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Gedling Borough Council handed out more than £25m to struggling local businesses during Covid pandemic

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Gedling Borough Council handed out more than £25m to struggling local businesses during Covid pandemic

Gedling Borough Council says it has distributed around £25.1 million to support local businesses facing financial difficulties during the pandemic.

The local authority discussed its achievements but also its difficulties during the coronavirus pandemic at a cabinet meeting held on Thursday, May 8.

It said that out of 96 actions it had included in its plan it has managed to complete 90 of them over the last year.

The council said construction work had started this year to transform the long-awaited Arnold Market Place as well as Carlton Square improvement scheme.

A ‘landmark’ market building will be built between the Methodist Church and King George V park in Arnold and will comprise of units designed for small and independent businesses.

A new public space will be built near the new building which will retain the 24 market stalls with an opening date of Spring 2022.

A memorial stone dedicated to those residents who have tragically lost their lives due to Covid was also unveiled.

But concerns in missing targets over the amount of new homes built in the area and getting people out of temporary accommodation were addressed.

The council said additional new homes for this year was 310, which was lower than the 480 anticipated.

Netherfield high street covid restrictions
The Council say they handed out over £25m during the pandemic (PHOTO: Neil Slack Photography)

Currently people also remain in temporary accommodation for 20.9 weeks against a target of 15 weeks, with the department still “experiencing high numbers of households in priority need presenting as homeless”.

The cabinet heard how six large families, with three plus children, were living in temporary two bedroom flats/three bedroom houses. This has now reduced to four families.

The report states: “Unfortunately, the number of two or three bedroom social housing becoming available has declined and it is not proportionate to the demand for permanent housing, meaning families continue to be placed in temporary accommodation.

“However, better news is that the house construction market has now restarted, meaning the numbers of affordable properties in Gedling will start to increase again during 2021/22.”

Councillor Michael Payne, deputy leader of the council, told the meeting: “I think if you look – we have faced the worse public health crisis since World War II and to get a record sheet like the one we have heard is pretty remarkable.

“The areas of concern are areas of concern but can be understood within the wider context. We know house building has been put on hold early on in the pandemic.

“I think what should not be lost is that the borough continues to be a place that has brilliant green infrastructure. People’s parks and town centres will have been their world because they have not been able to travel any further.”

Fears grow over ‘increased threat’ of cyber attack on Gedling Borough Council – with residents’ council tax details ‘at risk’

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Fears grow over ‘increased threat’ of cyber attack on Gedling Borough Council – with residents’ council tax details ‘at risk’

Councillors fear Gedling Borough Council could come under a cyber attack, putting residents’ information such as Council Tax details at risk.

The local authority discussed the ‘increased threat’ of a cyber attack at its cabinet meeting earlier today (Thursday,8)

This comes after cyber thieves believed to be from Russia attempted to hack into Broxtowe Borough Council’s computer systems in February to try to steal personal information.

The system’s firewall held the thieves at bay and no personal details were accessed.

Gedling Borough Council said “there continues to be an increased threat of a cyber-attack which, if successful, will result in a significant impact on the council’s customers, staff and reputation”.

The council said it has a number of measures, including a Data Security Group, now in place to ensure thieves can’t successfully strike as an attack could prevent the local authority being “unable to deliver vital services to customers”.

Gedling Borough Council
The threat was discussed at a council meeting earlier today (PHOTO: Gedling Eye)

In 2020/21, the council has recorded 44 data breaches/incidents by council officers.

No breaches were reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office as after investigation none of the breaches identified a risk to the rights and freedoms of an individual.

The report to cabinet states: “The breaches reported have been minor in nature and have largely been borne out of clerical error, for example the wrong addresses typed into systems which generates mail to the wrong address.

“Staff have been reminded to check address details or update changes to addresses before sending out mail.

“Every incident is thoroughly investigated and wherever necessary, measures are put in place to reduce the risk of further incidents. No systemic failures have been identified.

