Car parks at dozens of popular green spaces in Gedling borough will reopen from tomorrow in line with government guidance.
Car parks at Gedling Country Park, Arnot Hill Park and all other Gedling Borough Council owned parks will now be opened following a change in the government’s guidance on the amount of exercise people can take and the partial relaxation of rules around driving to places to exercise.
Play areas at the parks will remain closed.
PICTURED: Gedling Country Park (Photo: Gedling Eye) will have it’s car park reopened tomorrow
The cafés at Gedling Country Park and Arnot Hill Park and public toilets at parks are set to open in coming days, once further hygiene arrangements have been put in place.
Visitors to the parks and open spaces must adhere to social distancing measures. The car parks have been closed since the end of March following the introduction of the lockdown measures.
Gedling Borough Council Deputy Leader, Councillor Michael Payne said: “We are opening up car parks at our parks and open spaces to allow residents who cannot travel by foot to visit them, exercise and enjoy some fresh air. All visitors to the parks must adhere to social distancing measures, which have not changed. We are very conscious of the importance of exercise but we do not want to see the reproduction rate of this terrible virus go up, so please stay two metres apart from each other and take extra care when visiting the parks.”
This agreement is part of an ambitious programme of investment across the county and will enable the council to meet the projected need of approximately 750 secondary school places in Gedling by the start of the 2027-28 academic year.
Based on completed feasibility works, the two-part funding agreement with Carlton le Willows Academy will be provided for the expansion of the school, securing an additional 450 permanent secondary school places by September 2022.
The first part of the agreement will provide £546,700, for the Academy to progress the detailed design, planning and tendering of the proposed expansion of the school from eight to 12 forms of entry.
Once planning consent is approved and a successful tender received, the second phase will provide a maximum of £10,375,940 to complete the building works.
PICTURED: Cllr Philip Owen
As part of the investment programme for secondary places in Gedling, the Council is already working with the Redhill Trust to provide 300 secondary places at Carlton Academy from September 2020. The agreement with Carlton le Willows Academy will provide the remaining 450 places identified.
The agreement with Carlton le Willows Academy will enable the Academy to undertake the planning and works required to provide the additional places by September 2022.
The Council will commission the Arc Partnership to act on its behalf for the project, at a cost of £40,000, to provide assurance that the project is delivering the expected accommodation to agreed standards.
Councillor Philip Owen, Children and Young people’s Committee Chairman said: “The County Council is committed to ensuring that children in Nottinghamshire have access to a good quality education and places at good schools.
“The Council’s planning officers continually work to analyse data and predict when and where school places are needed. We are working with a number of academies in the Gedling district to secure additional places and to make sure that these school places are available. The expansion of Carlton le Willows with an additional 450 places clearly demonstrates this and it is important to progress to the next stage of this plan.
Councillor Owen added: “We value the contribution of young people at this school which has an excellent record and we are supporting the expansion of the school to cater for the needs of the future population.
”It is important that we create the foundations to help young people fulfil their hopes and ambitions in a quality learning environment that meets their needs, and this agreement will help make that a reality.”
On March 1, national secondary offer day, 90% of Gedling pupils received their first preference, while over 97% received one of their four stated preferences.
After being shut down on March 23, garden centres in Gedling borough will be able to reopen from today (May 13), with social distancing measures in place.
A number of places have been offering click and collect and delivery services, but now, some borough garden centres have reopened their doors to customers – albeit with social distancing measures in place.
This is not an exhaustive list of every garden centre in the borough, but you can let us know about any we’ve missed off at the bottom of this article.
Brookfields, Mapperly
Brookfields Garden Centre at Mapperley Plains have announced that they will be reopening on Friday (May 15) at 10am.
A spokesman for the store said: “We will have social distancing measures in place following all government guidelines, details of which we will confirm shortly but rest assured we are taking the matter very seriously while still wanting to offer you a good shopping experience.
