Labour women will swim a mile for Nottingham children’s charity

Labour Councillors Jane Urquhart, Katrina Bull and Cat Arnold will be making a splash to help seriously ill children in Nottingham by taking part in a sponsored swim at the Lenton Centre on Saturday, 6 March.

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.

Cabinet Minister drops in for tea with Nottingham students

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.”

Nottingham South candidate launches residents’ survey

Over the coming weekend Lilian Greenwood, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Nottingham South, will be launching her Clifton Residents’ Survey.

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.

Nottingham City Council Leader backs BBC Sport

trong>Labour Leader of Nottingham City Council, Jon Collins, has backed the BBC in the face of criticism from David ‘Cameron’s favourite think-tank’ – Policy Exchange.

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.

‘Respect For Football’ to be launched at Forest versus Reading match

Friends of Vernon Park in Basford have had their voice heard at the highest level.

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.

Nottingham Labour Leader backs PM’s ‘Tobin Tax’ call

Councillor Jon Collins, Labour Leader of Nottingham City Council, has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to welcome his proposal of a levy on financial transactions.

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.”

Nottingham Labour criticise Tory plan to impose market rents for social housing

Portfolio Holder for Housing at Nottingham City Council, Councillor Dave Liversidge, has expressed serious concerns over a Tory policy idea to impose market rents on Council-owned social housing.
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 [...]

Nottingham: City wants County to spend tram money on more Link buses

Nottingham City Council is very keen to work with the County Council to provide more Link buses for commuters across the region, thereby fulfilling its pledge to invest the money not spent on the tram by improving bus routes to workplaces.

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.

Nottingham Labour celebrate £1.2m for Basford Road improvements

Ten new highway projects have been secured for Basford. The new investment will take place in August 2009 through to spring 2010.

£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.

Nottingham Labour’s commitment to Sure Start

The Nottingham City Council Labour Group have reaffirmed their commitment to the City’s Sure Start programme following confirmation today that the Tories, if elected, would not protect the current Sure Start budget from their spending cuts.

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.