Latest news with #BroxtoweBoroughCouncil
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Call to tighten rules on e-scooters and e-bikes
A council has called for stricter rules to be introduced for e-bikes and e-scooters. Broxtowe Borough councillors passed a motion on Wednesday calling for their speed limit to be reduced, as well as for licensing requirements to be brought in. The council will be writing to the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, to raise the issue. Councillor Adam Stockwell raised concerns over riders "swerving dangerously in and out around cars", not obeying traffic lights, speeding, being hard to see, and said he had witnessed users deliberately "riding at speed" toward pedestrians. He added: "All it takes is one slip or one miscalculation or it being ridden at an older resident and that's going to be a serious collision with serious injuries, no doubt." The council has called for the current 15.5mph (24.9kmph) speed limit - the national limit for e-bikes without pedalling - to be reduced, that vehicles should be registered, and new licences and a training course be introduced for usage. Beeston residents told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they backed the appeal. One bike shop worker said he routinely sees e-bike riders "flying across the road" while another Beeston resident who works with bicycles said: "I ride one myself as my knee is totally shot - everyone who rides one, including myself, should be licensed. "E-bikes over the speed limit should be confiscated anyway, but the police can't catch them. "E-scooters are bombs on wheels." Broxtowe Borough Council's motion calls for action generally on e-bike and e-scooter use. Neighbouring Nottingham City Council operates a Lime e-bike hire scheme, which extends into the county to cover Beeston in Broxtowe. A spokesperson for Lime said: "We take vandalism, theft and anti-social behaviour seriously and encourage the public to report incidents to us – including time and location – so we can take swift action. "It's crucial we work together with the council and police to deter misuse and hold offenders accountable. This includes rider education, enforcement tools and close coordination with local authorities to ensure the service remains safe and accessible for everyone." Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@ or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210. More on this story Residents have 'had enough' of abandoned e-bikes E-scooters and e-bikes seized in crackdown Related internet links Local Democracy Reporting Service


BBC News
7 days ago
- BBC News
Call to tighten rules on e-scooters and e-bikes
A council has called for stricter rules to be introduced for e-bikes and Borough councillors passed a motion on Wednesday calling for their speed limit to be reduced, as well as for licensing requirements to be brought council will be writing to the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, to raise the Adam Stockwell raised concerns over riders "swerving dangerously in and out around cars", not obeying traffic lights, speeding, being hard to see, and said he had witnessed users deliberately "riding at speed" toward pedestrians. He added: "All it takes is one slip or one miscalculation or it being ridden at an older resident and that's going to be a serious collision with serious injuries, no doubt."The council has called for the current 15.5mph (24.9kmph) speed limit - the national limit for e-bikes without pedalling - to be reduced, that vehicles should be registered, and new licences and a training course be introduced for residents told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they backed the appeal. One bike shop worker said he routinely sees e-bike riders "flying across the road" while another Beeston resident who works with bicycles said: "I ride one myself as my knee is totally shot - everyone who rides one, including myself, should be licensed."E-bikes over the speed limit should be confiscated anyway, but the police can't catch them."E-scooters are bombs on wheels."Broxtowe Borough Council's motion calls for action generally on e-bike and e-scooter Nottingham City Council operates a Lime e-bike hire scheme, which extends into the county to cover Beeston in Broxtowe.A spokesperson for Lime said: "We take vandalism, theft and anti-social behaviour seriously and encourage the public to report incidents to us – including time and location – so we can take swift action."It's crucial we work together with the council and police to deter misuse and hold offenders accountable. This includes rider education, enforcement tools and close coordination with local authorities to ensure the service remains safe and accessible for everyone."