“In order to ensure we fulfil the orders we continue to receive from our webshop and Arthur’s delivery & collection services we will open every day from 10am to 4pm.
“Arthur’s Eatery will remain closed but we will be offering a takeaway service as from Monday, May 18.
They added: “The Directors and Management of the store welcome the opportunity to once again open our doors to our customers and colleagues in as safe and welcoming environment as possible.”
PICTURED: Brookfield in Mapperley opens on Friday (IMAGE: Facebook)
Hilltop Nurseries, Gedling
Hilltop Nurseries on Lambley Lane in Gedling will be reopening from today (May 13).
There will be a limit of 20 cars at any one time in the car park, then a 1 out, 1 in policy.
The owners have warned customers that cars must not queue on Lambley Lane. “If there is no space in the car park, you must drive on and try later,” they said.
There will be a strict two metre distancing policy is in force at all times and no children will be allowed in the centre.
New Opening Hours will be 9am-4.30pm on Monday-Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sundays.
Timmermans, Woodborough
Timmermans on Lowdham Lane in Woodborough will be reopen from today (May 13)
A spokesman for the centre said: “We have obviously had to make a number of operational changes to meet the government’s guidelines on minimising the risk of transmission of covid-19.
“These include – Perspex screens at the tills, PPE for the staff, a strict hygiene regimen, sanitiser at customer interfaces, a new entrance through the small side gate to enter the garden centre, a trolley bay for cleaning trolleys, socially distanced queue, restaurant and customer toilets are closed.
“We are asking, please no more than two individuals per household to shop together and if you can shop without children, that would be preferable. If you do need to bring a child with you please keep them with you and fully supervised at all times.
“The usual shrub entrance door is cordoned off to stop people crossing over each other so access to the main shrub area is through the fire exit at the back of the shop. We are asking customers to pay by card, contactless wherever possible. Although cash is discouraged we will still accept it.
They added: “Opening hours tomorrow are 9am – 5.30pm but from Thursday until further notice we will be open from 8am – until 7pm. Please do take advantage of our longer opening hours to visit when the centre will be less busy. Our peak times are usually 11am until 3pm.
Floralands, Lambley
The garden centre has remained semi-open during the lockdown for essential items and is currently stating on social media they remain so.
Although more people in the borough are being asked to return to work on Wednesday if they can’t work from home, NCT said that ‘there are no immediate changes to the services or timetables’ they are operating.
A spokesman said: “Once the guidance for transport operators referred to by the Prime Minister is published, we’ll review and implement what is expected of us, for both our customers and employees.
“It will take time to implement these requirements and with the majority of our buses delicenced and currently unavailable for use and 75% of our employees furloughed, any changes to service levels are likely to be gradual and in line with the ‘road map’ set out by the Prime Minister.
Police say they are now keen to get the items, which include tools and bike parts, back to their rightful owners and to discover new information which may assist with the investigation.
Sergeant Mike Ebbins said: “Nottinghamshire Police is committed to tackling theft and burglary and this work is very much continuing despite the coronavirus lockdown.
Some of the items recovered by police
“That’s why we’re so keen to speak to people about these items and discover any further information which might help us to find those responsible.
“We believe the items are likely to have been taken during burglaries in the Arnold and Gedling areas.
“We know that burglary and theft can have a huge impact on victims, not to mention leaving them out of pocket, so I’m pleased that we have been able to recover so many of these items. I hope this shows victims that we take these crimes seriously and are working tirelessly behind the scenes to tackle them.”
If you recognise any of the items pictured or think they belong to you, please contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 79 of 1 May. You will need to provide some proof of ownership and provide a statement about what happened to the item or items.
There have been no arrests in relation to the suspected thefts and the investigation is ongoing.
Morrisons has cut petrol prices at its filling stations in Netherfield and Gedling to below £1 a litre – the lowest price seen in more than four years.
