Here’s a quick summary of news, events and casework for October
31st – EcoWorks seek grant from Central News;
31st – SIGOMA / ODPM conference in London;
25th – visit the Council Chamber at Derby’s Council House, where cameras have been installed to broadcast full council meetings on the web; it’s suggested that 200 people watch Derby’s full council; Nottingham’s Council Chamber is bigger and a more awkward shape; more investment in cameras and screens to show documents and pictures may be worthwhile to host conferences and planning and scrutiny meeting, but I’m sceptical about how many people would watch full Council at home;
24th – The Fall play at The Rescue Rooms;
24th – Farewell to Old Market Square; co-Councillor Mo Munir lifts the first slab in a 12 month refurbishment project as contractors Balfour Beatty move on-site; the £7m redesign will create a flat square with stunning new water terraces and a better ability to stage events;
23rd – Patricia Hewitt explains on TV that avian flu H5N1 has not yet mutated into a disease transmitted between people; a vaccine against such a virus cannot be created before it exists, and the nature of such a flu is not yet known; meanwhile, an injection that does mitigate the impact of any flu when administered in the early stages is being produced in volumes;
22nd – join co-Councillor Mo Munir in the Old Market Square for a collection for the Lord Mayor’s Pakistan Earthquake appeal; 78,000 people are now thought to have died; the resort town of Naran, where we stayed in August has been badly hit; £30,000 has been collected so far, which can pay for 2 schools and 30,000 houses;
21st – Passenger numbers on NET have continued to climb at a rate of around 20% year on year, well above even the most optimistic targets, with extra tram services needing to be added to the timetable this week to meet demand; and surveys on the Turning Point scheme have revealed its outstanding success at reducing congestion, with up to 90% less traffic on Upper Parliament Street this week than four years ago;
21st – East Midlands Regional Assembly; raise concerns about development of planning policy and call for councils to get behind Nottingham as the East Midlands’ Core City; emda consult on their Regional Economic Strategy;
20th – first meeting of the reconvened Local Strategic Partnership (known as One City Partnership Nottingham); Graham Allen MP is the new Chair of the LSP which oversees the quality of partnership working in the city and the use of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund;
19th – Councillors’ café in the Old Market Square, held as part of Local Democracy Week; cases raised include - - timing of the £200 age-related payment for the over-65s to help with Council tax; (surf www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/winterfuel) - details of the free bus-pass scheme – upon which details have only just been published and its impact on the more generous city council scheme is still being assessed;
19th – Shropshire Star publish an interview and photos with my Mother, Audrey, about our holiday in Pakistan in August;
18th – Executive Board - - agreed “choice based lettings” Housing Allocations policy with effect from from March/April 2006; - agreed that the establishment of a Toyota Training Academy at the Highfields SciencePark be supported;
17th – Full Council; approve new financial regulations – not very exciting but a sign of a resolve to be even more disciplined on the financial implications of new projects; Lib Dems welcome the Govt’s scheme for free bus use for the elderly and less mobile next year, but don’t think to call for the scheme to be expanded to the tram – John Heppell has taken the extension up with the transport minister;
15th – Nottingham Evening Post publishes interview with co-Councillor Mo Munir, on his Lord Mayor’s Appeal for rebuilding Pakistan after the earthquake; NEP also publish article on progress made on the Pearmain Drive estate, off The Wells Road;
12th – Two men accused of shooting dead a Nottingham schoolgirl have been found guilty of her murder; Danielle Beccan, 14, was shot as she walked home from the annual Goose Fair through the St Ann's area of the city last October; Mark Kelly, of Wilford Grove, The Meadows, and Junior Andrews, 24, of no fixed address, had both denied murder; Birmingham Crown Court had heard the pair fired shots at the teenager and her friends as they walked home; Danielle had walked home from the Goose Fair at the recreation ground; Kelly did not give evidence but denied the charges through his lawyer; it took the jury of eight men and four women 16 hours to decide the pair carried out the killing as part of an inner-city gang feud; both men were convicted by majority verdicts of 10-2 and have been jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 32 years before parole is considered;
10th – Mo Munir launches Lord Mayor appeal to help those affected by the earthquake; meet community leaders and give radio interviews to radio 4 and Radio Nottingham;
10th – tour Pearmain Drive estate; Neighbourhood Services have put in extra cleaning effort recently and number of housing based complaints are falling; estate also benefiting from replacement of derelict industrial area by the new Harlequins housing estate;
8th – earthquake in Pakistan and India, centred on Pakistan-controlled Kashmir;
7th - Nottinghamshire Local Authorities Association Meeting;
5th /9th – Goose Fair; opened by co-Councillor Mo Munir;
3rd – Boots announce merger with Unichem;
3rd – City Council launches employees’ benefits scheme called “Works Perks”; the scheme will give employees an opportunity to take up a wide range of offers, including tax-free computers, bikes and child care at no cost to the council; the scheme aims to modernise employees’ conditions of service and so aid recruitment and retention;
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