Nottinghamshire County Council are reminding people in the borough to only make ‘essential visits’ to a tip in Calverton after huge queues formed outside on the first day of reopening after lockdown.
Calverton Recycling Centre had been closed due to the coronavirus lockdown, but today opened its gates and start taking waste from the public.
But there has been lengthy queues outside the centre all day, prompting Nottinghamshire County Council to issue a warning.
In a post on social media, they said: “We’re already experiencing huge queues at the sites that have reopened
PICTURED: The council’s recycling facility in Calverton
“This is causing a dangerous highway situation
“Only essential visits should be made.’
They added: “We can’t stress this enough, this is the first day sites have reopened – you do not need to rush there, please wait a few days.
“Traffic enforcement is in place, but unfortunately many are ignoring the advice – creating dangerous situations potentially for blue light services needing to get around the county.’
Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Kay Cutts, MBE warned people not to flock to the centre when it opened.
She said: “At the start of lockdown, the Government gave very clear advice to only make necessary journeys and a trip to the recycling centre was not identified as an essential journey.
“I know residents are keen for recycling centres to reopen but we must do this safely and within Government guidelines around essential travel, and I would reiterate that where possible your waste should be stored safely at home in the first instance.
A dedicated Operation Reacher team has now seized around £18,000 in suspected criminal money and arrested or interviewed 45 suspects since its introduction in the Gedling borough.
The team, which has been operating in the area since the end of January, has also seized 28 vehicles and carried out 12 warrants in the borough to date as it continues to work closely with the Gedling Neighbourhood Team in helping to tackle drug-related crime.
Operation Reacher started in Bestwood and Top Valley to tackle organised crime as well as build vital links with the community.
Following that team’s success and Nottinghamshire Police recruiting new officers, the force has replicated the operation in the Gedling borough, with plans to set up similar teams across the force area.
As well as helping to tackle and reduce drug supply in the Gedling borough, which remains a top policing priority for the area, the Gedling Operation Reacher Team has also been helping the community during the Coronavirus outbreak by taking donated food to local schools, care homes and ambulance stations.
Inspector Chris Pearson, Neighbourhood Policing Inspector responsible for local policing in the Gedling borough area, said: “There have been some excellent results since the end of January when the Operation Reacher team landed in Gedling.
“Our efforts to combat drug supply and drug use continued throughout April with a number of proactive drugs warrants and arrests carried out.
“Drug dealing has a significant impact on the local community and is often a precursor to more serious crimes such as violence and other acquisitive crime.
PICTURED: Police arrest a suspect after searching a property in Mapperley (IMAGE: Nottinghamshire Police)
“Often drug users will commit offences such as burglary, auto crime and shop theft in order to fund drug habits therefore the impact on the local community cannot be underestimated.
“Officers from the Gedling Neighbourhood team, our Special Constables and Operation Reacher have been working together in order to develop intelligence and take action around those believed to be supplying controlled drugs.
“We are carrying out high-visibility and plain clothes patrols in locations known for drug use and supply and officers are reviewing intelligence received which will be assessed and prioritised for enforcement action.
“Drugs warrants will continue and we are working with our schools officers to provide education around drug use in our local schools, particularly given that it is linked to more serious crime.
“We are also working with our partners to deal with substance misuse in the local community.
“We will use social media to publish results of enforcement action and will look to work closely with partners to take further action around prolific offenders which may involve the use of closure orders or criminal behaviour orders.”
Last month’s results included officers arresting a 26-year-old man on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a Class B drug and recovering a quantity of cannabis during a warrant at an address on Dunstan Street, Netherfield. The suspect was subsequently released under investigation.
Another warrant was carried out on High Street, Arnold, with three suspects being arrested and controlled drugs and cash being seized. This was linked to a further warrant in the Epperstone area where Class A drugs were recovered.
Three vehicles were also stopped during the month, resulting in drugs, cash and an offensive weapon being recovered.
Officers made nine arrests during April following this activity and a man was also interviewed under caution in relation to drug supply offences.
Insp Pearson added: “Our proactive work to tackle drug use and supply in the Gedling borough is very much ongoing and it’s an issue we have made a priority after listening to residents’ concerns.
“We have carried out a number of successful warrants to date, on the back of information received from members of the public.