The supermarket chain announced that from today (Monday, May 11) it would bring the price of unleaded to a maximum of 99.7p per litre at all of its UK forecourts.
It has also lowered the price of diesel, capping it 104.7p per litre at its 337 filling stations.
Morrisons announced the new petrol prices today
Across the UK, the average price per litre is 108.74p per litre for petrol and 114.26ppl for diesel, according to RAC Fuel Watch.
For a typical 50-litre fill up, a Morrisons motorist will save £4.50 compared to the current national average.
Ashley Myers, Head of Fuel for Morrisons, said: “This cut will help people who are travelling to work, those shopping for essentials, and those assisting the elderly and vulnerable. We want to play our full part in reducing the cost of living and feeding the nation at this difficult time.”
The facility will reopen seven days a week 10am – 6pm.
Strict social distancing will be enforced and a one car in one car out system will be employed; no trailers or vans will be permitted.
The sites will be running a reduced service and only the following materials can be taken:
garden waste,
wood
carboard
metals
waste electrical and electronic equipment
general waste
Staff will be onsite, but they will be unable to help unload due to social distancing. Residents are reminded that if they have coronavirus symptoms, are self-isolating or at a high risk of contracting the virus they should not travel to the sites,
The County Council is also working with all of Nottinghamshire’s District and Borough Councils to support them to re-establish bulky and green waste domestic collections to enable householders to appropriately dispose of their waste material.
Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Kay Cutts, MBE 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.
The announcement today by NCC
“For people who cannot do that, and their waste cannot be stored without causing a risk of injury, health or harm to themselves and or their family we have chosen six sites to reopen. The first sites which will reopen provide the best balance of location to provide coverage across the county, on-site space to allow social distancing and ease of access to allow off-site queueing – minimising disruption on the county’s roads.
“As we start to consider steps for coming out of lockdown, I ask that people remain patient and remind them that whilst a limited number of recycling centres are reopening, they should only visit the sites if absolutely necessary.”
“If the queues are lengthy at the sites when they reopen, we may have to ask residents to come back later if those queues are dangerous. We would ask people to be patient – we understand how some properties may have great difficulty storing waste during the lockdown and thank people for their patience and understanding.”
The Council is continuing to work closely with the Waste Collection Authorities at the district and borough councils to ensure that residents continue to receive effective kerbside waste services.
No matter how strong our relationships are, right now is a testing time for them, writes Gedling-based counsellor Elaine Bond.
We are in unknown territory and so are our relationships. Some of us are still having to leave the house as key workers, some of us are working from home, some of us are furloughed and some of us were at home before but now have other people in our space all day.
It is inevitable that we are going to argue and disagree with each other, and these disagreements will feel twice as bad as there is now a feeling of no escape. In fact, the tiniest issues will feel magnified as we cannot walk away from them and we are trapped together.
If our relationships had issues before lockdown, this period now will test us and bring those issues to the surface. We are living in a “pressure cooker” and we can start to regress in our behaviour and so our interaction becomes stunted with each other too.
So, what do we need to do to ease the tension?
The biggest thing affecting us all in lockdown in boredom. Therapists often look at this as repressed anger, which explains why it makes us snappy, irritable, or depressed. Now, is a great time for us to try something new, such as cook something different, watch new things on Netflix or even something random picked blindly, camp in the garden and spend time apart.
Taking time away from our partners is important, Running or walking alone, contacting people and chatting to them without our partners, having a long bath or gardening alone can help here.
PICTURED: Gedling counsellor Elaine Bond
Laughter can be the best medicine, and finding things to laugh at with our partners is a great start, even if that is at the ridiculousness of the situation, we find ourselves in. Sharing jokes, memes and good comedies which allow ourselves to laugh at the ridiculous situation we find ourselves in right now can lighten the mood a lot.
An attitude of gratitude can help us to get along better. If we can find the positives in our partners, by letting them know what they do that we really like and take some time to remind ourselves why we fell in love with them in the first place.
