no probs,

and im not a geek as long as im winding people up, thems the rules on geekyness

I didn't call you a geek, of course...

hey guys, theres a well fit bird sitting opposite me in the library, she just caught me staring at her tits, shes loving it

wish i had a camera, it must be freezing cos her nips are rock hard

if i get lucky il try and get sum pics. her tits are massive, but she'l have to lend me her fone as i broke mine, still best not jump the gun

hey guys, theres a well fit bird sitting opposite me in the library, she just caught me staring at her tits, shes loving it

wish i had a camera, it must be freezing cos her nips are rock hard

if i get lucky il try and get sum pics. her tits are massive, but she'l have to lend me her fone as i broke mine, still best not jump the gun

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa lol!! (@ the reason for editing)

Are you at the library in town? I have my phone with me, if you can stall her for a bit?

Guys.. I need your help. My business sells Steam Rooms, Jacuzzis, Outdoor Spa's etc through the net (www.danz.co.uk).

In Nottingham theres this auction we have, this gizza who does a similar thing to me but he sells his stuff through an auction. So i'm thinking of doing the same thing but when I approached the auction they have here in Notts they wouldn't take my stuff because they said they can already get a regular supply form the other gizza....

What are the biggest auctions in Leicester (and any other EM cities/towns)? I'm thinking of doing it at other auctions in the region???

Sorry I can't help, beyond suggesting a Google search?

Dan have you thought about displaying your merchadise at places like Donington/Thorsby market? You can get allsorts of stuff from there.
You could always try the cattle market or something.

Do you have leaflets etc that you have made up advertising your company? You could get some made up and post them through people's letterboxes.

danz your job sounds kewl, is it as glamourous as it sounds? do u do photo shoots wiv models etc?

you thought of hiring out a hotel and having an auction day? stuff like that used to happen wen i worked at the holiday inn


and ive tried to get on ur web site but it wont let me on

oh yeah that bird from the libray was from france, france or wigan, either way i couldnt understand a word, theres a restauraunt in enderby near me called cinis, and i think that was what she trying to say, that or gendarme, anyway the language barrier was too much for me so i said cinis at 7:30, i wonder if she turned up, cos i didnt

Dan have you thought about displaying your merchadise at places like Donington/Thorsby market? You can get allsorts of stuff from there.
You could always try the cattle market or something.

Yeah I used to do a few bits and bobs down there... gave out a few leafets and that.

Do you have leaflets etc that you have made up advertising your company? You could get some made up and post them through people's letterboxes.

Too long...

Sorry I can't help, beyond suggesting a Google search?

No probs

danz your job sounds kewl, is it as glamourous as it sounds? do u do photo shoots wiv models etc?

you thought of hiring out a hotel and having an auction day? stuff like that used to happen wen i worked at the holiday inn

Thats an idea.. I don't do photo shoots lol.

there aint enuff time in the day to read thru all the threads and il be fucked if im going to spend more than an hour a week on line, i aint turning into no computer geek,

im an outdoors man and until they invent outside computers thats how it will stay,

:eek:

I think I must spend an hour a minute online, let alone a week! ;) I like the outdoors too but the internet serves a lot of my work and play, and learning. :yes: I'd be lost without it now. :shifty:

i know wot u mean, i came round my sisters to how she is and ended up on her computer, i dont think ive spoken to her in the last half hour.

Is it just me or does it seem this and the other forums are really busy this evening?

The whole East Midlands Forum I think has been pretty dead. It's been like this for the past few days. Might just be me.

The whole East Midlands Forum I think has been pretty dead. It's been like this for the past few days. Might just be me.

It has been quite quiet for the past week or so, it's just this evening that I've noticed loads more forummers and guests looking at the forum.

But your threads on the first page have always been posted in 'today'. If you look at the Wales forum for example, they have more threads that haven't been posted in for a couple of days!

Yeh I saw 12 people looking at it. About 8 of them were guests though. It's a shame more of them aren't joining as the forum would be alot busier.

I've noticed, for the Leicester threads anyway, that many members have not yet contributed to the threads since the subforum started.

Yeh I saw 12 people looking at it. About 8 of them were guests though. It's a shame more of them aren't joining as the forum would be alot busier.


Give it chance. The tower blocks thread had only a couple of people posting in it to begin with then loads of people joined over the following months. You've got a whole forum and it only started about a month ago. People will find it via Google and the like when they're searching for specific buildings in Nottingham and Leicester etc. :yes:

Yeh but im impatient :lol:

Give it chance. The tower blocks thread had only a couple of people posting in it to begin with then loads of people joined over the following months. You've got a whole forum and it only started about a month ago. People will find it via Google and the like when they're searching for specific buildings in Nottingham and Leicester etc. :yes:

Talking of Google I noticed a comment i posted on this sub forum appearing in search results within an hour and a half!!! How crazy is that!

Talking of Google I noticed a comment i posted on this sub forum appearing in search results within an hour and a half!!! How crazy is that!

Yeah!! I've had something like that too!! NewNottingham.com gets scanned every few days... I can update something today and google won't recognize it late this week

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH NOTTINGHAM FOREST!!!!!!!

Nottm Forest 2-3 Peterborough

If they don't sort this shit out soon i'm going to start supporting Derby... they seem to have more hope of winning the premiership that we do getting out of League One!!

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH NOTTINGHAM FOREST!!!!!!!

Nottm Forest 2-3 Peterborough

If they don't sort this shit out soon i'm going to start supporting Derby... they seem to have more hope of winning the premiership that we do getting out of League One!!

That is a truly dreadful result...

the east midlands is fucking wank wen it comes to football, even our highest place team (derby) is still at the bottom, forest have got more chance of being promoted to the premier league next season than leicester shitty (it mite sound daft to say something like that, what with forest being a division lower, but trust me, its fucking leicester city, anythings possible, except promotion for leicester city)

my dads mate rang him up and asked him if he wanted to go and watch city play the other saturday, my dad said 'why should i go and see them? they never came to see me wen i was bad!'

lololol your right bg... we're not doing to well down here... I was looking at this chart of top tier football teams...

All of them we're either around london or in the north.... the were 1 or 2 exceptions like Birmingham.

its terrible,

how do u check whose visiting this web site?

its at the bottom of each thred, it tells you what members and how many guest a viewing..

check out this house (http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/381d8a5a-d2a4-44ae-aa60-252373792647-0-1-1-viewDetailsSubmit/residentialSearch/propertyDetail.aspx?pID=187792) in the park...georgeous...

http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/presentation/assets/search/187792/2454914_1_propertyDetails.jpg

Have you guys ever heard of bunny hall (http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/381d8a5a-d2a4-44ae-aa60-252373792647-6-3-3-clickThumbnailSubmit/residentialSearch/propertyDetail.aspx?AlchemyID=2353148&pID=169089)??

http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/presentation/assets/search/169089/2353148_1_propertyDetails.jpg

Its on the market for £4.7m! This was also a chek whyte development... he refurbished it and put it on the market.

its at the bottom of each thred, it tells you what members and how many guest a viewing..

check out this house (http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/381d8a5a-d2a4-44ae-aa60-252373792647-0-1-1-viewDetailsSubmit/residentialSearch/propertyDetail.aspx?pID=187792) in the park...georgeous...

http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/presentation/assets/search/187792/2454914_1_propertyDetails.jpg.

That's not The Park. That's just round the corner from where I used to live in Mapperley Park.

Although my own residence was a little more - ahem - modest...

I meant to say mapperly park... its because i was also looking at this one in the park lol....

I think this is a great example of top class modern day architecture amongst top class historical architecture.

Where do you live know binge?

http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/presentation/assets/search/168061/2454929_1_propertyDetails.jpg

http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialSearch/5819d6e9-a726-4ee8-b7a9-35b26979c613-0-1-0-viewDetailsSubmit/residentialSearch/propertyDetail.aspx?pID=168061

Big fire in Leicester city centre - loads of smoke. Looks like it is near the Shires to me, though I am a fair way away?

Ive seen that too. Huge black cloud. Not sure what it is.

Ive seen that too. Huge black cloud. Not sure what it is.

Looks a big fire from where I am?

Where do you live know binge?

The WB.

The same developer has done three or four in Mapperley Park in the same style. First he did his own house in Cyprus Road, then one on Mapperley Hall Drive, then that one. The first two were refurbs of sixties houses. I think that one is a new build.

It was the Highcross extension

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/image_galleries/shires_extension_fire_gallery.shtml?1

The fire in leicester looks like its the roof of John Lewis. If it is, do they use the same builders as the Haymarket?

The fire in leicester looks like its the roof of John Lewis. If it is, do they use the same builders as the Haymarket?

A very good question...:lol:

it was on the roof of where the new car park ramp is, it didnt take em long to put the fire out

il give em another ten minustes to sort themselves out and il start another

:lol:

leicester was on tv this morning on bbc1's hard sell, its the second time in a week its been on that program,

two things wrong tho, todays program centered on the market, not a good image of leicester

the second was one of the contestants was the campest dickhead ive ever seen, and he ended up in the rainbow and dove gay bar where the owner was just as camp,

watching them made we want to go and glass them, i fucking hate camp people, i know someone who has just come out as gay, the day before he was a macho rugby player then over nite he became a reject from the carry on laughing days and developed a limpwristed hand shake

fuck sake, just cos ur gay dont mean u have to act like a fucking fairy

it does my fucking head in

sorry but it winds me up

^^ :lol:

What did you guys think of England at the weekend??

I'm not sure about McLaren you know? Even though he brought heskey in I still don't know if he know what he's doing...

I'm concerned at his choice of subs in the second half... After he made his changes the whole side went absolutely dead. He brought on Phil Neville for Gerrard... I can understand why he took Gerrard off... but I can't understand why he put phil on? 5 defenders?? what sense did that make?? We lost all our attacking power after that.

Owens goal was terrific though... Micah Richards is one of the best players in the squad IMO.

phil's a good player, everyone just slates him cos he's phil neville.

i missed the game but hopefully SWP carries on playing well and keeps his place for good, he's one of the best players england has produced in years. not looking good 4 lampard if u ask me.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133942&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133942&contentPK=18359122&folderPk=78486
Check this out. Crackers

^^ Nuts. I'd hate to do that!

leicester was on tv this morning on bbc1's hard sell, its the second time in a week its been on that program,

two things wrong tho, todays program centered on the market, not a good image of leicester

the second was one of the contestants was the campest dickhead ive ever seen, and he ended up in the rainbow and dove gay bar where the owner was just as camp,

watching them made we want to go and glass them, i fucking hate camp people, i know someone who has just come out as gay, the day before he was a macho rugby player then over nite he became a reject from the carry on laughing days and developed a limpwristed hand shake

fuck sake, just cos ur gay dont mean u have to act like a fucking fairy

it does my fucking head in

sorry but it winds me up

Out of interest, are you gay? Cuz I have to agree somewhat but on the other hand people should have the freedom to act how they want. But yes, I do feel they give gay people a bad name... we're not all limp-wristed fairies! I'm straight acting and go for straight acting guys.

i dont class myself as anything, its easier, il shag anything with a pulse and if it aint got one il shag it untill it has,

i was a rent boy for three or four years wen iwas a kid so ive seen every different type of gay that u can imagine, from the limp wristed fairy who liked me to call him house master to a hard man copper who touched me up while pretending to help me wen i got beat up in humbo park toilets, and every possible in between u can get.

my problem is the gay people who shove it down ur throat (i cant stop laughing now, i didnt mean that pun but ive decided not to erase it) like that brian twat off hells kitchen, i well wanted jim davidson to knock him out.

and so what if jim davidson is bigoted and from another era, why should he apologise for his personal views, hes got as much rite to be anti gay as anyone has got to be pro gay. brian whatever his name is shouldnt have been on that program anyway, hes onley famous for being gay, its a joke. its people like him who set the gay rites movement back, prancing around crying cos some one dares to have there own personal views that dont match his, the prick

and as for england on saturday, they might have won 3 - 0 but it was still boring, i fell sleep during the second half and i was in the loaded dog pub on london road and it was rammed, thats how bred i was

and steve mclarens a shit manager

and england last nite played great, except for the beginning of the second half, they was well lucky not to concede four at least four goals, but apart from that they were ok

still cant stand mclaren or owen for that matter

gary megson, i really hate leicester city now, wots the point in signing gary megson as manager, how inspiring is that, ive really had enuff now

Went to the game today Leicester were shit with Megson's long ball philosophy taking over after 20 minutes. We scored a goal and looked comfortable until Megson decides to sub our wide players, we then go backwards and should've lost. MM does not know what he's let us in for....:bash:

Port Vale 0-2 Nottm Forest

First win of the season :D:D

whens the forest v leicester match on? is it this wednesday? is anyone bothering to go?

Today i think... :D COMMON U REDDS!!

it looks like ur saying forest are common which must meen that leicetser are class

(i know ive just spelt leicesetr wrong but it takes too long to delete it and try to spell it rite so from now on im going to call it lester)

Nottingham Forest 2, LEICESTER CITY 3! :)

What a beautiful morning!

lol fuck off

Just been reading an interesting arcticle about house prices, from the Sunday Times (http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article1580816.ece).

Results for the East Midlands.

The most expensive: The Ridgeway LE7 - £1,182,533

Six per cent of the top one hundred streets in the East Midlands costs more than £750,000, but to afford the most expensive you'll need more than a million. Properties at The Ridgeway LE7 in Rothley cost £1,182,533 - so lovely is this tree-lined road that locals take strolls along it and enjoy the views. Nestled in a patchwork of fields six miles north of Leicester and a short way from the M1 Rothley was once the site of a Roman villa and working estate. Today residents enjoy village pursuits such as cricket, bowls and tennis.

The cheapest: Sherwood Drive NG20 - £31,550

For the cost of a home in The Ridgeway you could buy... 37 homes in Sherwood Drive NG20 in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. Although a property recently sold there for £40,000 the average cost of a home is £31,550.

It is a beautiful place to live, Charnwood Forest. No surprise that Rothley came out top really...

