compared with a year earlier, with the vast majority successfully conducted face-to-face.
Surgeries saw 263,103 face-to-face appointments this year, up from 211,162 a year earlier, while the number of telephone appointments remained broadly the same at about 164,000.
The data comes as part of a report from the CCG due before Nottinghamshire County Council’s health scrutiny committee on November 24, with August’s figures the most recently-available CCG statistics.
It follows concerns raised by members of the committee in September regarding patient difficulties in accessing primary care, described by several councillors as an emerging “disastrous situation”.
However, the report reveals the results of a survey conducted on patients at slightly more than 120 surgeries across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
About 15,500 responses revealed the CCG is broadly above the national average on issues around patient satisfaction.
When asked how easy it is to get through to your GP practice over the phone, 72 per cent responded with either ‘very easy’ or ‘fairly easy’. This is above the national average of 68 per cent.
However, 48 out of 122 practices were below the CCG average for this question – with 27 in the county and 21 in the city.
Similarly, when asked how they would describe their experiences of making an appointment, 73 per cent of patients responded with ‘very good’ and ‘fairly good’. This was above the national average of 70 per cent.
However, 50 of the 121 practices surveyed across the city and county fell below the CCG average on this question.
When asked how they would describe their experience with their GP practice, 84 per cent responded with ‘very good’ and ‘fairly good’.
This, again, is slightly above the national average of 83 per cent.
But when asked how often a patient sees or speaks with their preferred GP, 45 per cent responded with either ‘always or almost ways’, or ‘a lot of the time’.
This is the same as the national average of 45 per cent, with 60 out of 121 practices falling below the average across the CCG.
Commenting in the documents, the CCG said: “The GP Survey questions included in this paper are good indicators of patient satisfaction, showing the CCG average score is higher than the national average score.
“However … Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG has a registered population of circa 1.1 million, [but] the maximum number of responses for a GP survey question was 15,500 which is 1.4 per cent of the registered population.”
Lucy Dadge, chief commissioning officer at the CCG, also told councillors in September: “We do recognise the demands on all our healthcare services now are greater than they ever were.
“They were growing pre-Covid, and they’re growing now.”
A council leader fears areas such as Gedling borough will be forced to build new homes on green open spaces to make up for Nottingham’s shortfall.
Councillor Milan Radulovic (Lab), leader of Broxtowe Borough Council, said countryside around Broxtowe and Rushcliffe was also under threat.
He has now written to Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities MP Michael Gove relaying his concerns.
He said the government has set a target of building 51,000 new homes, a proportion of which are social and affordable across South Nottinghamshire by 2028 to deal with the shortage of accommodation.
Recent predictions show Nottingham has a shortfall of 4,500 and Councillor Radulovic said it does not have the available land to build them.
Radulovic said the “pressure” will now be put on neighbouring areas such as Broxtowe, Gedling, and Rushcliffe to pick up the shortfall.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Nottingham does not have enough land to build the new homes that the government has requested.
“It is 4,500 short and Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe will have to pick that up. We are under enormous pressure to meet that unmet need.
“It is madness – it is not sustainable. This will leave further pressure on the urban sprawl which means having to build on open countryside.
“That is the land we want to protect.”
Writing to the Secretary of State, Cllr Radulovic, criticised the Government for failing to provide up to £40m of Levelling Up funding to Nottingham.
The money would have been spent on demolishing the former Broadmarsh shopping centre to start ‘a mixed use’ development, which is expected to include housing as well as developing the Island site in the city.
He said: “Nottingham, which is tightly bounded and has limited ability to expand, is reliant on a small number of very challenging brownfield sites to deliver housing, but has historically missed out on funding at the expense of larger urban areas.
“Once again, the latest announcements on the Levelling Up fund bids for the two most significant brownfield sites in the city, for the former Broadmarsh shopping centre and for the Island Quarter, have been unsuccessful.
“This underfunding increases the risk that surrounding boroughs will be expected to provide land for its unmet need.
“We therefore urge you to look at the specific housing capacity of cities, and take into account the scale of housing need they cannot accommodate within their areas under current circumstances, as a factor when determining the level of funding to be provided.
