Chairman’s Update 3rd July 2021

Posted on 03/07/2021 by CTTCDavid

A brief update this time as we had the chance to meet the new Managing Director, Richard Carr, of the East Midlands Development Company (EMDevCo) www.emdevco.co.uk on Thursday 1st July. The purpose of the meeting was for us to introduce the Neighbourhood Forum, our Plan, vision and aspirations for the future of the Area. It was great to spend time with Richard and Ken Harrison (Project Director, EMDevCo) and walk the site, explain our thoughts and discuss how we could bring to life a number of the aspirations that we have set out in the draft Plan that has been submitted.

I was joined by Ian Ward (our Community Interest Company Chairman). We both felt that it was a productive first meeting and the discussion held had been productive and encouraging as to how we all want to see the site come forward, and the long term vision for pre, during and post development for the integration of our existing community into the new future community.

We hope to continue this productive start and have offered the community’s assistance in what will be a significant impact on all of our lives, and one that needs to be managed sensitively and productively so that we can all continue with our current busy lives while the future community grows around us, and then for us to be able to enjoy the new location when it is completed.

If anyone has any questions please do not hesitate to ask via the Contact Us page and we will do our best to provide an answer on the Questions and Answers page. Please do take a look at the link to the EMDevCo website above to see how they are setting out the way forward.

Please also remember to review and comment on the draft Strategic Planning Document that has been released (which we commented on in the Digest three weeks ago) as we need as much community input as we can get to ensure that our future community is one that we can all enjoy living in. The SPD is available through our Consultations page.

Picture from left to right: Richard Hutchinson (Chair – Neighbourhood Forum), Richard Carr (Managing Director – East Midlands Development Company), Ian Ward (Chair – Community Interest Company)

Richard Hutchinson
Chairman, Chetwynd – The Toton and Chilwell Neighbourhood Forum

Posted in Latest News | Leave a comment

Chetwynd Community Interest Company

Posted on 15/06/2021 by Mark T

Chairman’s Update June 2021

Why we have a CIC

The Chetwynd, Toton and Chilwell Community Interest Company Ltd (CIC) exists to build on the excellent Neighbourhood Plan and help develop commercial activities for the benefit of the community. Practically right now, we are the commercial arm of the Neighbourhood forum. As such we are facilitating grants and holding funds that perpetuate the Forum’s activities, delivering our vision for quality development for our community. 

Although its early days, there is already the firm foundation of a compelling business plan, that sets out our ambition of the development of our area over the coming years. These include housing, environment custodianship and other activities including the stewardship of key facilities and amenities. In the mean time, we are building our capabilities and resources to ensure we are both a serious and professional CIC that builds partnerships and works collaboratively with all stakeholders over the coming years.

For more information, please contact Ian Ward at  ian.chetwynd.cic@gmail.com or use our contact us page

Ian Ward 
Chair
Chetwynd CIC

Posted in CIC_Bulletin, Latest News | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Chairman’s Forum Update June 12th 2021

Posted on 12/06/2021 by Mark T

Hi everyone

I hope that we are all enjoying the sunshine and the new found social freedoms that we are all adjusting to in these continued strange times.

We have been busy to say the least…..The last two weeks have been focused on a number of review meetings and discussions around the Strategic Planning document (SPD) which is a framework to set out the plan for the future of the development of the area. We have had a number of robust discussions and meetings and as a member of the Strategic Planning group we have been involved in  all aspects of this proposed draft document. That document went forward to the Jobs and Economy committee at Broxtowe Borough Council on Thursday evening and was approved as a draft framework for further consultation and is now a public document for review and comment before the formal consultation period that will start in the Autumn of 2021. The document is available through our Consultations Page and I would encourage all members of the community to take a read of the document and please do come back to the forum with any initial comments. We are also as a steering group and the focus groups reviewing all aspects of this framework to see that it lines up with the Neighbourhood Plan and the aspirations we have for our community moving forward into the future and all comments and suggestions would be helpful before we get to the formal consultation.