Did you Leicestershirians guys see the plans for the square this xmas on EM today? Amazing... the square is something else...

aint rothley where them mcanns are living, the village looks pants on the tv, think id rather take the million and buy a couple of villas in different parts of the world to be honest, bit silly spending that much on one pad in a crappy little village in the midlands

whats this square buisiness anyway, a square in leicester, aint london already got one?

and bad luck foresters, at least u can now concentrate on being crap in the league one

and bad luck foresters, at least u can now concentrate on being crap in the league one

lol hehe :lol::lol: - Leave it out braunstone

Nottingham has been selected as one of just seven locations in the East Midlands to take part in a project designed to support town and city centres in becoming more effective at self-promotion.

The East Midlands BIDs Academy is a new venture aimed at helping and supporting town centres to become more effective in promoting themselves, developing business improvement district proposals (BIDs) and delivering effective town centre partnerships. Funded by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and delivered by the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM), one of the leading organisations on BIDs, the academy provides a unique opportunity to participate in a year-long programme, working with some of the leading experts in the field. The programme will help Nottingham build strong relationships with large and small businesses, understand the legislation, and identify projects and services that will help the city move forward and develop further.

Pat Parkes, BID Development Manager at Nottingham City Council, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for Nottingham and its city businesses and visitors. BIDs have produced some amazing results in other parts of the country and it is now Nottingham's turn to benefit from this partnership."

The East Midlands Academy is the first regional programme in the UK, and to gain a place towns had to undergo a rigorous selection process including an application stage, online questionnaire and interviews. Selected towns including Nottingham now have a unique opportunity to draw on national expertise, participating in a series of workshops, seminars and study tours and developing their own BID.

Other East Midlands towns selected for the academy are Derby, Daventry, Hinckley, Stamford, Sleaford and Uppingham.

I'm a little surprised Leicester didn't make the list but all these other unknown places did.

id be more worried if leicester had made the list

i just counted my spare change, and ive got £23.50 exactley, im off to get pissed

laters losers

I'm a little surprised Leicester didn't make the list but all these other unknown places did.
Derby, Daventry, Hinckley, Nott's, Stamford, Sleaford and Uppingham.

Prestigious list of small towns Nott’s has been included in!!

Trees 2 Foxes 3:lol:

Is Gary Megson the best manager outside the premiership?

Is Gary Megson the best manager outside the premiership?

Gary Megson isn't even the best manager in Leicester.

Gary Megson isn't even the best manager in Leicester.

^^
:lol:

:lol: Gary Megson isn't even the best manager in Leicester.

Nottm Forest 4-0 Gillingham
:D - I'm a bit dissapointed that Leeds are only 4 points behind when they started on minus 15.

Thought i'd let the other East Midlanders know about a big project for the region. Loughborough are also involved...

This will be a real boost to our Science City status (http://www.science-city.co.uk/) and the Science City buildings.

I wonder if they're going to build anything new for this? Jubilee Campus may be part of it i'm not sure?

A New £1bn research complex developing the future of green energy will put Nottingham firmly on the international map.

Leading city figures welcoming the creation of the New Energy Technologies Institute say it will also create local jobs and boost business in the city.

As reported on the Evening Post website - www.thisisnottingham.co.uk - yesterday, the University of Nottingham will run the institute, alongside Birmingham University and Loughborough University. It will be based on the Loughborough campus.

Professor Sir Colin Campbell, vice chancellor of the University of Nottingham, said: "This news offers an outstanding opportunity for three distinguished universities to demonstrate the extent to which the United Kingdom is a significant force in the international market for knowledge and research excellence.

"It will allow us to make the most of our shared determination to help secure the well-being of future generations through our science and innovation."

The institute aims to find ways to develop green energy within ten years.

Coun Mike Edwards, of Nottingham City Council, said: "This is really terrific news. For all the good, green things happening in this city, this takes us on a stage through local jobs, good and services."

The centre will be calling on businesses to come up with big ideas and inventions that will help the UK to:

- Cut CO2 emissions
- Keep the public warm with more efficient and cost effective energy
- Guarantee the country has the energy supplies it needs now and in the future.

The project will receive £550m from the Government and a similar amount from industry over ten years.

The University of Nottingham will receive a share of the money, and Nottingham's involvement is supported by public bodies and private companies.

Energy giant E-ON employs 4,500 people in Notts. Teaming up with Loughborough and Birmingham means Rolls-Royce, Caterpillar and Shell also represent potential partners.

The project aims to link up the best scientists and engineers in academic and industrial organisations to speed up the development of new energy technology so it can be used within a decade. The decision is likely to have a positive knock-on effect, potentially leading to numerous environmental technologies being based in the region.

The city council is already encouraging businesses to review their energy policies and is planning its own localised carbon trading scheme. for the city.

The university already has a pedigree in renewable energy research.

Innovation Secretary John Denham said: "The institute will deliver solutions to help make the energy in our homes and businesses safer, cheaper and more sustainable for the future.

" This will help to establish the UK as one of the leaders in global clean energy."

The institute is expected to be fully operational by 2008.

danz, how much do u charge for a steam room and whats a steam room?

Look here (http://www.danz.co.uk/index.php)

More good news for Notts University and The East Midlands In General.

East Midlands Conference Centre (EMCC) has been named the top venue in a survey that scrutinised conference venues nationwide.

The centre, on The University of Nottingham campus, beat competition from the International Convention Centre and the NEC in Birmingham, scoring 75 points out of a possible 100 for overall service.

The survey was carried out by Business Development Research Consultants (BDRC) in late May and early June.

A series of mystery callers contacted 15 of the UK's main conference venues inquiring about different sales scenarios.

Marketing manager for EMCC Kirstie Danzey said: "We are delighted. We pride ourselves on our customerservice and now we have some real confirmation of this.

"The average score for venues in overall performance was 46.7, so not only did EMCC top the poll, it scored well above average."

Other areas in which EMCC was marked on were call connection and transfer, manner and approach of staff, enquiry handling and service delivery and follow-up enquiry. EMCC came out top in two of the four sub categories.

EMCC exhibits this week at the National Venue Show, alongside 600 of its competitors. Kirstie added: "We will be unveiling our new marketing campaign, so this is another exciting bit of news that adds value to our offer."

them steam rooms look great, i still struggle to work a shower

Europes biggest poker club to open in Notts.. what do you guys think? Should we encourage gambling in this way?

EUROPE'S biggest poker club will be allowed to open in Nottingham, magistrates decided today.

Dusk Till Dawn will open on the Lenton Lane Industrial Estate in early November.

Rob Yong, an entrepreneur from Nuthall, was today granted a Casino Licence for the club. He has spent £3m redeveloping the former Smilin' Sams amusement arcade as a card-only club, the first of its kind in the UK.

For more detail's, see tomorrow's Evening Post

I've always wondered what they were planning on doing with the Smilin Sams building its been derelict for years now.

We have a new casino opening soon at the Blue Tower. I always fail to get excited about gambling venues...sounds like a bit of a coup for Nottingham though...

What about the one in GS Picture House.

Blue Tower as in St Georges?

Casino's never really excite me much either but the casino (I think thats what it is) has done a magnificant job in restoring the old Coop builiding in Nottingham, which was disused for years.

What about the one in GS Picture House.

Oh yeah that one too. Has Gordon Brown been looking to get rid of all those super casino plans?

Blue Tower as in St Georges?

Casino's never really excite me much either but the casino (I think thats what it is) has done a magnificant job in restoring the old Coop builiding in Nottingham, which was disused for years.

Yeah the infamous St George's...

I'm not against casinos, I just never visit them. Actually I have been in one once to make it easier to book a taxi home when very drunk! Nice cheese toasties too...

I've never been in one and not really desperate to either.
There was one over the road from my student halls in Leeds and I never once went in it.

I think space could be much better used, than just for casinos, be they large or not.

Yeah I sort of agree... I'm not really a casino man however I went into the Alea casino at axis at the old coop building last week for this networking event and it was amazing what they've done in there...stef i'd recommend you take a look. As you walk into a toilet they've made it look like your walking into a giant safe... it looks gorgeous in there... but... its not somewhere I would usually go... I like what they've done with Alea though... they've also got a bar and restaurant which kinda give you another reason to go and enjoy the venue.

I personally... am not a fan of venues which are solely gambling... theres nothing for me to do in them... however they do have economic benefits for the area.

Yeh I'll have to take a look.
I've driven past it and the resturant units on the ground floor always look busy and lively.
Upper Parliament Street is becoming more of a lively place to go.
A few years ago there was nothing down there that offered any form of leisure entertainment in the evening.

casinos aint what there cracked up to be, its not like james bond or anything, tho free grub is ok wen ur waiting for a taxi after u bin clubbing

GMTV fined £2million for allowing viewers to enter competitions they had no chance of winning?

How much will the Premier League be fined for letting D*rby in then?

:lol:

The Core Cities Summit is coming to Notts this year.

Leaders of the eight most important cities outside London are to gather in Nottingham.

Some 500 political leaders, civil servants and business people from England's "core cities" will meet in the city on November 7 and 8.

It is hoped the Core Cities Conference will showcase Nottingham to a hugely influential audience.

It comes after Nottingham successfully staged the Conservative Party Spring Forum earlier this year, which was estimated to generate about £1m for the city. Core Cities could boost Nottingham's economy by up to £300,000.

Coun Jon Collins, leader of the city council, said: "The Tory conference was good for the city and gave a lot of people a positive impression, I am sure this conference will be the same.

"It is an opportunity to put us on the national stage and to influence at the highest possible level on issues such as economic development, housing and regional governance."

Nottingham joins Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield as one of the eight cities which the Government hopes will be the economic drivers.

The aim of the annual Core Cities Conference is to share ideas about how to boost economic growth and how to improve quality of life.

Among those attending will be Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Other speakers will be John Healey, a minister at Communities and Local Government, and Sir Digby Jones, who has ministerial responsibility for Trade and Investment.

The conference could also throw up issues relating to local authority boundaries - which some consider to be key in cutting red tape, attracting new firms and achieving economic growth in the area.

There was fierce debate in Notts last year when the possibility arose of expanding Nottingham's city councils boundaries so that firms had to deal with fewer local authorities.

Today, Coun Collins insisted boundary changes were not on the local agenda.

He said: "Boundaries are only an issue if they get in the way of achieving things. I believe we can achieve what we want to by working cooperatively together. There is no need to come up with expensive structural solutions."

Coun Collins said boundary changes would result in major disruption, which would be "more significant than the benefits we got out of it".

Currently, the city and county councils, along with the districts and boroughs in south Notts are attempting to draw up a "Multi Area Agreement".

It would effectively create a new body, called the Greater Nottingham Executive, which would make decisions about housing, jobs and transport. The Government wants these to be in place by June 2008, but in Notts the process has been stalled by the county council, which is reluctant to enter into an agreement that covers just half of its jurisdiction.

Not sure which group I have more distaste for - the "Core Cities" or the Conservatives...

Interesting that stuff about the Greater Nottingham Executive and Multi Area Agreement...

Jon Collins, wasn't he the one who threw his dummy out of the pram when East Midlands Airport dropped Nottingham out of its main title? He didn't bother to respond to my emails about the subject. Derby Council's leader seems a much friendlier chap...

He didn't bother to respond to my emails about the subject. Derby Council's leader seems a much friendlier chap...

Derby's council leader probably doesn't have very much else to do, though....

Derby's council leader probably doesn't have very much else to do, though....

:lol:

Derby's council leader probably doesn't have very much else to do, though....

:lol::lol: ... Binge... you never fail to put a smile on my face lol.

I actually know the Daughter of Jon Collins.. maybe I can use her to get to him. I'm not a conservative man myself... Their conference didn't do much for them over here either.. Labour has a strong hold of Nottingham.

Bit confused why the Tories would have chosen Nottingham? Bar a few blips over the years, it has always been dominated by Labour. Same as Leicester...

Exactly? Maybe they thought that would somehow break the hold? Not at all.. I didn't even realise there was a Tory conference until I saw it on the news...

Some interesting points on the need for our 3 cities to work together...

http://committee-web.gedling.gov.uk/aksgedling/images/att1912.doc

1.3 Nottingham is unique amongst the Core Cities in terms of its economic and political landscapes. It has a travel to work area population of 750,000 spread across a conurbation administered by 6 local authorities with no history of former metropolitan governance (1 Unitary, 4 District and 1 County Councils). It also has a unique “City Region” economy which is genuinely “Tri-Centric” featuring 3 large cities with strong identities and both common and complementary strengths within the region. The Three Cities “Tri-City Region” encompasses nearly 2.4 million people and is worth nearly 5% of the UK economy. Here Nottingham is the only core city and a significantly larger regional centre than neighbouring Leicester and Derby but it is not overwhelmingly predominant.

1.20 The relationship between the Derby, Leicester and Nottingham conurbations is an unusually complex and interdependent one. Three of the fifteen largest cities in England are located within 30 miles of each other. Substantial numbers of people travel between them for work, shopping, education and culture. The City Regions of Nottingham, Leicester and Derby overlap creating a sub regional economy that is genuinely “Tri-Centric”, featuring 3 large cities with strong identities and both common and complementary strengths.

1.22 Consequently Nottingham’s core city vision (to accelerate its economic repositioning to create a competitive city with an economy based on science and technology), wil be greatly enhanced by the success of Leicester and Derby and the ability of all three cities to fulfil their growth potential. Our intent is to further enhance our collaboration building on the existing complementary strengths of the cities and what they bring to the Tri-City Region:

• Nottingham as a Core City and Science City;
• Derby as an Aerospace and High-Tech City;
• Leicester as the most culturally diverse city in the UK outside of London, developing as a centre for Space Science and Technologies.


I still think we would stand out more as a "Tri-City" Core City...

An recent article from the BBC website


The East Midlands Politics Show features the campaign to expand Leicester City Council into the suburbs.

The idea is to help the city punch its political weight with Nottingham when it comes to attracting Government cash and new employers.

The Lib Dem leader of Leicester City Council, Roger Blackmore, tells the Politics Show: "I am not prepared to see Leicester continually marginalised.

