Council News

A number of you came to the Annual Parish Meeting on March 12th and we had a good discussion during the meeting and afterwards about several of the things which are on people’s minds. Not surprisingly parking attracted a lot of attention, everyone agreeing that this is now an issue affecting the whole of Keyworth. It’s a particular problem for disabled people around the Square where there is often nowhere to park and the sign marked ‘No Parking’ at the dropped kerb is frequently ignored. More »

I mentioned in last month’s newsletter that there will be several vacant Parish Council seats at the time of the May elections. If you are interested in joining the Council can I remind you that your nomination has to be submitted to the Returning Officer at the Civic Centre, West Bridgford by noon on Wednesday 4th April. Forms are available from the office.

At February’s Parish Council meeting we heard a presentation from Ian Machan who is leading the campaign to secure the long term future of the Leisure Centre. The message was very clear, we must ‘use it or lose it’. Ian and the Friends of the Leisure Centre are challenging the Borough Council in the hope that they will change their strategy and give us a long term guarantee. If you would like to add your support please contact Ian directly at friendsof.klc@googlemail.com. We will be discussing this again with Brian Knowles, the Rushcliffe Leisure Facilities Manager at the full Council meeting on April 16th.

At the February meeting we also heard from PC Rob Inglis who is acting Beat Manager for Keyworth. Apart from the parking problem the two issues we discussed were anti-social behaviour and speeding. PC Inglis is doing his best to deal with the behaviour problem but it’s clear that it won’t go away until youngsters have somewhere to meet. This is something the Community Liaison committee will be discussing at the end of March. On the speeding question the main message from PC Inglis was to report any instances of speeding directly to him on 0115 9670999 ext 6262 or email Rob.Inglis@nottinghamshire.pnn.police.uk.

Later this year we are hoping to start work on a Parish Plan for Keyworth. This will be a major exercise aimed at finding out how you, the residents of Keyworth, would like to see the village develop in the future. Several local villages have already produced Parish Plans and we’ve been talking them to find out what’s involved. Before the summer we’ll give you much more information about this and seek your support – it’s important to note that for it to be successful a Parish Plan has to be driven by the residents not the Parish Council.

It is with great sadness that we have heard of the death of Colin Cawthorn.
Colin played a vital and very useful role on Keyworth Parish Council for a great many years . He was a hard working Councillor and was also Chairman of the Council on at least one occasion . With his vast experience of Councils he was always very well informed and was always a useful fountain of information. He was also a member of Rushcliffe Borough Council and Normanton on the Wolds Parish Council and loved his Council work. More »

You will shortly be receiving details of the Parish Council’s spending plans for next year and the associated precept. As mentioned last month we are intending to restrict capital expenditure next year - the overall amount claimed from the Borough Council will increase by 1.4%, well below inflation. Because of a further reduction in the transitional protection grant, the Parish Council element of the council tax will increase by about 2.9%. This equates to an annual increase of just over £2 for a Band D property.

You will find in this issue a leaflet advertising the forthcoming Annual Parish Meeting which is being held in the Centenary Lounge at 7.30 on Monday 12th March. This is your opportunity both to hear from your councillors and have your own say on things that interest or concern you about the village. After the formal meeting there will be a chance to chat over a glass of wine. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on the 12th.

Tim Heeley, one of our councillors, is continuing to work on developing the Parish Council website (www.keyworthparishcouncil.org). We are hoping to increase the amount of local news to help you keep up to date with what’s happening in the village. If you have any ideas or suggestions for improvement please us the contact form on the web site to get in touch with Tim.

At the end of this year we are expecting some of our longer serving councillors to stand down and will therefore be looking for new councillors to start in May. It’s likely that a big focus next year will be on how to develop the village in the longer term. If you have project or financial skills or simply want to ‘put something back’ please give this some thought. You’ll get a feel for the sort of things we do by coming to the Annual Parish Meeting mentioned above.