Meadows ward monthly report 57

TO BE REVIEWED and UPDATED with LINKS and PHOTOS
Britain is broken. 
Nottingham City Council is being hollowed out.
Trump is called out for being unhinged and has lost an $83 million lawsuit.

Biggest threat is that Nottingham City Council is required to pass a budget or which the money has to be found from property sales just to see the council through the next year, and after cutting practically every non-statutory service or grant.
The scale of this is not publicly appreciated yet. 

An extensive list of Meadows ward issues are being monitored and reported on. See:
– Paradoxes of Progress and Setbacks in Meadows ward
– Community Development and Neighbourhood Action
– Mid-month progress report – January 2024
– Meadows ward monthly report 58
They are long reads, with lots of links. 

Labour looks ever more certain to win the next General Election. Now it’s a matter of waiting out a national Conservative Government that has lost any sense of reality and who keep finding ways to give money to already rich people. Then if money is to remain limited, finding ways of directing existing spend to helping councils, and the services they provide.

Paradoxes of Progress and Setbacks in Meadows ward

TO BE REVIEWED
Turns out we have the most extraordinary paradoxes of:

• programmes for –
  * road renewal
  * 17 new trees, the lifting of crowns of Arkwright Walk trees and other highway trees pruning;
  * a french drain
  * ground works
  * road patching
  * dropped kerbs;
• new cycling and green transport investment; with a renewed path across Meadows Recreation Ground being built and new zebra and toucan crossings to be provided to help residents in the south-west of the New Meadows;
• Police success on crime, drug dealing and ASB, in partnership with housing services;
  the Police have started a new surgery service;
• developing plans for a £2.5 million bus services improvement programme,
  on top of a £4m on electrical power infrastructure improvement supplying the NCT bus depot to support a fleet of new electric buses;
• a replacement programme for all street light bulbs;
• private company installation of new telecoms cabling and a replacement electrical power link box;
• NCT providing extended NCT Green 11 bus services to the east and explaining electric bus vehicles will serve the route in late March
  against
• street scene and CPOs understaffed;
• some cameras delayed;
• parks with a long list of developments & proposals – but frozen –
  – the drop of support for the bowling green; and
  – uncertainty on the timing of the return paddling;
• vehicles being driven across grass;
• capital funds available for the renewal of the youth centre, but probably cuts in revenue to the organisations that might make the bid to run the youth centre;
• threats to non-statutory revenue spending;
• breaking news of a stabbing just outside the ward on Meadow Lane.

An extraordinary mix.
It’s proving a struggle to keep residents up to speed on news.

Note, some general write-ups on:
benefits, energy consumption and unemployment. 
Ward walk. 
Mid-month progress report – January 2024

A fresh broadcast on being inclusive

Colin Cowherd, an NFL commentator from Fox Sports, has slated people protesting about attention being paid to Taylor Swift and her affair with a star NFL player, cos occasionally the TV coverage cuts to the pop star during broadcasts of Kansas City Chiefs.

The actual video broadcast is good to watch.
He celebrates the strong women in his life. 
He is though possibly a tad pessimistic about the proportion of men who are incels – and gloriously rude about them 

Fortunately, he doesn’t criticise people he can’t knowingly say they’ve heard a Taylor Swift song. Apparently, she’s the biggest pop star in the world.

Instead, he celebrates ways of attracting people into watching sports, and reaching out to more women wanting to watch his game. (Again, celebrating inclusion as a way forward.)
He only explains that NFL is a game where only 18 minutes of the 1 hour game (and the 3-4 hour broadcasts) actually consists of live action. 

The political twist is that Taylor Swift has been encouraging people to register to vote, and encouraging young people in particular to vote.
She also endorsed Joe Biden for President in 2020. And Trump and MAGA can’t stand it. 

