Beeston Fields Recreation Ground picture walk

This morning I walked around the edges of Beeston Fields Recreation Ground and took these photographs.

Looking north from beside the changing pavilion on the east side of the recreation ground.

A wider view looking north from beside the changing pavilion on the east side of the recreation ground.

Four trees in the north-east corner of the recreation ground.

Looking west along the northern edge of the recreation ground from the north-east corner.

The well trodden path along the northern edge of the recreation ground.

A garden gate onto the recreation ground from one the many houses which border the recreation ground.

The line of trees along the northern edge of the recreation ground viewed from the north-west corners towards the north-east corner. 

An isolated stretch of tarmac on the west side of the recreation looking towards Wollaton Road…

…at the end of which is this low railing barrier blocking off access from Wollaton Road. Straight ahead is Hillside Road.

The recreation ground viewed from the path which runs along its southern edge..

A view from the recreation ground's southern edge path looking east.

Recreation ground signage as you enter from Central Avenue. Behind the fence is the bowling green and pavilion.

Pigeon from a nearby loft fly over e recreation ground.

I'm on the buses now

I am now concentrating on my History by bus and writing blogs, which can be found via my Senior Fiction blog.

My posts on Beeston Week will be map and place related rather than comment posts.

This blog is changing to maps and data only

The previous post earlier today is my last comment piece on this blog. I have other things I want to do with the time I have, like writing and my History by bus blog. I have several 35 bus route events I’m in the process of organising this year, plus my Beeston map I do with Judy Sleath, the Chair of Beeston & District Civic Society, which is now in its 5th year. I will also continue with my Beeston housing maps and related data tables, which will continue to be posted to this blog.

Age (75 as good as) and health (Pulmonary Lung Fibrosis) play a part in my decision. I feel a long way from the grave but mortality, in my experience, has a habit on catching up on people so I am mindful of it. Another 20 years would suit me fine. Time to be on Desert Island Disks...


Robert Howard.

Broxtowe Borough Council’s lax housing policies will destroy Beeston

The attached link to the lead news story on The 

Guardian website this afternoon (to read click here). It speaks for itself.

Some officers and councillors appear oblivious to the risks Broxtowe Borough Council is running with its lax attitude to landlord registration and policing. It has the same problems as Nottingham but a very different approach. Until a few years I was living in Lenton saying much the same thing but the good news is that the City finally got the message albeit only after Lenton has been almost destroyed as a community - which is why I write and talk about the ‘Lentonisation’ of Beeston - but better late than never.

I will be looking closely at what local political parties have to say about the changing nature of housing in Beeston. At present they are all remarkably quiet apart from a few voices.

My contribution will continue to be my maps and the data I get from the annual Freedom of Information requests I make. Councillors should be demanding at least annual reports on council tax exemptions linked to HMO registration applications and planning applications so that Broxtowe Borough Council can have a policy. In the absence of one private landlords and developers will continue to run rings around the Council.

Perhaps streets do have to be abandoned by families and Beeston schools closed before anything happens but by then it will be too late.

Council tax exemptions cost Broxtowe council tax payers over £1.7m a year and discounts a staggering £7.6m

The headline is about true but lacks perspective but once you've read it do you really care?

I fall into the camp that believes information should be presented in ways which are reasonably easy to understand. It is something I struggle to do despite my best efforts. I want to explain everything instead of just giving readers a headline figure. Over the years I have asked numerous individuals or organisations to explain a number or a claim and all I got by way of a reply was silence.

When in yesterday's blog post I argued that Broxtowe could find (a minimum) of £2million per annum to fund a young persons' housing programme I had the data before me as supplied by Broxtowe Borough Council. A bit from here, a bit from there, and when you pull it altogether and make a statement there is someone waiting to demolish your reasonable argument (hence the success of the political drama House of Cards).

Click on table below to enlarge:

These figures are what underpin the case I made yesterday for a young persons' housing precept across Broxtowe, money taken from the general Council Tax total and shown on our council tax bill as a precept.

I can then run a headline claiming 'Council tax goes down in Broxtowe'. 

What I want is viable and the figures reveal it. Abolish exemptions for student housing and then ring fence the money as match funding for the young persons' housing precept, giving us a pot of at least £2million per annum. I stated my case yesterday so please go and take a look now.

Thanks.  

Let's turn the £1m plus cost of student council tax exemptions in Broxtowe to the advantage of everyone by putting £2m annually into housing for young people in Broxtowe

Reading my headline you may think that I have gone mad but hear me out. 

The first thing to say is what I'm proposing will mean landlords paying council tax at 100% on presently council tax exempt student properties. This would bring in c.£1m — a sum already paid by existing council tax payers to cover the shortfall. That money would continue to be collected as a young persons' housing precept, which added to the £1m from landlords, would create an annual income of c.£2m towards housing located in Broxtowe Borough for young people (who would have family/work links and students).

