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Your local voice for Gedling borough since 2015
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Police investigating the discovery of a body following a car fire in Carlton say they are not treating the death as suspicious.
The man’s body was found inside the car after fire officers attended an incident in the Garden City area at around 2am yesterday (17).
A police spokesman added: “The man discovered has not yet been formally identified.
Campaigners from Gedling borough will be joining a nationwide march in London this weekend calling for a people’s vote on any Brexit deal.
People from the borough will be heading into Nottingham and boarding coaches early on Saturday morning to travel to London, to join thousands of others from all over the UK in what promises to be the biggest Brexit protest yet.
Susan Martin, one of the founding members of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire People’s Vote Group, said: “There’s been so much demand to go on the march that we’ve had to lay on extra transport and loads more people are making their own way there.
“It follows on from our campaigning in Nottinghamshire where we’ve noticed growing concern that Brexit is nothing like the rosy picture painted by the Leave campaign. That’s why we’re seeing huge support for a People’s Vote on the final deal.”
The march in London on Saturday begins at midday in Park Lane, finishing in Parliament Square.
The march is being to led by thousands of young people – students, apprentices and everyone starting out in life – who campaigners say ‘have too often been ignored’.
Young people from across the nations and regions of the UK will also be amongst the speakers. Others addressing the crowd include: Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan; Business leader Deborah Meaden; and TV host and cook, Delia Smith.
More than 100,000 people took part in the last People’s Vote march in June and organisers say Saturday’s demonstration promises to be bigger and better.
A council has been given the green light to buy land needed for the construction of the proposed Gedling Access Road (GAR).
Nottinghamshire County Council’s Policy Committee today (17) gave the go ahead to buy the two areas of land that form part of Glebe Farm on Lambley Lane in Gedling and Ranch Kennels on Whitworth Drive in Burton Joyce.
The GAR will be a 3.8km stretch of road linking the existing A612 Trent Valley Road/ Nottingham Road to Mapperley Plains (B684).
It has been designed to ease congestion in Gedling Village whilst providing safe access to the new Chase Farm housing estate on the former Gedling colliery site.
The GAR is being constructed by Nottinghamshire County Council and Via East Midlands in partnership with Homes England (HE), Gedling Borough Council and also Keepmoat Homes – the housing developer for the Chase Farm site, who are joint funding the new road.
Without the GAR in place, Keepmoat has said it would need to limit the number of houses it builds to 315.
As part of its funding agreement with NCC, HE is making £7m available to Nottinghamshire County Council to make land purchases, as needed.
The main construction works are expected to last 18 months and it is anticipated that the road will be completed and open to traffic before the end of 2020, based on a start date of summer 2019.
Advanced works, including diversions to some of the underground services, have already been completed. Other related construction work, to enable completion of the project, will continue to be carried out.
Nottinghamshire County Council leader, Kay Cutts said: “This is one of the major infrastructure projects that the county council is involved in and brings with it huge benefits for residents, new home owners, road users and businesses in the area.
“Today’s sign-off on these two permissions to purchase signals a further step forward for this scheme which will provide much-needed infrastructure required to meet future growth, making way for up to 1,050 new homes to be built whilst reducing congestion in Gedling Village.
Wherever possible, Nottinghamshire County Council is seeking to acquire the land needed for construction of the road by agreement.
“To leave acquisitions until the Compulsory Purchase Order is confirmed would potentially be more costly and time-consuming if objections were received,” added Cllr Cutts.
However, whilst plans have been carefully designed to minimise the amount of land needed, and use land which is already owned by the council or public sector partners, the road will need to cross 21 other plots – 14 of which are owned by private individuals.
The Council’s service director for investment and growth David Hughes said: “Legal processes are underway to acquire the essential land and rights needed to build the GAR, including making changes to side roads and other access points affected by the new road. These are known as a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and Side Roads Order (SRO).
“The Orders have been prepared and are being served on landowners and published later this month.
“The need for a CPO – as a last resort – was always expected given the number of private landowners involved. However, negotiations to buy the necessary land and property by agreement are ongoing, with terms either agreed or close to agreement for a number of key plots of land across the route.”
For further details on GAR go to www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/GAR.
Police are currently investigating an unexplained death in the Carlton area of Nottingham.
