NOTTS Police could be facing an extra cut of £10 million to their annual budget, it is claimed.

The force is already in the process of saving a massive £42.3 million from its spending by 2015.

But Notts Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping said there was a chance the force would have to shave off another £10 million between April 2015 and April 2016.

The force has already closed some police stations, forced some more experienced officers to retire, dismantled its mounted unit and made other cuts as it works towards the £42.3 million figure.

An announcement from the Government is expected on June 26. This could indicate more cuts to public spending, which, if handed down by the Home Office, would mean Notts would need to save another £10 million.

Mr Tipping said: "Those are indicative figures that the Treasury have been talking about.

"It is going to be tough – we may have to make some difficult decisions and tough choices. We have been looking at a range of possibilities as to how we might do that, but there is no point speculating."

The potential problem was discussed at a meeting between Mr Tipping and senior officers last Tuesday.

Chief Constable Chris Eyre said: "We may get the kind of public sector cut we never expected to have in our lifetimes."

The way the Government works out how much cash to give Notts Police in grants has been criticised by Mr Tipping and Mr Eyre in the past.

The Government uses a funding calculation drawn up in 2004 to work out how much each force needs a year to fight crime.

But it does not apply it in full, to avoid big, sudden shifts in funding for forces around the country.

Mr Tipping's office has said this means Notts loses out on about £10 million a year.

Sherwood Conservative MP Mark Spencer said: "The force have made a lot of savings and I think what they have done so far is sensible, as crime is still coming down.

"Successive governments have not addressed the imbalances in the funding system.

"The previous government ducked it. It would appear we are going to do the same and that is disappointing.

"We need to give Nottinghamshire its full share. But we are where we are in terms of the economy."

In February, the Home Office told the Post the Government was planning a "fundamental review" of the police allocation formula.

A LEADING expert in childhood cancer at the University of Nottingham is spearheading a Europe-wide lobby of the European Parliament to try to make it easier for doctors to develop and test new treatments on children and young people with rare cancers.

Every year, around 1,500 children are diagnosed with cancer in the UK, and about 15,000 across the European Union. Most are brain tumours or bone cancers but every childhood cancer is a rare cancer, which makes them especially difficult to treat. Although treatment has improved greatly, about 25 per cent of children with cancer will die.

Professor David Walker, of the university's Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre, has campaigned for public awareness of brain tumour symptoms and better research funding for brain cancer. He has been working closely with two East Midlands MEPs to lobby for changes to planned clinical trials regulations.

Professor Walker said: "At the moment, the existing EU Clinical Trials Directive is a 'one-size-fits-all' piece of EU legislation, making some academic research particularly difficult.

"EU countries are still using different standards for clinical trials depending on their interpretation of the law, and this lack of homogeneity makes it very difficult to set up cross-border clinical trials in children with rare cancers which are large enough to be effective in new treatments."

ANTI-FASCIST campaigners in Nottingham have taken a stand against attacks on Muslims in the wake of the murder of a British soldier.

More than 50 people gathered in Old Market Square on Saturday to display an anti-fascism and anti-racism messages outside the Council House.

It came amid rumours circulating on the internet that members of the English Defence League (EDL) were planning to stage an unofficial protest in the square.

Although no obvious EDL demonstration took place, people opposed to the group displayed banners with the words "Love Music, Hate Racism" and "EDL = Fascism" during the gathering, which was watched over by a handful of police officers.

Among the crowd was former Notts Unison branch organiser Mike Scott.

He said: "Race relations in Nottingham have genuinely been pretty good and I don't want to see anything happening that is going to change that."

Liz Silver, of Notts Disabled People's Movement, also attended.

She said: "I am pleased there is such a lot of people here, showing that there is absolutely no support for the EDL.

"This murder in London was terrible but it was two people acting on their own and not for an organisation."

British soldier Lee Rigby, 25, was murdered in Woolwich, London, by two men last Wednesday.

Since the attack, inter-faith charity Faith Matters has received more than 160 calls about anti-Muslim incidents having taken place across the country.

Matt Vicary, 26, of Forest Fields, held up the "Love Music, Hate Racism" banner.

He said: "We turned up just in case [the EDL did].

"Up and down the country there has been such a backlash. There have been more than 150 incidents and attacks, not just physical but on mosques.

