Midlands Energy Summit 1/12/2022

Whilst this is nothing directly to do with our Neighbourhood Area, some of us attended the Midlands Energy Summit arranged by the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce.

It consisted of a series of presentations and some workshops but was also a way of meeting people who were interested in Energy in its broadest sense. We attended because of the Aspiration in the Neighbourhood Plan for the area to be “Energy Positive” and to see if there were any people who could help us realise that dream.

The presenters were from:

Nottingham University
“How the University is building a sustainable future in unprecedented times”, describing their projects and possible funding for “Green grants for business growth”.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
“The National Picture – Markets evolution and the whole energy system”, describing how the government is pushing for a decarbonised power system by 2035 (which requires investment of £400Bn) and its continued commitment for a net zero economy by 2050.

East Midlands Freeport
Describing how the Freeport is pushing for new & innovative jobs and businesses as it evolves.

The Energy Research Accelerator
Which looked at the activities within the Midlands Engine area, how we compare with other regions in the UK and what they are doing to push forward, changing the balance of our energy generation (e.g. the Nuclear Fusion pilot at West Burton), how the number of Electric Vehicles is being promoted, the Trent Basin local energy network, and HyDEX (Hydrogen generation) including H2GV a bid to create a pilot project of Hydrogen refueling stations on the M1 and 75 Hydrogen fuelled HGVs.

Consultus
“Energy Market Outlook”. A presentation showing how the various issues have affected the European market for energy and what that means for the UK.

REA
How the Global Energy crisis is affecting the UK’s Energy Security and Net Zero Ambitions. How the UK can get to both of these objectives and what the Government is doing to help and hinder these objectives (did you know that on a world scale, 73% of greenhouse gasses are cause by energy (industry, transport, aviation, residential & commercial))

Nottingham University
Energy Institute. How research at the University of Nottingham is helping to drive forward innovative ways of improving energy efficiency in a range of ways.

CENEX
How this research organisation is helping to deliver Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies

This is just a brief synopsis of what was said the full slidesets are available here and here. They are big files and you might need to download them to be able to see them properly

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Devolution Have Your Say

This bulletin was sent by Notts County Council and contains a link to a presentation to be given on the 7th December.

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKNOTTSCC/bulletins/338418b

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Independent Examination – Post Hearing Update

We have updated the Plan page of the website following receipt earlier this week of the Examiner’s Post Hearing Note. The Forum also submitted an additional document (at the Examiner’s request) relating to Local Greenspace Designation that was referred to during discussions at the public hearing. These are also available via Broxtowe’s Page on our Neighbourhood Forum along with all the other Examination and Regulation 16 documents.

The note contains the Examiner’s initial thoughts following the public hearing held on 10th November. She is “satisfied that substantive modification is needed” before she “shall be able to recommend that the Plan can proceed” to local referendum, and she intends “to give further guidance on necessary modifications to specific policies and sections of the Plan to the Forum in due course”. We thought that this would be the likely outcome from the hearing due to a) policy changes at national level (in particular the Integrated Rail Plan announcement); and b) at a local level the development of the Toton & Chetwynd Barracks Strategic Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SM-SPD) since the Neighbourhood Plan was submitted, initially in June 2020 and then an updated version in November 2021 as outlined and explained on the Plan page as linked above.

In relation to the SM-SPD the Examiner’s view is that “the Neighbourhood Forum should aim to align with the SPD, even if the latter has had a shorter preparation period than the CTTCNP (2020 start compared with 2017) and has not yet been finalised”. 

Once we receive the Examiner’s final report and guidance on the necessary modifications, we will work with Broxtowe and other key stakeholders as quickly as possible to enable the Neighbourhood Plan to go forward to referendum, without any further undue delay.

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Trees to be Planted in Chetwynd Park

Preparing to Plant Trees & Shrubs

Back in May we posted about the fact that some trees had been felled in Chetwynd Park & nesting pigeons disturbed. We have recently become aware that, after consultation with local residents, Broxtowe Council are to plant trees and shrubs in the park, partly in memory of the late Queen’s Jubilee, but also because the local residents commented.

We believe the planting is to take place with local schools on Friday 25th November 2022 but have no detailed information. If you’re interested we suggest you contact Broxtowe Council.