Rent charges suggest that landlords, for the most part, do not share their council tax exemption with their tenants. It is money most of them pocket (this claim is based on looking at weekly rent charges on Zoopla  and Rightmove websites today - £81pw for a room in a student let; £156pw for a 3 bed family semi is just one example - a student let would probably be at least 4 beds and, potentially, double the income from the house remaining a family let). ALL landlords should have to give every tenant an annual statement of what they do with the rent they charge: where the rent goes; the amount of any mortgage and the repayment terms; maintenance costs, repairs etc.

This annual £2m pot would help cover the loan costs of capital borrowed to build suitable housing for young people located throughout the Borough of Broxtowe. The housing would be managed by a housing co-op much like that already envisaged by students.

It is a win-win situation for everyone. Family housing can be protected by planning from landlords, who buy to let and, in the process, drive up prices. Older residents benefit because streets keep families and neighbourhoods are more balanced than they might otherwise be. Young people and students get purpose built housing which they manage as a co-op and it can take account of housing needs across Broxtowe Borough, not just in Beeston.

To those who say I’m living in Cloud Cuckoo Land, I would point out that change has to start somewhere so why not Broxtowe? and if there can be council precepts for business (ie. Beeston), town councils and parishes why not housing? Money ring fenced, as this money would be, would, I believe, attract support from across the whole community.

Initially, there would be lost council tax, but the council tax being paid by other previous exempt groups would cover this and within two years maximum the council would begin to receive additional council tax income from the new houses being occupied by young Broxtowe residents and students. The idea not only builds homes for young people but generates council tax income.

I can hear other voices saying you'll have to change the law to remove some of the council tax exemptions. With an existing high-profile MP and Greg Marshall in the wings waiting to take over, both have the skills and nous to persuade central government to make an exception of Broxtowe on a pilot basis — this kind of thing happens all the time. It could even be done by Parliamentary Bill.

Having spent 21 years of my life as a supported housing manager, preparing budgets and development briefs, I know what I’m proposing is viable, manageable, and something which can help resolve in some small part the housing need which exists in Beeston and across Broxtowe.

If you think my idea is rubbish then I challenge to come with a better, more affordable, viable solution and share it.

Broxtowe HMO Map

Click here to see a Google based map of HMO registered properties in Beeston.

This is a test which appears to work.
Below is a hard copy with amendments.
Click map to enlarge

My next version, once I have the skills, will have the pins colour coded by year. 

Even with 20 plus addresses to be added at some point, I believe there will be more. Broxtowe Borough Council’s attitude, even accepting its staff shortages (which it is trying to address), towards HMO registration is lax and will only change when there are more robust procedures and controls in place. 

In fairness, staff have said they are planning changes to HMO registration procedures following my observations, which I welcome. It may be fear of penalising ‘good landlords’ that holds the Council back. My argument, based on experience over many years, is that ‘good landlords’ welcome robust procedures and registration because they have nothing to fear.

The Council has to use council tax exemptions and HMO registration to introduce property inspections annually to ensure houses meet required standards. This is in the best interests of tenants, neighbours and, yes, landlords too!

National Audit Office's local government financial data including Broxtowe invites as many questions as it answers, so let's have a council budget 'Teach-in Day'

The National Audit Office has published a report, Financial sustainability of local authorities: (a) 2018 visualisation, relating to local government finances covering the period 2010/11 – 2016/17. Unfortunately it is all percentages and not actual amounts of money. On the plus side you can compare Broxtowe with Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Council, albeit very different beasts. I have extracted some data which I will turn into tables over the next few days.

In the meantime if you have missed this story in the news media or don't have a weblink, follow this link.

The following quote from the report's introduction delivers the message loud and clear. It is that local government and local communities who have paid the price of the financial crisis, together with those on low incomes, the vulnerable and disadvantaged. To all these people local services matter!

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government measures the impact of reducing government funding on local authority income via ‘revenue spending power’. This indicator captures the main streams of government funding to local authorities alongside council tax. We found that nationally revenue spending power fell by 28.6% in real terms from 2010-11 to 2017-18. If council tax is removed, our analysis shows that government funding fell in real terms by 49.1% from 2010-11 to 2017-18.

Here is a comparative table (click on table to enlarge).

If I had the time I would request the financial data which has been used to compile these percentages (which all appear in the report). There has been talk of Broxtowe Borough Council's financial problems. What this comparative suggests is that Broxtowe appears to be in no worse position than Nottingham or the county council.