If we are in lockdown with a new partner, maybe sooner than we would have made that decision normally, then we are on a voyage of discovery. This is the time we need to set those boundaries for our relationship. It may feel slightly awkward, but now is the time to have conversations about what we like and what irritates us and create a routine. Housework and finance can be the biggest issues in relationships so the sooner we have those conversations the better and, of course, keeping date nights going as we get to know each other even more.
Some of us may find we are in lockdown with a new partner and their friends, perhaps in flat or house share. We can struggle to make this work especially if we are in a new relationship, as they may be great on a night out, but not necessarily 24/7. We need to create the routine we need with time and space away from the others in the house. We need to have time alone with our partners and then hopefully the time spent in shared spaces is easier.
“An attitude of gratitude can help us to get along better. If we can find the positives in our partners, by letting them know what they do that we really like and take some time to remind ourselves why we fell in love with them in the first place.”
We could even be in lockdown with our in-laws, which is something we have not experienced before., Maybe holidays and breaks with them had been good, but this again is a 24/7 situation. This is the time we need to aware of our boundaries and make them clear. Communication is key for us here too, as the more we are clear about what is acceptable, and the need for space, the easier it will be. Also, setting up rotas with housework and agreeing finances here is key to getting on with our in-laws.
But I guess the most difficult person for us to be in lockdown with is our ex. This has the potential to be a really emotionally charged period for us and one of the easiest things to do is create boundaries. Boundaries that are physical as we work with our ex to create their space and our space and emotionally when we decide how we will communicate during this period. We need to remember that this is not forever and when this is over our lives can change to the way we want them to.
Overall, the two things we need to have in lockdown is empathy and compassion for each other. All of us are anxious, stressed and frustrated by what is happening to us. Empathy is about putting ourselves in your partners shoes and looking at what is happening to them, and compassion means being able to forgive things that don’t matter in our relationships.
Of course, this applies to ourselves if we are snappy or sad and being able to offer ourselves some empathy to say I feel bad today, I need a duvet day, and the compassion to let ourselves take the duvet day and not beat ourselves up is essential right now. These are essential for us all the time not just in lockdown.
Shoppers in Gedling borough are being warned of a voucher scam in circulation on social media.
The scam offers recipients £250 in vouchers for Aldi, in exchange for their personal details.
The fake vouchers have appeared on various social platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and, in some cases, via email.
Those who have received it have been told they can claim £250 vouchers for free by following a special link to an Aldi webpage.
Recipients are informed they can get a “free Aldi coupon” but visiting the page and entering their personal details.
But the supermarket giant, Aldi, who have stores in Mapperley and Daybrook, have said they are not running any voucher promotion.
The voucher is a scam, says retail giant Aldi
What should I do if I receive it?
The vouchers being offered in the message are fraudulent. Aldi has confirmed that it is not currently running a £250 coupon promotion.
Shoppers who have received a message about the vouchers have been warned not to share their information.
How can I protect myself from scams?
Action Fraud recommends being wary of any messages that:
Are unsolicited and supposedly come from a reputable organisation, such as a bank or credit card company
Encourage you urgently to visit a website or call a number to verify or update your details
Request your personal information such as username, password or bank account
If you do receive a suspicious message you should not reply to it, and be cautious about clicking on any links that may be embedded, or calling a number that may be provided.
If you have responded to a message that you suspect to be a scam and gave your bank account details, you should contact your bank immediately.
To report a scam, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or report it online.
Police arrested a man and recovered a stolen motorbike after it was tracked to an address in Arnold.
Officers attended a property on Coppice Road yesterday afternoon (May 9) in relation to a report of three motorbikes being stolen from a Derbyshire business on 30 April 2020.
One of the bikes was found in the back garden of the address.
A short time later officers arrested a 33-year-old man at a property on Kingsthorpe Close in Mapperley on suspicion of burglary in connection with the incident.
