Minutes:
The Leader updated the Councillors on relevant matters of interest including the housing delivery programme. Good process was being made with the five new homes for rent to veterans in Stapleford, At the meeting, Council was asked to endorse a report to build fifty-one new homes for rent and shared ownership, Contracts had been exchanged on a site to build eighteen new housing units, subject to the planning process, Six underused garage sites had been sent to Architects to draw up plans for social housing and five former right to buy properties had been bought back along with the two new dementia friendly bungalows that were delivered last year. The application for four hundred and six modular homes on the Boots enterprise zone site was also encouraging.
Live events had been taking place again in Broxtowe. Hemlock Rocks with live music took place on Saturday 18 September and the DH Lawrence Music Festival with over one hundred acts in over ten venues across Eastwood had also taken place. The Leader thanked all those involved in the planning and organising of them. The delivery of the summer holiday activity programme in Broxtowe had been provided including food and activities for children from lower income families. There had been 1,035 places for primary age children and 129 for secondary age. The project cost £45,931 provided through the Nottinghamshire County Council from the government.
Progress had been made on the content of the levelling up bids for both Eastwood and Kimberley. A strong health and wellbeing theme had been emerged from ideas that had been put forward. The Leader had meetings planned with the MP for Eastwood to seek continued support with the ideas. In Kimberley the task group would continue to work productively on their ideas that included creation of a new community asset, transformational investment in the Town Centre to support its vitality and viability post COVID-19, investment in leisure and access to business, town centre and recreational opportunities in the area of Kimberley.
The Leader expressed his disappointment with the length of time it had taken for the publication of the Governments integrated rail plan. The HS2 eastern leg extension would provide economic benefits from this investment. The ambitions that were being developed with DevCo for zero carbon growth were exciting and would result in levelling up as improvement to the environment through a new network of green and blue infrastructure to balance and complement the housing growth within the area.
Discussions had been progressing well with the County Council, all district council leaders and the City Council Leader to discuss a County deal for the area. The conversations were advancing constructively and included themes of environmental improvement, transport and economic development investment, skills advances, improvements to health and social care and exploring ways to make the current structure streamlined and efficient between layers of government.
The recent green festival in Chilwell had been a great success. The Council was making good progress towards implementing the carbon reduction strategy. The Leader thanked Councillors Skinner and Marshall for their support in the event.