“There has been one incident where council equipment has been lost, being a mobile phone, but the risk of information loss was low and the device was not connected to the network so presents no ongoing risk.”

The report said there were no successful cyber security incidents involving malware or hacking in 2020/21.

However, the council said it continues to be subject to “a large number of attempted phishing attacks which are stopped by a combination of technical controls and staff vigilance”.

The council said: “Unfortunately during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase nationally in the number of phishing attacks relating to Teams, Zoom and Covid-19 and as a result additional guidance has been provided to officers and members.”

Haunted Museum finds new Nottingham city centre home after being forced to leave historic Mapperley building

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Haunted Museum finds new Nottingham city centre home after being forced to leave historic Mapperley building

The owners of the Haunted Museum have today announced they will be making the move into Nottingham city centre after being forced to leave their Mapperley home last month.

Museum owner Steve Wesson told Gedling Eye the old cinema that housed the museum on Woodborough Road was beyond repair and they were seeking a new home somewhere in the city.

Mr Wesson told Gedling Eye at the time: “The old Majestic Cinema has been a amazing building for us and is such a shame we now can’t carry on there for many years to come.”

But today there was good news with the attraction announcing on their Facebook page they will be making the move into the Hopkinsons antiques and arts building on Station Street.

The collection will now be housed alongside other oddities at the museum in the basement at the city centre venue.

In the post, Mr Wesson wrote: “Hopkinson is only a short walk from the city centre and located next to the train station and tram stop for easy visiting.

“Not only does Hopkinsons have their own resident ghosts but you can now visit with us at the Haunted Museum that will be located within the large basement area.”

“We will be opening 7 days a week from 11am – 8pm.”

The Haunted Museum first opened in Mapperley back in 2018 by paranormal investigator Mr Wesson and wife Marie, who put their spooky collection of artefacts on display to the general public.

Included in the macabre collection was a morgue fridge from Denbigh Insane Asylum in Wales, a 400 year old skull belonging to someone who fell victim to the plague and Thomas – a doll made from a dead husband’s bed bandages in the 1970s.

Youth charity hub prepares to make move into new home at former doctor’s surgery in Netherfield

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Youth charity hub prepares to make move into new home at former doctor’s surgery in Netherfield

A charity project helping vulnerable children and young people in Netherfield is getting ready to move to its new home in a former doctor’s surgery building.

The Netherfield Forum is setting up the former medical site as a new hub for all its support and activities for vulnerable young people in the community after acquiring the building from Assura, the primary care property specialist which built the replacement Trentside Medical Building on Meadow Road last year.

The forum is the umbrella organisation running both the St George’s Centre and the Loco Centre, which operates in the Methodist Church. The charity was struggling to operate from both sites due to leasing costs and the distance between them but with the old Netherfield Surgery building being in close proximity to St George’s Centre, the Netherfield Forum was given the opportunity to have both operations working much closer together.

PICTURED: Young people from Netherfield check out the former medical centre which will become a new hub for children and teenagers based in the town

Tina Simpson, Treasurer for the Netherfield Forum said: “Everyone in the community is delighted that we can complete this move. While this was progressing, we were still offering £1 meals and operating a foodbank and to be able keep that going whilst getting this new building for us, it just makes me feel so proud of our whole team.”

Some minor building work is needed to help make the space suitable for the Netherfield Forum, which is being carried out by volunteers, local businesses and with help from Assura and its contractor, Key Construction. Once open, the site will benefit around 500 local children and young people.

Tina Simpson added: “We’ve got lots of young people involved and different groups including dance groups, karate and groups for children with disabilities and everyone is really excited. They all can’t wait for us to make the minor internal changes to change the building to fit the needs of the young people.”

“We work with the groups which means we can keep hiring costs down for the venues and because it’s a high deprivation area, it means families of these children have access to these wonderful activities at a much more affordable cost and it enables the children to have all of these experiences – which is what it is all about.”

