Hi everyone
Here’s the latest weekly digest, a mixture of new topics, a couple of updates and a preview of forthcoming meetings.
- Assessing sites in our Area
- The big changes facing us over the next 10/20 years centre around, naturally enough, the sale of the Barracks and the advent of HS2. Both are big projects in their own right; made even bigger given their close proximity to each other.
- However we shouldn’t forget there are other significant parcels of land in the Area, such as the green belt land that stretches north of the tram terminus to Bramcote
- As a Forum we need to include details of all land holdings in our Neighbourhood Plan along with our assessment on how they should (or shouldn’t) be developed. This links to our application to Locality for help to identify & assess the sites selected by the council for development, as reported a couple of weeks ago.
- The starting point is to find our who the significant landowners are in our Area. So we’re applying to the Land Registry to get their details. Once we have the information, we’ll ask to meet them to discuss their own thoughts/ideas for the future.
- Forum display boards – coming to a library near you (hopefully)!
- Richard and myself met with Pam and the team at Toton Library during the week to discuss setting up a permanent Forum display board in the library. The idea is to post information and maps of the area and encourage residents to have a look and let us know their thoughts and ideas for the future of Toton and Chilwell.
- The meeting was positive and we are hopeful we’ll be able to get something sorted out in the next few weeks. We want to replicate the display at the Inham Nook Library on Barn Croft so everyone can readily take part.
- We also asked about using the Library in the evenings to hold Steering Group meetings. Again we are hopeful, as we know the Library Service is looking to make more use of their buildings for community events
- Chilwell Play Day
- The event last Monday went well. The stall had about a dozen people come along to ask questions and discuss possible changes to the area.
- Considering the prime purpose of the day was geared towards children playtime, we were pleased with the interest shown in the Forum.
- We are looking to attend other similar events/fetes in the area. So if you are aware of anything taking place locally, please get in touch.
- Peveril application: our submission has been submitted!
- We have sent in our response to the consultation relating to the request to build 253 homes at Toton Lane. The main points we made can be summarised as:
- overriding importance is to have a viable wildlife/green corridor on the southern boundary of the site: it needs to be a decent (50m) width.
- modify outline plans by relocating houses sited next to Cleve Ave
- access to the site by lorries must only take place between 09.00 – 15.00: i.e. not when children are walking to/from George Spencer
- lorries should only access the site from direction of A52/top of Toton Lane
- full details needed of plans to replace trees/hedges taken down in this phase
- Initial feedback from the council is encouraging. They have indicated they too have issues with the application (& agree with some of our points) and they will be asking for amendments to the application.
- Fingers crossed for a positive outcome, and, of course, we’ll keep you posted as things develop. Our full submission has been circulated to everyone who responded to our consultation exercise.
If anyone else would like a copy, please get in touch and I’ll send one out.
- Coming up in the next couple of weeks….
- We are meeting David Ralph, the CEO of D2N2 next week. We asked to meet with him to discuss how D2N2 may be able to support the Forum. We want to build a strong, ongoing relationship to ensure the Forum’s issues & aspirations relating to development around the HS2 station can be aligned and (ideally) incorporated in overall D2N2 objectives
- We held initial discussions with Nottingham University a while ago to see if students would be able to help the Forum with some of its activities. The response has been very favourable with the University saying they are keen to work with us. So, we will shortly hold detailed talks to flesh out how best some Masters level students can help. Initial thoughts are around design ideas for the HS2 area but this may change, so don’t hold me to this yet. Of course, as this develops, I’ll keep you updated.
Finally, don’t forget our Facebook site: if you haven’t already ‘liked’ us, please follow this link and sign up to receive information/updates. We are still working to revise our website and hope to have something ready in the next few weeks. [I know I said this last time, but please bear with us as we ramp up activities.]