The first trees that will form part of a new community woodland have been planted on Carlton Hill to mark the official launch of the project.
The scheme has been launched by the Carlton Hill Community Action Group and its volunteers were joined by park rangers from Gedling Borough Council and Councillor Alex Scroggie who all put the first trees into the ground.
Val Green is a member of the Carlton Hill Community Action Group and helped plant the first trees.
PICTURED: Park rangers plant the first trees that will make up part of the new community woodland on Carlton Hill
She told Gedling Eye: “We planted three native trees – a Cherry, a Hornbeam and a Beech. In the Autumn we will be inviting local individuals and groups to help us plant more trees and hedgerows during National Tree Week.
“Plans for the Carlton Hill Community Woodland are being formulated over the coming months, with one idea being to make this a memorial woodland where local residents can dedicate a tree to a loved one.”
The local community are being invited to have their say on the idea or come up with suggestions for how the woodland can be used via Carlton Hill Community Action Group’s social channels.
A group of Netherfield residents are calling on the local community to help them raise £1.5m to build a new community hub in the town.
Members of the Netherfield Forum want to purchase the Netherfield Medical Centre on Forester Street when the GPs move into a new purpose-built building on Ashwell Street later this year.
They then hope to knock down the current building, which was constructed especially to house a doctors’ surgery, and build a new community hub for young people and families.
The new centre would replace the Netherfield Loco on Victoria Road.
PICTURED: The Loco Centre
The team has so far raised £30k, and hope to hit their first target of £230k that would allow them to buy the medical centre.
The rest of the funds would be spent on demolishing the existing site and constructing the new hub.
Tina Simpson is the treasurer of the Netherfield Forum and is leading the funding drive.
Mrs Simpson said: “We want to build a centre to fit the needs for children, young people, families and all our community which has utilities to suit the ever-changing needs of the times we live in. “
“The brand new multi-functional Children’s, Young Persons’ and Families’ Centre would be situated adjacent to St George’s, Netherfield. It would offer all the clubs and activities currently at Loco, and also many more in the future.”
Mrs Simpson added: “We have a vision and determination to make a difference for those who live in the area. Our children our our future, we want to inspire, give hope and show you can achieve with a Let’s do it and we can do attitude. “
A scheme that reduces the amount of council tax paid by the most vulnerable people in Gedling borough looks set to continue in 2020/21.
Councillors have approved continuation of a Council Tax Scheme that protects the borough’s working age families on low incomes from being landed with a bill they are unlikely to be able to pay.
The local Council Tax Reduction Scheme, which replaced the previously nationally funded Council Tax Benefits Scheme, gives councils the powers to award between 80% and 100% reduction in Council Tax to working age families who are on low incomes. Government required councils to protect pensioners in their local schemes but did not give working age families the same protection.
Gedling Borough Council adopted a full 100% scheme back in 2013, despite funding from the Government having been reduced year on year until it cut funding entirely in 2019/20. The continuation of Gedling Borough Council’s local scheme prevents thousands of working age families across Gedling from being landed with an additional Council Tax bill.
Gedling Borough Council is now one of a few councils in the country who continue to provide a full scheme that protects working age families, as well as pensioners, despite the council becoming the worst affected council in England because of government funding cuts.
Latest official Government figures show the council has seen a reduction of 21.3% in its core spending power since 2015 ranking it at 359th out of 359 councils in England.
Deputy Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor Michael Payne said:
“Our local Council Tax Reduction Scheme protects well over 3,500 families in the borough from being landed with an unexpected bill as a result of cuts and reforms by central government. The Government rightly chose to protect pensioners when they introduced changes to Council Tax benefits back in 2012 but they decided not to give the same full protection to working age families. Gedling Borough Council decided to protect working age families and pensioners and I’m proud we’ve decided this protection will continue as we move into the eighth year of this scheme.
Gedling Borough Council is officially the worst affected council in England in terms of reduction in its core spending power since 2015 as a result of central Government cuts but we’re determined to do all we can to protect working age families from being landed with additional large bills at a time when they’re already having to deal with rising living costs.’
A resident in Arnold has taken to social media and mocked a council after they carried out what he described as ‘truly awful’ repair work to a street blighted by potholes.
James Street was recently resurfaced and repaired by Nottinghamshire County Council, but their efforts weren’t appreciated by one resident who quickly slammed their efforts on Twitter.