"I get very cross about it."

He has in mind the fact that Nottingham has stolen a march on Leicester and Derby.

It is one of only eight places in the country to be given " core city" status by the government. And it is increasingly seen as the regional capital.

Recently Local Government Minister, David Miliband, offended Leicester's politicians when he held a special meeting with Nottingham councillors to discuss the future shape of local government.

Councillors in Leicester felt he should have touched base with them too.

But none of this cuts much ice with the Conservative chairman of Leicestershire County Council, David Parsons.

He tells Political Editor, John Hess that size is not necessarily a problem, nor are lines on a map.

He insists: "It is up to all of us to work together."

It is districts like Oadby and Wigston who feel themselves to be particularly vulnerable.

A Greater Leicester would probably absorb the present district council.

As for Nottingham City Council. Well they too would like to expand their boundaries. But they do not see it as a political beauty contest.

Cabinet member, Graham Chapman, believes Derby, Leicester and Nottingham should do more as an inter city alliance.

So what your basically saying is we need to promote as selfs as three cities rather than one?

So rather than saying Nottingham is the core city for the east midlands region... say Nottingham, Leicester and Derby are the Tricity of the East Midlands region?

" I still think we would stand out more as a "Tri-city" core city." Yes i agree Lears but Nottingham will not give away their power and influence to Derby or Leicester will they Danz and Bingethink ? Why should they after all it is what being a city is all about - power, wealth, dominance, winners and losers.

If Derby and Leicester want some influence and power they have to compete for themselves, not cooperate with their dominant rival. After all Leicester is big enough to become a power base to rival Nottingham.

Councillor Blackmore realises this and is right to get "very cross". So should all Leicester people. Getting cross though is not going to change the status quo. Leicester needs to attract business at the expense of Nottingham and Derby and any other city for that matter.

Bad News for Derby.

Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce has snubbed Government support to help it build a test centre in the East Midlands after being offered £10 million to launch the new facility in Germany, it has emerged.

The aircraft engine maker turned down a multi-million pound Government support package to build the new site in its hometown of Derby after Germany pledged a more generous handout.

It is understood the German offer was about £3 million more than that tabled in the UK.

The news comes as a blow to the UK, with the Government hoping to secure high-end research projects on these shores.

Derby will also miss out on about 95 new jobs that are set to be created by the new facility, which will instead be built in the state of Brandenburg in Germany.

Rolls-Royce said the decision, which came after a year of negotiations, was based largely on the size and availability of the funding.

A spokeswoman said: "We decided to locate the test centre there because of the availability of a very attractive package from the state of Brandenburg in the timescale we needed, as we want to get it up and running by 2009."

But Rolls-Royce, which already has a base in Brandenburg, stressed that it has invested more than £830 million in the UK over the past five years, just last week opening £100 million worth of facilities in Derby.

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said the test centre news was "disappointing", adding that it had worked hard to try to persuade Rolls-Royce to build it in the UK.

Rolls-Royce?s decision was branded a "devastating blow to the UK's industrial prestige" by the Conservative Party.

Alan Duncan, shadow business and enterprise secretary, said: "Four days after Gordon Brown told the Labour Conference that his vision was for Britain to be a leader in enterprise and modern manufacturing, this important part of an iconic British company bails out of Britain."

He added: "What have they been doing while a German grant sucked away such an important part of British industry?

Bad news for the region. Rolls Royce employs people from outside Derby too.

Bad news for the region. Rolls Royce employs people from outside Derby too.

Do they employ any in Leicester? They've got 1000+ at an old air field in Notts.

No I mean the Derby plant also employs people from outside Derby...

I get ya

To further make the point that we need our three cities to each be successful, I found this on the Leicester University website.


Rolls-Royce decided to work with the Centre for Quality of Excellence within the University of Leicester’s Engineering department to develop a distance learning programme that would provide further underpinning quality management knowledge for this audience.

“Leicester worked with us closely to develop an MSc course that met our specific requirements and could be offered directly to identified Rolls-Royce staff,” said Dr Cullen.

The MSc in Management of Quality Excellence is now provided as a unique distance learning course, incorporating effective e-learning. It has enabled Rolls-Royce staff based in the UK and worldwide to undertake distance learning and training which is directly linked to Rolls-Royce’s quality management strategies.

“We have a process for reviewing individuals’ development, through a development centre, and this forms part of the selection process for who should take the course,” said Dr Cullen.

The outcome

Not only have Rolls-Royce staff successfully completed the course, but a number of its suppliers have also enrolled people onto the programme. The MSc has now been opened up with students from other sectors including manufacturing and the service industry.

Content of the MSc is reviewed on a regular basis, and the relationship between the university and Rolls-Royce continues to evolve. A further course has been developed in collaboration with a leading American university, which is also offered to Rolls-Royce staff through distance learning; the MSc in Systems Engineering.

“Rolls-Royce has seen enormous improvements in overall product quality over the years, reflected by our current market-leading position in many sectors. The impact of quality management has certainly helped, and the professional education work through the University of Leicester has been highly important within that process,” said Dr Cullen.


I doubt the course would even exist, but for the presence of Rolls Royce in the region...

Lears.. I see your point.. and agree with your point...

Nottingham has a huge Toyota academy (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=506441)they're building on one of the science parks. This is obviously in partnership with the boys at Toyota. Notts Uni's also run the courses required for the guys at the Toyota plant.

I feel you simply have a problem with Nottingham being assigned as a core city while Leicester has not.

Why do we need to be seen as one city (when we are clearly not.. not even alike) to attract more investment? We don't? Nothings stopping Leicester going out and saying we're a fairly big city with a million or so people within a 30 minutes drive of the city? Theres many projects going off in Leicester..its not as if there is a lack of investment.

We have the East Midlands development agency and this tri-city group doing exactly what your suggesting. They go and and attempts to secure investment in the region and they're not doing too bad... i don't know about Leicester but a whole lot of projects in Notts have had some form of influence from the EMDA.

Nottingham has recently seen a number of massive companies come and locate here. Yes... we probably used Leicester and Derby to get those cities here... i'm sure Leicester and Derbys close proximity was a major factor for them. Your absolutely right... we should utilise the fact that we're all so close together but we don't need to be a tri-core-city to do that. Thats not what core cities are about.. otherwise it would make sense there being a Manchester-Bolton duel-city or a Leeds-Bradford duel-city, or a Bristol-Bath duel-city.

The Idea behind the core cities is for the actual core cities to Lead the Growth of the region. The government wants Nottingham to lead the growth of the East Midlands region... why do you oppose this?? We're already leading (in a way) the growth of the reason.. i'm not saying we're soley responsible for it.. just that we are leading it.

-There are commuters who commute to the region that must use Nottinghams station because of the lack of connectivity in Derby/Leicester.
- The East Midlands now has this 1bn investment in Green Technology. One of the primary reasons we won the big was because Nottingham is already at the forefront of research in this area. Loughborough will gain many benefits and loads of investment from this new facility. (Bear in Mind they say this deal will be as big as the Toyota academy in the long term)
- Nottingham is one of only six designated science cities. The city already has huge investments in science parks and it is know building more science parks. This will subsequently encourage investment in the region. Thing like the MRI scanner were developed here in Nottingham. Surely Nottinghams status in the science industry and proximity to Leicester will encourage science organisations to locate in the new sciences parks been built in Leicester.
- Nottingham also has important links with China. We have the university of Nottingham in China (and on in Malaysia). The uni has just set up a new institution (http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133965&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133948&contentPK=18508283&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch) to promote Chinese understanding, language and culture in the UK. The council also has a team that has been set up to promote two way investment between us here in the uk and those over the in china. Obviously... these factors will have massive benefits for the whole region!

We're the fastest growing core city in the country and we have one of the countries leading uni's, we're on of six science cities and we have connectivity by rail to nearly every other major city and we have the country top rated transport systems, we have one of the countries fastest reducing rates of unemployment. We also have a number of top class education acadamy schemes been built with the backing of technology companies such as microsoft, toshiba and many more.

Lears... My point is simply this... there is no additional benefit to us been seen as a tri-city core city. The east midlands can prosper without the idea of a tri-city-core-city.

Lears... i'm trying to make what I feel is a just point... I really not trying to simply big up notts in those post.

I just feel that you come across sour that Notts has been given the title which sort of puts it ahead (on paper) of Leicester while you obviously feel like there are not that many differences between the cities?

Do you not feel though with the examples and facts of above that Nottinghams status as a core city is justified over the other cities in the region?

Bloody hell, my brain hurts after reading that!

I still like my the Three City core city idea :baeh3:

Did anyone else mention that we recently broke the 10k mark as a Forum? How many are yours Danz?

Did anyone else mention that we recently broke the 10k mark as a Forum? How many are yours Danz?

I dunno Lears... probably 1/5th? something like that? its good for the region anyway.

Look at this... (from 11th Sept).

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/1452772899_9cf93d35e0_o.jpg

and compare it with this http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=57

Bloody hell, my brain hurts after reading that!

I still like my the Three City core city idea :baeh3:

But seriously though Lears... i'm trying to be a little diplomatic. Leicester will grow and the three cities in the region will work together in the future in many ways. But do you not understand why... based on what I said in the previous posts... that Nottingham has been assigned a core city and Leicester has not?

I personally think what they're are trying to do with this core city thing is bridge the gap between London and the other cities. I was looking at a charge of the biggest cities in the europe (by definition of HQ's), another one by definition of businesses located and those sorts of criteria. London was the top in every one obviously and way ahead of the next in the lists..... the problem was though there were very few other UK cities in the top 20.

The gap between London and the other cities in the UK is continuing to increase while the other uk cities tackle deprivation, unemployment etc. I think the government wants to works towards closing this gap and getting a few other cities up in those lists. I personally think core cities and my theory above are both good ideas. Great for the UK.

We've seen this start to happen with BBC's move away from London. I think it would be great to have a few other the other government orgs move away from London.

I'm all for de-centralisation from London. We are after some of those Government departments here in Leicester. Allegedly one of them is due at St George's?

Honestly Danz, I don't think that Nottingham is so much bigger or better than Leicester that it merits Core City status and Leicester doesn't.

Please don't attack me with a barrage of yet more statistics and lists of companies or train timetables.

This is just what I feel. If Nottingham was three or four times bigger than Leicester, then fair enough. But it isn't - it is just a bit bigger and bit more successful.

Nottingham was not in the orginal Core City list - so what happened to make it suddenly appear in 2001?

I don't feel ill-will toward Nottingham for its Core City status. I blame leaders in Leicester for doing to little to promote their city.

I don't feel ill-will toward Nottingham for its Core City status. I blame leaders in Leicester for doing to little to promote their city.

Fair enough.

It's quite funny when I read posts on the Nottingham threads; where you say that your council doesn't do enough to promote your city.

I would say your council does a great job in promoting Nottingham.

Why? ... Please explain?

Did your City Council actively go out and make sure Nottingham got a good-sized indoor arena, or did you all have to create a petition to get one?

Lears? Seriously mate... I really thought you was going to give a different response....

When I talk of promotion I'm talking about the ways in which the council and other organisation secure investment from PRIVATE organisations? Going out and getting big organisations like into the city. My point is I don't think their current methods are working as well as they could. They have the slanty N (http://www.visionnottingham.com/index.asp?PageID=1) campaign, Nottingham @ MPIM (http://www.nottinghamatmipim.com/) and other little bits and bobs. I'm not saying these things aren't working.. but they definitely aren't seeing Nottingham fulfil the potential of the city.

Re the arena: Lears, the council proposed the idea of the council before the people did. We then got behind the idea as it was a good one. It made perfect sense because the region never had an arena... Does it surprise you that the arena easily got funding for this project?

However.. Leicester City Council has no plans for an arena. The people of Leicester are not begging for an arena (only the 46 people who signed your petition are). Your council do not see an arena as a need for the city... so they haven't gone out and tried to get one?

How does this mean that Nottingham is doing a great job at promoting itself?

Even if Nottingham was able to secure an arena... How does this mean that Nottingham is doing a great job at promoting itself? Nearly all of the regions top cities have arenas... does it surprise you that Notts has one too? I bet you guys wouldn't even want an arena if we never had one here in Notts. You obviously feel like our cities are similar (when they're clearly Not). You believe that because they're similar (which they are not), that you are entitled to anything Notts is entitled too... we have core city status so you believe your entitled... we are at the top of the retail rankings so you believe you could be there too... we get an arena... so you believe your entitled to one to. tut tut... you will never learn.

Do you know what gets me about you guys... you all contradict each-other. Lears is here saying he thinks Nottingham is better at promoting... yet Kirk was laughing at me the other day because Leicester wasn't included in a list of cities that needed help with promoting themselves... as if Leicester was some supreme city that didn't need any help.

Even if Nottingham was ableto secure an arena... How does this mean that Nottingham is doing a great job at promoting itself? Nearly all of the regions top cities have arenas... does it surprise you that Notts has one too? I bet you guys wouldn't even want an arena if we never had one here in Notts. You obviously feel like our cities are similar (when they're clearly Not). You believe that because they're similar (which they are not), that you are entitled to anything Notts is entitled too... we have core city status so you believe your entitled... we are at the top of the retail rankings so you believe you could be there too... we get an arena... so you believe your entitled to one to. tut tut... you will never learn.

Do you know what gets me about you guys... you all contradict each-other. Lears is here saying he thinks Nottingham is better at promoting... yet Kirk was laughing at me the other day because Leicester wasn't included in a list of cities that needed help with promoting themselves... as if Leicester was some supreme city that didn't need any help.

Get over yourself danz, just because Leicester wants to better itself it doesn't mean it's because Nottingham has this or that. What do you mean by Leicester thinks it's 'entitled to' any thing Nottingham has, as if Nottingham has some kind of superiority complex over almost everyone else.

Who cares about core city status, I certainly don't. What benefits does that system bring to anywhere else apart form 'those' cities, it certainly hasn't in our region.

