RESIDENTS turned up in force to look at plans for a new housing development in their village.

Around 80 people went along to the public exhibition in Keyworth to view the display, which outlined plans for over 230 new homes on land next to Nicker Hill.

The proposal also includes a 29-acre country park and community allotments.

Village resident John Rowley, 73, was amongst those who went to view the plans at St Mary Magdalene Church, in Selby Lane, yesterday.

He said: "I think it is a very carefully worked-out scheme. We are lucky a country park has been included. I would visit it."

John Roberts, 69, also thought the park was a good addition to the development.

He said: "It looks quite nice. I think the park is very good and the development will cater for all ages."

The development would be made up of 173 houses and a further 60 properties for the elderly, comprising of 20 self-contained bungalows and 40 warden-aided apartments.

But not all residents were happy with the plans, which have been put forward by developer Commercial Estates Group.

Keyworth resident, Derek Gee, 77, said: "It is not suitable. There are better sites in the village. It is just in the middle of nowhere."

Some people were worried about the lack of amenities around the area where the plans have been proposed.

Others aired concerns that nearby homes would lose a percentage of their value.

Richard Burke, of the Commercial Estates Group, said he was pleased with the turnout.

He said: "It has been completely non-stop. There has been a lot of good comments and good feedback.

"We will take on board everyone's comments and where possible make changes."

Members of the public can also view the plans today from 11am to 4pm, at the church hall. The plans will be decided at a future Rushcliffe Borough Council planning meeting.

A CITY-WIDE ban on street drinking is among measures being proposed to tackle the reasons why some people die young.

Nottingham has differences in life expectancy of up to 14 years between more and less affluent districts of the city – making it one of the worst performing areas in the country for health inequalities.

But a new three-year strategy will target the health and social issues that are thought to underlie these differences.

It will focus on reducing the 17,900 adults who drink alcohol at levels which put them at increasing or higher risk of developing alcohol related diseased.

It will also support 1,200 "priority families" from which children do not attend school, display anti-social behaviour, are involved in youth offending and are unemployed.

And the strategy will put in place plans to improve health and social care for the elderly and intervene earlier where people have mental health problems, helping 1,100 residents stay in work.

The Nottingham City Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy will be overseen by a board, made up of organisations including the city council, NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group, Notts Police and Healthwatch Nottingham, a consumer champion for health and social care.

Councillor Alex Norris, the city council's portfolio holder for adults and health, said: "It is ambitious but we've really tried for it to be quite specific. It's about having better health in the city.

"Rather than a grand strategy about everything, these are quite specific goals that we think we can come together and do some work on."

Alcohol is a major problem in the city, and the strategy pledges to reduce the proportion of adults who drink at a harmful level by a third.

Mr Norris added: "We have to tackle it on both ends – banning alcohol in the city and trying to get super strength lagers off the shelves and helping people to have better support and education. We're the youngest city in the country."

Councillor Norris said one of the key points of the strategy is to allow members of the public to hold the council to account.

He added: "We are very clear about what we're going to do together. It'll be pretty clear whether we have or haven't achieved the goals.

"Our goals have to be firstly life expectancy – we've got a lot of work to do there."

MP for Nottingham South, Lilian Greenwood said: "The gaps in life expectancy between neighbourhoods in Nottingham South are truly shocking. Men in Wollaton West can expect to live nine years longer than men in The Meadows and for women the gap is 10 years.

"So I welcome the launch of the Council's Health and Wellbeing Strategy to tackle health inequalities."

Ms Greenwood added: "I particularly welcome plans to tackle harmful drinking, to address the mental health problems and to ensure integrated health and social care."

THEIR claims span decades, cover five children's homes in and around Nottingham, and have led to a huge police investigation.

What started with allegations made by a handful of former Beechwood Community House residents has led to scores more people coming forward and four other homes being implicated.

James Cleverley, of Netherfield, is one of those who says he was abused at Beechwood, in Mapperley.

He agreed to waive his legal right to anonymity to tell his story in the Post.

"In my first week there I was raped," he said.

"I was made to do sex acts with a male member of staff."