TO BE UPDATED

Community Development and Neighbourhood Action

TO BE REVIEWED and UPDATED
Time was when Bridge ward had 2 staff performing these roles but austerity has got a grip.
Reduced some time ago to one member of staff.
More recently one member of staff covering 2 wards – and termed a Residents Development Officer.
And now with sickness and the new financial regime, emergency part-time cover.
There has also been tenants groups supports officers supplied by housing services – again much less visible. 
The major innovation (in 2004) of neighbourhood wardens (or community support officers) is also down in numbers. 

Community Development enabled local groups to be created and in turn projects developed, such as Arkwright Meadows Community Gardens. 
Most notably Meadows Partnership Trust – now Bridges Community Trust. 
The lack of community development has been part of why our existing community groups are getting weaker. 

Trying to keep up with the work that RDOs are meant to cover, or to be fed in, has led to 10 pages of notes for the last 2 weeks alone. Serving 2 progress meetings and drawing upon a Meadows Ward Walks (publicised and accompanied by officers) and 4 or 5 Meadows Wanders (unaccompanied). A fair deal of the notes has been published on this web-site. However, care is taken on what is published, it’s taking longer to commit to the internet cos it’s taking longer to get issues verified (or even found to be wrong).

Eunice and I are changing our ways of working a tad; and may do more direct inputting of “FirmStep” jobs.

Bowling and the return of Paddling

Officers have shared a decision on not subsidising the bowling green anymore (see below).
We will work on possible alternative ways forward.

Meanwhile the new financial restrictions has meant yet another review of the return of paddling. The plan is again confirmed, but the process has cost us a month.

Further, the works for the Changing Rooms (special toilet) to be provided under The Memorial have been frustrated problem with managing either a water / waste water leak above the proposed room or poor ventilation in the room itself, or both. Solution not yet identified. 

From council officers – an update on the future of bowls at Queen’s Walk and the wider city.
“… senior management at Nottingham City Council [say] that the council’s current financial position means we are not able to subsidise private clubs and organisations anymore, unfortunately this means we aren’t in a position to continue maintaining the bowls green at Queen’s Walk.
On a whole across the city, we have had to reduce any parks with 2 greens down to 1 green, for example Clifton Playing Fields and Valley Road, Strelley Recreation Ground and Lenton Recreation bowls green will be shutting altogether. Other bowls greens have been less vulnerable to closure where they have a high number of engagement and the clubs are managing the spaces themselves. Some clubs have combined to play from the same green, or have become affiliated and are working with Bowls England. 
“I understand that this will be disappointing for club members and would like to assure you that officers have fought hard to retain these community spaces. Going forward I would like open up the conversation around whether Queen’s Walk Bowls Club are able to take on the responsibility of maintaining the green, in order for bowls to continue in the Meadows. If you would like to propose this amongst the club members and gauge whether there is an appetite and skill to do so I would be more than happy to support this proposal.”

Brexit four years on

“Today marks the fourth anniversary of Brexit and we’ve nothing to show for it. The last remaining Brexiteers tell me that ‘it’s too soon to say’ – of course that’s rubbish, four years is plenty of time for some formative evaluation across the STEEPLE factors. They also say that people like me have thwarted Brexit … I never realised I had so much power !!… In case of amnesia, we were sold Brexit in 2016 with a brochure that promised ONLY sunny uplands and NO downsides. Neither have materialised. Meanwhile the dead cats are out in force : Vaping, Conscription, Rwanda, Cheese, Hanging … the list goes on in the Daily Excess, the Daily Maul and The Son.” – Gina Miller.

“As few as 13 per cent now say Brexit has been more of a success than a failure, new polling released on the fourth anniversary reveals.” The London Economic

Now whilst I think the EU will continue to bend over backwards to avoid problems with the UK – e.g. tolerance of problems over the Irish border; tolerating poor border controls at Dover etc. – I think they are unlikely to accept us as full members until the British people have demonstrated in some kind of vote or election that they have given up on Brexit, and that the political threat of another exit should Britain re-join is not credible.

A small step back though on Northern Ireland, as the DUP give up.

New trees being planted in The Meadows

TO BE UPDATED WITH PHOTOS FROM LINKS
The new trees carry labels listing the species name.
Being planted on land by highways.
Will help with shading from the sun, supporting wildlife and cleaning the air.
Species are picked to suit urban housing estates.