“I’d encourage anyone with any concerns about drug use and supply in their area to please report it to us so that we can carefully assess and prioritise information before taking action against offenders.
“If you have any concerns or see anything suspicious in your area, please do not hesitate to contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.
“Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
The Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke, said: “We are very pleased with the results of this ongoing joint operation with the police and our wardens to reduce crime and drug misuse in our borough.
“Our residents want to feel safe where they live and this operation is a direct response to those concerns.
“We are facing a number of difficult challenges at this time but we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our police colleagues and we will continue to prioritise our work with them, to target any criminal activity in our communities.
“On behalf of everyone at Gedling Borough Council and our residents, we want to thank the police for the work they are doing to keep us safe.”
Pro-active police officers have seized cannabis plants and drugs from a property in Carlton.
Gedling’s pro-active team of Special Constables Officers removed thousands of pounds in cultivated cannabis following concerns raised by members of the public.
Officers were called to a flat in Incher Mews following reports of smoke and heat coming from the address late on Friday (May 15) night.
A police spokesman said:” Upon their arrival, the team worked alongside crews from Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service to safely enter the address after initial concerns were raised.
“Upon entering the property, crews and officers discovered that the property had been converted into a cannabis farm. Electricity had been bypassed, causing damaged to the electricity meter.
“36 plants were recovered from the address, as well as thousands of pounds in street value of cultivated cannabis, which is now set to be destroyed.”
Police said no arrests have been made at this stage and enquiries are currently ongoing.
Customers who booked collections before the Coronavirus pandemic will be contacted first to arrange a new date to pick up their large items.
Around 250 customers will be contacted by the council over the next few days to advise them when their collection will take place. The booking system will be open for new customers from next week to book on line or by calling Customer Services on 0115 901 3901. Slots are likely to be in high demand, so residents are asked to bear with the council.
The return of the bulky waste service means that the council is now running all of its critical and non-statutory waste services. Glass and bulky waste were suspended at the end of March but are now running, as scheduled. On the first two days of scheduled collections, over 56 tonnes of glass, double the normal amount, were collected by the council’s waste crews. The council has doubled up its glass collection crews to ensure all of the extra amounts are collected.
PICTURED: Civic Centre at Arnot Hill Park
Customers who have already booked a bulky waste collection are advised not to contact the council or to attempt to rebook, as they will be contacted over the next few days to rearrange a collection date. New customers can visit the council’s website to reserve a slot – www.gedling.gov.uk/bulkywaste
To comply with the government’s social distancing measures and to reduce the risk of the council’s employees and residents contracting the virus, collections will be required to be placed outside properties 72 hours before collection and the council’s crews will not be able to enter properties or come into contact with residents when moving the bulky items.
Deputy Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor Michael Payne said: “We are pleased to announce that we can now recommence the bulky waste collection service for our residents.
“At first, we will be dealing with the backlog of collections and as soon as they are done, we will be back to a normal service.
“Our waste crews have been working incredibly hard to keep our critical services running and thanks to them, we can now restart our glass collections and bulky waste services.
“We thank residents for their patience as we deal with the backlog and thank them all for their understanding during the disruption.”
While looking up information on Mapperley it struck me just how many of the areas road names have some thing to do with trees: Wood lane, Coppice Road, Corporation Oaks, Elm Avenue, Chestnut Grove, Elm Bank, Woodborough Rd, Springwood Gardens, Beech Avenue and Hazel Grove, just to name but a few. These road names are all that remain as clues to Mapperley’s ancient past.
Before the 1850s, Mapperley was a wind swept and inhospitable place in winter and there was nothing here except a few farm buildings, a couple of houses and early brick works.
Most people who worked in the area lived elsewhere and walked to work each day .
There was only one road and this was little more than a track across the hills.
The area however had trees a plenty, it was still at the time being part of Sherwood forest .
Some of these trees had grown naturally but many had been planted and maintained so they could form a timber supply for the ever increasing needs of Nottingham. Some groups of these trees also breaking up the strong winds that blow across the hill top to shelter the few houses and farms.
These Mapperley hills were, even in the Middle Ages, covered with trees.