In a quiet but determined voice, he reels through his claims of what he was subjected to. He had arrived at the former home as a boy in the early 1970s and was later moved to Wood Nook, Beechdale Road, where he says he was made to have sex with a member of staff.

He then went to Bracken House, Bulwell, where again he was raped, he says. The abuse continued again at Risley Hall, Derbyshire, he says.

He said: "I was entertainment for the people who abused me."

He added: "I think what my life would have been like if I hadn't been through that.

"I want people to know that's what happened in these sorts of places. I want these people to be caught and sent away.

"I can't get my life back – they ruined it."

Mr Cleverley, 52, worked in the fairground business after getting out of care aged around 18, and settled in Nottingham.

Another woman, who cannot be named, arrived at Beechwood in the late 1970s and, in all, was in 11 children's homes.

"I used to think it was strange at Beechwood. Children and staff would sit in each other's laps," she said.

She said things intensified when a man took her to a dorm room at Beechwood.

"He would touch me and get me to touch him.

"It sounds so weird, but you get used to it – you ended up not thinking anything of it, you get used to paedophiles."

The woman, now in her 40s, grew up in Nottingham and is now living in Radford.

Both her and Mr Cleverley came forward to speak to police and solicitors after reading media coverage about the claims made at Beechwood.

The woman added: "I'm sure the 56 are the tip of the iceberg. Eventually we want justice – we want the people who did this to answer for it."

Another man, in his 20s, who was at Beechwood in the 1990s said he suffered physical abuse there. He said: "There is a lot more to come.

"It's important to get it noticed that it's not just in relation to Beechwood now."

WHAT will usually happen is the victim will suffer some degree of post traumatic stress disorder and there are four influencing factors in the extent of the disorder suffered by individuals.

First of all the act itself so if it's rape, as opposed to molestation, it's worse.

The second factor is the relationship between the victim and the abuser. If it's a stranger it's less stressful than if it's someone the victim knows and the most traumatic is when the abuse is carried out by a parent, so the degree of the abuse of trust is a factor.

Thirdly, is the method used. So was there any force, any violence or aggression, or was the victim coerced in to it and this is the peculiar one because sometimes if the victim is forced they are less traumatised than a victim who is coerced because they feel responsibility for their own actions and wrongly blame themselves.

The final thing is what happened on disclosure and that's like secondary abuse. When they disclose and they are not heard or believed then that can be very traumatising, likewise if they have to keep it a secret for a long time.

So those four things all impact on how traumatised a victim will be.

There is also a problem unique to historic sex abuse because when they begin to recall, even though they've always remembered the abuse, the way they've coped all this time is to try to forget it.

So as soon as they have the courage to tell someone they have to bring it to the forefront of their mind so to disclose it is almost like reliving it and obviously very traumatic.

PRIOR to 1998, Notts County Council was the lead authority for looking after children in care across the city and county.

This changed when the city council became a unitary authority, taking on responsibility for care services in Nottingham.

From the end of the 1990s there was a move towards reducing the number of large children's homes and placing youngsters with foster families or in smaller residential units instead.

This was crystallised in 2006 when an inspection by the Commission for Social Care found that almost a third of children in care in the city did not feel safe.

A large-scale reorganisation of children's homes followed.

Beechwood, Mappperley

The home was owned by the county council from 1973 to 1998, then the city council from 1998 to 2006. Closed 2006. Still derelict and up for sale.

Ranskill Gardens, Bestwood:

Owned by county council from 1974 to 1998. The city council from 1998 to 2011, when it closed. Is currently boarded up.

Bracken House, Bulwell:

Owned by Nottingham Corporation from June 1968 to April 1974. It is now private flats. It was then owned by the county council until October 1995 when it was sold to a plastering company.

Wood Nook, Beechdale:

Owned by the county council from 1974 to 1998. Owned by city council from 1998. It was sold last year and has since been demolished.

Risley Hall:

Risley Hall, at Risley, near Long Eaton, was owned by Notts County Council from 1942 until the mid-1980s when it was sold to a leisure company. The building is now a hotel and spa.

THIRTY jobs could be created as discount supermarket Aldi unveils plans to move into Mapperley, just weeks after showing off plans for a new store in Basford.

The new store in Mapperley would be on Woodborough Road at a site previously occupied by Nottingham AutoPark.