BBC News
04-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Opening date put forward for rebuilt Brinsley headstocks
A mining landmark in Nottinghamshire that was pulled down over a risk to public safety will be rebuilt by April next year after a six-month headstocks - a rare wooden example of the system used to take miners into the pit - were removed from the site in Brinsley in December Borough Council approved a £220,000 "like-for-like" replacement in January after campaigners called for the structure to be announced a projected reopening date of 18 April next year while discussing the wider project's timeline during a meeting on Friday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said. The headstocks were part of Brinsley Colliery, which opened in 1842 and closed in 1934, although shafts at the site remained open until 1970 for access to other pits. 'International significance' After the site fully closed in 1970, it was reclaimed as a nature and picnic area, with the structure acting as a landmark until its meeting heard the wider project - including a new wildflower meadow and remembrance orchard for miners who lost their lives at the pit - is more than half Radulovic, leader of the council, said: "It will be a tourist attraction not just for the area, but for the wider area and will have international significance."The April deadline reflects a six-month delay to the original project's goal, with the leader of the council previously aiming for the full project to be completed by October delay was caused by the discovery of two old mining shafts back in October 2024 from a ground investigation partly using old of the mining tunnels is underneath the remembrance orchard area and while it was inaccessible, there were concerns the ground above could be are also concerns over potential vandalism on the site after two trees in the remembrance orchard were stolen earlier this year,Kennith Hamilton, Chair of Friends of Brinsley Headstocks, the voluntary community group maintaining the site, said vandalism of a new memorial bench, for the 33 people known to have lost their lives at the pit, was his "biggest worry".He said: "It's such a beautiful bench, it's such a good thing for the miners that passed away or got killed at the pit. "If [anyone] vandalises it they should be ashamed of themselves."Radulovic said the council was preparing to put mobile CCTV in place "if we do have any occurrence of vandalism or inappropriate behaviour on that site".He added: "We expect people to treat it with respect and dignity… they [would be] betraying the previous generations that, that is a memorial for, and I expect people that do will be treated £74,000 has so far been spent on the wider project, the LDRS said.


BBC News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
'New option' being explored for larger Nottingham boundary
A "new option" for an expanded boundary for Nottingham is being explored, a council leader has government announced last year it wanted to merge some local authorities in an attempt to streamline services, and three potential options for Nottinghamshire were published in Borough Council leader Milan Radulovic, however, told a public meeting on Tuesday that a fresh proposal was being looked into which would see the city of Nottingham combine with some of the surrounding suburbs rather than entire boroughs."I'm sure you're all aware of the city's new option which is an enlarged city taking in West Bridgford, Beeston, Hucknall, Arnold and Carlton," he said. The city council says these areas have not been officially proposed and no decisions have been made.A council spokesperson said: "Nottingham is a significantly under-bounded local authority, covering a population of 328,000 at the centre of a built-up area of well over 750,000 (and a wider county population of 1.17m)."We are responsible for delivering the services expected in a core city, but many of the people who work in the city, and use council services, currently live in the suburbs, meaning they can't vote in city elections, and pay council tax elsewhere. We need to address that imbalance through LGR."Government guidance states existing district boundaries should be considered the "building blocks" for proposals, but more complex boundary changes have not been ruled have also said any new authorities should have a population of 500,000 or more. City councillors have previously complained that the authority raises relatively little through council tax because about 80% of the city's properties are in bands A and Neghat Khan has previously endorsed the so-called "Nottingham +2" model, where the city would combine with any two of Broxtowe Borough Council, Gedling Borough Council, and Rushcliffe Borough BBC understands the latest suggestion to cut across existing boundaries was dubbed the "wiggly line option" at a recent source said it was "all about getting Band D properties into Nottingham".The government has set a deadline of 28 November for councils to submit final have been calls for the plans to be paused, however, and some councillors have suggested the proposals should be put to a local at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Radulovic said: "We seem to be in a difficult situation at the moment on forming any sort of consensus across Nottinghamshire".


Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Furious builder is fined £500 by council busybody for flytipping after he left two empty sacks on grass verge while renovating house
An angry builder has been handed a £6,500 fine for flytipping - after renovating a home but leaving two empty sacks on a grass verge. Frank Brown, 63, has hit out after receiving the penalty - saying he put the heavy-duty bags on the patch of land to avoid blocking the driveway where he was working. The sacks, containing a few inches of sand, were outside the property on a road in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, for three days before he was fined. Mr Brown is now refusing to pay - insisting he always had the intention of taking the sacks with him after the job was finished. The grandfather-of-two said: 'It's madness - I wasn't flytipping. 'I was carrying out quite a big building job on a house and we had a skip and the customers had two cars so space was limited. 'I put the empty sacks on a grass verge just outside the front of the house. They were there for three days before I got fined. 'An enforcement agent knocked on the bay window and said he wanted to speak to me about the fly-tipping and pointed at the bags. 'I said to him, "Okay, mate, I'm sorry if there's been a misunderstanding, I'll remove them now" - but he said, "No, it's too late". 'The official just said, "I'm writing you a fine for £500 for fly-tipping". 'I was shocked and couldn't believe there was no common sense being applied..' He received a Fixed Penalty Notice from Broxtowe Borough Council on June 24. Mr Brown, who has run his building firm for 30 years, said: 'I was so shocked, I told my wife and she wrote a post about what happened and put it on Facebook. 'We had lots of responses from people who had also been fined. 'It's just bullying tactics - it was like the official who fined me was waiting to pounce, he just didn't seem to have any feelings. 'It was really upsetting. My wife was really upset and we can't afford to pay this.' The fine was issued by Waste Investigations Support and Enforcement, a company that works with more than 40 local authorities. WISE says it issues people with FPNs for offences such as littering and dog fouling, while describing having 'an impressive 79 per cent payment rate'. Mr Brown is now being backed by a legal expert who says the FPN should be void because the building materials were not technically waste. Lawyer Michael Orlik, who specialises in highways, said: 'It has been issued because the builder is alleged to have deposited waste unlawfully, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act. 'But under section 75, external, waste means any substance or object which the holder discards. 'Clearly the builder has not discarded these bags, so it's not waste. They should cancel it, having found out their mistake.' A Broxtowe Borough Council spokesperson said: 'The council uses a third party contractor, WISE, for enforcement on flytipping and littering in the borough and are therefore unable to comment on individual cases.' Official figures recently suggested flytipping in England has risen to its highest level in almost 20 years. Environment Secretary Steve Reed vowed to toughen up enforcement after reported cases of illegal dumping passed 1.15million in 2023-2024. The figure is an increase of six per cent from the 1.08million the previous year and the highest level in the six years since the current method for reporting was brought in. The statistics also revealed a year-on-year fall in the number of fixed penalty notices issued for flytipping and a decline in the number of court-issued fines. Analysis of the data revealed London as a major hotspot, with eight boroughs in the top 10 local authorities for overall dumping and the highest proportion by population. The London Borough of Croydon was said to be the flytipping capital of the UK with 35,470 recorded incidents, according to an analysis of government data published covering the period from April 2023 to March 2024. Across England, the scourge of fly-tipping represnted a 6.2 per cent increase on the previous year and the second consecutive annual rise recorded. Nottingham and Liverpool were also included in the top 10, with other places towards the highest levels being Birmingham and Bradford. Last year some 60 per cent of cases involved household waste, with 688,000 incidents of illegally dumped rubbish from homes. These ranged from black bags of waste to the contents of shed clearances, furniture, carpets and DIY. The most common places for flytipping to occur were on pavements and roads, accounting for 37 per cent of incidents. Almost one third, or 31 per cent, of incidents were the size of a small van load. And another 28 per cent amounted to the equivalent of a car boot or less of rubbish. Meanwhile, four per cent were the size of a tipper lorry load or bigger. Large flytipping incidents have cost £13.1million for local authorities to clean up, research showed. Mr Reed has said: 'Flytipping is a disgraceful act which trashes communities and its increase is unacceptable. Communities and businesses shouldn't have to put up with these crimes. 'This Government will crack down on fly tipping and punish rubbish dumpers, forcing them to clean up their mess.'