Final Call for the Forum AGM – Thursday 7th October 2021 at 7pm via Zoom
The deadline to both Register to attend, and Vote for the motions on the Agenda, has been extended to the end of this Sunday 3rd October.
Its your last chance to Register & Vote at our 2021 Annual General Meeting. If you haven’t already Registered and Voted, click on the image & follow the link to Register, read our Agenda and Vote. We’ll send out instructions on how to join soon.
Broxtowe is undertaking a Community Governance Review which may make changes to Governance at a Parish Level.
Broxtowe propose, in line with the agreement made between Toton and Stapleford Parishes, that the Boundary between Toton and Stapleford should be along the A52 (as is currently the case for administrative purposes). Stapleford Town Council are proposing that the boundary should follow the old Parish Boundary which was changed by the Parishes in February 2020.
We disagree with this proposal because:
We ask you to email Broxtowe Council at CGR@BROXTOWE.GOV.UK making a representation that you agree with Broxtowe’s proposed boundary between Stapleford and Toton so that Toton extends up to the A52 and that the boundary between the Parishes of Stapleford and Toton, agreed in February 2020, is kept.
The deadline to respond is 30th September, so time is of the essence!
The boundaries proposed are shown below.
This is the response we sent:
This response is made on behalf of Chetwynd: The Toton & Chilwell Neighbourhood Forum:-
The Forum supports Broxtowe’s stated position for the boundary between Stapleford and Toton and the Forum Area to remain along the A52 (as is currently the case), and which is the same as the parish boundary between Stapleford & Toton parishes as stated in the Pastoral Order from the Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham that came into effect in February 2020 (attached).
The Forum is aware that Stapleford Town Council has voted to propose that the boundary should follow the old Parish Boundary which was changed as above & attached.
We fundamentally disagree with this proposal because:-
1. The layout of the developments in that area is not defined and the result could be that streets/homes are arbitrarily divided between Toton & Stapleford;
2. As stated in the agreement between the Parishes, “the developments would be seen primarily as extensions of Toton rather than Stapleford”;
3. Stapleford Town Council’s proposal would introduce an “isolated area” of Stapleford, cut off by the A52 and introduces unnecessary divisions within the developments in the Strategic Location for Growth.
4. The A52 makes an obvious line of demarcation between Toton & Stapleford, which is the status quo for sensible reasons.
Finally, unlike Broxtowe, Stapleford Town Council didn’t have the courtesy/decency to inform community groups & others affected by their proposals ahead of the meeting where they reached their unsatisfactory conclusion. This we find to be particularly disappointing, discourteous and underhanded! There appears to have been no thought given as to the impact their proposal would have (if accepted by Broxtowe) on adjacent and established Neighbourhood Forums.
I make no excuse for reminding everybody again about the AGM on the 7th October. If you haven’t already registered please do so.
If you have Registered, PLEASE VOTE
We’ll send the details for the Zoom Meeting later. The deadline to both register & vote is 30th September. We hope, and would like, to see as many of you as possible at the AGM.
See you then
Mark
Hopefully you’ve registered for the AGM. If not Register Now
When you’ve Registered, read the Agenda and supporting Documents
Then VOTE by the 30th September
We’ll send you details of how to join to listen to our guest speaker nearer the time.
The Neighbourhood Forum will have a stall at the Broxtowe Green Festival. Come along and talk to us.
Click on the Picture to find out more.
The Forum is pleased to announce that Richard Carr, Managing Director of the East Midlands Development Company will be our guest speaker. Book your seat to register for the AGM and listen to what he has to say.
Thanks to those who have already registered, but if you haven’t yet then complete this form to Register and confirm your Forum Membership by 30th September, plus volunteer to be a member of the Steering Group by 16th September.
Vist our AGM page for more information and the updated Agenda.
Complete this form to Register, confirm your Forum Membership & volunteer to be a member of the Steering Group.
As promised in last week’s Digest, here is the formal
Notice of the Forum AGM – Thursday 7th October 2021 at 7pm via Zoom
Please see the website AGM Page for details. We will add more information in the coming weeks to the AGM page.
As you will be aware, this is the first time the Forum has held the AGM by Zoom. There will be updates on what we have been doing, and we need formal approval by the membership for a number of items on the agenda. We also hope to have a guest speaker, but this is still to be confirmed on the agenda which you can access with this link AGM agenda Oct21.
One of the issues to be considered is whether to extend the life of the Forum for another five years (a brief explanation is given at the bottom of the agenda).
Click the link to complete the online AGM Registration Form in advance, plus there is an opportunity to volunteer to be a member of the Steering Group using this form. A separate voting form will be made available later (see below) which will include the option to raise any questions you may have.
Please register for the AGM by completing the Registration Form by 30th September. After which, you will be sent details of how to join the meeting. The same form can be used to volunteer to be a member of the Steering Group. The deadline to receive your nomination for the Steering Group is 16th September. Once we have the names of volunteers, we will issue the separate Voting Form (for full Forum members) to be returned by 30th September to ensure votes are counted ahead of the AGM.
Before volunteering for the Steering Group, please read these documents – the Forum Constitution, the updated Steering Group Roles definitions and Ways of Working.
Membership of the Forum is open to residents 16 years or over, or who work, in the Broxtowe Borough Council wards of Chilwell West and Toton & Chilwell Meadows (The Forum Area).