Andrew Cooper, Assura Senior Development manager, said: “We are so proud to have been able to help the Forum make this happen – I can’t think of a better way for this community building to now have a new lease of life. It will continue contributing to the health and wellbeing of local young people for many years to come and that’s a very special thing.“

Here’s how much Gedling borough libraries received in Government Covid support during the pandemic

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Here’s how much Gedling borough libraries received in Government Covid support during the pandemic

Documents released by Inspire, the organisation that runs Nottinghamshire’s libraries, have confirmed exactly how much libraries and centres across Gedling borough received in Government grants during the pandemic.

The organisation was hit by more than £1.6 million in losses related to the pandemic but received Government grants.

Inspire, the independent charity responsible for managing the services, estimates the financial implications from Covid-19 were around £1,636,000.

This includes a slump in income of around £780,000, with the charity saying it could take until the end of the current financial year to completely recover.

The income losses come from services including libraries and archives, music teaching, education library services and adult learning fees, all of which were halted by the first lockdown in March 2020.

The charity estimates it has incurred a further £334,000 in additional costs, including making buildings Covid-secure and deploying ICT to enable staff and students to work from home.

In the remaining part of the financial year, additional income losses of £236,000 and further fees of £286,000 amount to an expected £522,000 hit before April 2022.

However, the organisation has revealed it managed to maintain its finances by applying for Government Covid grants to bring in lost income.

Since the start of the pandemic, the charity has received £506,000 from the job retention (furlough) scheme, helping to ensure none of its 688 staff faced redundancy.

It also received more than £1 million in Government business grants spread across its libraries and community arts centres, supporting with implementing Covid safety measures.

This includes £702,340 from the retail, hospitality and leisure grant, £168,900 in business rates relief and a further £163,342 from the restart grant.

It means, overall, thanks to the Government support, the organisation has only been hit with losses of around £95,000 since March last year.

Carlton Library

Speaking on the financial pressures experienced by Inspire, the charity’s chief executive Peter Gaw described the pandemic as a “perfect storm” of lost income and extra costings.

He said: “We have quickly remodelled our budget to look at what the impact of Covid is on our finances.

“Our aspiration was to mitigate the potential of having to make staff redundancies or a reduction in services, and so we took advantage of Government retail and leisure grants, the business rates holidays and the job retention scheme.

“What we’ve been really careful to do is to make sure we only drew on funding that would meet our financial pressures, pressure caused by lack of income, the additional costs of making our sites Covid-secure, buying hand gel, PPE, screens and extra cleaning.

“It’s a perfect storm of income reduction and extra costs. We were careful and our board have been focused on balancing out.”

Libraries across Nottinghamshire began reopening their doors in July 2020 following the first lockdown, operating at reduced capacity and opening hours.

However, the organisation made adjustments to offer altered services – including moving its archives online and using technology to reduce face-to-face contact.

Mr Gaw confirmed many services are expected to begin operating at full capacity from September.

He said: “Our ambition is very much starting to return our opening hours and delivery services back.

“Over the last couple of weeks, especially given the quarantining rules of books has eased, we have been able to expand opening hours where we can.

“There are practicalities because we need to make sure we’re operating alongside whatever restrictions are in place, but our aspiration is to do this.

“Our ambition is that by September we will be fully operational, but most of our libraries have got increasing levels of opening hours.”

Inspire have now confirmed exactly how much each of its libraries and centres across Gedling received in Government grants during the pandemic.

This is broken down below:

Arnold Library: £16,122

Burton Joyce Library: £13,422

Calverton Library: £14,075

Calrton Hall Library: £28,409

Carlton Library: £16,464

Gedling Library: £13,774

Mapperley Library: £13,767

Ravenshead Library: £13,768

Woodthorpe Library: £13,435

Glad she went to Specsavers! Arnold mum praises quick-thinking optician who saved her eyesight

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Glad she went to Specsavers! Arnold mum praises quick-thinking optician who saved her eyesight

An Arnold mum of two is encouraging others not to neglect their vision after her eyesight was saved following an eye test at Specsavers in the town.

