Tag: city

Various anti-cuts events this week (beginning 17th Jan 2011) – a reminder

Here is a reminder of anti-cuts events this week.

Tuesday 18th Jan – Mansfield Notts SOS group next meets at 7pm at the Gas Club, off Lime Tree Place (At the bottom of Ratcliffe Gate). Mansfield Group of Notts SOS are planning a demonstration against the cuts in Mansfield mid February – more information soon. Come along if you want to help organise and build for a demo in Mansfield to fight the cuts.

Tuesday 18th Jan – Planning meeting for Nottingham Students Against Fees and Cuts. Weekly meetings are held 6pm on Tuesdays meeting outside Trent SU (Students’ Union building, Byron House). For more info please get in touch via 07849 392 842. See also NSAFC website.

Wednesday 19th Jan – Protest to Save EMA! 4.30pm Market Square, Nottingham. The Coalition government are voting on whether to scrap Educational Maintenance Allowance after the vote was postponed last week. We are holding a protest at Market Square at 4.30pm. Bring placards, banners and tell everyone you can! It’s short notice but we will still make an impact. Read background info about EMA.

Thursday 20th Jan – Beeston & Chilwell Defend Library Services meeting.

Thursday 20th Jan – Save Gedling School – Phoenix pub at 6.30. The fight to save Gedling school continues.

Thursday 20th Jan – Racism, Cuts and the Right – Nottingham Unity meeting.

Friday 21st Jan – Nottingham Solidarity Network meeting, Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Forest Fields, Nottingham.

Nottingham Students Against Fees and Cuts! EMA Second Day of Action – Wed 19th Jan 2011 at 4.30pm [Plus coaches to 29th Jan demos].

A couple of messages from Nottingham Students Against Fees and Cuts (NSAFC) …

Wednesday 19th January (Tomorrow)- Protest to Save EMA! 4.30pm Market Square, Nottingham. The Coalition government are voting on whether to scrap Educational Maintenance Allowance after the vote was postponed last week. We are holding a protest at Market Square at 4.30pm. Bring placards, banners and tell everyone you can! It’s short notice but we will still make an impact.

Saturday 29th January – National Demo against cuts and fees – London.
Called by Education Activist Network, National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and University College Union (UCU). Coaches leave Nottingham Trent SU at 8:30am, Nottingham Uni (Portland Building) at 9am. Tickets are £7 concession, £15 waged and must be bought in advance. To book, send an e-mail to this address with your contact details and we will get in touch and arrange to get a ticket to you, or text/call 07849 392 842. Download flyer: National demo Fees Cuts 29 Jan 2011 in London
Notts SOS note: there is also a demo in Manchester on the same day which UCU is also supporting. So take your pick.

Tuesday 18th January (Tonight) Planning meeting. Weekly meeting are held 6pm on Tuesdays meeting outside Trent SU (Students’ Union building, Byron House). Apologies for the short notice but if you want to get involved in organising the campaign then please come down and get involved. These
meetings are held every week. For more info please get in touch via 07849 392 842.

What’s happened to the Big Society? – open meeting on 1st Feb 2011

What’s happened to the Big Society? An open meeting to be addressed by Andrew Redfern,
Chief Executive, Framework – the umbrella organization for the homeless in Nottingham and Notts.
Hosted by St Barnabas’ Cathedral Justice & Peace Group. All welcome!

Time/Date: 7.30pm – 9pm, Tuesday 1st February.
Venue: St Barnabas Cathedral, McGuiness Room, Derby Rd, Nottingham, NG1 5AE.
Contact: Patricia Stoat patricia.stoat [at] virgin.net

Fight for Nottingham City libraries facing service, books and staff cuts.

We already know about cuts to County Libraries – redundancies, 75% cut in book budget, etc. Protests are organised (Beeston & Chilwell Defend Library Services campaign launched – public meeting 20th January and stalls on 15th & 16th).

Recently, some news has emerged about cuts to City Libraries, which are managed separately from those in the County. Library managers and others of similar rank were called to meetings soon after the New Year, to be told the news. Opening hours across nearly all City libraries (excluding the main library at Angel Row) are to be cut by 10%, with a consequent reduction in staff. Management claims that there will be no actual redundancies amongst library assistants (the lowest paid), but that unfilled vacancies, voluntary early retirement and reductions in hours (voluntary??) will fill the gap. However, there will be redundancies amongst librarians, senior library managers and library managers, who have received “At Risk” letters. Currently, nearly all libraries have a manager, one grade up from a library assistant and theoretically responsible for the day-to-day running of the library; in future, library managers will be managing more than one library. Libraries already operating part time hours will be open even shorter times, leading to the possibility of borrowers never finding them open and giving up on using them; then there will be “no public demand” for those libraries.

