Here’s a quick summary of news, events and casework for July 2005
30th – at the end of an extraordinary month, astronomers confirm the existence of a 10thplanet, to be named Xena, larger than Pluto and 3 times further out;
30th – community reps on Area Committees meet to discuss their achievements and how to have a bigger impact;
30th – John Heppell MP holds roving surgery in Thorneywood and Honeywood parts of Mapperley ward;
28th – IRA announces the end of their armed struggle; Tony Blair welcomes this as 'a step of unparalleled magnitude'; "This may be the day which finally after all these false dawns and dashed hopes peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland. The statement is of a different order to anything before. It is what we have striven for and worked for throughout the eight years since the Good Friday Agreement. It creates the circumstances in which the institutions can be revived."
27th – Galleries of Justice opens new attractions, including portrayal of child poverty in a Victorian-age street;
26th – Executive Board; Building Schools for the Future approved - including a proposal to create a Mapperley Academy on the site of Elliott Durham school;
26th – average age of NCT fleet falls again, following a further introduction of new buses;
25th – results of the City Council’s second Nature Conservation Strategy, adopted in 2000 the 2nd Nature Conservation Strategy, are 1) 6 new Local Nature Reserves; 2) Heathland restoration through reintroduction of sensitive grazing at Newstead Abbey; 3) Site of Special Scientific SSSI award for Holme Pit Action Group; 4) 15 key open spaces have strengthened community links through ‘Friends of’ groups and the ‘Green Flag’ Award;
24th – Turning Point – Milton Street and Parliament Street transformed into two-way routes for buses, taxis, cyclists and blue badge holders; now much easier for shoppers to cross the roads; new routes for general traffic introduced; buses no longer use Long Row Central, freeing up the Old Market Square for a 21st century re-design;
22nd – East Midlands Regional Assembly;
21st – another bomb attack on London;
21st – A new £46 million treatment centre at the Queen's Medical Centre is to serve Nottingham from 2007; The Department of Health and local health bodies have signed a contract with private company Nations Healthcare to build and run the facility; it is the largest single-site private-partnership project of its kind in the country; the centre will offer day patient operations and outpatient and diagnostic appointments; providing extra staff and more operations to help reduce NHS waiting times;
21st –The level of violent crime in Nottingham has risen (by under 2%); a little over 9,000 recorded violence against the person offences in Nottingham were recorded by police in 2004/05 – a rate of 33 offences per 1,000 of the city’s population; the fight against violent crime in Nottingham has recently been stepped up with the development of a new multi-agency strategy and action plan for reducing gun and weapons-related violence; the rate is no higher than in Lincoln or Norwich – 16 other areas of the country have higher rates than Nottingham; a 19% reduction in robbery helped to limit the increase in violent crime in Nottingham;
19th – Mapperley & Sherwood Area Cttee.; A “Respect for Nottingham” survey shows that public’s concern about crime and anti-social behaviour has fallen over 12 months (to March) on drug misuse, drug dealing, street drinking, vandalism, street prostitution, assault, nuisance neighbours, street begging, dog fouling, litter, graffiti, abandoned cars, trespass in gardens, fly posting; however, concern over speeding cars and motorbikes remains; the campaign continues and will seek substantial and obvious reductions in alcohol related crime and disorder, youth disorder and housing & other anti-social behaviour; nearly £300k of investment in environmental works in Mapperley ward including better fencing on Kingsthorpe Close and Pearmain Drive;
19th – Executive Board; Decent Homes Strategy proposes £265k of investment in council housing in Mapperley Park; Wollaton Hall & Park to be refurbished;
19th – Visit the top end of the Wells Road with road safety officers to determine how we can slow traffic down further, since there has been 2 fatalities along the road in the last 2 years;
18th – Full Council - to adopt a new constitution, including time limits on speeches, like MPs have in Parliament;
18th – Answers to Parliamentary Questions reveals that the take-up of Pension Credit by those entitled might be a higher percentage than previously envisaged and that more people receive it than received the previous minimum guarantees;
18th – Ted Heath dies; commentators immediately overlook his record on unemployment, the false promises on price increases that he made to win in 1970 and how he brought discord into British political life; years of effort have had to be put in, to re-establish a consensus that economic progress and social justice are 2 sides of the same coin;
17th – Mapperley Labour Party garden party;
15th – leaders of Nottingham’s Muslim community meet the Council, the Chief Constable and the local prosecutors;
15th – Notts Local Authorities Association;
14th – Two minute silence held at The Council House steps;
13th – pick up on a range of concerns at the Honeywood Estate Action Team (HEAT) meeting;
13th – meet student union executive members of the Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham; University of Nottingham are running students an excellent “Ssshh” campaign, their equivalent of “Respect for Nottingham”; discuss - private landlord exploitation, poor housing, making dedicated student housing more appealing to students;
11th – conference at The Council House considers the introduction of Choice Based Lettings scheme for social housing in Nottingham;
10th – see Rob Brydon in “The Keith Barret Show” at the Nottingham Playhouse; I’d booked over the internet late Sunday afternoon, and got 2 seats almost at the back; the woman in the couple next to us was very anxious to get one of the seats at the front; ten minutes later, they were the couple to be interviewed on stage; she was married, but separated for 5 years, saving up to afford a divorce and been with the guy for two and a half years; challenged to say if he’d ever been romantic, they both agreed he never had, but by the end of the show, he had formally proposed, on stage;
8th – Mo Munir, as Lord Mayor, opens a book of commemoration for the people who suffered in London and makes the following statement: “The terrorist attacks on London, its people and visitors, have shocked and outraged people across the world. The indiscriminate attacks of July 7 were an assault on people of every race and faith. Like London, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are home to diverse, multi-cultural and multi-faith communities. As representatives of those communities, we stand together in condemnation of those who have committed such obscene acts against innocent people. They were not acting in the name of Islam or any other religion. We have signed a book of condolence at the Council House in Nottingham to show our sympathy for all those who have lost loved ones or been injured in the attacks. Our people and our visitors will sign to demonstrate their solidarity with those affected and to send a message to those responsible for this barbaric act that they will not succeed in creating disharmony and unrest in our communities.”
8th – G8 summit announces good news on Africa (increased aid and debt reduction, with a further plan to tackle trade issues); less progress on climate change, although the USAdid move a bit;
8th – Local Government Association conference finishes early;
7th – Local Government Association conference; some strong sessions on sustainable development and the environment;
7th – Four bombs in London, 3 on the tube and 1 on a bus, kill over 50 people; news breaks at Local Government Association conference in a confused manner; later to transpire that four men, ideologically motivated, were carrying the bombs in haversacks and died in the explosions;
6th – London wins the right to host the Olympics in 2012;
6th – Local Government Association conference; former Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani speaks, emphasising need to track outcomes of reforms to public services;
5th – Local Government Association conference;
4th – Primary Parliament; 20 primary schools debate Nottingham as an International city; pupils are plainly using the web to research their presentations and many of the pupils are already learning Spanish; a strong emphasis on the importance of Robin Hood shines through, plus many positive references to the tram;
3rd – Nottinghamshire Hospice’s Summer Fayre;
2nd – Live 8 concerts and protest in Edinburgh;
Comments