We are planning to meet with the new Managing Director of the EM Development Corporation, Mr Richard Carr, as he takes his new position. We will be walking around the site with him in the coming weeks to explain the community thoughts and approach to the vision that has been laid out over the last 4 years and is now written into the Neighbourhood Plan. This is again another important step to ensure that we enhance the overall community in the future while embracing all of the ideas being tabled around the innovation hub and east midlands interchange.

The forum teams have been extremely busy over the last number of months with the focus groups continuing to define the proposals for the delivery of the Neighbourhood Plan. We have also been busy working with the borough council on the plan and work for the adoption of the plan in the coming months and more importantly when we will be in a position to advise you of the Referendum to enable its adoption, we will keep you all posted on this.

The team have also been very busy working through the grant funding for the Forum to put more work into the development of the Community masterplan, incorporating all aspects of the area, including Chetwynd barracks and the Strategic Land for Growth. This will enable us to visualise the policies as laid out in the plan. I am in position to advise that we have now been approved for the funding and funds have been deposited with our Community Interest Company for use in the development of the plan.

I hope you find this information in the digest of some use and please do reach out to the team and myself with any questions or observations you have. We continue to try our best to represent the whole community and my thanks go to all of you for your continued support and also to the team of volunteers that continue to push the boundaries and drive the Neighbourhood Plan to adoption and delivery.

Best Regards

Richard Hutchinson

Chair – Neighbourhood Form

Posted in Chetwynd Barracks, Latest News, Neighbourhood Plan, Steering Group | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Forum Digest 25th April 2021

Posted on 24/04/2021 by CTTCDavid

Neighbourhood Plan Latest Update

In the 21st March edition of the Digest I said that we expected to see a draft of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Scoping Report from AECOM in early April. Well, we did receive it just before our Steering Group meeting the week before last. There were a few minor tweaks and the updated report has now been sent to the statutory consultees (Natural England, Historic England, and The Environment Agency) for them to review over the next five weeks. This means we are still pretty much on track with the Roadmap timetable towards Plan adoption.

The Scoping Report has “scoped in” Biodiversity, Historic Environment, Landscape, Population & Housing, and Transportation to be included in the final Environmental Report; and “scoped out” Air Quality, Climate Change & Flood Risk, Waste, Minerals, Land & Soil & Water Resources, and Health & Wellbeing. Once we have this final report (the main outcome from the SEA process), we’ll share it with you.

The SEA we have been asked/required to undertake is to assess the impact of the Forum Plan policies and where they may be in conflict with any of Broxtowe’s Local Plan Part 2 policies. Therefore, the elements that have been “scoped out” of the report are those where our policies are least likely to impact on, or conflict with, policies in the Local Plan. The current statutory consultation will confirm whether the elements scoped in and out are correct, before AECOM proceed to complete the final report for us.

As always, we will keep you updated and informed via the Digest and the Plan page of the website. Please do feel free to ask any questions you may have via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them on our new Questions and Answers page (see below).

David, SG Vice Chair

Questions and Answers

As part of our efforts to keep the Forum Membership actively involved in the process of Neighbourhood Planning, we have added a “Questions & Answers” page to our website. Ask us questions about the plans for the Neighbourhood Area and we will do our best to answer them.

The page is here

Mark, SG Website/Communications Officer

Posted in Latest News | Leave a comment

Future of our Town Centres

Posted on 24/04/2021 by Steve B

Hello again,

I attended an online video link presented by industry experts on the future of our town centres. I thought it prudent and timely to relay some of the highlights. To keep you informed and ourselves up to speed with the latest development ideas.

Clearly, the last year has had quite a devastating effect on the high street and hospitality venues of all types. The main subject of the video was how the high street and workplace can recover given the obvious increased reliance on online shopping, and the fact many workers have been working from home for extended periods. Obviously some of the shopping chains were in decline before the pandemic, and lack of customers through the doors spelt their premature demise.

So solutions were discussed. This included the re-purposing of former shops and offices; hybrid landscapes where employees work different work patterns between home and workplace. An advantage here is more support for local shops, hospitality and food outlets near the place of work. So location, particularly with what we have gone through, has become an important consideration. Office space is still important to attract talent, but companies need to be more inventive in their approach. Using the space in different ways and in a more collaborative way. It is anticipated that local town centres will gain in importance as it is they that have made progress in finding ways to support local communities over the last year or so. In the main cities, larger shops may change business models by offering both online and in-shop experiences.