Karen Stubbs, 42, visited the opticians on Front Street when she realised she hadn’t had an eye test in years.

“As a parent, you get so preoccupied with your kids’ needs, you forget about yourself,’ she said.

“I thought I needed to focus on my own health a bit and booked an eye examination.’ 

“I had noticed that my eyesight was getting a little worse and I had started getting migraines but I didn’t think it was anything serious.’ 

When Arnold Specsavers optometrist, Adila Khokhar, examined Karen’s eyes, she discovered the early stages of a potentially sight-threatening condition. Using a viewing microscope for the eye called a slit lamp, Adila could see that pressure may be building up inside Karen’s eyes.  

Specsavers Arnold optician
PICTURED: Specsavers optometrist Adila Khokhar

Karen was referred to the eye clinic at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC), where she was treated with laser surgery to relieve the pressure at the back of her eyes. Without treatment, the condition could have led to closed-angle glaucoma and loss of sight. She has now been discharged from QMC and just needs annual checks with an optometrist to monitor the condition. 

“I really want people to know that they should be getting regular eye examinations, even if their vision seems fine”, said Karen.

“Just over a year ago, I had no idea there was anything happening to my eyes. Now that I know, I’ve been able to warn my brother and kids that it’s something they need to watch out for, as it can be hereditary.”

Glaucoma is a progressive eye condition that can happen when naturally-occurring fluid inside the eye does not drain properly, causing a build-up of pressure which damages the optic nerve. There are two main types – chronic glaucoma, which develops slowly with subtle changes to vision, and acute glaucoma, which can develop rapidly eventually leading to a painful build-up of pressure in the eye. 

Although it often affects both eyes, in a lot of cases it can be symptomless until it has already damaged your sight, so regular eye tests – and making sure that you follow your treatment plan if diagnosed – really matter. 

Optometrist director at Arnold Specsavers, Vineet Nehra, said: ‘Karen’s story shows just how important it is to have a routine eye examination. We were able to see the early signs of this condition so that Karen could get the treatment she needed. If it had been left untreated it could have led to acute glaucoma and permanent loss of sight.’ 

Firefighters rescue teenager from River Trent at Stoke Bardolph

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Firefighters rescue teenager from River Trent at Stoke Bardolph

Fire crews have rescued a teenager from the River Trent in Stoke Bardolph.

Crews from Carlton, London Road, Newark and Highfields attended the incident.

The rescue took place on Stoke Lane near the Ferry Boat pub this afternoon at 3pm.

A 14-year old is now in the care of East Midlands Ambulance Service following the rescue.

Station Manager Jonathan Wilson said: “Firefighters entered the water and used throw lines, forming a circle to stop the teenager from being swept away into the fast-moving water of the River Trent.

“This incident is a reminder of the dangers of open water. “Even if the water is shallow or looks inviting in the warm weather, this can easily overpower even the most confident swimmers.

He added: “If you see someone struggling in water, we ask you not to enter the water. Encourage the casualty to float and call 999.”

Council issue open water swimming warning to Colwick Country Park users

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Council issue open water swimming warning to Colwick Country Park users

A council is warning of the dangers of swimming in open water after hundreds of people headed to the lake at Colwick Country Park last week to cool down.

With temperatures set to soar again, Nottingham City Council – who run the park – is urging people not to be tempted to take to open water, sayingthere are many hidden dangers.

They warn that the water may look calm on the surface, but there may still be strong undercurrents that could pull even the strongest swimmers under. The water may also feel relatively warm on the surface, but just a few feet below it will be icy cold even in hot weather and can very quickly induce shock, cause severe cramp and hypothermia.

Every year around 400 people on average die in the UK from drowning, with thousands more rescued but left with permanent and life-changing injuries.