"Groups like the EDL want to open up racism, but it is going to bring more violence. We just have to stand united against it."

Muslim organisations and representatives of Nottingham Interfaith Council have already met to discuss and condemn the murder of Drummer Rigby.

The interfaith council has issued a statement saying it condemned the attack and "all forms of extremism, whatever they are".

It added: "The thoughts of both the Muslim community and other faith communities in Nottingham are with the family of the man who lost his life and we pray for him."

The Muslim Organisation said in a statement: "These people do not represent the peace-loving Muslim community or Islam at all."

Notts Police have said they will not tolerate any action that may cause harassment or fear amongst residents.

There will be a unity and solidarity event at 7pm on Wednesday at the Kashmir Centre, in Carlton.

It is expected that more than 500 people will attend to demonstrate that Nottingham is united against extremism.

VIGILANT neighbours alerted police to foil a burglary in Wollaton, a court heard.

Two offenders were caught when police arrived at the scene. Adam Blake and Shannon Dar had left a betting shop to find somewhere to burgle in Wollaton Road.

Neighbours spotted them knocking on the front door of a couple who were at work on October 2 last year.

Both men disappeared around the back of the house and a door was kicked in, triggering the house alarm, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Blake, 24, of Chippenham Road, Bestwood Park, and Dar, 24, of Tonnelier Road, Dunkirk, were arrested.

Blake had previous convictions for house burglary in 2003 and 2005, attempted burglary in 2005 and assaulting a police officer in 2005.

He was jailed for 12 months after admitting attempted burglary.

Judge Andrew Hamilton said the offence should have been charged as burglary because a door was kicked in.

"If it hadn't been for the alarm going off, they would have gone in and stolen what they could get their hands on," he said.

He told Blake:"You were caught because police came quickly and because neighbours opposite kept a close eye on what was going on."

Dar, who had convictions for robbery and criminal damage, was convicted of the offence.

The court heard he now had a stable address after being homeless since the age of 15.

Judge Hamilton gave him 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. He is tagged and under curfew at night.

The judge, who wants to check his progress on July 15, warned: "I'm going to keep an eye on you."

SOLDIERS were cheered yesterday by loved ones and well-wishers as they returned home from Afghanistan.

About 50 soldiers from 62 Works Group Royal Engineers, part of 170 (Infrastructure Support) returned to Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell, after spending six months in the Middle East.

As their coach pulled up at the barracks, the soldiers were met by the sound of "welcome home" and the sight of their proud loved ones waving banners and Union Flags.

Mum-of-two Kirsty Fenton was particularly excited to see her husband come home, four weeks after she gave birth to daughter Frankie.

She said: "I am over the moon. I have been looking forward to him coming back, now to a family of four."

Husband, Kevin, a staff sergeant, was on a two-week rest and recuperation period when Kirsty gave birth – although he had to return to Afghanistan just three days later. He said: "It's good to be home. I am happy and I am looking forward to the home comforts and spending time with my son and the little one."

Stephanie Cooper, who gave birth to son Matthew two weeks before husband Daniel set off, said she was also looking forward to the family spending some quality time together.

The mum-of-two said: "I am so happy. It was a long tour and I had the baby two weeks before he left. I want to spend time together as a family of four."

Their seven-year-old daughter, Alyssa, said was excited at the thought of spending time with her father, a staff sergeant. She said: "I am happy. I want to get tickles and I want to go the park with daddy."

Nichola Hatcher, who had just been reunited with husband Gavin, a lieutenant-colonel, said she was happy he was home in time for son Benjamin's birthday. Gavin said: "Six months is quite a long time, so it's nice to come home. I am away a reasonable amount, so I look forward to spending some time with my family."

Benjamin, who turns five tomorrow, said: "I feel really happy because it's sunny and my dad is back. I missed him a lot. I want to play Star Wars with him."

DRIVERS on the M1 were hit by delays after a car caught fire.

The incident, at about 5pm yesterday, forced two northbound lanes of the motorway to be closed between junctions 24 and 25.

Firefighters soon put out the blaze.

Smoke could be seen from miles around as the vehicle burned on the carriageway until firefighters arrived.

The Highways Agency said traffic returned to normal by about 5.45pm.