PICTURED: AN old map of Mapperley in 1890s
As early as the 14th century wood was being harvested from Mapperley forests. In 1336 Robert de Crophill sold to William de Amyas “half an acre which lies in the Wodefield,””
In 1335, Red Lane was described as leading from the Forest to the Coppice, and being described as the wood of Nottingham. – as it was the one that supplied Nottingham’s timber. It was at the time providing the main source of Nottingham’s fuel. Its trees were cut down and used, lawfully and unlawfully, in the days before coal was commonly used. There was no one to see you taking the trees in this wild and uninhabited area.
AUTHOR: Bob Massey
The present Coppice road lead to the Coppice which was well stored with oaks. These were cut down for building and ship construction. When they were gone, the land at the top of the present Coppice road was turned in to pasture for sheep.
The Basford, and Algarthorpe woods, once continued all the way to Mapperley, covering a larger part of the north western slope of the present town.
North of this was the wood of Arnold, from which Hugh de Neville in 1221 gave two cart loads of wood each week to the Hospital House of Saint John in Nottingham..
Thorney-wood its self covered the plains from Mapperley to Woodborough.
On the southern slope was the Gedling wood, and the Marshall hills . These were where at holiday times Nottingham people went nutting and blackberrying.
Thoroton the historian wrote that “The soil is generally of the most fertile in England, except a great part of the Forest of Sherwood, which was the most pleasant, but by the abominable destruction of woods is now much otherwise.”
With the need for bricks in the industrial revolution and the result in increased building, the trees disappeared at an alarming rate. Houses were built for the great and good and the workers alike.
The cleared lands made good growing land and so sprung up the farms of the area to fuel the ever growing population with food rather than timber. Pits were dug for the clay that was needed for building even taking over this fertile growing land. Soon these pits became large scars on the landscape supplying the ever demanding industrial revolution the trees long forgotten. This changed the look of Mapperley for ever.
Mapperley’s ground still supplies Nottingham and the surrounding area with building material but it’s now bricks in place of timber.
What had for centuries had been a scene of wildness and forest was now in marked contrast: the present town.
A man has been arrested in the early hours this morning following a serious assault which occurred in Colwick.
A 35-year-old man has been arrested and is currently in police custody after the incident on Sands Close at around 3.30am this morning (May 15).
Detective Inspector Craig Hall who is leading the investigation said: “Officers have been on the scene since this morning and will remain there today whilst enquiries continue.
A man was arrested at 3.30am this morning
“Our investigators are currently making a number of enquiries in order to establish the facts of the incident. We recognise that the local community may be concerned and the Neighbourhood Policing Team are carrying out patrols in the area to reassure the local community.
“The circumstances indicate that the incident relates to a private dispute and does not present any risk to other members of the community we can confirm that we are not looking for any further suspects.”
If anyone has any information which they feel can assist the enquiry, please call 101 or crimestoppers quoting incident number 63 of 15 May 2020.
Police have arrested and charged a suspect in connection with the theft of items from an NHS worker’s car following a media appeal.
The victim, who works as a health care assistant at the Queen’s Medical Centre, had just finished her shift before driving to the Co-op filling station on Woodborough Road, Mapperley.
While she was in the shop someone smashed her car window with a brick before stealing three bags from inside.
The incident happened at around 5.30pm on 22 April 2020.
Police have arrested an charged a man
Officers arrived a few minutes after it was reported and members of the public provided details.
Following a media appeal issued by Nottinghamshire Police information was provided and yesterday (Wednesday 13 May 2020) a suspect was arrested at an address in Mapperley in connection with the incident.
He was released on conditional bail and is set to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 2 July 2020.
Inspector James Walker, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “The arrest was made following information being provided by the community after a media appeal to identify a man we wanted to speak to in connection with the incident.
“The assistance provided by the community in this case has been invaluable and for that we give our sincere thanks.”
Villagers in Calverton have the chance to adopt a local BT phone box for just £1 to turn them into something inspirational for their local area.
More than 250 traditional red boxes are currently available for adoption in the East Midlands region, for just £1 each, and BT will also consider adoption requests to house defibrillators in more modern boxes.
Two boxes are up for adoption in Calverton and these are on the corner of Sherwood Avenue and Collyer Road and on Main Street in the village.
BT said they have seen some amazing transformations across the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.
In Crich, near Matlock in Derbyshire, the local community adopted their local phone box to house a defibrillator. Recently, the window of the phone box has been transformed to commemorate the NHS with a stunning stained-glass window. Mrs Richmond, who came up with the idea, also worked as a nurse for 21 years, and said the NHS panel had been particularly meaningful.
