Nottingham Local News » Borough Council

TRIBUTES FOR COUNCILLOR SMITH

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 16:40:20 +0000

Local councillor Wally Smith passed away in hospital on Tuesday 26th April. Wally was chairman of Radcliffe Parish Council and also served on Rushcliffe Borough Council. He was chairman of its development control committee.
An article on the Radcliffe Parish Council website said: “Wally had been a parish councillor since 1976. He had two spells as chairman and had also been chairman of the finance and general purposes committee. He came from the Carlton area of Nottingham, was married to Jean and has a son and a daughter.
“He took a great interest in the village and his work for the parish council was immense.”
Clerk Mike Elliott said: “He supported the office staff at all times and always provided a shoulder to lean on if we needed help or advice.
“It was his slogan that the council adopted last year – ‘if we don’t know the answer we may know someone who does’ – and that really summed
up Wally.
“If we asked him a question and he didn’t know the answer, he was usually able to find it for us.”
Councillor Gordon Moore, chairman of the Parish Council’s finance and general purposes committee and a colleague of Wally at Rushcliffe Borough Council, said that for 20 years he had played an important role at the Borough and his input into work there would be sorely missed.

ALL NEW CONTACT CENTRE FOR RUSHCLIFFE

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:23:29 +0000

Rushcliffe Borough Council has united forces with the police and the result is the Rushcliffe Community Contact Centre, which opened its doors for business last month. The Council’s
customer services centre at the Civic Centre closed on Friday 1 April.
The new centre is on the corner of Rectory Road and Bridgford Road, home of West Bridgford Police Station.
Customers can get help with council tax and benefits, licensing and planning, report a problem or learn more about recycling and energy efficiency. You can report crimes or lost property, tell them about antisocial behaviour or get crime prevention advice.
A spokesperson said: “The centre is in the heart of West Bridgford and our plan is to eventually offer even more services.
“The public sector has to save money, share resources and be efficient and effective and this is one of our joint approaches.
“The centre will be open longer too – Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm and Saturday from 10am to 4pm for face-to-face customers and from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday for telephone enquiries. But we’ll still use the same number 0115 981 9911 and the same email address customerservices@rushcliffe.gov.uk.”

FOUR-YEAR PLAN FOR BOROUGH COUNCIL

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:52:34 +0000

“Controlled, confident and comprehensive”, that’s how Rushcliffe Borough Council describe their approach to having to save nearly a quarter of its budget over the next four years. Rushcliffe Borough Council has to meet a £2.8 million budget shortfall, looping £1.1 million off in the next year. The tough times ahead are a result of the fall-out from a much-reduced Government grant settlement. The Borough Council’s cabinet discussed this comprehensive budget-saving four-year plan at its meeting last month.
Rushcliffe’s four-year plan outlines how the Council will plug the funding gap. Over the past three months the Council has been consulting with residents of all ages, its councillors and staff in order to inform the four-year plan. The Council has already scrutinised budgets and found £560,000 efficiency savings.
A statement on the Council’s website said: “While these savings have been tough to find, they will not noticeably affect frontline services. However, the Cabinet also made recommendations to find another £457,900 this year – among which was the tough call to charge for green bin collections. This year’s budget saving Cabinet recommendations have to be ratified by full Council in March.
“The three main thrusts of managing the tough times, making the difficult decisions and plugging the gap will be – cutting costs, increasing income and doing things differently. Doing it differently could take many forms – letting others provide the service, sharing it with the public or private sectors, letting a social enterprise or a co-operative run it or letting staff take charge.”