CRIMINALS and suspects are being tracked around Notts with new GPS tagging technology.

Notts Police tested the new tags over three months last year to monitor some people down to their exact location at any given moment, it has emerged.

Notts Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping said he wanted the Government to change the law so all offenders eligible for tagging could be fitted with the devices.

He also said that if one became available, he would even be willing to wear a tag himself to test the system's effectiveness.

About 13 people have worn the tags in Notts.

The force said it was unable to provide figures showing whether any of them offended during the test.

A monitoring system using software similar to programmes seen on sat-navs and smart phones tracks their locations.

Traditional tags typically only record whether or not someone is at a certain address at a given time as part of a curfew.

Mr Tipping said: "I've met with the company G4S who are going to supply more tags to us [the force].

"Currently, they are only fitted to volunteers but there are advantages to everyone involved.

"We need a change in legislation and I want to see more volunteers come forward to be fitted.

"It's simply more effective. It can help prevent crime if you can see exactly where people are moving off to and doing things."

Current rules mean the new tags can only be used with a criminal's agreement.

The 12-month trial was free for the force but it has now ordered 20 of the tags in a deal which will cost up to £48,000.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Ian Waterfield told a meeting between senior officers and Mr Tipping that the pilot had proved a success.

He said: "I think it's proved a real deterrent in that you know where they are at any given time.

"I know there are GPS tags in future that have been ring-fenced to go to domestic violence offenders – this will certainly help us look after the victim.

"There's money been set aside over the next 12 months for it.

"It means we are tracking people all the time – not just at home, not just on a curfew. People will sometimes commit crime outside of that curfew."

In April, Mr Tipping joined two-thirds of other commissioners across the country to call for the Government to make the change to allow routine GPS tagging for community sentences.

The technology has been tested extensively by Bedfordshire Police, where offenders connected with 459 crimes before they were tagged were linked to just three offences having been fitted with a GPS device.

The Government is considering a change in the law which would provide judges with an order they could use to make offenders wear the tags.

In the Notts trial, they have also been used to track people who have not actually been convicted of a crime, such as people accused of harrassment..

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said: "We believe that the next generation of electronic monitoring contracts will introduce the most advanced tracking technology in the world that can be deployed. It also will be better value for the taxpayer."

ONE hundred years of transport history was proudly celebrated as bus operator Trent Barton marked its centenary.

The company opened up its Langley Mill depot to the public yesterday, with enthusiasts of all ages joining in the celebrations.

Many flocked to buy old bus stop signs, bits of bus bodywork and other memorabilia.

Dozens of vintage and present-day vehicles were also lined up in the depot's yard for visitors to examine.

James Hoole, 14, of Woodthorpe, visited the event with his father, Lincoln Hoole, 41, of Sherwood.

James, who has been the voice of announcements on Nottingham City Transport buses for the Past three years, said: "It's good to get behind the wheel and see all the other buses lined up.

"It's interesting to see how everything works in the driver's cabin."

Lincoln said: "It's a fantastic event. There's been a great atmosphere and it's felt like one big family."

People queued along Station Road for the chance to take a ride in one of Trent Barton's vintage buses.

Daniel Hughes, 31, of Wollaton, took his four-year-old son, Noah, to the celebrations.

He said: "Noah likes buses and it's great he's been able to sit in the driver's cabin.

"We've bought a bus stop sign and poster to take home."

Of the buses, Noah said: "They're all good. I'm going to drive one when I'm older.

"I've liked sitting in the Black Cat and Red Arrow buses."

The big birthday bash also included live music from local bands and children's funfair rides.

Nottingham-based Magpie Brewery served up a special limited-edition "trentbarton100" beer.

Money raised on the day will be donated to Trent Barton's charity for the year, the Lewis Mighty Fund.

THE country's top young rowers took to the water in Nottingham for the UK's largest junior regatta.

More than 5,000 athletes from over 160 schools took part in the National Schools Regatta, held at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont.

Thousands of spectators lined the banks of the 2km regatta lake to watch the racing across three days of competition, with the event concluding yesterday.

Olivia Duckworth, 17, of Wollaton, entered the girls' double sculls on Saturday and the girls' pair yesterday with Nottingham Rowing Club teammate Mollie Zalas.