AutoPark parent company Drive Assist Group went into administration in December.

A community newsletter and feedback card about the plans will be sent to all houses in the area. A spokesman for Aldi said it would give customers in Mapperley better choice.

Mapperley councillor Emma Dewinton said: "At the moment we've not seen the proposal, we've had a letter telling us it's happening. There are issues like traffic management which are very important.

"We do see the positives but we have to see the application and think about it."

Denise Bailey runs Bailey's Food Market in Woodborough Road. She said small shops were struggling.

She said: "We're struggling but it's not just about shops, it's about community. We have a personal service.

"People come here to have a chat and that's what's going to be missing."

Louise Jeremiah, owner of Deli-icious sandwich shop in Woodborough Road, said: "We've had a Costa, a Subway and a Greggs move nearby, and you just have to deal with it as horrible as it is. I'm not opposed but I do understand why other people are."

Teacher Anne Stevenson, 57, of Hilton Road, Mapperley, said: "It would give a bit of competition and it would bring jobs to the area."

But IT worker Ian McFee, 56 of Lucknow Drive, Mapperley Park, said: "I would be particularly concerned about traffic levels. At certain times of the day, the road along there is very, very busy.

"The effect it would have on independent traders just doesn't bear thinking about."

A public exhibition will be held at the Mapperley Community Centre in Woodborough Road on Friday.

THEY say cats have nine lives. And Nottingham moggy Oscar is living proof – crossing main roads, hospital grounds and parks to find his way home from Bulwell to Basford.

The two-year-old's adventures started when he went missing from his owner Melike Tanir's new home in Highbury Vale on Thursday, June 6.

Up until then he had spent his time in Coniston Avenue, Basford, at the family home she shared with parents Osman, 57, and Patricia Christian, 55.

The family had given up all hope of the cat being found but, when Mr Tanir went outside on Tuesday morning, he was amazed to see Oscar waiting for him – over one month later.

"We don't think a child could have found their way back on their own so it's amazing that a cat has done it, " said Mr Tanir, who runs catering company Patty's, in Langley Mill.

"Everyone was so upset and we didn't think we were going to see him again. Then when I went outside at 6.30am he was just sitting there."

"We couldn't believe it. If you left an eight-year-old child he would not find his way. It's incredible."

In the time that Oscar was missing, Mr Tanir and his family put up posters and contacted the RSPCA for help.

No one got in touch saying they had seen a cat matching a description of Oscar.

Mr Tanir added: "Where he's been is a complete mystery but we are just happy that he is back home safe."

Oscar, who was bought as a birthday present for Miss Tanir's 21st birthday two years ago, is now settling back into his Basford home.

Miss Tanir, 23, who works as a teacher, said when the summer holidays begin they will think about trying to settle him at her new home in Bulwell.

Tell us your stories. Email newsdesk@nottinghampostgroup.co.uk

AN INDIAN restaurant is selling more than 300 curries a day as Ashes fever hits Nottingham.

Normally the Bombay Bridgford in Radcliffe Road outside Trent Bridge would sell around 50 curries in a day, but since the Ashes began on Wednesday the manager says business has boomed.

"Bookings are good and we're opening longer hours specifically for the Ashes," said manager Shamoan Akhtar, 40,

"We've put on a delicious lunchtime set menu which people seem to be enjoying."

And isn't just the curry house which is benefiting from cricket. The number of breakfasts being cooked and sold a the Olive Café next door has increased fivefold.

Javid Omoomian, 23, who works in the café, said: "We've gone up from around 20 breakfasts to 100 and even 150 over the past few days.

"It's been hard work. But the Australians seem to be a friendly crowd and it's all worth it.

"We haven't had much chance to keep track of all the cricket, but we've been told what's happening from customers, and we can here the roar of the crowd."

Thousands of Australians have descended on Nottingham over the last three days, and the fans from Down Under have been universally positive in their praise for the area.

The Post caught up with cricket fans who have travelled from the other side of the world to see their boys in action.

Lauren Slack has come to Nottingham from Queensland.

The 32-year-old consultant said: "I've been here for three days. Trent Bridge is lovely. It's a very sweet and intimate place. The game has been great and the atmosphere is good."