Modern shopping has changed over the years where people shop more as a leisure activity, and include dining out as part of the experience. This is anticipated to continue and shop owners need to rethink in some cases how they will operate post Covid.

Flexibility in building uses has new legislation to make it easier for owners to maximise the potential of their buildings, and put them to different purposes and utilise development opportunities for both shops and homes. This can be seen already in Nottingham in the new developments we see going up.

Other key points: Developers need to ensure the places are where people want to be, both to live and to work. Green spaces are seen as important, especially in built up areas, and even more so now. In a lot of designs this is being considered before the actual buildings. Places where people can escape from their office and homes for a while. Flexibility is seen as key to all developments.

With all these considerations, it is pertinent as a group, that we ensure our Neighbourhood Plan includes the majority of these features, which actually we think it does. However, it still needs your influence to ensure we include what you want to see. So as you know, we are looking to create a plaza in the centre of our development. We would like to hear your suggestions for what kind of shops and hospitality you would like to see included. We are also looking to include office space, but again your ideas would be appreciated and we want to ensure the Plan is inclusive for all our residents both current and in the future.

Please take time to consider what you would like to see and let us know your ideas. They will be most appreciated, and if you have any thoughts on any matters in our development plans, we’d like to hear from you. Thank you in anticipation.

Steve and the Community Development Focus Group

Posted in FGCommunity, Latest News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Forum Digest 4th April 2021

Posted on 03/04/2021 by CTTCDavid

Happy Easter everyone. This is just a short update so as not to take up too much of your valuable leisure time this long bank holiday weekend, even if the weather isn’t forecast to be as good as it might have been! Typical bank holiday weather I’m afraid.

Anyway moving on swiftly, last time I promised to share the Steering Group’s response to the Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan Consultation. Here it is GNSP Consultation Response so at least you can see our thoughts on the wider strategy and in relation to our Area. How much we’ve been able to influence policy, only time will tell.

That’s it from me this time. You can now get back to enjoying the remainder of your long weekend break.

David, SG Vice Chair

Posted in Latest News | Leave a comment

Achieving Community Power Revolution Webinar

Posted on 20/03/2021 by CTTC Forum

One of the Aspirations included in our Neighbourhood Plan is to be “Energy Positive”. By including green power generation, storage and distribution as part of the design of the neighbourhood and building energy efficient homes, our aspiration is that the Area should be able to generate more power than it consumes, with an Energy Service Company directing profits back to the community.

We recognise that this probably can’t be achieved on the scale of new housing to be built in the area but nonetheless, Aspirations are meant to be challenging targets, not simple to achieve.

As part of this aspiration some of us attended a Webinar by an organisation who believe that the structure of the UK’s energy market prevents Local Communities setting up their own power generation companies which they believe would accelerate the development of local power generators and speed up the green revolution.

The webinar was recorded and is available to view here. We would encourage you to watch the webinar and make up your own mind whether you think the Local Electricity Bill is something you should support as an individual.

Posted in FGCommunity, FGEnvironment, FGInfrastructure | Leave a comment

Focus Group Community Development: Modular Housing

Posted on 20/03/2021 by Steve B

Our recent Focus Group meeting involved the group participating in questions set by our Modular Build expert Yann. They covered a whole range topics based on our Neighbourhood Plan site and housing ideas including: housing types, affordable housing, care and over 55 accommodation amongst others. There were questions asking what styles were were looking to produce from traditional through to ultra modern, however behind each style was the same basic build process.

The objective now we have completed the questionnaire is that Yann will produce a suite of house designs based on our answers so we can select what we think will fit our vision within the Neighbourhood Plan. Our ambition is to put these ideas out to the greater Forum for you to have your say, so watch this space for further updates.

As a group we firmly believe the Modular or the very least Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) is the way forward. The fact that modular is far more sustainable and energy efficient should be reason enough to support. Add the fact our area is already behind its housing targets and modular can be built much more quickly and reliably to a higher standard is confirmation to us that we have the right approach supporting what is seen as an emerging industry.

A couple of us attended an on line seminar on the latest updates on modular build that was very interesting. Follow this link to see the presentation.