Olivia, who attends Rushcliffe School's sixth form in West Bridgford, said: "People were cheering us on from around the halfway mark and it just got louder and louder towards the finish.

"It's been a great experience and really fun."

The former Fernwood School student took up rowing three years ago and also competed in the championships in the past two years.

She added: "I hope to still be rowing at university."

Mollie, also 17, of Grantham, said: "I'm really excited that we got to compete against crews from all over the country. There were a lot of crews here that have had GB trials this year."

George Hammond, chairman of the event's organising committee, said that while bad weather meant some racing was abandoned on Friday, conditions were perfect over the weekend.

He said: "The attendance has been huge and the standard was pretty good.

"We had records broken by some of the top schools. The standard of the girls has also gone up enormously, on the back of success by female British rowers at the Olympics last year."

A host of other events also took part across the city and county as people made the most of the bank holiday weekend sunshine.

They included a grass volleyball event hosted by Nottingham's two universities at Wollaton Park yesterday.

The Go Spike Big Weekend saw people offered the chance to try the sport for free.

Meanwhile, the final day of an art and creative textile exhibition and sale at the Ruddington Framework Knitters Museum will take place today.

The free exhibition also ran over the weekend, celebrating painting and textile art from around the region by both amateur and professional artists.

TALK of an EDL protest in Nottingham came as up to 2,000 supporters gathered in Newcastle on Saturday.

Protests have also been held on the streets in Bristol and Portsmouth.

Police across the UK have vowed to take a zero tolerance approach to religious or racially-aggravated attacks in the wake of Lee Rigby's murder.

This led to an 85-year-old woman being charged with a public order offence after being arrested on Friday after an incident in Gillingham, Kent.

Police have also made arrests for suspected hate crimes and comments posted on social networking sites amid reports of a rise in attacks against Muslims.

Officers are investigating after a rock was thrown at the front door of a mosque in Folkestone while worshippers were inside.

Members of Lee Rigby's family visited the scene of his murder in Woolwich yesterday.

They laid flowers at the Woolwich Barracks where the 25-year-old soldier with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was based, and where hundreds of floral tributes have already been left.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Oluwatobi Adebowale, 22, who are being held on suspicion of murder, remain in hospital.

Three men aged 28, 24 and 21 remain in police custody after being arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

POLICE caught nearly 900 drivers using a mobile phone at the wheel in just four weeks.For the rest of this story, click here to go to our new website, www.nottinghampost.com.

THE huge success of the return of the Milk Race to Nottingham has led organisers to suggest it could come back in its full format.For the rest of this story, click here to visit our new website, www.nottinghampost.com.

Will they be heading back to the City Ground? I certainly hope so.For the rest of this story, click here to go to our new website, www.nottinghampost.com.

CHILDREN gawped at eerily coloured sci-fi scenes, played with an art exhibition they were encouraged to touch and laughed at the antics of a naughty rabbit.

Wheee!, Lakeside Arts Centre's international children's theatre and dance festival, returned yesterday to the centre at the University of Nottingham –and showed that you don't need CGI effects or 3D glasses to capture young imaginations.

One favourite was Wanted: Rabbit, a 35-minute play suitable for kids two and older about police looking for an escaped rabbit.

Kids also looked at – and played with – the puppets and gadgets in A Right Load of Stuff and Nonsense, an exhibition of puppets and machines by puppet maker and designer Marc Parrett.

Marc even included a post-it note wall where kids could suggest puppet ideas. Suggestions included "dinosaur", "dragon", "bear", and "the England Football Team".

For Lakeside director Shona Powell, the puppets are also intriguing because they are made of common household items. They are quite literally rubbish.

"Children can go home and make things out of stuff that would otherwise be thrown away," she said.

Then there was the Luminarium. The multi-roomed, multi-coloured inflatable complex had parents and kids queuing down its side waiting to get in – and raving about it when they got out.

Over the road in the Djanogly Gallery, First Cut - a more traditional art exhibition featuring works made with scraps of paper, also fired young imaginations.

The festival runs until Sunday, and they're saving some of the best bits until next weekend. In a side room, juggler, "mad scientist" and all-round entertainer Matt Pang rehearsed a complicated machine that goes through a series of increasingly comic manoeuvres to throw a ball.

"I toured it for the whole of last year," he said of the act featuring the machine. "But I'm redeveloping it.