She added: "We're staying in the Lace Market.

"We went to a lovely Japanese restaurant and we're going to the Larder restaurant [in Goose Gate] as well.

"It's a nice place to be. It's a lot smaller than I expected and Australian cities are much more planned."

Debra Stein comes from Melbourne and said the trip to Nottingham has been a great experience.

She added: "My lasting impression of the city is fantastic. You can tell the town is honoured to host the Ashes and really try to make people feel welcome. It is a pretty place to be and historically it is amazing.

"Trent Bridge is great; there's a real merging of new and old."

Cameron Hetherington, from New South Wales said he and his mates had a great time sampling the Notts nightlife and enjoyed the city.

The 21-year-old added: "We've been to Walkabout – there were a load of Australians there. It seems like a great place in general, I'm just so surprised about how small everything is. It's very different to what we're used to back home."

But it wasn't just Australians who had made a special journey to Trent Bridge.

Mary Stockcoal, 52, had travelled up from Falmouth in Cornwall to watch the third day of Test cricket as England fought hard in searing temperatures for a respectable score after a miraculous batting performance from the Aussies the previous day.

She said: "My husband got the tickets, I packed the sandwiches and here we are."

By the end of the day a strong batting performance from Bell and Broad saw England sail past the 300-run marker.

Paul Cranfield, 32, of Ruddington said: "Today has been fantastic; it's sunny, everyone is happy and England are winning."

POLICE investigating abuse claims at a children's care home have uncovered more than 50 alleged victims.

An inquiry into Beechwood Community House, Mapperley, began in 2011, with six people coming forward initially.

But police are now talking to 56 who say they were abused.

The investigation, named Operation Daybreak, has also been widened to include four other homes. The claims, of physical or sexual abuse, date from 1973 to 2000.

If proven, they would amount to the biggest scandal in the history of care in Notts.

One alleged victim of sexual abuse at Beechwood, James Cleverley, of Netherfield, agreed to waive his right to anonymity, telling the Post: "It messed up my childhood.

"I want people to know that's what happened in these places."

Solicitors say they believe the 56 people being spoken to by police are the tip of the iceberg.

Chris Ratcliffe, of Uppal Taylor Solicitors, West Bridgford said he was aware of 79 people taking civil court action.

Some of these may be among the 56 police know about.

He said: "We literally had people ringing us up saying 'I'd forgotten about this place'. "They had not thought about it for 40 years and all the memories had come flooding back."

Police are also looking at allegations of sexual or physical abuse at Bracken House in Thames Street, Bulwell, Ranskill Gardens, in Bestwood, Wood Nook, in Beechdale Road, Beechdale, and Risley Hall, Derbyshire.

Twelve people have been questioned. Five were arrested but later released with no further action.

Operation Daybreak, which has been running for two years, is being led by Detective Inspector Yvonne Dales.

She said: "This is a thorough but complicated and sensitive investigation and the allegations are historic, in some cases relating to events which are said to have taken place nearly 30 years ago.

"We have experienced officers on the investigation team who are working hard on this case which presents many challenges, such as the difficulties around obtaining forensic and corroborative evidence, along with the fact that some of the alleged perpetrators have since died."

Police said they were unable to estimate when the investigation would finish.

"I WENT to Orchard Primary School in Kirkby, and when I moved to Ashfield School it was scary – so many new pupils and teachers to get used to.

"I was already doing my swimming when I joined, but the school has always supported me and helped me to catch up with my work.

"Doing my GCSEs was quite difficult because I was just starting to become an international swimmer at that point. But they would give me past papers to do when I was away, and then help me with extra work at lunchtimes and after school when I got back.

"When I went back after the Paralympics [Ollie won gold, silver and bronze] the school had a banner up for me and everything.

"I took an AS-Level exam in PE this year, and I was in Majorca at the time so I had to go to an international school there and do the exam. It was a bit strange.

"I was never any good at art and design, but I was good at maths and science. I had one maths teacher, Mr Miller, who was also head of my house, who would do anything that he could to help me.

"Because of the time pressures of my swimming, I'm just doing one A-Level, in PE, and I'm doing it over three years, so I've got a year to go.

