The Nottingham City Councillors quickly decided to form a Labour Group team after hearing about the event being organised by Quackers Swim School, based at the Lenton Centre.

Councillor Jane Urquhart said: “The aim of the event is to swim the equivalent of the English Channel – 21 miles. Each team will swim 1 mile which is 88 lengths of the pool at the Lenton Centre!”

It is hoped the event will raise £1000 in sponsor money. All sponsor monies are donated to PASIC (Parents Association for Seriously Ill Children) which is a Nottingham based charity helping terminally ill children and those suffering from cancer.

Councillor Arnold said: “I am a regular swimmer and I am only too happy to do my bit to support this worthwhile cause.”

“This is a great cause,” Katrina Bull added, “we are all looking forward to the challenge but more importantly raising money and awareness for PASIC.”

There was a flurry of excitement in Lenton on Saturday when news spread that the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, would be popping round for tea and biscuits with Merida Mathen and her housemates.

Over 20 students gathered at the shared house on Trinity Avenue for an informal question and answer session with the Cabinet Minister and Nottingham South’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Labour, Lilian Greenwood. The Minister stayed for more than 45 minutes answering questions on everything from action to tackle global warming to lowering the voting age to 16. He had a few questions of his own, asking the students what issues would motivate them to go out and vote and what would they like to see in Labour’s manifesto.

Merida Mathen, Chair of Nottingham University Labour Students, said: “It was fantastic to have him here. It’s been a great opportunity for Nottingham students to have an informal chat with a senior member of the government.”

Fellow student Chris Gallant added: “He was very friendly and open and genuinely interested in what we had to say”.

Lilian Greenwood said “It’s vitally important that Labour listens to young people and offers them a positive vision for the future. I know from talking to students here in Nottingham that their greatest concern is whether they’ll be able to find work when they graduate. That’s why Labour’s action to secure a strong economic recovery is so important. We’re also the only party to guarantee a job, work or training to 18-24 year olds – to make sure they don’t suffer the scars of long-term unemployment that blighted so many communities under the last Tory government.”

Lilian and her local team of Labour volunteers will be out and about all weekend visiting residents to ask for their views on what’s needed to make Clifton an even better place to live. So whether you are concerned about parks or parking, litter or louts, Lilian and the team want to hear from you.

Lilian said: “We’ve used our local residents’ surveys across the city – most recently in Wollaton, Radford and the Meadows. People tell us that they really appreciate it when we take the time to come and ask for their views and listen to what they have to say. The surveys help to highlight any concerns and give us the evidence to work with the Council, local Police and other agencies to get any problems resolved quickly.”

Councillor Collins addressed the City Council’s monthly meeting of the Full Council, saying:

“If, as the reports suggests, the BBC were to spend less on sport, the majority of licence-paying viewers would potentially lose the chance to see our top sportsmen and women in action.

“Less spent by the BBC on sport would also mean Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Sports would have less competition and therefore pay less to screen top class events on their satellite and cable channels. Of course this could be the real reason for the proposal – the prize perhaps of support for the Conservatives at the next election.

“However, it would also mean the sports themselves having less income and while that might not be too much of a problem for football’s Premiership, other sports already struggle to survive and less money would probably just mean less to invest in sport at amateur and junior levels.

“Nottingham’s Sustainable Community Plan emphasises the value of promoting the City, its businesses and attractions, and the healthy lifestyles involvement in top quality sporting events can encourage.

“Less sport on terrestrial TV will mean far fewer people seeing those events and therefore less benefit for the City and its residents.”

Long suffering Park users recently made representation to the City Council regarding anti-social behaviour of football teams that display foul and abusive language in front of local children.

The Football Association together with Nottingham City Council have drawn up plans to challenge this behaviour.

The plans include new agreements that will ban teams that persistently offend from using City council pitches. (The FA stated the new arrangements were unique in the UK, Nottingham is leading the way for other councils to follow).

Two metre respect lines will be marked out parallel to the touchline of all pitches to keep spectators away from the pitch. There will also be a high profile poster campaign at all parks and in dressing rooms informing teams of impending sanctions if their behaviour is reported.

To mark the launch of this initiative young people from AFC Vernon will parade round the side of the pitch prior to Forest’s game against Reading, they will be wearing “Respect for Football” t-shirts.

Basford Councillor Mick Newton said:

“Football is a great game and with these proposals will be even greater for players and spectators alike throughout Nottingham.”

“We all need to respect the environment in which we play the game and respect other park users through our actions and general behaviour”

“At local club level football relies heavily on a significant number of volunteers not forgetting the essential voluntary contribution of match officials on a weekly basis across Nottingham. We should not take that contribution for granted and therefore we need to show more respect through our conduct both on and off the pitch.”

“I really do hope these new arrangements will enhance the experience and enjoyment for all who either play, watch or serve the ‘beautiful game’.”