Cllr Rosemary Healy, lead councillor for parks, said: “Open water swimming can be extremely dangerous and a risk to life. If things do go wrong, there is often no-one around to help until it is too late. While there is no law against it in this country, we would strongly urge people to be sensible and avoid swimming in lakes, rivers quarries or canals. 

“Our NHS and emergency services have enough on their plates as it is fighting the coronavirus pandemic and we need to protect them so they can save the lives of our loved ones. Keep you and your family safe.”

County councillor would ‘love’ to see people in Gedling borough using public transport again

Gedling Eye Reporter
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County councillor would ‘love’ to see people in Gedling borough using public transport again

A Nottinghamshire councillor has encouraged people in Gedling borough to get back on public transport as pandemic restrictions ease further – but acknowledged the anxieties some may have about returning to the county’s buses, trams and trains.

Councillor Neil Clarke, who holds the Transport and Environment portfolio at Nottinghamshire County Council, said he would ‘love’ to see people returning to public transport.

And Nottingham City Council Leader David Mellen said he wanted people to feel confident in using the city’s public transport, but that he would be encouraging people to carry on using face coverings on buses and trams even if the legal requirement to wear them was lifted.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a final decision on Step 4 of England’s lockdown easing would be made on July 12 – but said the country was moving towards easing many restrictions including the recommendation to work from home if possible, and legal requirements on face mask wearing.

Cllr Clarke said: “The rates are increasing and that will add to people wanting to be cautious. That is very much the balancing act we have in organising bus routes.

Red 44 bus
PICTURED: Red 44 bus

“We do have a lot of rural bus routes and it’s important that we can still supply the service to those who are isolated or don’t have a car.

“I would love people to get back on public transport and reduce car use by using the buses, trams and trains.

“It is a double-edged sword and I completely understand some people’s anxiety about having that close proximity.”

At a press conference on July 5, the Prime Minister said: “We will end the one metre-plus rule on social distancing, and the legal obligation to wear a face covering, although guidance will suggest where you might choose to do so, especially when cases are rising, and where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet in enclosed places, such as obviously crowded public transport.

“It remains people’s personal choice as to how they feel most comfortable. As long as people can make their own choices and perhaps use a mask if they are in a crowded place.”

Councillor David Mellen, Leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “I am a little bit surprised that when cases are going up, that the government is proposing that all restrictions are taken away.

“I am more concerned about the comments about masks in particular and social distancing, which didn’t need to be this free for all.

“I do think people will feel uncomfortable if they are sitting next to someone who hasn’t got a mask on. In Nottingham our public transport system is second to none, we want people to use it and feel confident.

“I would encourage people using the bus or the tram to continue to use their face masks for the duration of the journey.

“I would ask the people of Nottingham to take that personal responsibility and keep their mask handy for when it might be appropriate to use them.”

Pubs across Gedling borough get opening hours extended for Euro 2020 final on Sunday

Gedling Eye Reporter
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Pubs across Gedling borough get opening hours extended for Euro 2020 final on Sunday

Pubs across Gedling borough will be allowed to stay open after hours on Sunday night in case the Euros final goes to extra time.

The plans were confirmed yesterday by Downing Street.

Boris Johnson has signed off the plans to allow a 45-minute grace period so drinkers aren’t kicked out before the end of the match.

All pubs in England will be able to stay open until 11.15pm on Sunday, after the prime minister allowed a one-off extension to licensing laws.

It is believed this will still go ahead regardless of whether England beats Denmark tonight and makes it to the final.

An emergency law change was put to the Commons on Tuesday morning to legally allow pubs to stay open beyond the usual 10.30pm closing time.

A No 10 source told The Sun: ‘As the entire nation comes together to enjoy the Euros final on Sunday, we’re putting extra time on licenses so fans can watch the whole game without fear of being kicked out before it’s over. 

‘And we’re backing England to make it there.’

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