"Last year it was a lot of things going wrong. Which is fine because you can work it in and make it funny."

Wheee!, Lakeside's International Children's Theatre and Dance Festival runs until Sunday with events all through the week. They include family plays Wanted: Rabbit (today), Paperbelle (Wednesday and Thursday), and Puppet State Theatre's The Man Who Planted Trees (Friday).

Visit lakesidearts.org.uk for a full schedule and details of the events.

IT operate in one of the most high-profile industries in the market – and it took the most high-profile award.

Retail Assist beat off very strong competition to become the Nottinghamshire Company of the Year in the 2013 Nottingham Post Business Awards.

Sponsor Browne Jacobson felt the competition was so strong that it had to widen the field to four finalists rather than three, with Retail Assist taking on a trio of top-class firms: Paragon Interiors Group, Monsal and Timico.

Retail Assist supplies software solutions to major retailers like Harvey Nichols, Asos and Supergroup. It employs 200 people and has a turnover of about £12m.

A delighted Alan Morris, the firm's executive chairman, said afterwards: "This is all about us putting customers right at the centre of what we do, and we do that because that's the most important thing for retailers themselves.

"There is a lot of change in the retail industry and that's something we're used to. We design our software to make it appealing to multi-channel retailing and to retailers operating in different territories.

"Change is something that happens frequently and you can either worry about it or work with it – and that's what we do."

Though it has its head office in Nottingham, where around 80 of its team is based, Retail Assist also has operations in Northants, London and Oxford.

GLAMOROUS surroundings, good food, great entertainment – and some of the best businesses in the country. That was what the refreshed and revitalised Nottingham Post Business Awards 2013 served up at the East Midlands Conference Centre.

They also produced some inspirational stories of entrepreneurial achievement – and plenty of screams of joy from winners who were genuinely thrilled to have been picked out as among the best in business.

More than 400 people packed the conference centre for the awards ceremony, which was organised by Champions (UK) plc.

The evening began with a champagne reception for all the finalists, award sponsors and guests, who were enter tained by music from singer Georgia Holland.

There was more entertainment as the evening got into full swing from Graham Jolley, who mixed magic, memory tricks and some wicked humour.

Nottingham Post Media Group publisher Steve Hollingsworth opened the formal part of the evening, acknowledging the challenges posed by a tough economy but sounding an optimistic note.

He said: "The entrepreneurial spirit in this room tonight, the achievements and innovations of these businesses, tell us that we can look forward to a brighter economic future in our city and county."

It was East Midlands Today's Anne Davies and TV personality Paul Ross who introduced those great businesses, with winners announced by individual award sponsors.

Retail Assist crowned the evening, with Ian Blatherwick, managing partner of Browne Jacobson, revealing that the retail software solutions business had been chosen as the winner of the flagship award, Nottinghamshire Company of the Year 2013.

It was an evening that debunked some of the prevailing myths about business.

While banks and big businesses have been given a pasting for taking more than they give, Ikano Financial Services won the RSM Tenon-sponsored Contribution to the Community award for a business philosophy based on treating people fairly and putting something back into the community.

And the march of chain retailers hasn't stopped the winner of the Retailer of the Year award, popular independent deli Delilah Fine Foods, which was warmly praised by Jonathan Lawson, chief executive of sponsor Vision Express.

Showing that manufacturing in Notts is very much alive and kicking was A1 Flue Systems, the family-run businesses taking the Excellence in Manufacturing Award, sponsored by Lloyds-TSB Commercial banking. And there was success at the double, with an overjoyed Liz Hobbs winning not only the ncn-sponsored Small Business of the Year award for her events business but also the Business Entrepreneur of the Year award, sponsored by Nottinghamshire County Council.

She wasn't the only winner almost overcome with emotion, Debbie Bryan leaving the stage ecstatic after her business walked away with the Creative Industries Award.

Reflecting on the event, Matthew Hayes, managing director of organisers Champions (UK) plc, said: "The Nottingham Post Business Awards were a great way to showcase the many businesses we have in Nottinghamshire. All of the winners and finalists were deserving of their awards and I was pleased that Champions (UK) plc was able to provide an evening that reflected the outstanding quality of all of the finalists and the prestige of our generous sponsors."