- The management committee meets on a monthly basis, and holds a number of open public meetings annually, depending on projects that are underway
- A series of resident action groups operate under the umbrella of The Forum, again meeting on a monthly basis
- We have a Community Chest, providing small grants for community groups to increase or improve their services, and have given over 30 grants to community groups so far. All funds have been allocated for this year
- Our community newsletter, the Forum News, is compiled by the Youth Forum and produced on a quarterly basis, with a household distribution of 4,000
- The Forums activities are currently funded by a combination of European Social Fund, National Lottery Community Fund, Gedling Borough Council and Nottinghamshire County Council grants. These funds provide for core running costs and staff, the Community Chest, capacity building and training, publicity and information
- The Forum's work is dictated by the Netherfield Forum Business Action Plan, which was initiated at a resident visioning conference in 1997. The plan sets out the vision for Netherfield, and highlights a range of priorities for development in the area, identified by local people. This has now been updated as a result of the visioning event in June 2005 which set priorities for the next few years.
Our key pieces of work this year are listed below.
St Georges Access Centre
This project was seen as a top priority – to have a flagship “first steps” centre at the heart of Netherfield, where local people and groups can hold meetings, run events and deliver services, as well as being able to join training courses, receive specialist health advice and treatments and take advantage of “drop in” surgeries, like the Citizens Advice Bureau, Connexions and much more.
Netherfield Youth Forum Film Project and Youth Conference
Members of The Youth Forum have been trained this year in film editing techniques, and have created two films that focus upon youth needs - researching current voluntary and statutory services and highlighting areas needing development. The process culminated in a Youth Conference, held on Saturday 7 December 2005 at the Carlton Pentecostal Church, where an Action Plan for Youth was instigated.
Netherfield Training Programme
The Forum has taken on a major role in the provision of local first steps training, becoming the main co-ordination point for local provision, which includes developing courses according to local need, and dealing with course bookings, as well as directly delivering courses using Notts County Council Adult and Community Learning Services funding.
Completion of town centre improvements
Netherfield Town Centre has undergone a major transformation this year, as developments identified as a priority by residents and funded by East Midlands Development Agency are finalised. The main shopping area now has attractive paving, street furniture and new planting, with scope for installation of a weekly street market in the near future. The Forum will be working closely with local businesses in the New Year to re-establish the Netherfield Traders Association in order to build on the improvements.
Improved access to riverside
The Environment Action Group has continued to work closely with Groundwork Greater Nottingham to build on environmental work carried out under the EMDA Capital Programme. Three phases of work have been identified and funding applied for – these are:
A cycle lane along Chandos St, linking the existing Ouse Dyke culvert footpaths to the riverside and towpaths, and traffic calming measures and provision of cycle lanes on Private Roads 2, 3 and 4 on Colwick industrial Estate.
Contact:
Raj Sharma
tel: 0115 977 4336
e-mail: raj.sharma@nottscc.gov.uk