Every major city in the UK wants to be at the top end of retail rankings, what makes you think that just because Nottingham has some kind of strangle-hold on things (especially retail) that if any other city in this region wants to better itself then its to be like Nottingham.

It's Nottingham that actually thinks it's the 'supreme' city of the region that needn't be effected by us lesser cities.

I'm sure you'll come up with a whole load of stuff to 'big-up' Nottingham again and again - as if we already don't know.

Who cares about core city status, I certainly don't. What benefits does that system bring to anywhere else apart form 'those' cities, it certainly hasn't in our region.

arrghhh RS... why do you never fail to come on these forums at the end of the night on a quick moment of hype with these quick rants that mount to nothing... your asking me who cares about core cities? Well you friends Lears and Cob obviously do... you councillors also do as they were angry to be left out.

Hasn't done anything for our region? have you not read anything i wrote above? You obviously delusional and see what you want to see. Please...next time you finish you long day at work... get your tea and biscuits and take a moment to sit down and read through the threads and really take in what everyone has been saying.

:no:

arrghhh RS... why do you never fail to come on these forums at the end of the night on a quick moment of hype with these quick rants that mount to nothing... your asking me who cares about core cities? Well you friends Lears and Cob obviously do... you councillors also do as they were angry to be left out.

Hasn't done anything for our region? have you not read anything i wrote above? You obviously delusional and see what you want to see. Please...next time you finish you long day at work... get your tea and biscuits and take a moment to sit down and read through the threads and really take in what everyone has been saying.

:no:

How very observant of you.

The thing about the core cities was my opinion and not that of other Leicester thread members or the council.

I'm not delusional thank you very much - that coming from a perosn who sees through Nottingham tinted glasses. I may not be as aware about certain things as other members on this sub forum, however that does not mean I don't know what I'm talking about.

Bloody hell Danz, I only mentioned that Nottingham was good at promoting itself - and mentioned one thing, in getting an arena. Stop ranting mate, it is getting a bit boring...

How very observant of you.

The thing about the core cities was my opinion and not that of other Leicester thread members or the council.

I'm not delusional thank you very much - that coming from a perosn who sees through Nottingham tinted glasses. I may not be as aware about certain things as other members on this sub forum, however that does not mean I don't know what I'm talking about.

:lol: Lets leave it here guys... i'm going out.. have a good night.

did u have a good nite out danz? i fucking did, im still pillin, all the words im writing are propa floaating on the screen and im hallucinmatinng to fuck. i love blue playstions.

ive forgot what i was meaning, oh, good on nottingham for being a core city, they obviousley deservin to get it, i mean, the govertmnet dont just pick theses citys out of a hat do they so go for it notrinttingha,

as for leicereresr, come on guys dont be sour, its up to leicesetre businesses and and coniucils to promotre leicesert and imporove our image and meke us a more succesful city, dont blame nottirnjkam for us bein g shit, it just weak

Braunstone Geezer youre a gentleman and a scholar ! I totally agree with your point of view ! Yes Nottingham and it's supporters should talk up their city, they deserve too.

Meanwhile Leicester people should be angry and dissapointed, but like you say we shouldn't be sour about Nottinghams achievements. I think thats Leicester's problem, we as a city and as people lack confidence in our abilities and blame or resent and feel overshadowed by our more powerfull neighbour and or even deny their superiority. GET REAL LEICESTER.

We as citizens should rightly though feel let down. Our councillors and politicians need to compete and fight effectively for investment and development which they just haven't done !

As Lears mentions we are geographically and demographically similar to Nottingham so we should and of course do get angry when Nottingham attracts more public investment and has a better facilities and infrastructure.
IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THE CASE !
Again its upto our politicians to produce the right conditions to attract investment to give Leicester the facilities and infrastructure they deserve.

Sorry to keep going on about this but Leicester needs to stand on it's own, and not collaberate with Nottingham. Allthough i do see that there are many interdependencies between our two cities, sadly the relationships are more than often in Nottinghams favour. We need to reverse this unfair trend.

For example if Braunstone geezer wants a top night out he should be able to get it in Leicester and not have to travel to Nottingham. So our national profile needs to be higher than Nottingham's because at the moment all the top entertainment on the whole chooses Nottingham rather than Leicester.

Leicester is big enough, and can sustain anything Nottingham does. We just need the political will and the confidence to make it happen. And that sadly at the moment is where Leicester comes a very poor second to Nottingham.

BUT THIS CAN CHANGE AND WHO KNOWS ONE DAY LEICESTER WILL BE THE CORE CITY AND TOP ACTS WILL CHOOSE LEICESTER OVER NOTTINGHAM. (NEED THAT INDOOR ARENA THOUGH)

Fighting spirit, pluck and pride in your city are all good, but you also have to be realistic. Is there really a market for an arena in Leicester and Nottingham? Groups and shows aren't going to play in both places. Nottingham already is almost a B list arena - if a touring act plays eight or ten arena shows around the country, then we will usually be one of them, but if it's only four or five shows then they tend to miss us out. I'm not sure there's enough business to support an arena in Leicester alongside the nearby facilities in Notitnham, Birmingham and Coventry.

Yes i agree Bingethink, Nottingham have built up a massive advantage.

I think an indoor arena for Leicester would be viable for the population of Leicestershire alone initially. Having this facility, Leicester could then try and compete for the East Midlands market at the expense of Nottingham.

But there are obviously areas where Nottingham have won the battle. For example your National Ice Stadium. But we can at least give our citizens an ice rink. Why do we have to boost your economy ?

I see Nottingham will be enjoying an outdoor ice rink this christmas. We had a small outdoor rink one year which proved popular. We had a fun fair and continental market last year. Not sure what we will be having to tempt the christmas shopper this year ? Sorry to mention christmas in September.:bleep:

I think an indoor arena for Leicester would be viable for the population of Leicestershire alone initially. :

But that's surely not realistic at all. The existing 10,000 seat or so arenas in the UK serve whole regions of several million people, not small cities. Nottigham Arena couldn't surviev if it only served Nottingham. It's because that it is the nearest arena to people in Leicester, Derby, Peterborough etc etc as well that makes it a feasible facility.

Surely the answer for Leicester to compete in the East Mids is to build facilities for which Nottingham has no equivalent, so that we have to travel to you to use them.

[B]
We as citizens should rightly though feel let down. Our councillors and politicians need to compete and fight effectively for investment and development which they just haven't done !


Our council always seems to be dragging its feet when it comes to developing major proposals for the city. Maybe they are changing, however there seems to be more infighting within the council, rather than discussions about improving the city. I hope the present consultation for developing the city will have some positive effect.

But that's surely not realistic at all. The existing 10,000 seat or so arenas in the UK serve whole regions of several million people, not small cities. Nottigham Arena couldn't surviev if it only served Nottingham. It's because that it is the nearest arena to people in Leicester, Derby, Peterborough etc etc as well that makes it a feasible facility.

Surely the answer for Leicester to compete in the East Mids is to build facilities for which Nottingham has no equivalent, so that we have to travel to you to use them.

Strongly disagree Bingethink, just look at the Coventry example which of course is a now a rival for Nottingham when it comes to attracting Leicester customers.

I think an indoor arena is a neccessity for Leicester. Why should Leicester rely on another city venue 25 miles away ? We are a city in our own right ! not a small insignificant satellite of Nottingham that can be patronised !

I agree about unique attractions ie National Space Centre and National Ice Arena. But an indoor arena is a basic peice of city infrastructure.

What you seem to be implying is that you don't want competition. Why shouldn't Leicester compete in the entertainment market and gain customers from Nottingham and elsewhere ? Nottingham has the market lead now, but it is not set in stone for ever in a free market economy.

Its not about not wanting competition hes just being realistic. Also it would help if Leicester had a decent ice hockey or basketball team that would attract thousands to each game.

Our council always seems to be dragging its feet when it comes to developing major proposals for the city. Maybe they are changing, however there seems to be more infighting within the council, rather than discussions about improving the city. I hope the present consultation for developing the city will have some positive effect.

Lets hope so, our city is improving but only in the sense of beginning to match other cities. Truth is though that we are still behind and have to keep going and take the lead instead of playing catch up all the time.

The underachieving of this city is embarressing

Strongly disagree Bingethink, just look at the Coventry example which of course is a now a rival for Nottingham when it comes to attracting Leicester customers.

Cob Rox. The only arena I am aware of in Coventry is the RICOH Arena. The RICOH Arena is in no way, shape or form a rival for Nottingham when it comes to attracting Leicester Customers?

Why? Its an outdoor arena that attracts no major events. Look at the line up of forthcoming concerts for the Ricoh (http://www.ricoharena.com/forthcoming-concerts.htm) and for Nottingham Arena (http://www.nottingham-arena.com/).

Notice that while Nottingham has boxing matches, WWE Wrestling, and multi platinum selling artist such as 50 Cent, Kanye West, Rihanna, Stereophonics etc.... The Ricoh arena has the Last Tango?

There are only two real arena in the East Midlands Area. They are the Nottingham Arena, and the NIA In Birmingham. NA serves predominately the east, while the NIA serves predominately the west.

I think an indoor arena is a neccessity for Leicester. Why should Leicester rely on another city venue 25 miles away ? We are a city in our own right ! not a small insignificant satellite of Nottingham that can be patronised !

Because as your other forum members keep saying we're only 30 minutes away. Close enough to be considered as "tri-city" as some of you lot suggest.

Its not about not wanting competition hes just being realistic. Also it would help if Leicester had a decent ice hockey or basketball team that would attract thousands to each game.

Better facilities for Leicester would i am sure bring in the crowds. Speedway is now looking like returning to the city. Leicester people love their sport, especially against local rivals. :rofl:

What you seem to be implying is that you don't want competition. Why shouldn't Leicester compete in the entertainment market and gain customers from Nottingham and elsewhere ? Nottingham has the market lead now, but it is not set in stone for ever in a free market economy.

No, you're right.

And if it makes economic sense in a free market sense someone will build an arena in Leicester.

My question is whether it makes economic sense to build an arena in Leicester.

My suspicion is that the catchment area needed to make an arena profitable is much larger than just Leicester - it's more like the whole east midlands. And with the East Midlands already having an arena in Nottingham, it is unlikely that a Leicester Arena would make economic sense.

(I would also add that the Arena only made economic sense in Nottingham because it was a multi-use venue that is also the national centre for ice sports - ice hockey, speed skating, figure skating etc. As a stand-alone concert venue it would never have been built.)

Its not about not wanting competition hes just being realistic. Also it would help if Leicester had a decent ice hockey or basketball team that would attract thousands to each game.



Well we already have a basketball team in the National league.

Only East Midlands Team as well.


BBL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE

1. SHEFFIELD SHARKS 2-0 4


2. GUILDFORD HEAT 1-0 2


2. LEICESTER RIDERS 1-0 2


2. MILTON KEYNES LIONS 1-0 2


2. PLYMOUTH RAIDERS 1-0 2


6. EVERTON TIGERS 0-0 0


6. WORCESTER WOLVES 0-0 0


8. BIRMINGHAM PANTHERS 0-1 0


8. LONDON CAPITAL 0-1 0


8. NEWCASTLE EAGLESS 0-1 0


8. COTTISH ROCKS 0-1 0


12. CHESHIRE JETS 0-2 0

Perhaps the quality of acts isn't quite up there at the moment Danz but Coventry are new to this game. With their 8,000 capacity (standing) indoor hall they have a facility which can compete with Nottingham and Birmingham.

And being just under 20 miles down the M69 from Leicester that will attract Leicester customers and im sure Notts and Brummy customers alike.

If Coventry can build an indoor hall for the people of Coventry and have aspirations for the midlands entertainment market all on Birminghams doorstep. Then why can't Leicester do the same ?

Unfortuately Coventrys emergence has made it even harder for Leicester to compete on the midlands entertainment scene. But an indoor arena to replace the De. Montfort halls 2,500 capacity is an absolutely neccessity. How big a new arena depends on Leicester's ambition ?

Leicester as part of a tri-city, no not for me. (As you know i think Leicester should stand alone). Why not a quad-city ? you could include Coventry. :lol:

Yes Bingethink good point. The size of a Leicester arena would depend on it being multi-use. Sports and Concerts.

Well we already have a basketball team in the National league.

Only East Midlands Team as well.


BBL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE

1. SHEFFIELD SHARKS 2-0 4


2. GUILDFORD HEAT 1-0 2


2. LEICESTER RIDERS 1-0 2


2. MILTON KEYNES LIONS 1-0 2


2. PLYMOUTH RAIDERS 1-0 2


6. EVERTON TIGERS 0-0 0


6. WORCESTER WOLVES 0-0 0


8. BIRMINGHAM PANTHERS 0-1 0


8. LONDON CAPITAL 0-1 0


8. NEWCASTLE EAGLESS 0-1 0


8. COTTISH ROCKS 0-1 0


12. CHESHIRE JETS 0-2 0

yeah i see that the riders currently play somewhere with a capacity of 800 it would be a bit of step up wouldnt it?

The Riders are currently based at De Montfort University's John Sanford Sports Centre.

I found this in a report about station redevelopments in the region from EMDA.

Transport Hubs as locations for regeneration

As a result of feasibility work undertaken to date and a range of other initiatives being developed across the region by partners, a large number of regeneration projects at transport hubs are coming to the fore. These include:

The Derby Railway Station Partnership is currently looking at ways to bring forward the regeneration of Derby Station to create better linkages between the Station and Derby city centre. As part of this process the Partnership is keen to see how the redevelopment of the Station can act as a catalyst for the regeneration and development of the surrounding areas, including the Conservation Area (Station Approach) and Pride Park.

Within Leicester, the development of the New Business Quarter is the key project identified through the recent review of the Leicester Regeneration Company to drive forward Leicester’s economic growth. It is anticipated that emda will be approached for funding to help bring forward this project. A key challenge in Leicester is the need to re-locate other facilities within the station, which include a Royal Mail sorting office.