Gritley Mews – Carpinus Betulus Frans Fontane – Hornbeam
Hornbeam. Elegant shaped tree with serrate, ribbed leaves and characteristic grey, fluted bark. Max Height 25m. Max Spread 20m. Full sun/partial shade. Hardy. Water thoroughly before planting.
A very tidy and attractive columnar form of our beloved native hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) ideal for restricted spaces.

Near 1 & 11 Lammas Gardens – Gledistsia triacanthos shade master
The loose, spreading, upright, open crown of this American selection has a capriciously growing central leader with almost horizontal limbs. Because of this graceful habit, it is a perfect tree for application in wide streets. Height 20 – 25 m. The trunk is grey and has fine, shallow fissures. Young twigs are red brown and turn olive brown. ‘Shademaster’ has no spines. The compound leaf of 25 cm, unfolds late and turns golden yellow in autumn. The single leaflets are 2.5 cm in size. After the inconspicuous inflorescence it does not bear pods. The tree is deep rooting with many rootlets.

Between Lammas Gardens and Uppingham Gardens – Liquidamber styraciflua Worplesdon
The crown starts off narrow with an ascending, vertical trunk. When the tree is older the branches grow out more widely so that the crown becomes broad pyramidal. Height 12 – 15 m. Older branches develop grey corky wings. The 5-lobed (seldom 7-lobed) leaves are deeply incised and longer than those of the species. The leaf edge is deeply serrated. The autumn colour is apricot-like, orange to reddish orange. The autumn colour is more intense when the tree is planted on a humid site. Fruit capsules, that remain hanging in the tree for a long time, appear after the unremarkable flowering.

3 Malus trilobata trees planted along Robin Hood Way near Deering Court
Slow growing large shrub that grows to become a small sometimes medium-sized tree. The eventual height approx. 6 m. The densely branching crown is pyramidal to wide pyramidal. The branches and bark are grey-brown. The leaves are 3-lobed and the lobes are also lobed and serrated, sometimes giving a 5-lobed appearance. In summer the leaf is dark green turning yellow to deep red in autumn. In June, white flowers open out of white buds. The flowers are 2.5 – 3.5 cm. They are followed by quite small, round to slightly oval fruits. The fruits are red and remain on the tree until early winter.
Unfortunately, one of these 3 trees was broken in half overnight (30th/31st)

To come, Hawthorns (Crategus Paul’s Scarlet).
A spectacular small tree, Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ produces masses of deep scarlet-pink, double flowers in May and attractive small red haws in the autumn. The deeply lobed foliage is dark-green with a slight gloss, turning yellow and bronze for autumn. This award-winning Double Crimson Flowering Hawthorn tree will reach an estimated height and spread of 5 x 4 metres in 20 years.
Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ is an extremely hardy ornamental tree that will grow in almost any condition or soil including, coastal, exposed, polluted or damp sites. As its common name of Hawthorn suggests, it has sharp thorns on its branches and provides a safe home for a variety of wildlife.

Square One

Note: as I understood the waiting list, we were delivering waiting lists of 18 weeks or under.

The National Conservative Prime Minister is now proclaiming back to Square One with Labour as taunt.
Worth a double take.

I should now look up the extensive performance management reports that the council produced annually back then, and the 2010 reports in particular. Street cleaning was one of our highest priorities – as reflected in our strap-line – “Ambitious, Proud, Cleaner, Safer”.

Ainsworth Drive re-surfaced

The western half being re-surfaced; including the junction to the service road to the local primary school.
The other streets to have been treated in this programme were Ryeland Gardens & Lamcote Road; also a path treated where tree roots were causing a trip hazard.

Scared for the city

On Monday: ‘I’m scared for the city’: Nottingham residents rue swingeing council cuts.
But kinda missed the bigger picture. One of those interviewed felt compelled to tell friends “I did of course talk about thirteen years of austerity and underfunding local authorities as a political decision.”
Article rebutted a tad by a Labour Portfolio Holder.