PICTURED: The phone box on the corner of Sherwood Avenue and Collyer Road (IMAGE: Google)PICTURED: Phone box on Mains Street (IMAGE: Google)
A phone Box in Upton, near Peterborough, has also been lit up in blue to pay tribute to the NHS.
Sam Burton, Upton Community Council, commented: “We recently adopted a BT red phone box and have been working with the Community Heartbeat Trust to get a defibrillator installed for our local community. I came up with the idea to light up the phone box in blue for the NHS after seeing local people lighting up their houses. The blue lit phone box is a tribute of thanks to the NHS from our village.”
BT will continue to provide electricity (if already in place) to power the light for adopted phone boxes, free of charge. Where electricity is available, adopted boxes can be used as housings for defibrillators – an increasingly popular and potentially life-saving conversion.
Sarah Walker, BT Enterprise unit director for the Midlands, said: “We’ve seen some amazing transformations of our phone boxes by communities who’ve adopted our iconic red payphones during the coronavirus pandemic.
“With more than 6,250 payphones already adopted across the UK, the scheme has proved to be really popular and there are still plenty of kiosks available should communities want to preserve them. The opportunities for communities are endless and we’re pleased to be giving even more local communities the chance to get involved. Applying is quick and easy and we’re always happy to speak to communities about adopting our traditional BT red phone boxes.”
Around 3,000 traditional red phone boxes are available for adoption across England. Communities can adopt a kiosk if they are a recognised public body, such as a parish council, community council or town council. Boxes can also be adopted by registered charities or by individuals who have a payphone on their own land.
Most people now have a mobile phone and calls made from public telephones have fallen by around 90 per cent in the past decade.
For further details on how to apply to Adopt a Kiosk, simply go to www.bt.com/adopt where application forms and information can be found.
A dramatic police car chase in Mapperley led to officers seizing a significant amount of drugs and cash.
Police arrested two suspects and recovered significant amounts of drugs and cash after pursuing a car in the Mapperley and Porchester areas today (Wednesday 13 May 2020).
Officers spotted a car driving out of Westmoore Close, with the driver suspected to be involved in drug supply offences.
They followed the car and, after witnessing a suspected drug deal taking place, they decided to stop it but the driver sped off, driving dangerously with officers in pursuit. The car failed to stop during the pursuit, which happened shortly before 11am, before it collided with a central reservation on Porchester Road, bursting its tyre.
The driver jumped out of the car, while it was still moving, leaving it to crash into street furniture.
He ran off but was swiftly detained by officers after a foot chase.
The car was then searched, with wraps of suspected Class A drugs found within.
The driver, a 26-year-old man, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and dangerous driving.
Police cars were involved in the chase yesterday
Officers then began to make enquiries at Westmoore Close to try and locate an address believed to be linked to the suspect.
After knocking on the door of an address and speaking with an occupant, officers noticed an amount of suspected cannabis on display.
They promptly arrested a 25-year-old woman on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a Class B drug.
Officers then found a quantity of suspected Class A drugs within the address and the woman was further arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a Class A drug.
Large amounts of Class A drugs, believed to be heroin and crack cocaine, were subsequently seized from the address along with a large quantity of cash.
Both suspects remain in custody.
The officers involved in today’s arrest and seizures had been deployed to the Gedling area in support of Operation Thistle – an ongoing operation cracking down on drug crime, targeting drug dealers and aiming to disrupt drug supply in the area.
Proactive patrols are continuing as part of the operation which is tackling an issue which has been raised by the local community as being a main concern for them.
Inspector Chris Pearson, Neighbourhood Policing Inspector responsible for local policing in the Gedling borough area, said: “Today’s arrests and drug seizures are a cracking result thanks to some excellent police work which has seen a large amount of drugs being taken off our streets.
“We are committed to tackling the blight of drugs on our communities.
“We are constantly working behind the scenes to gather information about those who may be involved in drug supply and we will take robust action against those suspected to be involved in drug-related crime.
“We have carried out a number of successful warrants to date, on the back of information received from members of the public, and I’d encourage anyone with any concerns about drug use and supply in their area to please report it to us.
“If you have any concerns or see anything suspicious in your area, please do not hesitate to contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101 or 999 in an emergency. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