The Nottingham Train Station Partnership Group is developing the business case for the complete re-development of the station, stressing its importance not only as a key transport hub (train, bus and tram) but its crucial role in developing the city’s business quarter with office development. A funding application to move to the development of a full business case is to be considered by this month’s Board Resources Group. Whilst still at the planning and development stage, the Nottingham Hub project has the capacity to support the delivery of 1500 jobs; deliver more than 8,400 sqm of mixed use commercial space; attract £40M of private sector investment; act as a catalyst for the wider regeneration potential of the Southside regeneration zone; and remediate more than 4ha of inner city brownfield land.

The recent announcement to provide a train station at Corby is another example of a transport hub providing the opportunity for regeneration. The identified station site will also provide a location for office development. Corby's connection to a national rail link, and principally London, is considered essential to encourage the town's demographic and economic growth. Its development and associated regeneration opportunities will be key in driving forward Corby’s economic growth as part of the MKSM growth agenda. In Corby’s case there are strong arguments to support not only the potential associated with the regeneration opportunities provided, but also support for the the development of a new transport facility, which will act as a magnet for wider regeneration and development. Again an application seeking emda support is imminent.

These are four of the more advanced projects that can be reported to Board. Similarly, opportunities are envisaged in Northampton.

In taking forward opportunities such as those listed above, emda may be approached to help fund the essential technical feasibility and design work required, and will need to ensure that such studies are supported where appropriate. Furthermore, as and when schemes move towards delivery, emda will need to assess each one on their merits to assess the level of direct capital investment, if any, that is to be provided to support their delivery.

I also found this... Funds given by the government for local transport plans.

Derby Joint Plan – £11.6 million
Derbyshire – £17.1 million
Leicester Joint Plan – £12.9 million
Leicestershire – £12.3 million
Lincolnshire – £19.7 million
Northamptonshire – £13.4 million
Nottingham Joint Plan – £20.0 million
Nottinghamshire – £19.7 million
Rutland – £2.4 million

I got my name changed :banana:

The First East Midlands Regeneration conference is being held in November. Guess which city its in?

The First East Midlands Regeneration conference is being held in November. Guess which city its in?

Glasgow?

Perhaps the quality of acts isn't quite up there at the moment Danz but Coventry are new to this game. With their 8,000 capacity (standing) indoor hall they have a facility which can compete with Nottingham and Birmingham.

And being just under 20 miles down the M69 from Leicester that will attract Leicester customers and im sure Notts and Brummy customers alike.

If Coventry can build an indoor hall for the people of Coventry and have aspirations for the midlands entertainment market all on Birminghams doorstep. Then why can't Leicester do the same ?

Unfortuately Coventrys emergence has made it even harder for Leicester to compete on the midlands entertainment scene. But an indoor arena to replace the De. Montfort halls 2,500 capacity is an absolutely neccessity. How big a new arena depends on Leicester's ambition ?

Leicester as part of a tri-city, no not for me. (As you know i think Leicester should stand alone). Why not a quad-city ? you could include Coventry. :lol:

I think the problem is that no individual or company has stepped forward yet and said that they want to build an indoor arena in Leicester. I am sure that if someone thought that this was a financially sound investement they would go for it staright away but due to everything already stated i am not sure it is at present. There is no arguing that an indoor arena increases a city's stock but i can't see how it can be down to the council to push this kind of development through unless it is also being backed by the government a sporting body (like the NIA & NIC) or an idividual investor.

i didnt know that magna park near lutterworth was the biggest distribution centre in europe,

fuck me, leicestershire has got something it can boast about

stef88 how did u change ur name? i want to change mine, sort of like turning over a new leaf, new identity kind of thing, celebrate coming of crack and shit

Go on the main skyscrapercity page (not the UK one). At the bottom of the page there is a forum called "About The Forums". Go into that and the thread is called Aniversary Special - Get you name changed here"

If you beg Jan might do it for you.

What you thinking of changing it to?

Thanks Ben 77 for your views on a Leicester Arena.

I suppose Leicester will just have to accept that Nottingham has won the International entertainment market. And will now have to concentrate on the niche entertainment market, at the PAC and what i'm afraid is now the second rate de montfort Hall.

Unless Leicester can come up with a totally unique indoor attraction. Any thoughts ?

How about the centre for political ineptitude with politicians playing for the hand it on a plate to nottingham cup. It could double as a concert hall with all the hot air being recycled to reduce our carbon footprint.:mad2:

Only joking if there are any councillors out there, after all you did approve the Simpson Towers:applause:

I suppose you could look at it another way and think that Leicester were lucky enough to be given funding for the National Space centre (at around the same time as Nottingham got the Ice Centre). It seems pretty logical that Nottingham was given some funding for the Ice centre with the History its has (Torvil & Dean) and the panthers ice hockey team who average around 4000 (i think). Whereas Leicester with its links to space travel & research got the Space centre. Unfortunately the space centre doesn't double up as a indoor arena! And therefore i can't really see Leicester getting an arena until a private company comes along and thinks that its going to be a financial success. Which is made even harder with Nottingham, Cov & Birmingham already having one.

i still dont know anyone from leicester who has been to the space centre thing yet, and i know a fair few people in leicseter and leicestershire.

theres nothing in leicester to interest me, its a boring city for me personally, thats probaly why me and my mates all take drugs, and drink too much, and why a lot of people i went school with are either in prison, been to prison or on there way there soon. its depressing, there really is nothing to do, ive got a very short attention span so i get bored really quickly (i am now, writing this, i can feel myself switching off). im supposed to stay away from drugs and out of trouble until feb 2009 as ive been deferred from reapplying to the army until feb 2009, but its hard cos theres nothing to do

i dont like the arts, i couldnt give a monkeys about space, and well, thats all leicesters got at the minute.

give me a super club wiv top name djs and an ice rink within walking distance and thats half my weekends sorted for a year

what im getting at is, for people like me, leicester is fucking shit

I've been to the Space Centre with my step-kids and quite enjoyed it. I'm not into space myself either. I will visit the PAC, because my missus is into that sort of thing. Drinking is good too as far as I'm concerned...

But I do agree, there is not enough to do in Leicester...we need far more facilities!

Interesting article in Tuesdays business supplement in the Mercury.

I have highlighted areas which seem relevant to the general downer that some posters have on our city at the moment (me included at times)

Oh and someone is dreaming about a monorail (dream on, this is Leicester not Dubia)

REGENERATION GAP
Date : 02.10.07.

It could take up to 20 years for Leicester's regeneration to be finally completed, a senior business figure said today.

Kevin Harris, partner at Leicester accountancy firm Cooper Parry, said although the skyline was changing, it may be two decades before the city saw the full impact of the many millions of pounds of investment.

He said following years of gloom, it could be a generation before people were convinced Leicester had been transformed and started to project a positive message about the city.
"The problem I find is that to a lot of people regeneration is about sticking lots of new buildings up, but it's not just about that," he said. "It's also about having a different mind set. When you go around the city you find there's people who haven't changed their mind set yet."

Mr Harris, who worked in Birmingham during its regeneration in the early 1990s, said Leicester had many parallels with the UK's second city when it came to the attitude of the people who lived there.

"People in Birmingham had been bruised by other people's opinions back then," he said. "But now when you go to Birmingham people are very positive. But it takes time to change people's views. I think it's a generation thing to be honest. You need to take a longer view of regeneration. I think it will take 15 to 20 years to change this mind set."
Mr Harris was responding to the Business Agenda Survey which asked business people where they saw Leicester in 20 years' time.

Although 76 per cent of respondents were either very positive or fairly positive about the city's future, only half thought it could become one of the top 10 UK cities over the next two decades - it is currently ranked just outside the top 10.

Mr Harris said the redevelopment of other cities meant Leicester was likely to merely maintain its position rather than rise up the ranks.

However, Steve King, partner at Leicester accountants PKF, disagreed, saying developments currently taking place meant the city had a good chance of breaking into the top 10.

"The completion of The Shires is certainly likely to move us into the top 10," he said. "But we need some green open spaces in the city centre. Town Hall Square is usually packed because it's not big enough. There's an awful lot of people in the county with money to spend who don't come into the city because they don't like it."

Dominic Gomersall, managing director of Lumbers jewellery store, in Market Street, Leicester, said the positive impact of the city's regeneration could be lost if, as feared, a congestion charge was eventually introduced.

"Making the city stronger is all about access," he said. "What concerns me is a congestion charge coming in, which would put us at a commercial disadvantage. My vision is for a monorail coming from outside the city centre and connecting Fosse Park and The Shires." Other respondents said it was important Leicester continued to project itself as a city which was changing.

Steve Goodman, chairman of the CBI's Leicestershire branch and joint managing partner of consultants ChangeWorld, Houghton-on-the-Hill, said: "I want to see the same ambition the city council has shown with the Performing Arts Centre continue."

John Nicholls, chief executive of Leicester Regeneration Company, said regeneration still had some way to go, with work planned into the next decade.

Wow a monorail. That'd be a UK first wouldn't it apart from at Alton Towers.
It'd certainly look impressive running through the city centre.
Would they not have to knock down loads of buildings to accomodate it though?

Are you taking the P***** Stef , no im sure your not :poke:

Just read Leicester's CACI retail report thanks to rs06, Quote " Despite major development proposals in Nottingham, Leicester's market potential would be hardly affected. This is due to the two cities serving their own sub regions, meaning that the two can grow in tandem, in a complementery way - strenghening the region as a whole" Lets embrace the East Midlands then.:puke:

Lets embrace the East Midlands then.:puke:
:lol:

Are you taking the P***** Stef , no im sure your not :poke:

Just read Leicester's CACI retail report thanks to rs06, Quote " Despite major development proposals in Nottingham, Leicester's market potential would be hardly affected. This is due to the two cities serving their own sub regions, meaning that the two can grow in tandem, in a complementery way - strenghening the region as a whole" Lets embrace the East Midlands then.:puke:

I didn't read the whole report. Only the bits that were highlighted :shifty:

I can't understand why Alton Towers has a monorail to ease traffic problems, yet our major cities don't? No need to knock down buildings, as the system only needs widely spaced columns and the turning curve of modern monorails is very small, compared to trams and trains.

ive been saying for ages about other cities regeneration plans, u onley have to visit other cities to see that leicesters plans are un abmiuoutious/crap

and did anyone catch that tv program last nite, the inside out show or something? i really thought it would be about leicetsres regenration and the changes over the last 30 years, but no, it was all about asians and how they fit in with other leicester groups (or dont depending on ur viewpoint). im sick of it, this is the view of the whole of britain if tv is anything to go by, does britain not realise that there are wite and black and eoropean people also living on leicester. im sick of this city and the way its portrayed by the media.

im not a racist person by nature, how can i be wen im trying to sleep my way around the world? but im starting to share the frustratiouns wiv my wite and black friends that leicester is an asian town now and feel that wites and blacks of all nationalities have lost our own leicester identities.

i dont want to feel like this, but im surrounded by hatred for asians. i dont want to turn this into a recruiting ground for people to express there extreme views on race etc, these are my experiences, wheres this leicester that is portrayed as a showcase for multi faiths and races that rub along together?

i dont want to come accross as racist, and my image of leicester mite be different to yours, but im fighting a losing battle, and slowley and slowley (due in large part to the media aswell as influence by friends) my views are becoming more extreme.

how do i stop thinking like this?

Hi BG,

I'm white and my wife is of Punjabi origin and we both share your distain for the way the media make such a fuss over asians. Your feelings don't make you a racist and b******s to anyone who says otherwise.

The important thing is to remember that this is the fault of the media not the asians - they'll probably get dumped on the scrap heap like the rest of us once the media have got bored of taking pictures of them.

Seeing as these boards are mostly about regeneration its worth pointing out that a lot of asian-origin people in Leicester feel totally left out by the regeneration process - probably something that you as a Braunstonian can empathise with.

I'd suggest ignoring the media altogether and just hearing life from real people on the street and in your community. Don't let them divide us with their pigeon-holing and crass glamorisations of different races.

i get wot ur saying bravil, for me personally, ive never felt any hatred or ill feeling towards another person based on what they look like or where there from, but wen it comes to groups of people and what they get upto, like the eastern earoupeans that hang about the top of humberstone gate and treat the place like a dive, then i get angry and form an opinion on that group of people, u get me? its wrong but im honest, doesnt mean i hate them and want them hurt or anything.

the thing is, i want to watch a tv program about leicester, not about immigration, the effects of immigration and immigration 30 years on, as a white man im finding it hard to find an identity wiv leicester, wen i go to places outside of leicester, take creamfields last year in warrington, i got chatting to great bunch of scousers, and wen i told them i was from leicester they asked 'aint that where the indians are from' but they didnt say indians. but the fact that people find it hard to believe there are any wite people here at all pisses me off.

and the vast majority of my mates dont like asians full stop, im not just talikng wite lads and lasses here, my mates are from accross the board, not just blacks but blacks from various parts of africa, blacks from america and carribean, lots of mixed race from various different backgrounds, wite mates who descsneded from the british isles, italy, spain, ukraine, polish descendents. i know a lot of people, wen the first bosnian refugees turned up in rowlatts hill, within hours me and my mates were playing footy at the back on lily marriott gardens, within days the language barrier was gone, ive got to know a few polish guys recentley, its broken english but we know wots going on and i regularly stop by on my way up narbourough road for a quick bottle of beer and disgusting spicy sausage type meet (yeah, they do actually eat that shit) this is the first time ive broken my friends down into groups and i dont like it, but ive got to make this point, the one thing they all have in common is a dislike for asians (indians and pakistanis)

wot do i do? do i giv up on my mates, turn my back on the people who have got my back? turn away from people who saved my life on more than one occassion, people who i know will watch out not just for me, but wen my sisters and relatives go out in town, i know that in any one bar or club there are around a dozen pair of eyes watching out for them, thats how it is, id die for my mates, cos i know theyd do it for me, and i couldnt live wiv myself if i left my mates in trouble, no matter what the odds,

so im stuck, ive got a year and half to go b4 i can reapply for the army, i want leicester to be a great city, free from prejudice, where people mix, not cos they should, but cos they want to,

i wasnt forced into my way of life, ive been stereotyped myself, ul see me occasionally hanging round mcdonalds near the clock tower, dressed head to toe in the latest nike gear or if im going out, then il be dressed in usually lacoste or henri lloyd or hacket or any branded clothing, il be wiv my boys, usually 4-5 wite lads, 4-5 black lads and any number of mixed race lads, peolple avoid us, they assume were trouble cos we swear and play fight, large groups are intimimidating il admit that but people just walk by giv me a glare, or cross over the road or laff cos i got a diamond stud earing and say ' whos he think he is, ja rule or something (someone actually said that, tossers) but its wen groups of asian lads turn i can feel the tension, i can sense danger and evreyones back goes up, upto now theres been no trouble for about a year but somethings going to give, i know. im too old for this shit, i used to be a tearaway, but im not anymore, im just a 30 year old guy trying to get by in leicester, but i feel i dont belong here anymore. i cant leave my mates but im losing my mind. i dont agree wiv most of wot they say but i feel there anger, course i do

i love my mates wiv all my heart and would die beside them, no question now matter wot there views

Times have really changed and, yes there is still prejudice on all sides.