If you are not already a member and are eligible to do so, then please join us and become a member by emailing assist.cttcnf@gmail.com with your full name, address and postcode, or write to us at our address on the website. Junior members under 16 are also welcome.
Only full members are allowed to vote at General Meetings or stand for the Steering Group, but non-members (‘Friends’) and junior members are welcome to attend and observe the AGM.
The minutes of the last AGM held in 2019 are here 2019 AGM Minutes DRAFT. Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions we were unable to hold an AGM in 2020, so there is quite a lot to catch up on, and the annual reports for 2019 & 2020 will be available soon on the website. In the past year we have all become familiar with using Zoom or similar video calling/conferencing for work and/or keeping in touch with family, so we are fairly certain that you are all used to it by now, and can bear to attend one more meeting (for about an hour)! So, please do add the date above to your diaries and calendars.
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.
David, Vice Chair
Just a couple of quick updates this week:-
Infrastructure Focus Group
One of the papers recently mentioned by Ian in a previous Digest (3rd July) is now available to view/download with this link Making cycling a viable option for accessing Toton Area Development from within a 5-mile radius. Please do have a read, it is worthwhile.
A Date For Your Diaries
Following on from our post on 31st July, the date for the Forum AGM is now set as Thursday 7th October at 7pm and will this year be held via Zoom for the first time! As you can imagine it has taken quite a bit of organising for us to do it this way, but we are nearly there! We are just finalising the nitty gritty and aiming to publish the agenda, registration process and formal notice next week. We hope to have an invited guest speaker, and once confirmed the agenda will be ready to share with you all.
In the meantime, please add the date above to your diaries and calendars. The AGM is scheduled to last just over the hour, but please bear with us if it takes a little longer using the technology!
We all know that these type of meetings can be a fairly dry affair (which is why we hope to have an invited speaker), but it is necessary that we share important information with you in a formal way, and as required by the Forum Constitution. It also provides our members with the opportunity to raise any Forum related issues with the current Steering Group. Without you, its members, the Forum wouldn’t exist so please do make every effort to attend the AGM as there will be some important items of business requiring formal approval by the membership, not least electing the new Steering Group for the coming year.
If you would like to put yourself forward to volunteer as a member of the Steering Group, there will be an opportunity to do so using the AGM registration form available next week. If you would like to consider this, as well as the Constitution (above), please also take some time to read the updated Steering Group Roles definitions and the Ways of Working.
Forum Membership
We have noticed that some of you receiving our posts & Digests are not on the Forum membership list. This is not an issue in itself, but if you would like to become a full member of the Forum please email your full name, address and postcode to assist.cttcnf@gmail.com. The criteria for full membership are anyone aged 16 years or over and who is either a resident or works in the two Broxtowe Borough wards of Chilwell West or Toton & Chilwell Meadows (The Forum Area). Junior members under 16 are also welcome. Everyone else will continue to be a ‘Friend’ of the Forum. Only full members are allowed to vote at General Meetings or stand for the Steering Group.
Rest assured that everyone registered to receive our posts & Digests will continue to do so irrespective of membership status.
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.
David, Vice Chair
Community Masterplanning
Back in June in his Chairman’s Forum Update, Richard mentioned that we had received grant funding to extend the masterplanning work contained in the draft Neighbourhood Plan. The grant has been provided to the Forum by Locality and Groundwork UK to initiate the work needed to create a Neighbourhood Development Order (NDO) covering Chetwynd Barracks and those parts of the Toton Strategic Location for Growth that are now described as Toton East & Toton South in the Strategic Masterplan – Supplementary Planning Document (SM-SPD) which is being developed by Notts County Council, Broxtowe and EMDevCo.
The funding received is over £40,000 (a significant sum!) for this initial work. As the Forum is not incorporated, the grant is held by our Community Interest Company (CIC) acting as the accountable body on our behalf. Both parties have had to ensure due diligence with processes in place to provide an audit trail for the money spent, as this is essentially public money provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG).
We are now in a position to let you, our members, know that we have appointed & contracted Kefa Design as the consultants for this masterplanning work, and that the work is underway. So exciting times ahead! Some of you may remember that Kefa Design previously provided the high-level masterplan designs for us in the draft Neighbourhood Plan, and with that prior knowledge of our Area, they can now take that further and provide a more detailed masterplan guided by the Forum’s policies, aspirations and guidelines set out in the draft Neighbourhood Plan i.e. to put ‘more meat on the bone’ so to speak.
Clearly there is a lot going on in our Area currently, and the various masterplanning exercises may seem confusing, but we will try and provide as much clarity as we can as things progress. There will be a series of consultations and public engagement exercises on all these in the coming months. As well as the formal and official methods of communicating these, we will also let you know via the Forum digest. In addition to the Forum response to each of these, we encourage all members of the Forum to provide their own individual responses to ensure the community as a whole has its say on what we all know will be significant development in our Area, whether or not HS2 comes to Toton. These are both exciting and daunting times for us all, but if we want to shape the future of Toton & Chilwell for the benefit of the existing and future community, as well as the generations to come, we need to ensure our collective and individual voices are heard loud and clear. The coming Forum AGM will provide an opportunity to engage or re-engage with these developments. More on this in the coming weeks.
More information about NDOs can be found here under Further Reading at the bottom of the web page.
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.
David, Vice Chair
