Hello again,
It’s not often I sit down to provide the weekly update and wonder what to write. Normally we are working on 3 or 4 tasks at any particular time but, as you know, our current focus is the Plan. I know I’m starting to sound like a stuck record, so I can’t blame you if you are growing a ‘tad weary hearing about it. I clearly underestimated the time we needed, as a Steering Group, to properly review and refine the document. And it’s not over yet. Therefore, a condensed edition this week with some snippets and the frequency of these updates may be a little haphazard over the next few weeks.
1. So, both firstly and finally…..
- Plan’s Progress. I can’t not update you on progress with the review, can I? This week the Steering Group held another workshop where we covered off the vast majority of the draft policies. Plenty of new actions were sprayed around the Group – mostly, as before, to undertake further research strengthening the evidence we have. We will meet again in a couple of weeks for what we hope will be the final session – but I’m making no promises. We are wary of slipping into a mindset of the ‘never ending’ project where the document is constantly being refined (and then refined some more) without appreciable improvement. But we’re not at that stage yet!
- Land sale at Toton. Many thanks to David, one of our readers, for doing some further ‘googling’ on this item and providing this link to a map of the area for sale. It’s always nice to see precisely the extent of the land being sold.
- Toton Sidings article in the Financial Times. It’s amazing the useful snippets you can pick up from Twitter. I’m not sure if this is now behind a paywall or not – I can’t read it a 2nd time. But, if it does let you through, it is an interesting article of an interview with the County Council and Midlands Connect. The Forum is reported to be “cautiously backing” the scheme. Which is fine as far as it goes but it would have been nice if we had been invited along to give our ‘first hand’ views.
- Meetings update. No further news as yet on the putative meetings with either HS2 Ltd or the DIO. However, next Tuesday Richard and Ian are attending the latest Strategy Planning Group meeting – the County Council chaired group supporting the Toton Delivery Board. We are expecting an update on progress made in recruiting consultants to take forward various strand activities – the most important being (from our perspective) the overarching strategic masterplan for both Toton Lane site and the Barracks. We intend to play our part in developing this masterplan, not least to ensure the key infrastructure components we want to see in our Area (green corridors, new roads etc.) are factored into the design.
And that’s all for this week. As and when I have burning updates for you then, of course, I’ll publish a fresh edition. However, if I miss a week or 2, then you’ll know we’re still busy beavering away in the background to get the Plan ready for you. And when it is finally ready, rest assured you’ll be the first to know – there’ll be a huge fanfare with all klaxons blaring!
Kind regards
Graham
Broxtowe Lotto: tickets available from our CTTC Forum page where you’ll also find details of the scheme.