Councillor Collins told Labour Matters:

“Over the last 18 months the global economy has endured a great shock which brought many financial institutions to the brink. The Government, led by Gordon Brown, took swift measures to step in saving our banking system and as a result protecting hard-working people’s money. I wrote to the Prime Minister to let him know that the Nottingham Labour Group supports his idea of a transaction tax and to urge him to once more show global leadership in persuading the rest of the world to sign up too.”

In his letter Cllr Collins outlined four key uses for funds raised by this tax:

* To reduce the national debt and provide essential public spending, the sorts of spending that has improved Nottingham schools, transport and hospitals beyond recognition.

* To invest in technology which will tackle climate change. This would support people in British Science Cities, such as Nottingham where we aspire to create 20,000 jobs in science-related employment by 2020.

* To support third world development which could also create markets for British firms.

* To create an international bail-out fund for banks that run into difficulty in the future, so taxpayers are not forced to underwrite the excesses of a small minority.

The idea is linked to the Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, Stephen Greenhalgh, who is also part of David Cameron’s Conservative Councils Innovation Unit.

In response to a question asked at the Nottingham City Council meeting on 14 September, Councillor Liversidge said:

“It is extremely worrying for Nottingham’s Council Tenants and for other residents on low incomes. Increasing rent levels at the same time as reducing Housing Benefits will affect many Nottingham Citizens.”

The plans were exposed following a freedom of information request from Andy Slaughter MP, Acton and Shepherds Bush.

Funding from the workplace parking levy, which will start in 2012, will help maintain the current Link bus network that the City Council provides. But due to the County Council’s commitment to withdraw its share of the funding for NET Phase Two, less money will be available from the WPL to extend the service.

Nottingham City Council’s Link bus network is a subsidised bus service providing residents with public transport to employment, hospitals, shopping, entertainment and tourism areas.

The Worklink service connects some of the city’s key employment sites. And it’s this service the City Council is keen to expand to give more employees a cheaper and more sustainable alternative for the journey to work.

Cllr Graham Chapman said:

“In the lead up to the recent County Council elections, Cllr Kay Cutts (Nottinghamshire County Council’s leader), while expressing her opposition to the tram, said she would like to see more buses instead as she believes that the tram is inflexible. As residents in the south of the county will still get new tram lines despite a withdrawal of funding from their council, we would be very keen for Cllr Cutts to make real her election pledge and help support more Link buses connecting county residents to work places in the city.”

Approximately 380,000 people a day drive to work in the Greater Nottingham Area. NET Phase Two will serve up to 1,800 workplaces, providing approximately 55,000 commuters with an alternative to the car.

An expanded Link bus network could serve areas around the city which are less well served by public transport by introducing new routes or extending the existing ones, upping frequencies, extending the hours of operation and upgrading the size of the vehicles. Improvements could also be made to the Medilink service which connects the city’s two hospitals.

Cllr Chapman added:

“The Link bus network is supported by short-term funding agreements. Without a new funding source, the current network is likely to be curtailed. The County Council could make a very beneficial contribution to give its residents the best possible bus services to and from work.”

£1.2m is to be spent on upgrading highways in Basford, this includes:

* £625,000 To improve the junction at Hucknall Road/Arnold Road;

* £85,000 To resurface Heathfield Road;

* £275,000 To improve drainage and resurface Vernon Road;

* £35,000 To resurface Alpine Street and Church Street;

* 20mph Zones to be introduced at Ellis Guildford and Whitemoor schools;

* £150,000 To introduce Safer Routes to School at the new £13.5m BSF Southwark Primary School. Improved pedestrians facilities including two new pelican crossings on Park Lane;

* £70,000 To resurface Arnold Road/Southwark Road;

* £150,000 To introduce real time bus information on the Vernon Road/Nottingham Road bus corridor;

* A Shoplink bus service (S42) introduced to Basford for the first time, operating on a Tuesday and Friday. The S42 links residents with the Tesco store at Top Valley and Morrisons in Bulwell.

Basford Labour Councillor, Mick Newton, commented:

“We are delighted to have secured this level of investment for Basford. We have campaigned consistently for significant improvements to improve the experience of pedestrians, public transport, and road users alike.”

Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, said:

“Children’s centres and Sure Start groups have become a vital part of provision for young children and their families in the city. It’s clear that a good start for young children can only be guaranteed if Labour is in charge.”

Nottingham has recently celebrated the completion of a second wave of Children’s Centres with 16 in total operating the Sure Start scheme for pre-school age children. 

The Labour Group have demonstrated their commitment to maintaining the Sure Start scheme in Nottingham with revenue funding for 2009/10 of £9,298,234. This level of funding will ensure the service is available for the 13,766 people from 5,698 families registered to a Children’s Centre in Nottingham City, as well as the 17,340 people from 7,159 families who visited a Centre over the last 12 months.