In a tweet over the weekend @Russiankareoke wrote: “Congratulations on the truly awful job done resurfacing James Street in Arnold’ and posted a photo of the job.
He had attributed the work to Gedling Borough Council, but they were quick to point out that the work had been carried out by their county counterparts who are responsible for all roads in Notts.
A spokesman for their Highways Departments said: “The carriageway has been micro surfaced, which is a protective seal coat which extends the life of pavement.
“It is a thin, tough layer of asphalt emulsion blended with finely crushed stone for traction.
“This is a cost-effective method to renew the road surface and seal minor cracks and other irregularities.”
Pupils in Arnold today got to climb aboard a retired bus recently donated by a city transport firm that will soon get a new lease of life as a learning space at their school.
The bus, which is arrived yesterday (February 24) at Coppice Farm Primary School, was a former training vehicle for Nottingham City Transport and will soon be transformed into a classroom.
The transport firm donated the bus following a twitter appeal from the school’s deputy head teacher Donna Quarless.
She told Gedling Eye: “It all started back in May 2019 when I saw a tweet by a school in the south of England celebrating the arrival of their double decker library bus. I commented saying that my school would love to have a bus and tagged in Nottingham City Transport (NCT).
“Adam from NCT then messaged me back and I explained a bus would give us some desperately needed extra space – and what a brilliant, exciting classroom it would be.
“Amazingly, in September Adam then got back in touch with the amazing news that a fleet of training buses were being ‘retired’ and asked if we wanted one! We were delighted.”
A pupil puts the donated bus through its paces (IMAGE: Coppice Farm)
Since then lots of work has taken place between staff at the school and NCT preparing the bus for its arrival yesterday.
The school are now busily fundraising to help pay for its conversion.
Donna said: “We have now received a very generous donation to our bus fund by the grandparents of two of our pupils and today ERF Electricals and Stirland Paterson have come on board to provide all electrics, furnishings, floorings and signs. Cris Brawn, a brilliant set designer at Nottingham Arts Theatre has also offered his services – it’s all systems go!
She added: “It’s such an exciting project and the bus is going to make such a massive impact on our learning here at Coppice Farm.”
NCT marketing manager Anthony Carver-Smith said: “Following a record breaking year of investment, with 77 brand new buses entering service with Nottingham City Transport in 2019, we had a small number of buses to donate to the local communities we serve.
“After one of our bendy buses was transformed in to a school library in Chilwell a couple of years ago, donating one to Coppice Farm Primary School for another exciting school project was an obvious choice, particularly as the bus was used to teach bus drivers how to drive and will now have a new life teaching young people in Arnold.”
Police officers have launched a new operation to crackdown on shop thefts at a crime hotspot in Netherfield.
Officers will be carrying out regular patrols to reduce the number of shop thefts at Victoria Retail Park.
Working with partners at Gedling Borough Council and retailers, Operation Quartz aims to quickly identify offenders on the site and look to disrupt their efforts.
PICTURED: Victoria Retail Park
The operation is being carried out by the Gedling South Neighbourhood Policing Team.
A combination of uniformed and plain clothes officers are currently conducting patrols around the retail park to target criminals operating in the area.
Sgt Ebbins from Gedling South Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “Shop thefts remain a policing priority for the Gedling area and we will continue to work with our partners to stop offenders operating on our patch”.
Police are becoming increasingly concerned for a missing man from Carlton.
Simon Wilson, 52, was reported missing from the Carlton area on Tuesday (25) at 9am.
PICTURED: Simon Wilson
Simon is described as average build, 6ft 2 tall and bold. He has a really short grey beard. Simon was last seen wearing a black baseball cap with red writing, a dark blue fleece jacket and dark blue tracksuit bottoms.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: “If you have seen Simon or know where he might be, please call us on 999, quoting incident number 359 of 25/02/2020. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111”
Morrisons in Netherfield has now brought an end to the sale of caged eggs, as it goes full free-range across its store.
This latest commitment from the supermarket giant will mean all eggs sold in store will come from hens that have outdoor access for at least eight hours each day, as well as nest boxes with wide perches and spaces for scratching and dust bathing.
Morrisons is also continuing to work on ensuring that 100% of eggs used as ingredients in products are cage free by 2025.