Officers were contacted by members of the the fire service just after 2am to reports of a vehicle fire in the Garden City area, in which a body was found inside.
A spokesman said: “Enquiries are ongoing to establish who the person is and how the incident happened.
“Anyone who witnessed anything in the area, or has any information is urged to contact Nottinghamshire Police”
You can contact police on 101, quoting incident number 37 of 17 October 2018, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Thousands flocked to a Hospice to bid farewell to a number of robin sculptures which had been dotted around Notts as part of the Hoodwinked trail.
More than three thousand people came to view the 35 sculptures for one last time at the Farewell to the Flock event in the beautiful grounds of Fernleigh House, home to Nottinghamshire Hospice before they go under the hammer this Thursday (16).
The robins were illuminated at night to create a magical atmosphere.
Nottinghamshire Hospice patient Lene Pearce switched on the lights at a VIP preview on Thursday evening with her daughter Lexi. This was the latest in a series of activities that Lene, who has motor neurone disease, has been doing to create memories with her daughter, including a trip to Disneyland Paris for Lexi’s birthday and a holiday in Australia.
Anita Harris, head of fundraising at Nottinghamshire Hospice said: “It was wonderful to see Lene and Lexi switch on the lights for such a special event. The whole weekend was a great success and I’d like to thank all the people who braved wind, rain and some sunshine to come out and support the hospice.”
The event, which saw weather conditions ranging from balmy blue skies and summer temperatures to high winds and persistent rain, raised more than £7,000 for Nottinghamshire Hospice.
Amanda Payne, who visited with her two year old son Jonah, said: “We’d only seen the odd few in town, my son was really excited to see them all here especially the spaceship rocket robin. It’s a beautiful setting and it’s great to see all the robins together in one place.”
Among those volunteering at the event was 12-year-old Sophia Brook, whose mother Janine Brook’s name is featured alongside well-known Nottingham names on the ‘What’s Notts’ robin, sponsored by BBC Radio Nottingham. Janine, who died last year of secondary breast cancer, raised funds for her own cancer treatment and donated thousands to various cancer charities.
Sophia said: “My mum would have been proud to know her name was on a robin and it’s great to see my mum’s robin again here today. I’ve enjoyed volunteering at the event.”
Next stop for the robins is the Grand Auction at St Mary’s Church on Thursday with TV auctioneer Charles Hanson. Online bidding has already begun with a reserve price of £3,000 per robin. Proceeds will go to help patients at Nottinghamshire Hospice, charity partner for Hoodwinked.
To book tickets for the auction go to https://www.nottshospice.org/events/hoodwinked-the-auction/ or phone the ticket hotline on 0115 9555856
To bid for a robin online go to: https://bid.charleshanson.com/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/3
Two fraudsters from Calverton have been jailed for a total of seven years after a Trading Standards investigation revealed they had scammed thousands of businesses out of a total of £220,000.
Jamie Watkins, 29, and Callum Clay, 30, both of Moor Lane, operated two businesses – Abbey Rowe Ltd and Hywood Consultants Ltd – which would cold call small businesses all over the country such as local convenience stores, cafes, hairdressers and nail bars, offering to reduce their business rates.
A Nottingham City Trading Standards investigation discovered how they then completed an online application to the Valuation Office Agency, the Government department responsible for business rates, to have the business rates reduced. This is a service which is completely free, but these two companies charged either £399 or £499 for this. The companies should then have followed this up by submitting information on behalf of their clients to the Valuation Office Agency to evidence their request for a reduction in the business rates.
They never did this and as a result no individuals received any reduction in their businesses rates. Instead the companies put their energies into chasing the people they had cold called for payment of their fee. They stood to gain £1.6 million from their illegal practices.
The pair were found guilty of fraud at Nottingham Crown Court and were sentenced to four years in jail for Watkins and three years in jail for Clay. Both were barred from becoming company directors for seven years.
Portfolio holder for Community Protection, Cllr Toby Neal, said: “We are very pleased that these two fraudsters have received sentences to fit the crimes they committed. They targeted small businesses across the country, a large percentage of which had owners whose first language was not English.
“They guaranteed to reduce business rates, saving the owner up to 25% off their rates. They merely filled out an online application form, which any member of the public could do themselves, after which they did nothing. They charged each business owner either £399 or £499, and aggressively chased the owners for payment. This activity netted them in the region of £220,000, with a potential gain of over £1.6 million.