“In this way, we can ensure that residual housing need is minimised, and thus protect our green belt and greenfield sites whilst ensuring good quality new housing supports our aim of enhancing the quality of life in urban areas.”
His letter has been backed by Nottingham City Council.
Cllr Linda Woodings (Lab), Portfolio Holder for Housing, Planning and Heritage at Nottingham City Council, said: “I am very happy to add my name to the signatories on this cross-party letter representing all local councils in our area.
“The city council’s housing expectation has been artificially inflated by flawed Government methodology, which applies a 35 per cent increase over our calculated requirement to arrive at a final figure.
“This is without a shred of evidence around available land or the ability to accommodate this unrealistic figure in a city with such tightly-constrained local authority boundaries. Missing out on Government funding opportunities simply aggravates the problem.
“Mr Gove’s department needs to go back to the drawing board on this one. It must look carefully at the specific housing capacity of different cities across the country and take this into account.
“We would also urge Government, again, to rethink the right-to-buy legislation which is exacerbating social housing pressures in Nottingham.”
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “The government has committed to deliver 1 million new homes by the end of this Parliament and continue towards its target to increase building output to 300,000 homes a year.
“Councils are responsible for setting housing targets, and our guidance should be considered alongside local factors in working out how many homes can be delivered.”
AGedling football club has been selected to receive a defibrillator and pads to use in case of emergencies.
The Nottinghamshire Local Medical Committee (LMC) teamed up with LMC Buying Group supplier MidMeds to donate a defibrillator and pads to a sport club in the region.
Local GPs were appealed by the LMC to nominate local sports clubs for the donation.
Gedling Southbank Football Club was selected at random and received the equipment.
Zenaida Morrison, Communications and Marketing Manager at Nottinghamshire Local Medical Committee Ltd said in her communication to the club: “Following a string of tragic cardiac arrests reported in the news suffered by athletes on the field, we want to give back to the community and help to prevent such on-pitch fatalities where we can.
“We appealed to GPs in our locality to nominate a sports club of their choosing. I am pleased to announce that Gedling Southbank Football Club has been selected at random to receive a defibrillator and pads to use during training or at a tournament.”
The club, which is an amalgamation of two well established local clubs, Arnold Southbank, and junior club Gedling Southbank, was formed in June 2006.
In 2012 the club was awarded Charter Standard Community Club status and in 2016 it received the Charter Standard Community Club of the Year Award for the East Midlands, which was quickly followed by the National Award.
The defibrillator was handed over to Club Chairman Adrian Hall by Nottinghamshire LMC Chief Executive Michael Wright.
Adrian Hall said: “We are keen to ensure all locations we train or play at have access to a Defibrillator.
“Gedling Southbank FC use the grass pitches at Arnold Hill school at the weekend for about 18 of our 40 teams.
“We also use some of the 3G (Third Generation synthetic surface) training pitches at the school now run by Cannoville Coaching.
“It seemed a good place to locate the donated unit as many other people use the training facilities and would have access to a Defibrillator should the need ever arise.”
The defibrillator will be located at Arnold Hill School.
More delays are expected in the Gedling and Mapperley area as traffic management is put in place on Arnold Lane to allow for work on the Gedling Access Road (GAR) to continue.
Two-way traffic lights will be put in place from Monday, November 22 to allow the removal of vegetation on the hedgerow opposite the golf course to take place.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire County Council said: “You may recall that the hedgerow was previously removed, and this work is necessary to remove the re-growth that has occurred since then.”
PICTURED: Gedling Access Road
From Tuesday, November 23 to Wednesday, December 1, there will be a full-time lane closure under two-way traffic lights. This is to allow the installation of a road crossing and jointing of a new power cable.
The spokesman added: “Although this work has been phased to avoid the period of the temporary four-way traffic lights at the Arnold Lane/Mapperley Plains/Plains Road/Gedling Road junction, delays may be likely in this area and so we apologise for any inconvenience.
“We would like to thank all road users and local residents for your patience throughout the construction of the GAR.”