The supermarket in Victoria Retail Park also announced they will be dropping the price of a pack of six free range eggs from 80p to 75p to make them even more affordable.
Morrisons sells over 10 million eggs a week nationally, with two million previously coming from caged hens.
Morrisons has a store in Netherfield
Robert Hofmann, Morrisons egg buyer, said:“Improving animal welfare is very important to customers and it’s very important to us. We source our eggs directly from farms and have worked hard to help them all move to free range.
“From today, all our eggs will come from free-range hens that are able to roam freely outdoors – typically during daylight hours – and then return to nest boxes in the evening.”
Dr Tracey Jones, director of Food Business at Compassion in World Farming, said:“It’s great to see Morrisons achieving their commitment to be 100% free range on shell eggs ahead of their 2022 target.
“Momentum on ending the use of cages for laying hens is growing and Morrisons are leading the way. Importantly, they also have a 2025 cage-free commitment on the eggs that go into processed and ingredient foods.”
People are being urged to have their say on the plans which include a new two-storey building with permanent small business units and a revamped market.
A consultation on the ideas and
concepts will begin on Monday and the council is urging residents to have their
say and help shape the future of the market.
The market will receive the most
significant investment it has ever had with up to £4 million allocated to the
project as part of the council’s plan to revitalise the centre and create a new
space that will help boost visitors to the town centre and support local
businesses.
The proposals include the construction of a new landmark building,
between the existing Methodist Church and King George V Park. A two-storey
building will frame the new market place as well as create a new eastern
gateway into Arnold Town Centre. A new public space will be created as a
central focal point for the Market. The new building will provide seven small
outlets for local independent businesses with flexible space above, which could
be used for a variety of commercial options.
PICTURED: Artist’s impression of new-look Arnold Market
Funding for this project will come from
the council’s capital programme budget, boosted by a successful bid for £1.25
million from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership’s Local Growth Fund that
supports town centre improvements. The project will create around 40 new jobs
through business employment and through the construction of the new buildings.
There will be several public consultation events taking place around Arnold. The first will take place on Friday, February 28 at the Market on Front Street, Arnold from 10am – 2pm. The public will be able to view the designs and talk to Council Officers and Councillors about the plans.
There will also be consultation events
at Arnold Methodist Church and at the Gedling Business Partnership Forum. Local
stallholders and businesses will be invited to attend specific consultation
events, focused on how the changes will affect them and how they can have an
input into the plans.
The council has hired Maber Architects,
who specialise in landscape and master planning services, to design the initial
concepts and they are working with Architect students from Nottingham Trent
University to help bring the ideas to life.
Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke said: “We are very excited to share these ambitious ideas for Arnold Market Place. The market and the town centre will benefit from the biggest investment it has ever received and we want residents and businesses to be involved from the outset, which is why we have opened this consultation period.
We want to create a place that will
encourage new, exciting business opportunities whilst making sure the essence
of the market, which has stood there for over 50 years, is not lost. We made a
promise to our residents that we would invest in Arnold Town Centre and the
Market and you can see from these plans, that we are keeping that promise.
We will make sure residents and
businesses are involved every step of the way but, we also want to reassure
them that we will be moving quickly to get work started. It’s a very exciting
moment for Arnold and for the council, we hope residents will be pleased with
the ideas and designs and we really want them to have their say during the
consultation period.”
Two councillors yesterday mucked in to help dig residents in Burton Joyce out of their properties after they became blocked in by thick mud.
The elderly residents on Nottingham Road were left trapped by the sludge which had collected outside their properties following the recent floods.
Councillors Sam Smith and Michael Adams quickly sprung into action to help prevent a repeat of an incident where the same residents had been reportedly left housebound for 10 days when mud gathered during floods back in November.
Cllr Sam Smith gets stick in with mud removal work (IMAGE: Twitter @TrentValleyCllr)PICTURED” Councillor Michael Adams helps clear mud on Nottingham Road (IMAGE: Twitter @TrentValleyCllr)
The councillors for Trent Valley were joined by Gedling Borough Council teams who also took part in the clear-up operation on Nottingham Road.
Councillor Smith said: “We’ve been helping clear elderly residents drives on Nottingham Road which have been blocked by thick mud left from the floods.
“These residents were housebound for 10 days when this happened in November and we didn’t want that to happen again.
