The Forum Digest: Aug 29

Hello again,

I was hoping to have a little more substantive news to report this week, but this edition again comprises a series of tidbits. A reflection, I guess, of how really quiet things become during July and August.

1. Looking forward to new Focus Groups.

  • The SG, however, keep on keeping on even during the holiday period. A key output from our Strategy workshops held earlier this month was the setting up some Focus Groups. The details of these Groups are still being refined but will be ready to be published in the next digest.
  • However, what I can report now is that we have settled on four Focus Groups, each of which will take the lead on delivering core elements of our Plan:
    • Environment: responsible for (amongst other things) the delivery of new designated green spaces and applications for additional Tree Preservation Orders TPOs).
    • Infrastructure: responsible for (as well as other things) producing new active travel routes via a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).
    • Housing: responsible for assessing housing needs (size and mix of dwellings) and tenures (ownership vs rented) and ideal locations in our Area
    • Sense of Place / Sustainability: responsible for assessing how best to generate a sense of place – a sort of village centre – for the Barracks. It will also look at how best to encourage sustainable energy-efficient solutions for new buildings – both residential and commercial.
  • More on this in the next edition, but in the meantime please consider if you’d like to become involved in these Groups. We don’t have enough members on the SG to properly resource them, so if you’d like to get involved and help to ‘shape the future’ of our Area, please step forward and let us know.

2. Meeting room news

  • Returning to the Broxtowe Borough Council masterplanning workshops I reported on last time, there are two further bits of news:
    • The Leader of the Council, Milan Radulovic, attended the last meeting and made a point of complimenting the Forum and the work we did to produce the Plan. He asked to join a future SG meeting so he could meet the whole team. We will of course be following up on this and look forward to having further discussions with Milan.
    • Another masterplanning workshop by the Council is getting underway – this one has the sole focus on the environment. We have been in regular contact with Greg Marshall, the leader of the workshop, and he assures us the Forum will play a full part in their deliberations. The workshop is due to produce a report next spring.
  • Our two chairmen, Richard and Ian (of the Neighbourhood Forum and CIC respectively) were pleased to welcome the new Notts County Council Director of Investment and Growth, Matthew Neill, to Toton. Matthew has recently taken up the post at County Hall and he came over to meet us and to be shown around our Area – in particular the Sidings, the land either side of Stapleford Lane and the top end of the Barracks. It’s always good to meet senior officers at County Hall as it helps demonstrate our commitment to influence future development in a way that benefits our community. Matthew was impressed by the scale of the area being developed and we look forward to collaborating with him and his team going forward.
  • We are still working to set up a meeting with the new Interim Head of Planning at Broxtowe Borough Council. We are keen to discuss with him our proposal for a Neighbourhood Development Order and we hope to obtain Council support for the idea. The delay to the meeting is down to holiday clashes and we are confident we’ll meet up in the next week or two.
  • Richard and Ian will be attending, virtually, the Strategic Planning Group (SPG) taking place next Friday 4th Sept. We hope to learn more about the progress of the masterplan for our Area – from the Sidings to the Barracks. We are keen to see if the objectives from our Plan that we presented to Arup (the consultants producing the masterplan) a couple of months ago have been taken on board and will be reflected in their latest version.

3. And finally…

  • A couple of ‘out-of’Area’ snippets you may be interested in:
    • A new power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Here is an article from the Nottingham Post, published a couple of weeks ago now, that reports on a £330 million proposal (plans have been submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council) to build a ‘super-incinerator’ on the site of the current coal-powered power station.
    • You may be interested in this from Notts Wildlife Trust.  We are all concerned to protect and enhance the environment & wildlife in it, so Nottinghamshire badgers need our help and we’re asked to take action!

And that’s all for this week folks. Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend and… see you next time.

Kind regards
Graham

CTTC Neighbourhood Plan. Copies are available from this page on our website.

Broxtowe Lotto: tickets available from our CTTC Forum page where you’ll also find details of the scheme

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