A Beeston wander to see a bus

It was Susan who suggested yesterday that we go for a walk around Beeston. "Not very far, just far enough to stretch our legs". I happily agreed because I wanted to catch one of the last Trent-Barton 18's, by which I meant take a photograph, so after lunch we set off on our wander.

1. A developer is trying to fit a mini-mansion onto a postage stamp size plot on Bramcote Drive. The present house on the site is being given a makeover; having dormer windows fitted in the roof. The site overlooks the golf course. The front will probably be given over to hard standing. Along the whole length of our wander houses were being extended or having loft extensions.

The announcement at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham of a London Docklands style development corporation for the Toton – East Midlands Airport Corridor must have had housing developers wetting themselves in excitement at the thought of the money to be made over the coming decades. 

I would cancel HS2 in a minute if the decision was mind.

2. I have only included this pic after some thought. This metal gorilla sits in someones garden on Devonshire Avenue, not in full view but its head can be seen from the pavement, so I came to the conclusion that that puts this work of art in the public domain.

3. One of two out of use bus stops on Devonshire Avenue. Who else remembers when Nottingham City Transport's No.14 bus route ran down the road on its way to the city from Chilwell?

4. The war memorial recalls the death of a Beeston soldier who had the misfortune, like so many to die, from sickness. In the 19th century all too many soldiers died before they got to see combat.

5. The reason for our wander. There was another 4 or 5 Trent-Barton route Eighteen buses before the service was withdrawn. It has been taken over by Nottingham Community Transport as their first commercial service. More in a post next week.

5. Broxtowe Borough Council are being very bullish about what is going to happen on the old Beeston Bus Station site. A cinema and shops and flats all 'Opening 2020' if the poster is to be believed. They are going to do all this is just under 15 months? Of course not, but Conservatives do like to make promises they know they can't keep. Let's hope come next May, the Borough Council election sees the Conservatives being replaced by Labour.

6. Inside the old Thornton's chocolate shop which C.P. Walker & Son, the local estate agents, have allow The Beestonian, We Are Beeston and Beeston Civic Society use as a pop-up shop for a couple of weeks. I did four afternoon stints last and will be doing Thursday and Saturday afternoons the coming week. In my book its been a great success and points an exciting way forward for promoting local groups and events. 'Pop-up Beeston' is probably a venture in itself and one that I will actively support.

7. We stopped off for tea and cake at Christine's Delights before walking the last fifteen minutes home. They were full and overflowing onto the pavement outside, which has to be good — and explains why I have used a pic I took within a few days of their opening.

8. And, finally, on Marlborough Road a big 'thank you' to the person responsible for this wonderful Sunflower display!

All in all, a good wander, nothing really happened, but we got some exercise and saw things we had missed fifty times before — like the Sunflowers above!

Pop-up Beeston going well and the perfect lunchtime snack in Beeston

Rosie Lea's Tearoom on Wilkinson Avenue was where I had a quick lunchtime snack today and in my book no one in Beeston does poached eggs better!

It's everything a teashop should be and is one of my Beeston 'go to' eateries. The other is Jo at the Local Not Global Deli on Chilwell Road, where yesterday I had a stilton cheese baguette. The best stilton in the conurbation, only rivalled by Park Stores on the Derby Road, close to The Park Estate entrance. I'm just sorry I didn't take a pic. Next time I will.

Below is a banner about to be made for use with the Pop-up Beeston shop locations. Unless the shop in the former Thornton's chocolate shop continues into next week, this banner will have to wait for its first outing.

Having been there for three afternoons I can say that it has been a great success. I will be there tomorrow (Friday). At the moment we're not sure if the pop-up shop will be open on Saturday. I hope so.

The banner has still to be finalised, small things, but it is coming soon.

How ‘community commandoes’ can help occupy PUBS in our town

The old Thorntons chocolate shop on Beeston High Road is now home to Pop-up Beeston space for the next few days at most.

I've spent the last couple of afternoons is the old Thornton's chocolate shop on Beeston High Road, which has become a 'pop-up' home of sorts for the
'We are Beeston' display panels, plus banners promoting the Blue Plaque guides and my Beeston pubs, cafes and shops map. We've also had copies of the latest Beestonian to give out. I was there this afternoon with Judy Sleeth, the Chair of Beeston and District Civic Society, and Matt Turpin, one of the founders of The Beestonian and progenitor of the 'We are Beeston' project.

An inside view of the old Thornton's chocolate shop.