If you have any question on this subject or ideas, please do not hesitate to get in touch as we want you to be involved as it is our future we are planning for.

Best Regards,

The Community Development Focus Group

Posted in FGCommunity, Latest News | Leave a comment

Forum Digest 21st March 2021

Posted on 20/03/2021 by CTTCDavid

Neighbourhood Plan Progress Update

The second stage of the Strategic Enviromnmental Asssessment (SEA) process is well underway – this is the Scoping Report. The Steering Group (SG) can expect to see a draft of this from AECOM in early April to review, prior to the statutory consultation with Natural England, Historic England, and The Environment Agency. More on this as things progress.

You may remember last time that I said the Planning Team at Broxtowe would assist us by producing a Roadmap (with indicative timescales) from where we are now through to the local referendum to adopt the Plan. Well as good as their word, we received it shortly afterwards. If you wish you can view it here Roadmap.

They have taken a cautious approach in drawing it up, to take into account ‘uncertainties’ in relation to the length of time that the SEA and Independent Examination could take. It’s possible that 2 – 3 months could be saved if these elements take a significantly shorter time. The Roadmap will be able to be updated after each stage as we make the journey towards the referendum. It also highlights some of the most significant uncertainties and elements of the process which are outside of both the Borough Council’s and Forum’s control!

As always, we will keep you updated and informed via the Digest and via the Plan page of the website. Please do feel free to ask any questions you may have via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them!

New Forum Address

Following the loss of the office at Oban House at the end of last year, we have been trying to find an ‘accomodation’ address to comply with legal requirements. Although we no longer need an office to work from, we do need to have a physical address. Last time I alluded that we had asked our colleagues at the council for a big favour. The outcome of which is that we now have a correspondence address at the Council Offices in Beeston. We are not expecting masses of post, but if you do need to write to us, other than by email or online, then the address should now appear at the bottom of each Digest (fingers crossed!) and also on the Contact Us page of the website. Another big thank you to Broxtowe for agreeing to this as a solution to our problem.

Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan Consultation

Just a reminder that if you are intending to submit any comments to this consultation, then the deadline is this coming Wednesday 24th March. The Steering Group is currently finalising its response, so unfortunately we can’t share it in time for you to adapt for your own responses, but we will do so after the event so you can see our thoughts. It’s quite a lengthy consultation, hence it has taken some time to pull the response together! If you are intending to comment on it then you can find the information on the GNSP Consultation website. Essentially it is a review of the Aligned Core Strategy or Part 1 of the Local Plan which was adopted in 2014 and now due for review.

David, SG Vice Chair

Posted in Latest News | Leave a comment

Green Initiatives latest news

Posted on 06/03/2021 by Steve B

As a follow on our latest post where we advised on two schemes to support homeowners, the “Green Deal” and the “Renewable Heat Incentive it has come to our attention that a new local scheme has been made available and it is aimed specifically for those on a lower income.

Headline – Nottingham Energy Launch Nottinghamshire Green Homes Grant

Local climate change charity, Nottingham Energy Partnership (NEP), has joined forces with Nottinghamshire County Council and E.ON to launch the Green Homes Grant Nottinghamshire. Eligible residents can now access low-carbon heating systems such as air source heat pumps and solar power to generate hot water and electricity. Solid wall, cavity wall and loft insulation measures, which have the quickest and biggest impact on energy conservation, are also covered in the grant. The scheme offers smaller measures such as replacement doors and smart heating heating controls for your new system too.

To meet eligibility criteria for these free measures, residents must:

  • Be a Nottinghamshire homeowner;
  • Have a combined gross household income of under £30k; and
  • have an Energy Performance Certificate of D,E,F or G.

To register your interest for the Green Homes Grant project, apply at www.nottenergy.com/green-homes-grant-notts or call them on 0115 9472207

As you will note this is a local scheme as opposed to the two Government Schemes relayed previously.

The reason for making you aware of these schemes is it is these types of green solutions we as a group are looking to promote for any future homes that are built and associated in our Neighbourhood Plan. There will be more on this in the ensuing months.

Best Regards,

The Community Development Focus Group

To see more posts on Green Energy go here

Posted in FGCommunity, Green Energy | Leave a comment