Open letter to residents from Councillor Paul Peacock, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council

When it comes to local government, it is always important that as councillors serving our residents, we deliver what we promise.

I am so proud of what has already been achieved in these two years and I wanted to take some time to reflect on just some of our achievements.

As part of delivering the playpark investment plan, we recently worked with Newark Town Council to redevelop Sherwood Avenue Play Park in Newark, with a free family fun event held earlier this month to mark the opening. We have seen from your feedback that this event was thoroughly enjoyed, and I’m delighted to have spoken to some of you at the event to hear that first hand and see the smiles on everyone’s faces. In November 2023 we also unveiled the new play park area at Sconce and Devon Park, all the while we have continued to maintain our green flag status across all five parks.

We know how important Newark Hospital is for residents and while we will continue to lobby for increased services, if I am to be frank, our powers at the District Council are limited in this regard. However, what we have brought last year, by working in partnership with Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is a new 80-space car park which I’m sure everyone would agree was much needed and is one small step towards ensuring residents receive the best possible health care provision without needing to travel outside of the area to do so.

In November we reported on the brilliant 62.8% increase in glass being recycled across Newark and Sherwood following us implementing a new kerbside glass recycling scheme a few months prior in June 2024. The District Council is still committed to supporting Recycling Ollerton and Boughton (ROB). To help support any increase in requests for their glass service, we funded the purchase of an additional 1,000 boxes for them. This initiative not only ensures we do all we can to promote recycling but has also reduced our bin contamination rates and created more local jobs in the process. I’m really proud of the huge difference this scheme has brought to our area.

Work continues at pace to bring to life the exciting regeneration plans for the Sherwood area, including a new Ollerton town centre Hub and the development of Mansfield Road in Clipstone, as part of the government’s Levelling Up Fund. Most recently in Clipstone, we secured planning permission to develop a former underused site at Clipstone Holdings into high quality space for businesses. The Council has also committed to support the development of a much needed new community centre in Bilsthorpe.

Work is continuing at Stodman Street in Newark to transform the former M&S building into an exciting hub made of 29 high quality homes and retail units in the heart of Newark. The project is being led by Newark and Sherwood District Council alongside Newark Town Board. We have also secured an extension of funding for our UKSPF and REPF programmes, with more information on this being announced very soon!

The programme of solar panel installation across Council buildings has now seen Solar PV arrays installed on 7 of our corporate sites. Installations at the Dukeries Leisure centre, Newark Sports & Fitness, The Newark Beacon, Vicar Water Park, Sconce & Devon Park, Gladstone House and Broadleaves care home are expected to generate over 470.000 Kwh of electricity per year and save in the region of 100 tCO2e annually in addition to providing significant financial savings on our utility bills.

We have reached 3,210 children this year via educational visits. In May 2024 we received a grant of £1.4million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for ambitious plans to create a new and improved visitor attraction at Newark Castle. It’s anticipated that, once works are completed, the Castle will attract almost 17,000 visitors each year from outside of the district, helping to deliver sustainable economic growth. 

Last month we launched the Town and City Newark and Sherwood Gift Card which can be spent in more than 70 businesses in the town centres of Newark, Southwell, Ollerton and Edwinstowe village. We hope that the new gift card will encourage tourism within the district by showcasing a variety of local businesses, cafes and retailers and making them accessible through a single gift card.

Next month we will be launching two new trails around Newark. One brings unseen objects from the National Civil War Centre to retailers acorss the town centre, encouraging residents and tourists to visit our local retailers in a fun, free activity for all the family all the while teaching about local heritage.  The second brings to life the importance of scuplture and artist Robert Kiddey, taking you on a guided trail around nine sites displaying his beautiful work. 

While it has received much coverage, Lowfield Lane still remains a topic of interest. The site was allocated for housing in 2013 and in finally bringing new homes to this site over the next couple of years, this will, in part, help us meet our mandated government target while also providing invaluable new homes for families, couples and indivduals. 

For our tenants, our teams are currently working hard to implement and embed a new Housing Management System that is part of a wider programme of improvements to Housing Repairs and Empty Homes Services. After years of planning, exciting regeneration work will finally begin at Yorke Drive this summer and I am excited to see the progress.

None of this is possible without the hard work and dedication of the best workforce I have ever known, delivering for you day in, day out. I know that the vast majority of you, our residents, also recognise their efforts. And while this is just a snapshot of things achieved this year, we are working on so much more and I look forward to seeing more aspirations come to fruition over the next few years.  I will continue to do my very best for our residents, and in the face of Local Government Reorganisation, this has never been more important.  

Yours,

Councillor Paul Peacock