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Writer's pictureMichael Edwards

Transforming Nottingham’s Neighbourhoods

Introduction to debate on Transforming Nottingham’s Neighbourhoods ...

It’s an important time for the council as we hone our priorities for the forthcoming years.

We want to keep the ambition for Nottingham going – the ambition that we’ve seen in the city centre transformation, the tram to Hucknall, Bulwell and Cinderhill, the modern bus network serving the city, the new schools for the future.

And we re-state our pride in the city. Important to reflect upon how many of us do choose Nottingham, for the scale of facilities, services and attractions, and the job opportunities.

And frankly, it’s tiresome to hear parliamentary candidates seeking to gain votes by running the city’s offer down – especially when they live in Mapperley Park.

The reputation of the city and the Council is up in the last year. The MORI poll conducted in the Autumn shows satisfaction with life in Nottingham, identification with Nottingham and satisfaction with the City council up 5 points or so.

But there’s more to do on Reputation.

Only this weekend, I heard a delegate at an event express concerns based on the coverage on pages 1, 2 and 3 of the Nottingham Evening Post.

And agencies elsewhere advise on the impact of the murder of Danielle Beccan. I witnessed the collection of TV and radio coverage and their drive to collect emotions and fears rather than analysis and proportion – which is a problem.

So we need to both tackle the issues and tackle the presentation of the issues.

Hence “Choose Nottingham” – and its work on placing our reputation in proportion, effective liaison and partnership with many agencies and the drive for economic development.

Then the Rights and Responsibilities agenda. Not just giving or providing of services, but looking for something back.

“Respect for Nottingham” - tackling crime, ASB and grime, has a high level of recognition and has again shown reductions in people’s experiences of the problems and improvements in people’s perceptions of the problems.

Then, “Transforming Nottingham’s Neighbourhoods”, the theme of today’s motion.

And “Helping the People who need help most”.

Better parenting and preparation for school,

more help for independent living,

Nottingham jobs for Nottingham people and

helping the long-term unemployed back into the world of work, particularly those on Incapacity Benefit as we discussed earlier.

Underlying the policy changes, a further change in the way we serve people.

Building on the recognition of progress by the public and the general improvement in performance, and the transformation of services such as Housing Benefit and Planning,

a new focus for the new management in the top 3 tiers of the organisation,

a new focus on the importance of service, placing the customer at the heart of what we do, understanding the job and understanding what performance information tells us about the job,

learning from the councils that do some things better, including trips to Leeds, Sheffield and Derby (and even Next), and picking out the services that need transformation, and

combining our changes with the customer focus transformation programme and the changes to be brought by a new focus on children’s services and adult services.

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Transforming neighbourhoods embraces a number of key ideas -

Targeted radical, physical transformation;

New developments for neighbourhood identity,

Expanded capital programme;

Better neighbourhood management;

Stronger area governance and community engagement;

Pride in neighbourhoods.

All built upon an expansion of spending on facilities and services, made possible by the successful management of the economy and treating economic development and social justice as two sides of the same coin.

The increase in investment is dramatic.

Capital expenditure on council schools is 40 times what it was in the mid-nineties.

And that’s before Building Schools for the Future.

The tram and expenditure on integrated transport – a concept that Thatcher thought was Marxist.

More for housing, before we get to the next stage of the drive for Decent Homes.

And even the less dramatic, touches on key concerns of residents. We restored a regular tree pruning programme, removed under a Tory government, which goes beyond the dealing with threats to health and safety that we were reduced to.

There is more available for roads and pavements. We know what we have, or could get, is not enough for the roads mtce. backlog, but ideas like the complete reconstruction of 2 miles of Hucknall Road was out of the question 10 years ago.

But with the money we have, we are today challenging ourselves to see if there is more we can do.

Some parts of our neighbourhoods require radical transformation.

We’ve seen and are seeing good examples of progress – for instance, Bakewell Drive; the drive for mitigating the impact of studentification (oh yes).

But are we being quick enough? Can we do more radical things?

We are also seeing thing to give neighbourhoods a new profile and a new shape.

Cllr. Dewinton I know wants to talk about the work we’re doing on the Coppice Recreation Ground, but there are other developments like Mapperley Sports Village.

Questions on this include again pace, ability to bring others along with us and whether we are using parks and open spaces well enough.

And can we find money to do more for the look and reputation of our neighbourhoods. Like more for pavements and making places feel secure?

A concern remains that the impact of our spending, both on facilities and services –

and of others’ spending –

could be better co-ordinated.

Hence the new proposal for 9 area neighbourhood managers, of sufficient seniority, and reporting directly to the service directors in neighbourhood services

Better feedback on services, quality of life and life chances, to lead to more public engagement and better area cttees and area governance.

And we want people to take more pride in their neighbourhoods and in their streets.

Even when, in many ways, 21st century society has moved on in so many ways to networks of people,

there is still an appetite for pride in the neighbourhoods, as witnessed by the “Bygone” pages of the Nottingham Evening Post and web-sites like “Picture the Past”.

There is often a great pride in gardens and interest in nature and wildlife, evident in audiences for “SpringWatch” which surprised even the BBC.

There is tremendous support for “Nottingham in Bloom”, which I think can grow further and do more, especially at a neighbourhood level, and local communities supporting nature reserves.

There is an energy out there to be tapped into even further.

Bringing these ideas together today for debate is another stage in the process to the development of our strategic thinking.

You’ll notice that along with new proposals have come questions; answers to which we are seeking to develop as part of the consultation on our community strategy, corporate plan and budget.

None of this new ambition would be possible without the money. There’s been a huge leap in capital investment and revenue budgets are also up – up in real terms, even if highly targeted.

I just want to take a moment to reflect on neighbourhoods and the interest in local history.

I’ve been looking into the history of the neighbourhoods within my ward, with the help of the internet and the Local Studies Library, and then local experts.

I’m nowhere near an expert – I gave up on history after one year cos they wanted to do local history rather than the Russian Revolution.

One of our local professors of local history says I’m not atypical!

Studying my ward, you get a sense of how the hills made development difficult for a long time and that the names are drawn from relatively small developments such as the then Mapperley House and the St.Ann's Well – firmly within Mapperley ward. Thorneywood was a wide expense of forest that only appears to have achieved a focus with the establishment of the railway station, built at the same time as the St.Ann's station that demolished the well.

The saying “Nottingham was once on Mapperley Hills” is a reference to the centuries of brick making from the local clay and wood. There’s no recognition now of the brick making – used to supply the construction of St.Pancras station- anywhere in the ward and I can hardly recall anyone ever talking to me about the Mapperley Hills in the 13 years I’ve represented the area.

Neither do we celebrate the “Battle of Mapperley Hills”, when the cavalry arrested 400 of 5,000 Chartist demonstrators as they were sitting down for a picnic. An event which was celebrated annually for some time.

My point is not so much as to say we should look back to establish a new identity, although there is some scope for that.

We know that the essential purpose of many of our neighbourhoods was to support the economic development and social progress of the city as a whole.

The point is more that the roles and identities of neighbourhoods do change, and we should be part of the active process for that, especially in those neighbourhoods that need it most.

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Today’s debate will see further explanation of the changes in service delivery and capital investment that we are proposing and developing.

But what the debate is most of all, is a statement of our ambition to do better in providing better services for neighbourhoods and to be a more effective agent of change for our neighbourhoods and communities.

[Last updated 2006-02-07]

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