“Our Trading Standards officers were commended by the Crown Court judge for carrying out an excellent investigation, which has resulted in these two criminals being jailed today.”
Head of Trading Standards Jane Bailey added: “This investigation has been extremely complex, with nearly 3,500 businesses involved. It has taken nearly three years to finally get the case to court, and the convictions of the perpetrators. We’re very pleased with this outcome.”
Police have issued CCTV footage following a burglary in Burton Joyce.
Officers investigating the burglary are keen to speak to the two men captured on camera.
A spokesman from Nottinghamshire Police said: “We were called to reports that two men had broken into a house at around 12.10pm on Monday, August 132018 but fled when an alarm sounded.”
If you recognise these men or have any information that could help, please police us on 101 quoting incident 337 of 13 August. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A stunning hat trick from Aaron Opoku helped Carlton Town to a 4-1 at Spalding Utd in the FA Trophy.
Opoku and Mamoke Akaunu were back in the Millers starting eleven after injury and the pair of them were simply too hot for the Tulips defence to handle. They were a constant threat all game and they bullied Spalding into submission.
Akaunu, whose season so far has been restricted to a few minutes in the opening-day win at Tadcaster was excellent throughout and Opoku clearly benefitted from his fellow-striker’s willingness to run at the Spalding defence and pull them all over the place.
Opoku and Akaunu replaced the injured pair of Ben Hutchinson and Aidan Austin from the team which lost to Sheffield last time out.
Playing with an extremely strong wind at their backs, Carlton should have been two ahead inside the opening five minutes. Akaunu was fouled on the right inside the first minutes and when Connor Bartle found the striker with his free kick, he played the ball into the near post where Oliver Clark tried to back-heel it into the net when a firmer strike would have sufficed.
Clark then fed Akaunu who ran into the area with Ellis Humble making a desperate tackle that almost put through his own goal before Michael Duggan made a decent save.
Clark then headed over the bar from just six yards from a Bartle corner as Carlton threatened to run riot.
Instead, it was the home side who took the lead on six minutes with their first attack. Luke White out-paced Kieran Walker before calmly picking his spot with an angled drive past Jack Steggles.
Back came Carlton and another excellent run by Akaunu led to Luke Smithson whipping in a cross that was missed by everyone.
The game then settled down for a period, with the sides looking evenly matched until just before the half hour. Duggan, no doubt due to the wind, completely missed a long throw from Bartle and could only look on as Humble diverted the ball into his own net. The goalkeeper was somewhat relieved when the referee awarded a foul on the goalkeeper that no-one in the ground could see.
Smithson then got himself into a good position in the right but his shot lacked power and was comfortably saved.
Carlton levelled on 35 minutes when Opoku got ahead of his marker to head home a delicious Smithson cross with a glancing header then went in via the post.
Opoku was then dragged down by Jack Fixter as Carlton again upped the pressure.
The Millers went ahead five minutes before half time. Akaunu ran onto a lofted through-ball. Duggan came out to clear but his clearance struck Fixter and rebounded towards goal. Akaunu kept his composure and his footing and steered the ball into the empty net.
Officers from trading standards have been visiting some of the borough’s businesses to spread the word on rogue traders as part of a blitz on doorstep crime.
The teams visited some of the borough’s larger taxi firms to raise awareness of doorstep crime as some recent reports involved rogue trader victims using private taxis to the bank or a cash machine for payment.
Trading standards will also write to smaller taxi firms in the area to encourage them to look out for potential incidents and report them, and larger builder’s merchants have had awareness visits as many doorstep crime incidents involve poor quality building work.
Trading Standards officers and Nottinghamshire Police also carried out high visibility patrols in areas where there have been recent reported incidents, which involved giving advice to traders and conducting vehicle checks.
Councillor John Handley, Vice-Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Communities and Place Committee, said: “We’ve already carried out a lot of work with banks to spot and report any suspicious behavior relating to doorstep crime and this week of action has built on this awareness raising.
“Taxi drivers, builder’s merchants and other traders can be our eyes and ears on this crime as many victims stay silent about their experiences, allowing these ruthless people to carry on with their misdemeanors.”
