After last week’s ‘special’ edition we are back to catching up with more regular fare. However, it was great to see the response to last week’s digest both in ‘hits’ to our website (to pick up the attachments) along with the feedback comments to me. Many thanks for the comments and suggestions, please keep them coming.
- School trips past and future.
- We (Richard and myself) were glad to accept an invitation to Bispham Drive Junior School last Monday. It was great to meet Andrea, Ian and Victoria and hear about their plans and ambitions for the School.
- We, in turn, explained some emerging thoughts for schools in our Area and especially the impact of the possible relocation of George Spencer Academy (GSA) across Stapleford Lane, should HS2 go ahead.
- We agreed to stay in touch and, indeed, Richard received an invitation only yesterday from the Head of GSA to attend a meeting next Friday to present to a meeting of the ‘family’ of feeder schools to the Academy.
- It’s important for us to build these links with schools. After all, it is today’s children who will be most affected by the development of our area. We want the children to get involved in decisions about their future.
- Catch up time #1 Comms subgroup
- We met a couple of times recently to discuss how to improve communications with you and the wider community. A couple of priorities identified are:
- improve our website by giving it more contemporary look and feel
- automate posts from the website to our facebook page to reach a wider audience
- advertise ourselves – and future events – in local free magazines (Grapevine, Breeze etc) so we can attract even more members and supporters
- We hope you’ll see these improvements over the next few weeks but, when it comes to the website, we find ourselves are on a steepish learning curve!
- We met a couple of times recently to discuss how to improve communications with you and the wider community. A couple of priorities identified are:
- Catch up time #2 Steering Group meeting
- We spent a lot of time at our last meeting discussing plans for the new year:
- Jenny (RCAN consultant) came along and we talked about holding 3 community consultation events in each of our sub-areas (Chilwell, Chilwell Meadows, and Toton) next February.
- The main focus of these consultations will be to capture key issues for members and residents in each sub-area. We agreed to set the ball rolling by coming up with our own ideas as a ‘starter for 10’
- We went on to discuss the work we’ve been doing to gather the data and evidence we’ll need about core statistics such as road traffic volumes, school numbers, local organisations. We’ve made good progress in some areas but more needs to be done.
- The university students have finished their project and will be presenting the results to a number of us next Monday. Early reviews indicate that we can expect to see a range of fantastic ideas. Some may prove to be unrealistic or too ambitious but I’m sure there will also be lots of useful stuff to take away and think about. More on this next week.
- If you’d like to ‘follow’ the meetings of the SG, copies of our agendas, minutes & financial reports (when approved) are all here on our website.
- We spent a lot of time at our last meeting discussing plans for the new year:
- And finally……
- The Case for Derby-Nottingham Metro report. Some of you will have seen reports during the week about a strategy document that recommends the creation of a new Metro council area combining the cities of Nott’m, Derby, and some local Boroughs, including Broxtowe.
- The key element underpinning the proposal is HS2 coming to Toton, so our Area is very much at the heart of this debate. It’s an interesting proposition and is already generating strong views. If you want a read, here is the report. We’d like to know your views so please email me or else leave a comment below.
George Spencer Academy (GSA) across Stapleford Lane, should HS2 go ahead.
George Spencer Academy is off Toton Lane which IS in Stapleford. It is not off Stapleford Lane which IS in Toton.
Cllr MacRae: I apologise, I should have said ‘across to Stapleford Lane,’…