Unfortunately, this world is full such things as racial prejudices, social prejudices, etc. and whatever we do they will never be eliminated.

Everything is fine, until programmes like that start questioning things again, which I think is totally unnecessary.

Didn't see the programme so I dunno what was said. There is a line to be drawn between intelligent journalism and sh*t stirring - I wonder which side this prog fell on?

It takes a long time for people to get used to 'others' and it can all be undone in a minute by idiots.

I know there are tensions in Leicester like anywhere but what I think perhaps sets us apart is that we're all still talking (of not always agreeing).

Glad I don't have a TV.

all my probs seem to have come about by me staying in on week nites and watching tv, ive never really done it before and am onley doing it now cos its either that or being drawn back into the wonderfull world of drugs.

but onley last nite i had a mate come round talking about a statue of gandhi or something being proposed for belgrave gate, how can a peaceful campaighner like him turn a normally great, loving lad into a raging maniac with pure hatred in his voice? do u see why im confused,

drugs mite not be the answer, but life seemed a lot more better for me wen i was smoking crack, popping e's and raiding mates mums medicine cabinet

Watched some boxing last night on the telly, Khan's British Title fight. It was held at The Nottingham Arena. Leicester fighter got ko'd in the 3rd round dissapointing for the Leicester fans who were probably hoping for more success after the foxes won at Sheffield.

However the reason for this post was that the Bolton Arena was mentioned as the next venue to host the boxing.

Bolton Arena is a multiporpose venue with a capacity of 6,000.

Coventry, Bolton why not Leicester.????????????????

I think the argument that Leicester can't have an arena because Nottingham Arena makes an arena in Leicester not viable is an argument which is floored (sorry for the boxing punn ). Ok perhaps a Nottingham sized arena (10,000 capacity) would be too ambitious. But an arena 6-8,000 would im sure be sustainable for the Leicestershire area. And as it becomes established im sure we could attract national and even international events. But the main priority is to provide the people of Leicester with adequate sporting, corporate, leisure and exhibition facilities, because we as a city are deprived

It's time for the Leicester public and private sector to start a feasibality study into an arena. And to start bidding for funding.

I see your point BUT.... Bolton Arena was built as part of a big sports complex that included the Bolton Wanders stadium and other facilities. Bolton Arena dosn't host any major entertainment events. I had a look on ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/venue/190250) and the only event in Bolton listed is a "Comedy Store" event in november. thats it!

Secondly... Boxing matches are held anywhere from hotels, ballrooms, stadiums.. anywhere! Leicester has some matches in the Ramada Jarvis Hotel (http://www.britishboxing.net/venues_3058-Ramada-Jarvis-Hotel-Leicester-England.html). Leicester also has matches in the Aylestone Leisure Centre (http://www.britishboxing.net/venues_10155-Aylestone-Leisure-Centre-Leicester-England.html). Infact.. Leicester has just as many matches in the Ramada Jarvis Hotel as Bolton has in the Bolton Arena.

In terms of being what the Nottingham Arena is (top entertaining events, big sporting events, ice stadium etc).. Bolton Arena is not exactly successful. As said before it hold NO major events whatsoever. Imagine.. anyone that wants to do a concert in the area will instead hold one in Manchester (it makes 10 times more sense, and holds 10 times more people)

My last point is this. Remember... Nottingham Arena is not exactly a large stadium. Its up to standard but is one of the smaller of the UK's major stadiums with a capacity of only 10,000. My point is this... if you built an arena that only holds 6-8,000 as your proposing there's no way its going to be able to pull away events for Notts.. its just too small. Why would someone do a concert in Leicester when there Nottingham Arena which is bigger and is only a short distance away? And is sponsored by Leicester's Radio Stations?

If you guys want an Arena that will be used like the one in Bolton (http://www.boltonarena.com/facilities/) (health and fitness facilities, 8 indoor tennis courts, Aerobics and Dance studios, sports education, and conference facilities), then yes, that would work.... but i was under the impression that isn't exactly what your after?

Id say a 5 or 6k arena would work for Leicester, could put the riders in there and even try and start a new ice hockey team up

Fair comments Danz and Beeston

Quick note... remember that press release i put on here a while ago about how Nottingham and a few other small towns were going to get help promoting itself... (and you guys laughed at me and have since decided that you too need promotion)? Well... that was something that the Associate of Town Centre Management set up. (http://www.atcm.org/index.php)

The ATCM is a collaboration between businesses, councils, county councils etc. The obviously work to improve town centres.. The reason Leicester weren't included in this list of cities who will get help promoting themself is simply because Leicester City Council aren't a member? Which is quite silly of your council really...

The ATCM also set up this... which will be great.... and will help transform Notts into a 24 hour city.

Nine cities fight the blight of booze with Light Nights


Martin Wainwright
Monday October 8, 2007
The Guardian

Nine of Britain's biggest cities are banding together this winter to test the continental idea of Light Nights as an antidote to the drinking culture that has swamped the notion of 24-hour cities.
Luminous trapeze artists, torchlit tours and hundreds of people dancing in white clothes after midnight will kick off the programme in Leeds this week, after talks with Barcelona and Italian towns where la notte bianca is a long-standing cultural success.

Trial events in Leeds last year were a hit, with families effectively reclaiming the central area from its ever-increasing number of "vertical drinking" bars. A fortnight of events included a marching bagpipe band, concerts on rooftops and film projections on building facades.

The size of crowds watching and taking part in the various spectaculars has triggered this winter's initiative, which will see Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester, Sheffield and Reading join in. Nottingham was added to the list this week with a Light Night confirmed for February and Liverpool is planning an event in January, at the start of its year as European capital of culture.

The programme, one of the biggest joint cultural exercises undertaken by city councils in Britain, has been nurtured by the Association of Town Centre Management, which is expected to add a £500,000 grant to the budgets of the different festivals. The association's development director, Martin Blackwell, said: "We saw the potential of Light Night when we took delegates from seven cities to Lake Como earlier this year. The Italians put on 47 special trains, 200,000 visitors took to the streets and you couldn't walk for the crush at 3 o'clock in the morning. We believe that Light Nights can transform people's view of UK city culture, as well as acting as a beacon for tourists all over the world."

The initiative follows frustration in cities such as Leeds that their centres, while clearly booming, are known more for alcohol than the original 24-hour city ideal of liveliness and a range of facilities - shops, cinemas and galleries as well as bars - open round the clock.

The main celebrations will initially focus on one night - this Friday in the case of Leeds - but with associated events continuing for two weeks. Organisers in each city hope that Light Night culture will spread, encouraging more people towards live entertainment.

Almost all events will be free and local bus services will be extended.

Deborah Sanderson, artistic director of Urban Angels whose trapeze artists disguised as spiders, insects and birds will recreate a rainforest canopy over Leeds' main shopping street, said: "Who wouldn't want to switch off the TV to experience this? Light Nights are about theatricality and skill, but also audience involvement. Leeds and the other cities after dark are going to be different places."

All for 24 hour cities and a mix of cultural uses rather than just the 18-30's dominating the night scene. Hope Nottigham's planned events go well, and if so the Leicester council might take note for something similar in Leicester.

I think im afraid to say that this highlights the proactiveness of the Nottingham Council while highlighting the apathy and reactiveness of the Leicester council.

Or maybe it just highlights that apart from nightclubs for youngsters there is little else to do in Leicester at night. Maybe that will change when the PAC opens.

I agree Cob Rox; Nottingham Council is better than Leicester's Council. Don't know why this is so though? I feel that Nottingham's Council fights for their city, more than ours does.

did anyone watch the program the other nite about the two leicester lads who got banged up in venezwayla for drugs smuggling? the reason they gave for taking the risk?

they found leicester boring

see, living in leicester is dangerous,

dangerousley boring

some guy just walked past the window and his face was covered in massive red blotches, sick

cant these people wear a sack on there head or something?

did anyone watch the program the other nite about the two leicester lads who got banged up in venezwayla for drugs smuggling? the reason they gave for taking the risk?

they found leicester boring

see, living in leicester is dangerous,

dangerousley boring

Saw this program last night. Noted that they both live in Leicester now...

no there both definately from leicester, james miles used to live near humberstone before he got caught,

i suppose after living through what them two went through, quiet and boring leicester now suits them down to the ground

This may be old news but did anyone know they're doing another Robin Hood film? Guess what its called... "Nottingham" :D :D :D

Directed by one of the best directors.. Ridley Scott... (Producer of American Gangter (coming out this year with Denzel Washington), Oscor wining black hawk down, oscar winning Gladiator, Hanibal, Alien, Kingdom of Heaven...

Oscar Winning Russell Crowe (Gladiator) is Robin Hood... I can't wait lol :D

Wouldn't it be great if they premiered it here too :D :D

It's unlikely that they'll premiere it here to be honest.
Even the last film about Robin Hood wasn't even shot in Sherwood Forest it was filmed in Ireland :lol:

lol... the bbc series was shot in Ukraine.. (i think) lol. one of those countries.

lol... the bbc series was shot in Ukraine.. (i think) lol. one of those countries.

Do you think they will make Adrian Mole into a hollywood blockbuster :lol:

Don't shoot the messenger...

Results of the Worst Places to Live survey on Channel Four. Ranked from worst at the top...

Middlesbrough – North East (6th last year)
Hull – Humberside
Newham - East London (4th last year)
Nottingham – East Midlands (7th last year)
Merthyr Tydfil - South Wales (3rd last year)
North East Lincolnshire – Eastern England
Islington - North London (5th last year)
Blaenau Gwent - South Wales (9th last year)
Mansfield – East Midlands
Knowsley – Merseyside
Blackpool – North West
Hackney - East London (1ST last year)
Stoke-on-Trent – Staffordshire
Barking & Dagenham – East London
Doncaster – South Yorkshire
Cannock Chase – Staffordshire
Manchester - North West (10th last year)
Haringey – North London
Burnley – Lancashire
Hartlepool – North East

your so late lears..

The whole thing is clearly ridiculous.. for example..

Nottingham is ranked in the worst 20.
And rushcliffe.. (which is just across the river) is ranked in the top 20? How can that possibly be?

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=533561

Because there are high levels of deprivation within the city boundaries of Nottingham. Education is poor, income is low, crime is high, gun crime continues to be a problem, unemployment is above average etc...Rushcliffe is a prosperous council, which does partly border Nottingham (West Bridgford). It is mostly rural though and doesn't suffer the problems that Nottingham does. I'm sure there are plenty of wealthy areas within Nottingham itself, but there are huge swathes where lives are not so happy.

Leicester within its boundaries suffers the same problems as Nottingham. We have Stoneygate, which is one of the wealthiest places in the Midlands, but there are large council estates, which are not necessarily nice place to live in. Then there are more wealthy towns around the fringes of the city.

I'm not saying that places have to be wealthy, to be nice to live in BTW.

The trouble is that the general public don't have the level of knowledge that you do. They see "Nottingham" in that list and can't differentiate between city council area, and wider Nottingham conurbation. If "Hackney" appears on the list, then people don't confuse it with the whole of London. But it's easy to confuse the city council area with the area most of us know as Nottingham, including West Bridgford, Arnold, Beeston, Carlton etc, and think that the wider area is a bad place to live, which it isn't.

It doesn't help that calling Rushcliffe one of the best 20 places to live means nothing to anyone outside the immediate area, either. Rushcliffe is one of those meaningless district council areas that could be anywhere. Maybe we should start a campaign to rename Rushcliffe as South Nottingham, or South Nottinghamshire!

Either the this is a load of bullshit

Nottingham is ranked one of the worst places to live, despite getting much better rankings that some of the places listed in the top 20. We got 3.8 but there were places in the top twenty with just 3.0?

Infact.. Nottingham ranks 3.8 whilst Leicester ranks 3.0? :lol: Yet in this survey, Leicester is considered a better place to live than Notts?? How ridiculous.

You've got it mixed up, Danz, the "independent survey" gives the Top 20 positions. The mark out of five is just what people have voted on the website.

Lots of disgruntled Nottingham people are adding their comments, post the survey...and giving the city 5 out of 5. At the cut off point, Nottingham was the forth worst place to live...