COUNCIL PUBLISHES REDUNDANCY INFORMATION

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:50:27 +0000

Nottinghamshire County Council has published details of redundancy payments confirmed so far for the year 2010/11, as part of its wider budget proposals. The first phase of voluntary redundancies to help address the budget reductions has been initiated. As part of the first wave the Council has fulfilled its commitment to reduce significantly the number of managers and management tiers throughout the Council in order to become more efficient, less bureaucratic and to bring the people running the services closer to the people who receive them. This phase of redundancies will savethe Council £13.8m in wage costs every year from now on. To meet the cost of redundancy the Council will incur a one off cost of £10.9m in the current financial year on redundancy payments for 433 people, this will be met from Council budget under-spends, reserves and balances.
The redundancy costs in this first wave are higher than the average because of the number of senior and middle managers that are leaving the organisation at the end of March and the number of staff with long service who are taking voluntary redundancy.
Chief Executive, Mick Burrows, told The Local News: “All responsible organisations, public or private sector, who are seeking to reduce their workforce face one-off redundancy costs and budget accordingly.
“The payments reflect the person’s salary and their number of years service, all our payments are in line the Council’s agreed redundancy policy and conditions. There are no golden handshakes or additional payments.
“The Council is committed to reducing management and running costs in order to ensure better value for money public services.
“Unfortunately we know the scale of the changes we have to make will inevitably result in further voluntary and where necessary compulsory redundancies, we are doing everything possible to protect services.”

HOST A ROYAL PARTY

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:45:36 +0000

Nottinghamshire residents have until Thursday 31st March to register with the County Council the street parties they plan to hold to celebrate the royal wedding. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will take place on Friday 29th April at Westminster Abbey.
Nottinghamshire County Councillor, Richard Jackson, told The Local News: “The Council fully understands that people may want to hold street parties to mark this very special royal event and we wanted to give them as much reasonable time as possible to notify us of their plans.
“This gives us an opportunity to ensure that the roads and footpaths will be adequate to host a street party and that the necessary traffic signs and diversion routes will be in place on the day.
“We will be working with our neighbouring councils and other organisations such as the police, fire and rescue, and local hospitals to make celebrations as stress free as possible for everyone.”
People interested in holding a street party can register their street party online at www3.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/travelling/eventsonpublicroads or contact the highways area office on 0115 878 6050 (south area of Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Gedling) or via 01623 520739 (north area of Ashfield, Mansfield, Bassetlaw and Newark and Sherwood)

DETAILS PUBLISHED FOR FIRST STREET LIGHTING PROJECT

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:43:13 +0000

Nottinghamshire County Council has published the first detailed proposals for its street lighting project to save over £1m a year and cut carbon emissions and light pollution. Proposals for each light in East Markham, Hoveringham, Scarrington, Hockerton and Flintham are being sent to the relevant parish and district councils and the emergency services for their comments.
They have also been published online, via nottinghamshire.gov.uk and residents in these areas have until Friday 11th February to comment on specific lights.
Comments will then be analysed to see if the proposals should be amended and work should start on the lights a few weeks later. In these villages, the work will only take a few days.
The work is starting in five areas that have already expressed an interest in the scheme before moving on to Misterton and Bingham. The project should be complete across the county by 2014.
Councillor Richard Jackson said: Through our ‘Big Budget Conversation’, many Nottinghamshire residents have welcomed this project and several parish councils had already expressed an interest in having lights altered.”
More info at nottinghamshire.gov.uk/streetlightingenergysaving.

BRIDGFORD MAY LOSE ITS FIRE STATION

admin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:56:08 +0000

West Bridgford may lose its fire station following Government cuts, which could see the closure of four in the county. The county’s fire budget is set to be cut by £3m over the next two years and the number of engines will be cut from 36 to 30.
Rod Jones, Liberal Democrat councillor for Musters Ward, told The Local News: “The proposed closure of the West Bridgford Fire Station is a serious concern for local residents. There are doubts about whether it really reduces costs and about public safety.
“Many questions need answering. In a time of budget cuts – how can it be right to close an existing fire station and build two new ones? The plan is for two new fire stations to be built – one over the bridge on London Road and another on the road out towards Clifton?
“How will this save money? Given the additional housing and business units which will be constructed in and around West Bridgford and Cotgrave and with Nottingham Airport’s plans – is it really sensible to close West Bridgford Fire Station?
“The existing fire station gives good access to accidents on the A52 and A60 amongst other major routes. How can these proposals provide good coverage to West Bridgford and the surrounding areas of Rushcliffe?
“The West Bridgford public should be given more information about the Fire Service proposals rather than fearing the worst. Do we want our service taken away without convincing information? I hope that the Fire Authority engage the public.”