This activity was part of Operation Rogue Trader, a national multi-agency campaign coordinated by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) with Liberal, the Police National Intelligence Unit.
CTSI Lead Officer for Doorstep Crime, Tim Day, said: “Rogue traders and doorstep fraudsters prey on the most vulnerable in society. Working closely with the police and other agencies means we can intervene sooner and safeguard potential victims.”
“This campaign is a core part of a wider strategy to ensure trading standards and the police can work together so there’s no place for these kinds of criminals to hide.”
Activities during the week of action include executing warrants, identifying vehicles used by criminals through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), conducting intelligence-led patrols and raids, and educating members of the public and frequently-targeted groups before they can be scammed.
Residents can report a suspected rogue trader or an aggressive uninvited doorstep sellers by contacting the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 03454 040506.
Labour councillors have today revealed they will stop attending ‘secret’ meetings being held to discuss the future of Gedling Borough Council and other smaller authorities.
The Labour group said they feel the meetings, which are being held behind closed doors, are being used to ‘legitimize a flawed process designed to mislead the public’, and that the meetings were not ‘fair and open’.
But the Conservative leader of the council, Kay Cutts, said she was surprised by the decision, and that people in Nottinghamshire should not be ‘misled by claims that the current local government structure is sustainable’.
Nottinghamshire County County is currently working on a plan which would see Gedling Borough Council and six other district and borough councils, and the county council itself abolished, and one or two new councils set up to cover the entire county.
Supporters say it would streamline council services by reducing duplication, and could save £20 to £30 million a year.
But critics fear it would erode local decision making and accountability, and could cost a large amount to set up.
While the plans are being drawn up, the council set up meetings to keep councillors informed of the progress.
The BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service asked to report on the meetings – known as cross party working groups – but the request was denied.
Now, County Councillor Alan Rhodes, the leader of the Labour group on the county council, has withdrawn his party from the working groups.
He said: “I assumed when I accepted the invitation to take part, that the process would be fair and open, that we would be treated with respect and that our involvement would be a positive experience.
“Regrettably, it has become clear to me that any notion of serious cross party working in this instance is false. Councillor Kay Cutts, the Conservative leader of the county council has shown that she has no interest in considering any alternative options to her own plans to abolish all district and borough councils in the county and creating one council for the whole of Nottinghamshire.
“Her recent interviews with the press have been riddled with inaccurate comments, shown disrespect for the work of our district and borough council partners and undermined the integrity of the cross party working group.
“I believe that she is clearly attempting to achieve her own objectives through a campaign of fear, by wrongly suggesting that her way is the only way for the county council to avoid bankruptcy.
“In doing this she is deliberately misleading the public by omitting to say that any savings from devolution are several years away.
“Furthermore, the first phase of the consultation process – which the cross party working group had no influence on – is in our view unfairly biased in favour of a unitary council; with questions that appear designed to lead people in that direction.
“It is my belief therefore that by remaining within the Cross Party Working Group, Labour members will be legitimizing a flawed process which is designed to mislead the public of Nottinghamshire.
“I have therefore taken the decision to withdraw my members from this process with immediate effect’.
The leader of the council, Councillor Kay Cutts, said: “I am disappointed by Councillor Rhodes’ decision to withdraw from the working group meetings. The most recent scheduled meeting had to be postponed because he was on holiday and did not wish to send a substitute.
“I agreed that we would look for another date to suit his diary, so his decision today took me by surprise.”
“Our unitary authority proposals are a constructive plan to tackle the council’s £54 million budget gap without cutting popular services over the coming years, such as libraries and the Local Improvement Scheme.
“I don’t mind people disagreeing with that plan and arguing in favour of the current structure, but in that case they need to be honest with people about what their alternative plan is and what services they would cut.
“Labour has a history of opposing things without setting out an alternative. The onus is on them to show how they will save £54 million.
“It is nonsense for Councillor Rhodes to say I would not consider alternatives to one council for Nottinghamshire, because it’s already in the public domain that we are examining up to seven different options.
“This is not a campaign of fear but a campaign setting out the truth of the harsh reality of rising demand against falling income.
Cllr Cutts added: “I sincerely hope people will have their say by taking part in phase one of the FutureNotts consultation at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/futurenotts or by filling in a form at your local library.”
The next meeting of the cross party working group is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, November 14.
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