Good point Bingethink - I never realised that...

going back to your film danz titled nottingham and about robin hood, should be good for tourism.

just one problem tho, wen i worked at the holiday inn and the tourists who were staying there and done the tour britain thing (mostley americans) i used to ask them where theyd been and what theyd seen, and theyd rave about certain places like manchester, liverpool, and york (i know, but u really wouldnt believe the amount of tourists who love york). but i really cant remeber any who been to nottingham raving about the experiance. a lot of polite responses were like, it wasnt like the film and that nottingham castle isnt even a castle just a hall on a hill and the robin hood experiance was terrible, generally that the city of nottingham wasnt what they were expcting.

id say lincoln came tops amongst tourist.

im not writing tis to be a dick, im really not but from my impression i doubt nottingham gets a lot of repeat tourism (hope im wrong) but is that all u really want to be known as, the place where robin hood might have lived, but wiv very little resemblence today of what tourists expect.

one word i rember is dissapointing

hope no one thinks i was being stink wiv nottingham, cos this is possibly worse. taken from alliance of women film journalists talking to anton corbijn, the director of the joy division film

quote "we shot in nottingham cos manchester wasnt an option, its so built up it doesnt look like it did in the 1970's - so we shot in nottingham which looks quite a lot like manchester in the 70's. this is a very mundane, gray part of england. i think its important to show that beatiful things can come out of that type of gray, mundane environment.

cant wait for the mundane robin hood film.

im just glad he didnt film the joy division film in leicester, w would have got a pasting.

oh and danz, im not trying to piss u off mate, im just trying to balance things out cos ur post about the robin hood film was a bit over the top, u know what i mean wiv the list of films directed by scott, we all no who he is and the great films (and crap ones, hopefully not robin hood, tho i think the subject has been done to death, specailly wiv the awful tv show) he has made. its good to show off mate, id just rain it in a bit mate

I agree that Nottingham doesn't have the typical tourist appeal of somewhere like York or Bath. We can't pretend that our city is as pretty as that. But tourism these days is as much about weekend city breaks, business travel and conferences as it is about a stereotypical Yank with a camera. It is things like tying up the ice hockey grand finals for the next few years that brings in tourists. If CCan, for instance, can bring in internationally reknowned art shows, people will travel to see them.

soz, i should have made it clear wen i was talking about tourists being dissapointed it was mainley at the robin hood experiance, its great that nottingham is associated with the charactor, trouble is a lot of silly americans seem to think that england is a fairytale country and dont recognise us as anything else, hence the dissapointment.

i think nottingham should now concentrate on the fact that its being turned into a cosmopolitan (think thats the word) eauropean city, theres more to your city than a silly man prancing around in green tites

An American girl in Prague, that I met thought Nottingham was a small town in Sherwood Forest :lol:

Yeah, the experience of Nottingham Castle, Sherwood Forest etc is not quite what Hollywood makes it out to be! Mind you, when I lived in Sherwood (the Nottingham suburb, not the forest), a French coach driver stopped at the traffic lights on Mansfield Road, wound down the window, and was getting very worried that he'd already arrived in "Sherwood Forest", and that it was a bit more built up than he was expecting!

:lol:

An American girl in Prague, that I met thought Nottingham was a small town in Sherwood Forest :lol:

:lol: Thats nothing, one response i got by a yank was "Nottingham?! What thats a real place!? I thought that was a fairytale!"

at least people dont think ur city is in india

:ohno:

at least people dont think ur city is in india

What makes you say that??? I know certain places are populated more by Asian's, but not most of it.

This is what was said on those Notts V Leicester Popularity threads I started:

im a geo-type of guy, so i should know about these places as ive done many map-readings when i was a kid. leicester is a city one of my friends comes from, he tells me its very influenced by immigrants these days and the old british culture is almost disintegrated in that city. as for nottingham, its a well known football city. nottingham forest was at one time the best team in england. east midlands, hmph, perhaps the region where these cities are? but i always thought leicester was in the centre, much like york and leeds.

wot the fucks it got to do wiv you wot i say???

if u think i got to answer to any of you then ur very fucking mistaken.

but il answer it anyway

im proud of being born in leicester, and wen asked by people where im from i will answer leicester and an unbelivable amount of people will answer that by saying wots that the capital of india, or, wheres that, little india aint it.

so fuck you to any fucker who feels dissapointed in wot i wrote, i couldnt give a fuck, just dont assume that evreyone u meet (and probaly know very well) wants the same fucking thing

and while im at it, stick ur fucking ghandi statue up ur arse

Anyone who responds like that, when you mention Leicester, is a racist and therefore the scum of the Earth in my opinion.

Leicester is home to around half a million people. Human beings, regardless of the colour of their skin. The vast majority were born in England as well...

"Capital of India" - "Little India" - what a bunch of pricks!!!

I couldn't care less whether Leicester has a statue of Ghandi or not.

As for the 'Little India blah, bla' stuff, well that's just ignorance and provocative. Those people obviously don't know what they are talking about.

Yeah - don't care about the statue either.

I do care about people talking nonsense though. Disgusting!

exactly, now go back and read what i wrote originally.

make me look like a racist cos u mis read something u fucking prick and i will act like a fucking racist. how fucking wonderful to live in ur world

did u watch the program about basak obama and his run for prsidency?

did u catch the bit wen the race expert said that people judge other people soley on the color of there skin, that everyone is suspicous of other coulors and its a human condition and that even the most tolerent person still judges people based on skin color.

il bet u say 'i dont go on apperances' well im afraid u do, its differences u see u, the fact u say u dont go on skin color points to the fact that just to say that statement means u do.

wot i said about the ghandi statue sticks, i dont want to see the fucker here, but itd great to see it in india, where it belongs. (go on see the racism in that statement)

make out im raceist by putting in a shaking head thing, really clever.

i mite have racist feelings toward certain ethnic groups, but im working on it, at least ive got the bollocks to say wots on my mind instead of letting it build up.

it hurts to think that im trying to be a better person and one slip up and every thing goes out the window. im addressing my problems but fuck it, im going to join the kkk and get whacked out on crack.

i have as many racially diverse mates as whites, im not perfect and i cant help other peoples perception of leicester, but i wont stand back and let people think i write things cos im a racist bastard

It was only a question and not to say you were being racist. :ohno:

Did I say YOU had made the comments. Re-read my comments. Thanks!

I think I've got the wrong end of the stick now, with my last post :hammer: :nuts:

i like to think im more ignorant but learning than racist but fuck it think wot u like

We have all know BG on this forum and his views on a range of subjects are well known, enlightening and very very funny. So it is slightly depressing to think that anyone (who has really read them) would think his comments were anything other than honest if albeit provocative.

I am born and bred Leicester, love my city with a passion but hate the PC 'you can't say that attitude'. That all pervasive view only leads to resentment and further mistrust. By way of example, many local authorities including Leicester adopted a policy in the 80's and 90's of producing all its literature in a mutlitude of different languages in order to be percieved as 'inclusive'. Can someone explain to me how that helps immigrants to learn our language and truly integrate??

Another example is the new Islamic school in Leicester which has recently reneged on its admissions policy to include a % of non muslims on its register. Now i am sure most non muslims have no real desire to send their children to a school that promotes a faith based education on Islamic teachings but the point is if they are to be truly inclusive, the promotion of such an ideal would have been seen as progressive (certainly for my perception of that faith). I can well remember the outcry from the very same people and only a short while ago about catholic schools and the percieved unfairness.

I love my city but I am seriously worried about some aspects of how it is changing, in fact most asians, blacks and other minority groups that have lived and prospered in our fair city over the past 40 years also voice these concerns.

So to stiffle the debate with PC finger wagging only does a disservice to the debate that we must all have about how and what we want our city to be. :banana:

Totally agree. :)

I apologise for inadvertantly causing an arguement. :clown:

No one should or needs to apologise WE all need to have these debates thats all..:yes:

On a different note-Channel 4's Best and Worst programme is on at the moment.

I've just seen the Nottingham bit. Well it didn't portray the city as bad s it has done. Crime levels down 12 percent, education is improving and the city centre etc is improving.
Why have we gone down 3 places since last year.

Ha! Think I just heard Danz mentioned on Channel 4. (Dan Thomas??)

Corby is little Scotland and we don't take offence to that

Ha! Think I just heard Danz mentioned on Channel 4. (Dan Thomas??)

:lol: Yeah I heard it too.. i'm famous lol. I was just talking about that in the notts thread... I was just saying to stef.. they portrayed us in a much better way this time.

With the comments they made I don't feel 4th place was anywhere near justified though.

Why have we gone down 3 places since last year.

Exactly.. thats why its a loadabull.

I thought that crime was letting Nottingham down? Didn't Nottingham come out as the worst place for crime in the UK last year?

There was an argument made that the wrong population figure was used for Nottingham and that Clifton had been excluded. Of course there wouldn't be much crime in Clifton, would there! Large parts of what is supposedly Greater Nottingham, are policed by Derbyshire Constabulary as well...

Places like Rushcliffe, which is part of the South Nottinghamshire police division, are highly rural in nature (away from West Bridgford), so it would be inaccurate to include that whole Borough's crime figures, just to reduced the perception of crime in Nottingham City.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2046/1611840139_80ab232215_o.jpg

I listen to a lot of local news on the radio and watch the East Midlands programmes on TV and it seems to me that violent crimes are most often reported out of Nottingham...Gun crimes are regular. Wasn't there a recent march against crime, involving local residents?

Can someone explain the logic of not including clifton in the city population??

Is it policed under South Nottinghamshire? Just guessing? The inclusion of Clifton might have pushed up the crime figures anyway...

What they (Reform?) did was include the crime from Clifton but not the population in their calculations, inflating the crime rates per head.

E.g Clifton's population is about 25,000 so if they had used the correct population figure of 275,000 the overall crime rate would not be 115 per 1000 but 104 per 1000, moving Nottingham much further down the rankings (which of course are dubious anyway because of the usual boundary issues)

Can you prove that they included Clifton's crime figures, but not the population? I've never heard that claim before...and I doubt it is true.

Anyway if it was, the crime rate would be 105...putting Nottingham third worst.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/1614602563_e8ff398420_o.jpg

Can you prove that they included Clifton's crime figures, but not the population? I've never heard that claim before...and I doubt it is true.

"Nottingham has a population of 630,000, of whom only 280,000 live in Nottingham City
Council’s local authority area. Reform researchers used the inner-city crime picture to
describe the whole conurbation, failing to acknowledge the balancing factor of the
better-off, lower-crime, leafier suburbs. Leeds, by contrast, has a single local authority
covering the whole of the conurbation, and indeed some of its rural hinterland, and a
properly balanced picture of the crime situation there can be more easily seen.

The authors of the report compounded their lack of understanding by making the significant
error of omitting over 22,000 people who live in the Clifton area of Nottingham from their
population figures, whilst counting all of the crime committed in Clifton."

Chapter 7. (http://www.corecities.com/dev07/Publications/Core_Cities_FINAL.pdf)

The above is the opinion of the Council Leader...is there proof that this really happened?

Also the Leeds city population was used - as shown above.

Nottingham is a violent city - just accept it and lets hope that the problem can be solved.

With respect, it is not the "opinion" of a city leader, it is an established fact that has been cited by a city leader for publication in a serious report on urban development, and is the subject of potential scrutinty by the press, his political opponents, and the Reform authors themselves. Are you seriously suggesting that he has made it up??

Lears... where are you getting your stats from??

Can you prove that they included Clifton's crime figures, but not the population? I've never heard that claim before...and I doubt it is true.

Your stats show this lears. The population of Notts is 270,000 whilst your stats show 250,000. There is a more in depth analyse below. For you information the the source of what i'm posting below is here (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nottingham-life/truecrime.php), and I have only made bold what is bold on the report.

There are also other reports like this.. here (http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/psct_nottingham_not_capital_for_crime), here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5006852.stm), and here (http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/sitemap/services/policing_and_public_safety/wt_rebuttal_of_reform_s_urban_crimes_ranking_report.htm).

So why did the ‘think tank’ REFORM rank Nottingham as the most ‘dangerous place in Britain’?
Because their research was wrong, wrong and wrong again!

Nottingham is NOT the most dangerous city in the UK. Reform’s flawed report was based on inaccurate population figures and compared rural areas with inner city areas. By our reckoning, the conurbation of Nottingham should be 15th on the list for overall crime, not first. Most people in Nottingham feel safe in and proud of their prosperous and vibrant city. This report is fatally flawed and we demand that it is withdrawn until its authors get their facts right. We refute the allegation that Nottingham is the most dangerous city in the country.

The inaccuracies are so fundamental that they mean that Nottingham is not, as the report claims, highest for overall crime.

Population – Wrong
The report gives a population of 249,584 for Nottingham. But the report did not include the Clifton area of the City, which would give a figure of 271,896. This changes our ratings in all categories – as shown below.

Furthermore, the report is not comparing like with like. The statistics appear to show that Leicester is larger than Nottingham and that Derby is almost as big as Nottingham, when this is clearly not the case. In fact the area described as ‘Derby’ includes south Derbyshire – containing huge areas of rural countryside. Clearly, if you compare such an area with a tightly-drawn area of inner city Nottingham, then Nottingham will have worse crime rates.

For the report to be truly representative, the conurbation population of 632,100 should be used, not just the City Division of Nottinghamshire Police Force – changing our ranking further still. In fact, we calculate the conurbation of Nottingham should be placed 15th in the overall crime rankings, or 19th if London Boroughs are included – not first.

Double Post

Lads - the report shows Nottingham crime figures as a city. It is either the most dangerous, or third most dangerous place. Clifton, or not Clifton.

You can't use your conurbation figures here - because a large part of the alleged Greater Nottingham conurbation, is policed by Derbyshire Police. Nottingham has high crime figures - it is a fact...

You can't try to bury your heads in the sand and fudge figures by quoting towns that aren't part of Nottingham. It would be best that the leaders/police in Nottingham tackle the crime. Then your city won't be considered as the forth worst place to live in the UK.

From Nottingham City Council minutes:


Councillor Culley replied as follows:-

Thank you, Lord Mayor.

I welcome Councillor Haymes’ worries about flawed reports on crime in Nottingham and I hope she shares my concerns that most of them seem to be issued by the City Council. A somewhat hysterical press release on 23 May made clear that what was wrong about the Reform report was the figure for Nottingham’s population used in producing the rankings. Getting Nottingham’s population figure right seems to be quite challenging.

Later today we shall be looking at the draft Gambling Policy. On the first page it says that we had a mid 2003 population of 277,100, a figure said to have been obtained from the National Statistics Office. In fact the figure was more than 3,000 lower at 274,000. I understood Councillor Collins, as best I could, given that he was having something of a political fit at the time, his complaint against Reform was that they said that Nottingham was the most dangerous place in the country when it was only the fifth most dangerous place. Not many people got much comfort from that.