RUSHCLIFFE BOROUGH COUNCIL BANS PUBLIC QUESTIONS AT COUNCIL MEETINGS

admin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:33:27 +0000

At its meeting on Thursday 16th December 2010, the Conservative-controlled Rushcliffe Borough Council voted to reject a proposal that members of the public could put questions to councillors at meetings of the full council. The proposal was to run a special trial that would last 12 months.
This decision was despite a recommendation from a scrutiny committee, that Rushcliffe should fall into line with most other councils in the East Midlands, where this democratic connection was already established.
Cabinet members felt that there was already an adequate means of putting questions via councillors, and that any facility for public questions could attract politically-motivated or mischievous contributions.
Opposition members at the meeting expressed their regret at this apparent move away from public consultation.
Sam Boote, Liberal Democrat member for North Keyworth, told The Local News: “The council already had a good reputation for involving residents in direct democracy via programmes such as the Big Picture.
“It should not be afraid of further measures to get the public even more involved in council decision-making.
“This decision was a retrograde step, which put Rushcliffe at odds with progress being made in most other councils.”

TESCO FAILS TO GET PLANNING PERMISSION IN KEYWORTH

admin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:46:55 +0000

Tesco has been refused planning permission by Rushcliffe Borough Council to build a new supermarket on the Wright’s Garage site on Selby Lane in Keyworth.

North Keyworth councillor, Sam Boote, told The Local News: “There were three main reasons for refusal.

“The building would have been totally out of keeping with its surroundings. There was no way that it could have fitted in with the local street-scene and with the varied collection of homes and other buildings in Selby Lane, and it would have impacted badly on nearby residents.

“There would have been serious problems with pedestrian safety, traffic congestion and parking at the store and in nearby streets and finally, local shops would have suffered a devastating blow to their businesses as the newcomer used its vast financial power to poach their customers.

“The Council’s refusal of planning permission is a great victory for local campaigners in what might be only the first round in a long battle. Over 250 residents came to a public meeting and voiced their loud disapproval of Tesco’s plans. Tesco did not want to negotiate or to modify their proposal to deal with our concerns.”

Not all of Keyworth is happy with the decision though with one local resident, Mr R. Foster, saying: “Myself, along with lots of other OAPs who live in the village have not been given the opportunity to vote one way or the other.

“Most of the people I know support the Tesco store in the village. Some of the people who were opposed to the store showed their mentality by sticking posters all over the village, which had to be removed by the council at our expense.

“The people who purchased houses on Selby Lane have no complaints about lorry and traffic noise. It would be no worse than Wright’s buses and the busy garage.”

COLLIERY PLANNING APPLICATION

admin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:26:21 +0000

Rushcliffe Borough Council has resolved to grant planning permission for 470 homes, plus land for employment use and open space on the former Cotgrave Colliery site. This will be subject to conditions and contributions towards local infrastructure including education, leisure, transport and the country park. The final decision on this application will be made by the Government Office for the East Midlands and, the Council expects to find out their decision in the next few weeks.

Councillor Neil Clarke, Rushcliffe Borough Council’s leader, said: “We’re supporting this development after much careful consideration. We’re confident that Cotgrave will gain enormous economic benefits and opportunities as a result of redeveloping this brownfield site.”

“We will ensure the new housing complements plans we are working on to regenerate Cotgrave town centre to bring new shops, jobs and prosperity to the whole expanded community.

“This development is made possible thanks to good working relationships and a lot of hard work by many partners – emda, the Homes and Communities Agency, Notts County Council and Cotgrave Town Council.”