There will be no cuts at senior management level. Perhaps this is because nobody knows what they do.

The City book budget will be cut by 25%. As managers have, for years, engaged in a campaign to throw away perfectly good books bought by public money, this could mean a severe depletion of stock, especially of books with less mass-market appeal.

Library managers at the meeting were told to cascade this information to their staff. So library assistants will or will not have learned about it depending on whether or not their managers attended the meeting, and whether or not they have shared a shift with their library manager. Senior managers have also started touring community libraries to talk individually with library assistants. Cuts will be implemented before April.

It had previously been known that, later this year, Carlton Road library will join Top Valley, Bestwood, Wilford and Beechdale in being shut. Senior management will not guarantee the existence of any library, and expect to make further cuts beyond those described, in the future. Also of concern is the introduction of charging for computer usage in libraries, which, of course, will hit the poorest (including asylum seekers trying to keep in touch with families or support their cases) hardest.

But all is not gloom. According to reports, Loxley House (the new City Council admin HQ) was this year treated to a christmas tree costing £5,000.

To get involved with Notts SOS and fight for our libraries and other services: come to our conference on Saturday 15th January.

Forests and allotments – selling ’em off or raising prices in Nottingham and Notts

National Forests, including Sherwood Forest in Notts and allotments across Nottingham City are one very vunerable focus of national government and local authority plans to ‘reduce the deficit’ by either privatising assets or making us pay vastly more to use them.

Last week it was highlighted in the press that Sherwood Forest in Notts is to be included in the sell off of Forestry Commission land as part of the forthcoming Public Bodies Bill – there have been previous reports but the Bill is due in parliament within the next few weeks. National campaigning exists http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/content/save-our-forests-campaign and especially in Gloucestershire about the Forest of Dean seel off, but a vibrant local campaign will be needed here to stop Sherwood Forest being sold off. A national protest rally was held earlier in the month with more than 3,000 people and a petition of over 110,000 pledging to defend “the people’s” trees from what is likely to be a corporate land grab:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/03/forest-of-dean-protesters-woodland. What more can be done here in Nottingham and Notts?

Furthermore Nottingham City Council is holding a consultation of changes to allotment tenancies, rent levels and plot allocation. They claim that the review “aims to encourage more people to get involved with growing food in Nottingham.” In fact, the changes would involve the trebling of rents for allotments in Nottingham. More details on Nottingham Indymedia: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/854
 and http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/889

Save Our Forests Campaign – want to get involved?

The government is planning a massive sell off of our national forests. They could be auctioned and fenced off, run down, logged or turned into golf courses and holiday villages.

We can’t let that happen. We need to stop these plans now. National treasures like The Forest of Dean, Sherwood Forest and The New Forest could be sold off. Once they are gone, they will be lost forever.

There has been significant media coverage of the risks to the public forests and a huge “Save Our Forests” petition at www.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-forests has attracted nearly 130,000 signatures and is growing all the time – please sign it.

Local campaigns have also been set up to fight the sell off in Cannock Chase and the Forest of Dean; but there isn’t much time. The Public Bodies Bill, the legislation that will enable this to happen, is due in parliament in the coming weeks.

Please contact us if you want to get involved in a Save Sherwood Forest Campaign and let us have your ideas about what we can do. You can also visit the Facebook group site: Save Sherwood Forest !!! ( FoSF ). Also on Facebook: What is the issue about the forest sell off — what is happening and why does it matter? And who cares?

More background info from Climate Alliance…

Public Bodies Bill
The Public Bodies bill, of which the ‘modernisation of forestry legislation’ is a part of, is going through the House of Lords at the moment and will then move to the Commons. So anyone who is in contact with their MP or wants to be on this issue, has time to call or write to your MP and raise your concerns/opposition/request for amendments to the bill. The link below takes you to the status of the bill & a short explanation of it, plus you can sign up to email updates which alert you whenever there’s progress/activity on the bill.
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/publicbodieshl.html

Natural Environment White paper
This white paper is still open to to grassroots consultation, responses can be submitted until the end of January.
http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/environment/natural/whitepaper/

Parliament briefing updated 23rd Nov 2010: The Forestry Commission and the sale of public forests in England
http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/SNSC-05734.pdfThis document provides historical & current background info on the sale of the public forest estate, plus a number of other links to info sources.