Councillor Collins claimed that Reform were wrong to say that there were 13 murders last year. There were he claims, only 9. Maybe, but that is still very serious, but in fact the lower number came about as a result of reassessment and statistical management.

I see the Police’s own crime statistics every month. They show that in 2005 there were 13 murders, and that is what the police told Reform, but forensic and prosecution considerations changed some of the murders into manslaughter. For me criminal killing is criminal killing no matter what Councillor Collins and his expensive Reputation Management Team prefer to call it. Where Reform was right was that Nottingham’s levels of crime are amongst the highest in the country, the Home Office said so.

Does Councillor Haymes think the Home Office is a Tory conspiracy organisation? In 2004 and 2005, the latest date for which the Home Office has so far issued figures, we had per 1,000 population the highest level of domestic burglary, the second highest level of theft from cars, the sixth highest level for theft of cars.

Councillor Collins’ own flawed 2005 Crime and Disorder Strategy itself said as much and I quote, “burglary and vehicle crime rates fell in 2003/04 but remained the highest in England and Wales per head of population.” Councillor Collins’ 2005 Crime and Disorder Strategy also said that criminal offences recorded in the City were around one for every fourth person in the City.

Using the standard British Crime Survey Comparator Crimes, the Home Office said that Nottingham had the highest overall recorded crime rate in the country. So however they got there, Reform, not Councillor Collins, was right. But there is good news. Reform have corrected their population figures, goodness knows how they got so many wrong, but they are now using Home Office population figures which includes 275,000 for Nottingham. And there is bad news. For the calendar year 2005, out of 55 large cities and towns, Nottingham is still top for burglary, top for vehicle crime, third for robbery and fourth for assault and, shamefully, top overall!

I am confident that in a few weeks the Home Office will confirm this broad picture when it publishes the crime statistics for 2005/06. In 2005/06 the Police missed almost all of their own Nottingham targets for reducing crime and detecting criminals. We need to face the facts. As the Government Office said, until we do, we cannot begin to tackle the problem effectively.

You're an amazing debator, Lears.

When someone presents you with a fact that might ruin your argument, you ask them to prove it.

When they provide you with a published quote for proof, you deny the veracity of the quote.

When someone then hits you with a point by point explanation and rebuttal of the reasoning behind the fact behind the quote, you then deny that the fact has any bearing on your argument at all, anyway!

But the Clifton or not Clifton, first place for crime or third place for crime is really important for Nottingham.

I totally accept that crime in Nottingham is too high. Just as crime in Leicester is too high (highest number of violent assaults) and crime in Manchester, Liverpool, etc etc is too high. But the methodological weaknesses in the crime surveys that we are pointing out do us the disservice of moving us from "one of the high crime cities of England" (undeniable) to "the high crime city in England" (debatable, and open to flaws in methodology). The resultant publicity and noteriety is hugely damaging. (I would ask you to read the Core Cities publication that I referred to, but you no doubt would choose not to believe any of it was true...)

You can't use your conurbation figures here - because a large part of the alleged Greater Nottingham conurbation, is policed by Derbyshire Police. Nottingham has high crime figures - it is a fact..... You can't try to bury your heads in the sand and fudge figures by quoting towns that aren't part of Nottingham. It would be best that the leaders/police in Nottingham tackle the crime. Then your city won't be considered as the forth worst place to live in the UK.

Lears. Nottingham CAN use its conurbation. Why? These stats aren't about the best or worst performing police forces, they're about crime in cities. These places in Derbyshire are clearly part of Nottingham. Nottingham is a rapidly growing city, your a clever lad and i'm sure you'll find rapidly growing cities tend to expand outwards. You'll find many large cities have outgrown their local boundaries, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Notts, all as an example.

These places in Derbyshire are clearly part of Nottingham. Long Eaton is very very very much apart of Nottingham. It is much more apart of Nottingham than these places in Leicester you want to claim.. there are are no fields between Long Eaton and the city, they have Nottingham post code's and a Nottingham Area code's. Illkeston also has notts area codes.

But even if we get rid of all the places in Derbyshire.. the population of Nottingham is still nearly/more than double the 265,000 quoted in the official stats. 260,000 are a lot of people to miss out on mate.

Lads - the report shows Nottingham crime figures as a city. It is either the most dangerous, or third most dangerous place. Clifton, or not Clifton.

Notts is a big city Lears. A growing one. Yes we have problems. Our councils are actively and successfully reducing crime. We're a city that is constantly improving and going place. We build world class tram systems, we rebuilt train stations, we home to some of the EM's best facillities... we set up vision schemes to find out what the residents wants and bring the best out of the city and our future plans.

This debate on crime, just goes to show how important the drawing of geographical lines are. And how different geographical areas can be.

It also highlights the general superiority which the Nottingham contributors have.

No one wants to be associated with high crime but if you want to crow about all the good things in Nottingham (which there are undoubtebly are) Then you also have to acknowledge the bad things too.

There is a theory that Nottingham is the regional centre of the East Midlands drugs trade. Which is associated with gun crime and drug gangs with influences from yardy gangs from the Carribean. And this is often sited as the reason for your high crime rate when compared with the other East Midland cities.

It's not all positives when you are the regional centre of the East Midlands.

You're an amazing debator, Lears.

When someone presents you with a fact that might ruin your argument, you ask them to prove it.

When they provide you with a published quote for proof, you deny the veracity of the quote.

When someone then hits you with a point by point explanation and rebuttal of the reasoning behind the fact behind the quote, you then deny that the fact has any bearing on your argument at all, anyway!


:lol: :lol:

You're an amazing debator, Lears.

Thanks :)

Here are some quotes from visitors to Nottingham - From TripAdvisor

From visitors, from all over the world...


Your concerns about Nottingham are well founded. I went there for a night out about two years ago and towards the end of the evening, close to the train station, my mate was hit on the head with a bottle of whisky being wielded by a drunk who then staggered off and smashed up a phone box using the same bottle. This was after witnessing four fights in different pubs as well as someone smashing up a bus shelter. I also read the following morning that there had been a stabbing in the city centre that night.
As I said at the start, this was over two years ago, since then the news reports about crime in Nottingham have got much, much worse. To be honest I think I’d sooner take my chances on a night out in Baghdad rather than Nottingham in future.

My mate went out in Nottingham once and got smashed over the head with a bottle as he was walking along. The last time I was there I got set upon by a 'gentleman of the road' because I wouldn't give him 50p for drugs. Its not like this where I come from, I tell you.

I went to college in Basford and it was like living in the ghetto. I got a ball of ice thrown at by one of the local ruffians one year, which, when i reported it to the police they laughed it off. Probably because they didn't have time to deal with it due to all the other crime going on!

My son is a student living in Lenton and in the past three years he has been mugged twice, the last time while walking to church early on a Sunday evening with his girlfriend and one of her friends. He will always walk away from trouble and when a group of lads came up behind them they gave up handbags and wallet without a fight so they are uninjured but shaken. I can't wait for him to leave the area thought he likes it because of friends he has made there.

Is this my home town you are all talking about? Makes me pleased that I live on an island on the east coast of Australia! My maternal home was at the top of Mansfield Road named Colville Street and after that Helston Drive Billborough! They were both pretty rough places but no violence of the kind you lot have been describing. Think I'll stay here!

I've been to Nottingham a few times now and I'd say its a good night out with loads of decent bars and clubs. However, I agree with a lot of the stuff thats been written here 'cos I've seen at least one fight every time I've been there. Been out in lots of bigger cities but have never witnessed as many fights anywhere else. Only good thing is that I've never got caught up in one but it would put me off going back.

I went to Nottingham once and almost died. It was terrible. It put me off going to the place again, I'd much rather go to one of the smaller cities in the area. I've been all over the East Midlands and Nottingham was the only place I've had any trouble. I also visited Merseyside and felt the same about that place. I'd certainly avoid going to either of those cities if i could.

I went to Nottingham last year and went to Fat Cats and got beat up and mugged while I was in the john. Spoiled my entire trip to England it did. Not to mention my best trousers.
Up until that point I thought Nottingham was a real nice place with lots to see but I'm never going back again.

I was very interested to read this thread as I went to Nottingham just a couple of weeks ago on a Friday night and could not believe the amount of fighting I saw. Over recent years I've been out in places like Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, London etc but have only witnessed three or four fights over many nights out but in Nottingham I saw four break out in one night, two of them requiring police to be called.
There seemed a very aggressive atmosphere to the whole place and by the end of the night I was worried that I'd end up getting a kicking just by brushing past someone on the way to the toilets. Definitely one city I won't be heading back to.

With respect, it is not the "opinion" of a city leader, it is an established fact that has been cited by a city leader for publication in a serious report on urban development, and is the subject of potential scrutinty by the press, his political opponents, and the Reform authors themselves. Are you seriously suggesting that he has made it up??

By the way I thought I had answered this?

1st or third - either way it is bad.

Also Jon Collins, who set up the Reputation Management Team for Nottingham; tried to claim that there were 9 murders instead of the Home Office figures of 13. So I wouldn't put it past him to massage facts...

Desperate stuff Lears - did you not note Binge's point that Leicester actually has the highest rate of violent assault in the country?

Desperate stuff Lears - did you not note Binge's point that Leicester actually has the highest rate of violent assault in the country?

Yes I did note that and I accept it as a finding. It is a shame that both of our cities came top in any part of a survey on crime.

Not sure why this is "desperate stuff"? Nottingham is considered a high crime city by many people. I hate crime and hope that the city sorts itself out. Leicester has many problems to sort also.

As a balanced Leicester contributor i would acknowledge our appalling statistics on voilent crime. And do not feel the need to deny them with lots of counter arguments.

I feel the same way Cob Rox. We have the highest level of assualts in the country. I'm not going to say that we should include the lower crime figures of Queniborough, to dilute this. We should accept the findings and push for the problem to be tackled.

I feel the same way Cob Rox. We have the highest level of assualts in the country. I'm not going to say that we should include the lower crime figures of Queniborough, to dilute this. We should accept the findings and push for the problem to be tackled.

Exactly Lears, Nottingham are so upthemselves that they cannot except the facts.

Also Jon Collins, who set up the Reputation Management Team for Nottingham; tried to claim that there were 9 murders instead of the Home Office figures of 13. So I wouldn't put it past him to massage facts...

As it was you who quoted this very incident earlier in this exact thread, I am surprised you haven't got your facts right. (Well, not surprised exactly....)

The Home Office did not say there had been 13 murders. Read the facts that you have posted!! Police gave unadjusted figures to Reform which said 13 murders. When these cases came to court, some of them were not classified as murders, but as manslaughter/unlawful killing. Therefore the official classification of these crimes by the Home Office is not as murder. This is important because these are precisely the objective figures used for comparisons when compiling these tables etc.

You have posted a list of maybe a dozen reported violent incidents in Nottingham over a period of who knows how many years. So what? No-one is arguing that there is no violence or crime in Nottingham. But such incidents occur across all cities and towns, across the country, across the year. You can't move the argument on by quoting unattributable anecdotes. We are arguing about the precision of the figures, not whether or not there is drunken, drug-fuelled or even murderous violence on our streets.

gr8 to see, as one argument closes another one opens.

i was going to apologise for going a bit nuts yesterday but seeing as im bound to upset someone again im saving all my apolgies for new year.

now whats going on? more points scoring? i read them articles about peoples experiences on a night out in nottingham and i got to add that that sort of things happens in most town centres on a friday and saturday, its not just notts wiv a violent town centre. go down new walk in leicester at about 11:30pm most nights and theres a bottle flinging tramp called murph whose always down there, chat to him if he's leaning against revolution wall, he's well funny, but also gets quite violent.

I agree BG the fabric of society everywhere is well damaged. Without sounding pessimistic, until there is more to do in city centres than get drunk or stoned then i can't see the situation improving.

More libraries open 24/7 is the answer :lol:

Hopefully if this city lights thing is a sucess they can introduce it to other cities.

gr8 to see, as one argument closes another one opens.

i was going to apologise for going a bit nuts yesterday but seeing as im bound to upset someone again im saving all my apolgies for new year.

now whats going on? more points scoring? i read them articles about peoples experiences on a night out in nottingham and i got to add that that sort of things happens in most town centres on a friday and saturday, its not just notts wiv a violent town centre. go down new walk in leicester at about 11:30pm most nights and theres a bottle flinging tramp called murph whose always down there, chat to him if he's leaning against revolution wall, he's well funny, but also gets quite violent.

By the way BG, if you are referring to our discussion yesterday - I never said you were racist. I was having a go at the comments that you attributed to other people. So I was having a go at them.

But if I did offend, then please accept my apologies...

As it was you who quoted this very incident earlier in this exact thread, I am surprised you haven't got your facts right. (Well, not surprised exactly....)

The Home Office did not say there had been 13 murders. Read the facts that you have posted!! Police gave unadjusted figures to Reform which said 13 murders. When these cases came to court, some of them were not classified as murders, but as manslaughter/unlawful killing. Therefore the official classification of these crimes by the Home Office is not as murder. This is important because these are precisely the objective figures used for comparisons when compiling these tables etc.

You have posted a list of maybe a dozen reported violent incidents in Nottingham over a period of who knows how many years. So what? No-one is arguing that there is no violence or crime in Nottingham. But such incidents occur across all cities and towns, across the country, across the year. You can't move the argument on by quoting unattributable anecdotes. We are arguing about the precision of the figures, not whether or not there is drunken, drug-fuelled or even murderous violence on our streets.

Murder, manslaughter, unlawful killing - whatever you call it, it is dreadful! Hopefully we can sort our cities out. Hopefully, Nottingham can rid itself of its "Crime Capital" label.

Our cities are awful at night - we could learn so much from European cities. Where families can enjoy a meal and sit around chatting in town centres. In Leicester, or Nottingham - we are a long way from that happening...

Hopefully if this city lights thing is a sucess they can introduce it to other cities.

If Rushcliffe was included in greater Nottingham then, you would propel Nottingham into 1st spot. :bow: :lol:

I found the comments of BG amusing (i know it wasnt his view) and what you would expect having such a large Indian population, how can you say that they were racist?