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East Midlands Devolution

The Public Consultation for the East Midlands Devolution is open from now until 9th January 2023.

The proposal brings together the County and City Councils of Nottingham & Derby into a Combined County Authority that would work with the Local Authorities (in our case Broxtowe) on a range of topics including homes & infrastructure which are important to us as a Neighbourhood Forum.

It’s important that everybody reads and tries to understand what this means to them, and you can only expect your views to be heard if you make them.

Read the information and make your views known.

As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.

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Independent Examination – Brief Report

The Examination of the Neighbourhood Plan took place through Thursday 10th November from 10:00 am to 5:00pm. On the Plan page, you will find a link to the YouTube video that was livestreamed at the time.

The Examiner did an excellent job of controlling what was at times a fractious debate between the participants and concluded that the Neighbourhood Plan could not go to Referendum as currently drafted, which we thought would be highly likely. Her report will decide which of the other two options (either it can go forward with edits which she will suggest; or it needs to be completely rewritten) will be her recommendation.

The most active participants at the meeting were:

Organisations that represented landowners/developers whose comments ranged from: The need for “certainty in the Area” before their client could invest in development plans. Or whose requirement was for an “holistic approach” so that land which is presently designated green belt could be included in areas for development. Or who expressed a “lack of detail” within the Plan.

Broxtowe Council’s major concern seemed to centre around the fact that the Neighbourhood Plan Policies would “restrict developers flexibility to create the necessary development” by being “too precise”, particularly where green spaces/corridors should be provided.

On a number of occasions it was apparent that some of the concerns were caused by the fact that the Local Plan Part 2 has separate requirements for Chetwynd Barracks and the Strategic Location for Growth, something that was meant to be resolved by the Strategic Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SM-SPD) that Broxtowe had committed to publish following their consultation October 2021 to January 2022. We are still awaiting a changes/modifications document to be produced by the Borough Council detailing the changes made since the consultation version (Oct 2021 version) and the September 2022 version, before it can be adopted by the Council. We believe that there is likely to be a further need for amendment to/review of it, having spotted a number of errors/issues even without a detailed comparison of the two documents. However, a complete changes history will allow a more thorough and transparent process (& possibly further consultation) before the SM-SPD can be finalised and adopted.

Whatever the outcome of the Examiner’s Report, there will be more work to do before the Neighbourhood Plan can be adopted!

As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.

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Independent Examination – Hearing Update

We understand that Broxtowe hope to livestream the Independent Examination Hearing tomorrow from 10am until it closes at around 5pm via their YouTube channel (as per their Council meetings). It is not absolutely guranteed, but that is what they are intending to be able to do.

If so, it will provide an opportunity to watch rather than attend the Council chamber in the Council offices at Foster Avenue, if that is what you would rather do. Of course we would like to see people in person in the public seating area as well! As a reminder there is no right for members of the public to speak or ask questions during the hearing. Observation only I’m afraid!

You should be able to find the channel by opening YouTube (via web or app) and searching for Broxtowe Borough Council.

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Independent Examination – Pre-Hearing Statements

The Forum Steering Group has submitted a statement to the Independent Examiner, along with six other participant organisations, ahead of the public hearing to be held on 10th November, in compliance with the Examiner’s requirements.

All the statements are available via a link from our Plan page, or directly from Broxtowe’s Page on our Neighbourhood Forum along with further details about the hearing itself, as per our previous ‘Latest News’ posts.

As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.

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Government Committed to 300,000 Homes Target

The Government remains committed to its target of 300,000 homes a year despite “difficulties”.

See this article in the Independent and watch on BBC iPlayer (starting about 20 minutes in). Some of the difficulties would be overcome using Modern Methods of Construction.

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Biodiversity Net Gain: Beeston Civic Society Winter Talk – 14th December 19:00

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) has rapidly become part of every day planning vernacular. On the 14th December 2022 at 19:00 Nick Sanderson a member of our Environmental Group is giving a talk to the Beeston Civic Society hoping to provide a baseline understanding of what this really means in practice and what we can look for in the future. 

To book your slot follow this link to eventbright https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/winter-talk-december-2022-tickets-451803044067

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