….and Britain is still a tip, according to the Express, which claims that councils are ‘either unable or unwilling to get to grips with fly-tipping and littering’.

Here in Mansfield we have a special project to address the issues of litter and fly-tipping; to report fly-tipping, graffiti, abandoned cars or other environmental crimes, call the Grimebusters hotline on 01623 463463.

There have been a number of prosecutions this year, with fines upwards of £500 in some cases.  

All I can say is ‘Thank Heavens for MDC’s Grimebusters initiative’

……..for the chop. Thanks to Jill Usher and me, your local councillors, a joint meeting of the Highways, Housing and Street Cleansing departments of MDC inspected the whole estate to assess the requirements regarding weed spraying and/or removal.

All areas of the estate are the responsibility of one of these three departments - after consulting with various documents and maps, the decision will be made as to where responsibility lies. Once this is established, the weeds will be dealt with.

The path to the rear of Trusley Walk has already been cleared; I put in a request for the weeds to be chopped, as the residents of numbers 14-17 trusley Walk and 26-32 Litton Road must have a free exit from the rear of their properties, in the interests of safety.

……..say in what happens locally?

Commenting on the latest results of the Government’s Citizenship Survey, which found that fewer people feel they can influence decisions locally and nationally than in 2001, Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said:

“Thanks to this Government’s obsession with centralisation, people are feeling even less empowered. Despite their efforts to talk the talk on community empowerment, today’s results show that they are failing to walk the walk.

“Communities must be given real powers to make decisions that affect their area. How can we expect people to engage with democratic structures if they don’t believe it will make any difference?”

You have a better chance of having your voice heard locally if you attend the Area Assembly for your ward. Details are in Chad or on Mansfield District Council’s Website.

…a scheme run by Mansfield District Council;   officers give illustrated talks to other officers and elected members. I attended the session yesterday which was given by Mark Wilkinson, the council’s Conservation Officer. He told us about Mansfield’s past and showed wonderful pictures of the old Mansfield- the number of lovely old buildings of character that had been obliterated by savage demolition to make way for fashionable faceless concrete monstrosities in the sixties and seventies was staggering. These buildings that were so under-valued when they were standing are only now receiving well-deserved praise. There is a picture of ‘Lost Mansfield’  (c1823) available at the Museum and other historical pictures are held by The Old Mansfield Society.

It’s very true that we ‘don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone’

….took place yesterday and in the company of  Jayne Parsley, M/W Housing Officer, Pete Healey of Street Cleansing, Councillor Jill Usher and resident, Bill Hurt, I took a walk about the estate. I am happy to report that the estate looks reasonably clean and tidy. There were a few ‘grot spots’ which we made note of and the odd bit of fly-tipping but over-all the general opinion was that there is an improvement in the condition of the place we call home.

The approval for the fencing works around Charlesworth Court has been given the go-ahead, so work should be starting soon. This will give a degree of privacy to the residents in the flats and hopefully will go some way to reducing the incidence of anti-social behaviour against residents.

    Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.

With this quote in mind, the closing date for entry into the Mansfield in Bloom competition is on Friday, 27th June. If you think your garden is worthy of the Best Kept Garden Award, then collect an entry form. They are available at www.mansfield.gov.uk or by email from kpoxon@mansfield.gov.uk (Parks Development Officer) or by telephone on 01623 463 118

Good Luck!

….has been launched in Notts, to fight the epidemic of fly-tipping in the county.  

Both local authorities and the Environment Agency have powers to tackle fly-tipping. It is widely recognised that fly-tipping can be best combated through partnerships between local authorities, other enforcement agencies, including the Environment Agency. 

The EA and local authorities have agreed with the Local Government Association (LGA) a protocol that sets out the types of fly-tipping that local authorities and Environment Agency respond to.The Environment Agency investigate the larger scale incidents of fly-tipping, involving hazardous waste and incidents involving organised gangs of fly-tippers. Local authorities tackle clear-up of fly-tipping on publicly owned land, including roads and lay-bys. EA contact number: 0800 807060.   

The Nottinghamshire Local Area Agreement (consisting of, Ashfield District Council, Bassetlaw District Council, Broxtowe Borough Council, Gedling Borough Council, Mansfield District Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council), Nottingham City Council and the Environment Agency have funded the purchase of covert surveillance equipment which will be used to tackle fly-tipping throughout Nottinghamshire.The project will run for 2 years and commenced on the 1 April 2008.  If you want more information about Operation Maid Marian please contact Peter Rutherford, Environment Crime Team Leader on 0115 846 3723.Of course, if you witness fly-tipping you can anonymously alert the Police (420999) or call Grimebusters at MDC (463463)

………final! The toilets on St John Street will not be kept open and the original decision, taken in February by the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, will stand. I can’t say I disagree with her. 

The scrutiny of the decision following the Call-in was carried out diligently by Select Commission 1 members, regardless of their personal opinions on the matter. We had to be totally unbiased in our public consultation and as a result of all the research a veritable mine of information has been gathered which may be invaluable in future, should MDC decide to look to alternatives for the provision of Public Conveniences for Mansfield.

….at the Civic Centre yesterday, when I arrived for my first meeting as Leader of the Liberal Democrat group at MDC.  The welcoming committee was not there to greet me, though; they were protesting about the prospect of development of rear gardens at Clipstone Road West, Forest Town.

I avoided them ‘like the plague’ because being on the Planning Committee that was meeting to consider the applications for permission to build on these gardens, if I had spoken to the protesters I would not have been able to cast my vote on these two items.

As it was, having read the planning applications  over the previous couple of weeks I had already come to the conclusion that a site visit was called for. Even with the help of Google maps it is hard to picture exactly what these two sites look like, so I proposed  that Committee members visit the two sites and at the vote this was unamimously backed by the rest of the  Planning Committee. Once these visits have taken place we will return to deliberate and debate the applications.

……….St John Street public conveniences.

Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Councillor Kate Allsop,  will decide whether to uphold her original ruling to close the toilets.

I am convinced that Kate, as an experienced Councillor with lots of ‘nous’ will make the judgment in the best interests of all concerned, whether this means that the decision is to be upheld or reversed. 

This review of the  Portfolio’s original ruling followed the call-in of that decision by 6 members of MDCouncil. A public consultation was conducted by Select Commission 1  and results of this and other findings have been passed in a  report to Councillor Allsop.