The focus has been on students, especially new ones, but what I picked up on as well was the number of 'day-trippers' from places like Arnold, Bulwell, Bilborough and Sherwood, some by The Tram, others by the little L11 LocalLink bus; then there were the locals stopping to look at the 'I am Beeston' panels, (one lady exclaiming at the sight of a friend 'I know her!', then me reading out the text to her about her friend, which prompted a laugh and 'Well I never'). Such a simple exchange, but one which amply demonstrates the value of the work being done by Matt and his colleagues, who are driving the wonderful 'We are Beeston' project (there is crossover between 'I am Beeston' and 'We are Beeston').

I will in the o;d Thornton's chocolate shop again tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) and Friday. With luck the pop-up space will still be open for visitors on Saturday between c.11am and 4pm. Beeston's friendly estate agent, C. P. Walker & Son, have been supportive as ever, working with the landlord to provide the shop. 

It is in the nature of 'pop-ups' that they can disappear as quickly as they appear. Judy and Matt deserve our support for their enterprise and commitment. Between them they inspire much of what I do — hence my volunteering at short notice to help out.

What Judy and Matt need is a team of 'community commandos', who can be called upon to volunteer at short notice to look after 'pop-up Beeston' spaces is shops like Thorntons. When the displays have to go, Matt and Judy have no idea where he next 'Pop-up Beeston space' will be — hence the need for what I am calling 'PUB Commandos'! It is the kind of volunteering which suits me perfectly and there must be others like me who have routines — in my case it is doing the chores in the morning, leaving afternoons free to do what I want to do — hence my helping out this week at short notice.

'PUBS' are different to charity shops. They are local, they are topical and they are not fund-raising ventures. Attention grabbing yes, and if they get the Civic Society new members, and adverts for The Beestonian and my next map then that is a bonus.

As for advertising PUB locations, that is for those with Facebook or Twitter like skills. I only blog — which I know limits my ability to communicate with more people.

Someone may just see this blog post and pop along to the old Thornton's shop on Beeston High Road. It's a good display for such short notice and I'm confident they will get better with every PUB event.

in the meantime a big 'thank you' to Judy, Matt and C. P. Walker for what they are doing, and others, like Hairven and Simon at Pixel & Graphics, who are very supportive as well.

Nottingham West & Beeston has the makings of Britain's largest Parliamentary constituency

On 27 October 2011 I gave evidence in person, at their invitation, to the Boundary Commission for England then in the process of carrying out a Parliamentary review. At the time their own proposal for the Greater Nottingham area looked like this (click on the map to enlarge):

I took their map and drew my own lines in blue and red so that it was easier to see their proposals.

I lived in Lenton in 2011 and the BC proposed a new 'Nottingham South & West Bridgford constituency' — which the national Labour Party did not oppose, but many local Party members like myself did. Our MP, Lilian Greenwood, asked me to see if I could come up with some alternative proposals — which I did.

The BC final recommendations were published in 2015 and had been changed to create a Nottingham South West and Beeston constituency. I like to think that my written evidence and the address I made in person influenced their decision. Here is what I said on 27 October 2011 in Derby:

'My Nottingham South West & Beeston proposed constituency.

I live in Lenton, which is a thriving inner-city community with its own ward and councillors (thanks to the efforts of local residents like myself and the support of some local councillors and our then MP). 

As a community we actually gravitate south west to Nottingham University and Beeston. We are very much like the neighbouring ward of Wollaton East & Lenton Abbey, insomuch as in each ward some 70% of local residents are in full-time education and there are far more private landlords than there are owner-occupiers. We share the same bus routes (there is a bus every 2 minutes between Nottingham city centre, Lenton, Beeston and Chilwell)… The two main Nottingham University campuses are in Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey ward. The large Lenton Industrial Estate and the Boots complex straddle the Beeston – Lenton border.

I and countless others go to south west to Beeston or to the city centre to shop and socialise. We rarely go to West Bridgford, unless it is to a football or cricket match'.

The 2015 proposals died a death and when the next consultations began I was about to have major surgery and needed what energy I had to get through a day! The good news for me at the time was that the BC stuck with the idea of pulling Beeston into Nottingham South and many of the comments submitted supported the idea that Beeston should join Lenton and the city, rather than remain part of Broxtowe. Below is an extract from the BC's final recommendations map published earlier this week. There is a link to the BC's map here (click on the map to enlarge):

I admit to being fair chuffed at what I said, together with the evidence I submitted, in 2011 has stuck. At the time I was the only person who suggested pulling Beeston into Nottingham South. A few others submitted evidence in 2011 supporting my proposal.

I have to admit that I had lost track of what was happening, despite a couple of previous posts to Beeston Week about the Parliamentary boundary changes (see May 2015 and September 2016 posts).

A Labour Party member on Saturday asked 'What will this mean for Greg Marshall, the Party's prospective candidate for Broxtowe at the next general election?