Notice how percentage reserves have increased and you can see why this data matters in money terms. I will have a look at Broxtowe. What the figures do show is that Nottinghamshire County Council has a far lower level of reserves (in percentage terms) than Broxtowe and Nottingham, which probably helps explain the enthusiasm among some county councillors for the creation of a unitary county council (an idea since dropped, for the time being at least).

That said, the county council spends (in percentage terms) 64.6% of its budget on adult & child social care, whereas the city spends 54.5%. At this rate, as the news media tells us every few days (so it seems), the county and city will soon have little money to spend on anything else!  

Some the data is less complete for comparative purposes so I will just refer to Broxtowe when it comes to loss of Government funding and spending power.

Between 2010/11 and 2017/18 Government funding to Broxtowe fell by 62.9% and, as I understand it, will continue to fall until it reaches 0%. I'm sure when this will happen. In real times this equals 42.6% and council tax lost 3.2% of its spending power in Broxtowe during the same period.

It gives me a headache just trying to comprehend what is actually happening. We all need to understand because it is that important!

Perhaps the Labour Party might like to organise a kind of 'Council Budget Teach-in Day' a few weeks before the Borough Council elections (one day in Beeston/Stapleford and one day in Eastwood/Kimberley) with stalls and data based on services. It could well attract much need media attention!

For council tenants there could be a stall with info on 'Where does you rent go?' looking at the housing budget.  Another for leisure and parks. Then there's Environmental Services. You get the idea. Once in power the Borough Council can take over the days.

Residents can be asked for their views so that changes can be planned for. Holding budget consultations in October/November is far too late and only serves to show how little interest have in their own 'public consultation'! 

Broxtowe Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Register and its missing entries.

Today I received an updated copy of Broxtowe's HMO Register and I had been expecting to see a flood of new registrations given, to quote the Council's own website, that 'From 1st October 2018 all HMO's with five or more occupiers forming two or more households regardless of the number of storeys will be subject to HMO licencing. If you own or manage a HMO that meets the criteria for mandatory licencing you must apply for a licence before 1st October 2018'.

I think the above is pretty clear by any measure, yet here we are, over three months later, and just 2 two storey households have been registered! In the absence of an answer to the question how many applications there are outstanding I assume there are none, although I have data from another Council department which suggests there could be a great many unregistered properties with five or more occupiers which should have applied for HMO registration and haven't.

Nottingham city Council say they backdate applications, yet Broxtowe says a ‘renewal cannot be backdated’ despite acknowledging that applications are received without supporting documentation. If landlords/agents know this is Broxtowe’s policy then many will submit incomplete applications! For them it’s a win win situation which involves people has to involve Council employees in more work! As a policy it doesn’t make any sense!

HMO Registration is just one part of a jigsaw Broxtowe Borough Council has, in my opinion, wilfully ignored despite the cost and the extra burden this places upon the wider community.

It is beyond my comprehension as to why there have not been reports to the Council about the matter. Why have so many councillors chosen to ignore the problem?

These are questions which need answers!

I will be disappointed if I cannot do a post on Friday as to income lost because of council tax exemptions and a lax HMO registration p[olicy.

Watch this space. 

How the evils of transport snobbery damage the bus and the grace of the 510 electric bus

A great article in The Guardian today about getting value for money when investing in urban public transport systems (click here for link) albeit in Africa but the same logic applies to Nottingham and the UK.

This image from the article says it all:

Nottingham's tram remains a costly investment. The older units are now 14 years old and they could well last another 30 years if properly maintained, even converted to driverless when the time comes (probably closer than even I imagine — 5 years at most).

The tram though is loved by the middle class regardless of politics. They find it 'so easy to get on and off, so comfortable' as an active Labour Party member in Beeston said to me recently, oblivious to the cost and, seemingly, that Nottingham's trams are little better than cattle trucks when full.

The costs of construction in Nairobi are obviously different to those in the UK but even here they will vary considerably place to place but I'm pretty confident that the cost ratios are much the same. In other words for the same money you can have:

50km of bus ways/track.

13km of tram track.

  9km of metro railway

Once on a modern bus using reserved track the ride is as good as any tram or train and has a flexibility denied to trams and trains, yet politicians and the middle classes still prefer the latter two over the bus! 

'Oh look at me I can ride on a tram, so select, so me'.

I can only describe this attitude as public transport snobbery! 

As I have in previous posts I remain a trolleybus person loving their smooth quiet ride. Nottinghamshire County Council's electric 510 bus route between Beeston and Stapleford has a ride as good as a trolleybus and navigates streets around Stapleford with a grace you have to experience to believe. I know no other word which describes the experience better. The bus is a monster for the roads it traverses and I am in awe of its drivers. All worthy of the title 'Bus driver of the year'.

Finally this photograph from The Guardian article. It looks like a painting. I love it.