Forestry in England: A new strategic approach (apparently!)
http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/10/29/forestry/
Letter to MPs from DEFRA to clarify position on public forest sale.

Forestry commission: Modernising forestry legislation
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-7T9B67
The Forestry Commission’s position on the government proposals

More general comment & analysis

London School of Economics – Detrimental consequences of sell-off:
http://tiny.cc/ybm2g

Jonathon Porritt blog:
http://www.jonathonporritt.com/pages/2010/11/forests_on_the_front_line.html

Tax Breaks on forestry investment:

http://www.moneyobserver.com/issue/features/pros-and-cons-forestry-investing

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2011/01/07/forestry-commission-sale-is-a-massive-tax-planning-bonanza-for-the-rich/

http://www.stepjournal.org/journal_archive/2010/step_journal_april_2010/top_tips.aspx

Notts Cuts Watch #11 [plus videos of recent Anti Cuts, Corporate Tax & Student Fees demos]

Notts Cuts Watch #11, from Notts Indymedia, covers cuts and anti-cuts news in the period from Monday 20th until Sunday 26th December 2010.

Even as Christmas approached, the cutting of public services in Nottinghamshire continued. The festivities have taken the sails out of the resistance to these attacks, but I’m sure it will be back with a vengeance in the new year. (On which note, make sure you put the Combating the Cuts event on January 15th in your diary.) Until then, why not spend some of the post-Christmas lull reading up on exactly what’s being cut? Knowledge is power and all that.

Continues here: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/831

Also on Notts Indymedia, a video of our recent Anti Cuts, Corporate Tax & Student Fees demo involving a walk-through of Boots:
http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/videos/832

More Nottingham video here from demos on the 18th Dec 2010: http://ukuncut.org.uk/actions/149

Notts Cuts Watch #10 – cuts and anti-cuts news from Nottingham and Notts – last one for 2010

A Yuletide missive from the compiler of Notts Cuts Watch, hopefully to be resumed in 2011:

Even with Christmas only just over the horizon, the cuts have continued over the last week, with the announcement of the funding settlement for local councils hitting Nottingham particularly hard. Even Cuts Watch has been cutback, this week’s edition arriving late and in a slimmed down version. “Normal” service may or may not resume after the holiday period.

Read Cuts Watch #10 (covering December 13th-19th 2010): http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/821

Plus – somethings to amuse…

Introducing a new economic comparator: Pudsey. Ministers say charities can step into the gap caused by cuts to services. So how many Children in Need appeals would it take to fill the gap? False Economy blog. 20/12/2010.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koY6kXhQDQo]

Planning meeting to launch ‘Nottingham Solidarity Network’ – Forest Fields and Hyson Green area – Tuesday 21st December 2010

An initiative has come out of Anarchists Against the Cuts to form a network aimed at fighting cuts and fostering community action in Forest Fields and Hyson Green and hopefully across Nottingham:

The Nottingham Solidarity Network will be forming soon! We are currently a group of community activists in the Forest Fields and Hyson Green area who want to form a network of local groups across the city. The aim of this network would be to support each other and show solidarity with one another. We are committed to local community ownership of our own resources, where people genuinely take back decision making for themselves. We have no party political agenda or time for the authorities.

There will be a meeting to decide how the network will take shape at the Sumac Centre on Tue 21st Dec, 7pm.

Article continues on Notts Indymedia: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/816

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See also: Nottingham Against Austerity

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Reminder – earlier in day on 21st at 12.30 there will be a protest in the Market Square against City Council care charges:

Criticism of Nottingham City Council over brand exercise for leisure centres while access is being cut

The local NCC Lols blog has revealed that while Nottingham City Council is making cuts to the sports and leisure concessions scheme that will make it harder for people to afford to go, they have decided to spend over £150k over 3 years on ‘branding’ for the leisure centres which is presumably to make them more attractive to users. NCC lols say:

NCC has been trading off this ‘we’re on your side’ nonsense for a while yet they are making sports and leisure facilities
less accessible to those on low incomes (including removing concessions from those on Income Support) while throwing a load of
money on a vanity project.

This is exactly the kind of thing anti-cuts campaigners need to be aware of – there clearly ARE alternatives to cuts and branding seems especially superfluous if the cuts are going to mean we can’t afford to go anyway.

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