Well, the proposals have to be adopted by Parliament before they come into effect at the next general election which, if Parliament runs its full term, will be 2022. However with 50 MPs disappearing that might persuade them to vote down the Government's support for the changes. After all the last set of proposals died a death, so why not these?

Labour politicians say that the proposed changes favour the Conservatives (which appears to be true) but the present constituency boundaries favour Labour and the SNP. What you get with a numbers based first past the post voting system is rough justice. Nottingham West and Beeston, as the new proposed constituency is named, is one of the larger ones in terms of numbers, despite that fact that should the student vote ever be persuaded to register, then we could be looking at a constituency of c.90,000 voters, the largest in England, if not Britain!

Now back to Greg Marshall. He could just move with Broxtowe and lose Beeston whilst gaining Hucknall and Lilian Greenwood loses Clifton and gains Beeston. It seems fair and simple enough and, in all honesty, I would have no problem with supporting Lilian, but I don't like the idea of Labour Party members having no direct say in who they choose as their prospective candidate, be it a council or a Parliamentary election — which means having open selection contests in every new constituency. A constituency wide vote as to whether Lilian gets it without a selection contest could result in a good few Beeston Labour Party members feeling less than happy at having no real say in who gets to be their candidate at the next (2022?) election.

Ideally I want this set of Boundary Commission for England proposals to die a death like the 2015 proposals. The best way for this to happen is a snap general election and, given the present state of things, it could happen!

I have been in the Labour Party since just before my 16th birthday in 1960 and, since 1961, a supporter of proportional representation. As I have said before I will accept the same 'added member system' as they use in Scotland and Wales, despite believing Party lists are anti-democratic from a voter's perspective.

I also think MPs should be elected for Parliamentary constituencies based on district and unitary council boundaries topped up to c.600 MPs by added MPs to ensure political parties which do not win seats under first past the post, but win lots of votes nationally, get a level of representation which fairly reflects that vote, but this is an argument for another day.

Right now I'm pleased with the outcome (if we have to have the unfair voting system we have). It has been a long time coming!

How many £250,000s' does it take to make a Nottinghamshire doughnut?

Nottinghamshire County Council

is offering Beeston to make part of a doughnut 

Four more stories on the BBC News today* about the County Council's plan to create a unitary Nottinghamshire Council, which excludes Nottingham City Council (already is a unitary council).

The first one says the County Council has voted itself £250,000 of our money to progress the idea and to carry out 'a consultation'.  This decision was made with the help of four Mansfield Independent Forum county councillors and (I am assuming) the support of the Conservative leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. The best the Conservatives have been offering Beeston since they came to power is crumbs

Broxtowe Conservatives feed Beeston crumbs

The second story says that a Mansfield Independent Forum council on the said district council is moving a motion opposing the idea and expects MIF's county councillors to support him.

The third story was about Ashfield councillors who walked to County Hall in West Bridgford to demonstrate their opposition to the County Council's plan.

Nottingham City Council may offer Beeston the chance to join them in the kitchen so we can all eat better and grow healthy together

The final story was that Nottingham City Council has reiterated its own proposal, should the County Council's plan ever grow legs, to propose the extension of the city council area to include the Greater Nottingham conurbation.

So, what does Beeston want?

To be part of a county council doughnut,

To continue surviving on Broxtowe crumbs

or to be in the kitchen helping to make Greater Nottingham a healthy place to live?

The Conservatives in Broxtowe offer us crumbs and I wonder how many more £250,000s Nottinghamshire County Council will spend on its power grab?

Broxtowe Borough Council is running short of money, hence the support of its Leader for the Council Council's 'doughnut' solution.

Logic says we should support Nottingham City Council and to share Beeston's enterprise with the wider conurbation.

* NOTE.  All the stories have disappeared from the visible BBC News website before I could provide links. 

For Lorna

I had a good day at The Garage, supporting Beeston & District Civic Society where they and other local groups gathered to celebrate and promote the first of two Heritage Open Day weekends in and around Beeston (there are more events next weekend).

Whilst folding and handing out copies the Beeston Blue Plaque Guide as well as my Beeston map, I got to talk with lots of interesting people, including a lady called Lorna. This posting is for her.

I got into a conversation with Lorna about maps, especially local maps, and how they can help us see, and understand, the world a little differently. Lorna mentioned The Meadows in Nottingham, where she had done some work involving maps with students, which prompted me to remember our very first issue — hence the image below.

Why we asked for this photograph to be taken is explained in the Cover Story, which appeared on page 2 (click on the 2nd image to enlarge and read the text more clearly).

Looking now at what we wrote all those years ago we wouldn't change a word.

As I say, this is for Lorna, but if you enjoy and agree then I'm glad.

PS. I apologise if the text is small, but it is readable on my computer. If you would like a more legible copy of the text, please contact me. Robert.