Dunkirk and Lenton Online - Neighbourhood Issues

Local people, especially in Dunkirk, campaigned long and hard to protect the park from becoming part of the University, which has already taken over two council-owned facilities in the park. Local people now have a place on the park’s Consultative Committee, but the City Council continues to act unilaterally.
Comment: The Forum believes that the City Council should support the appointment of two local trustees to serve on the charitable trust to oversee the park’s management.

Dunkirk

The south-west corner of the area has no general practitioners or health centre. There is undeveloped land between Leengate and Abbey Street, which is currently used as parking for QMC employees.
Comment: the Forum believes that any future planning permission should include a local health centre for the area and this provision should be part of the Local Plan.

Derby Rd, Hillside and QMC

The existing 24 hour bus lanes should be changed to peak hours only. They were introduced with no local consultation and now cause long tailbacks, which residents believe are a threat to their general health and wellbeing. £200,000 is already being spent to create a bus interchange at the Derby Road entrance to the QMC without any local consultation.
Comment: Before any more work is commissioned, the City Council should consult with local people and take into account any alternative proposals they may suggest.

Old Lenton

The war memorial at the junction of Church Street and Sherwin Road can probably be called the heart not just of Old Lenton but of the area as a whole. Close by are Lenton Gardens and Lenton Manor. Gregory Street has become a rat-run between the Lenton Industrial Estate and Derby Road, as well as a route for motorists trying to avoid traffic jams on the ring road, Derby Road and Lenton Boulevard (Faraday Road and Triumph Road continue the rat-run on the north side of Derby Road). Church Street is also dangerous because of cars parked on both sides.
Comment: Old Lenton would benefit considerably from better traffic management. Traffic calming measures such as road humps and lower speed limits could be one way of improving the situation.

Abbey Bridge

The local housing office for this area is in The Meadows, which is bizarre, given the proximity of the Lenton Housing Office in Church Square. The area is poorly served by bus routes. The area would also benefit if it could share its own health centre with Dunkirk.
Action: The Forum and City Council should work together to identify and address those issues which specifically concern Abbey Bridge residents.

Lenton Priory

The present Local Plan used by the Council says that ‘The site of the former Lenton Priory will be safeguarded from any development... (and) the City Council will continue to acquire land in this area as it becomes available with a view, in the long term, to laying out the site and remains as open space’. This policy was agreed with the community twenty years ago. The Forum supports the existing policy for Lenton Priory, whilst recognising that it may be the mid-21st century before the long-term vision is realised.
Action: The Forum would like Priory Church Hall managed by the community as part of a plan to create a Lenton Priory History Precinct with a view to promoting heritage and tourism in the area.

Recreation Ground and Holy Trinity

Lenton’s ‘village green’ was Nottingham’s first ever purposely laid-out recreation ground and was opened in 1887, since when it has remained a well used community facility. It would be of great benefit to all users if the bowling green pavilion offered drinks and snacks and the recreation ground had its own park keeper again. To the south, the park is overlooked by Holy Trinity Church and its graveyard, as well as the local pocket park and the Sikh Temple.
Comment: The Forum, through one of its working groups, should be more involved in the management of the park and in devising a ‘neighbourhood plan’ to maximise the recreational and heritage potential of this area.

Lenton Boulevard

This neighbourhood largely retains its late-19th century appearance and its historical significance was acknowledged by the City Council in 1976 when it created the New Lenton Conservation Area. Today, the Forum estimates that the number of HMOs is over 50% and over 70% of local residents are students (on the Boulevard and some streets the total exceeds 90%).
Action: The Forum would like to see the neighbourhood’s Victorian integrity restored by 2005/6, with the help of Heritage Lottery Funding and Urban Management money. By investing in the general appearance of the area, the Forum believes that many houses might revert to family use and help to achieve the kind of ‘more balanced community’ which the Local Plan seeks to achieve.

Lenton Flats and Church Square

This neighbourhood can best be described as a corridor of 1960s council development between Derby Road and Park Road which replaced an area originally built in the mid-19th century. Only the old wash-house and laundry remain from the 1920s and now accommodates the Leisure and Community Centres.
As part of the Community Plan, a Lenton Residents Survey was undertaken for this part of Lenton. The survey confirmed most of the things local people have said in meetings of Lenton Community Association and the Forum, although the Forum would probably disagree with a number of the conclusions reached, especially the description of Lenton as a ‘large, fragmented and ill-defined district’.
At the centre of the neighbourhood is Edna G Olds School with its playground, Thomas Helwys Church, Church Square shops and Lenton Leisure and Community Centres. It is the area where young people tend to congregate.
Comment: Consideration should be given to the creation of a communal area that can be used by different sections of the community, and to the partners who can come together to create this.

Lenton Drives

This area of residential tree-lined roads between the Park Estate and the Lenton Flats was mostly built during the inter-war years. Until the mid 1980s all the roads provided a through route between the Derby and Park roads. In recent years more and more houses have become HMOs,with many families moving out. This part of Lenton is further away from open space than any other part of the area.
Comment: There is an area of concrete at the bottom of Harrowby Road that is disused and is attracting rubbish. One suggestion the Forum would like to see explored is the possibility of turning this into an open space or community garden, so that an eyesore can become something the community will enjoy.

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