"I generally train before and after school, at Water Meadows in Mansfield. There have definitely been times when I've felt tired in class because of it, but it all worked out."

What his report said (Year 7): "Oliver is a friendly, well- mannered and cheerful young man. This is a super report and he should feel proud of his efforts. He is a star. I initially thought Oliver would be overshadowed by his older brother this year, but how wrong I was."

DIVERSITY is the buzz word for a group of pupils at West Bridgford School.

Students from across all of the school years have been involved in making sure their peers understand the importance of people being able to live together, no matter their background.

It is that work that has seen the school become the first secondary in the county to gain the Stephen Lawrence Award.

The accolades have been given out to schools to recognise their commitment to tackling racism.

The award is named after Stephen Lawrence, who was killed 20 years ago in a racist attack in London.

To gain a level one award, the schools had to fulfil 12 criteria, including staff and governors being trained in race equality; adopting an inclusive curriculum which celebrates cultural and racial diversity; and responding to racial harassment and bullying effectively.

As well as West Bridgford School, five primary schools gained an award after two years of work towards it.

West Bridgford School decided to get students heavily involved and appointed as ambassadors.

Their job was to organise events including a Japanese day, take assemblies and inform other students of the importance of different cultures living together.

They also made a presentation at the nearby Asda store in Loughborough Road.

One of the ambassadors, Inaya Khan, 14, said: "I'm really pleased we have been given this award. We've done a lot of hard work towards it.

"We have had culture days like one on Japan where we decorated the cafe and put flags up and teachers dressed in costumes. We've also had a day focusing on Jamaica."

Seventeen-year-old Fiona Garrahan was also among the ambassadors.

She said: "We really wanted to spread the message about diversity around the school. I feel that our work really justified us getting the award. Hopefully other schools can follow suit."

Harry Leckerby, 13, said: "I have really enjoyed being one of the ambassadors. I've been able to take part in assemblies and really get the message across to other students."

Toni Aderombi, 11, added: "We have successfully shown that everyone is equal no matter what.

"We have been able to show this to other students through assemblies and other events, which I have enjoyed being a part of."

Several children's centres in Newark also picked up an accolade (see panel).

The awards were handed out to representatives of the schools and centres at Rufford Country Park last week.

The national programme, which encourages good practice and awareness of race equality, was set up following the MacPherson Inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence.

County council vice-chairman Pauline Allan said: "These children are helping to shape the future – developing the responsible, compassionate citizens our society so desperately needs."

John Peck, committee chairman of the county council's children and young people's services, said: "Undoubtedly, the issues which the standard explores are very sensitive ones and some people might say that they're too difficult for four and five-year-olds to truly comprehend.

"What these children and staff demonstrate, though, is that it's never too early to start having these conversations with children."

THERE is a sense of privilege, and there is sitting in a stand at Trent Bridge on one of the finest days of the year witnessing one of the finest events in the cricketing world.

The sense of privilege comes not just from watching The Ashes, one of the defining touchpoints in England's evolving relationship with its distant Australian cousins.

It comes from being able to wander out of the city centre and enter one of the great international cricketing stadiums. Where once there were charming and almost quaint two-tier wooden stands, there are now cantilevered metal sculptures which have gently transformed an intimate provincial cricket ground into an impressively elegant international stadium.

We are incredibly lucky to have Trent Bridge in Nottinghamshire.

Lucky, too, to have people with a vision for what it could become, people with a talent (like the city architect, Maber) to bring that vision to life.

On a summer's day, you can argue that Trent Bridge is the jewel in the city's tourism crown, with snaking columns of yellow-shirted Australians wandering down London Road, dwelling perhaps at Hooters (which saw an early-morning opportunity and made the most of it) before converging on what was, for five days, The Most Important Place in Global Cricket.

Did it bring in the tens of millions forecast?

I don't know. And in a way I don't care. It showed the city in a magnificent light, and that's something Nottingham has considerable cause to be thankful for.

Bringing the bad stuff under control is one thing. Properly exploiting the good is another. And we have a way to go there.

While England and Australia were toiling away in the heat at Trent Bridge, workers were toiling away in Old Market Square turning the slabbed open space into Nottingham-on-Sea.

This annual beach-fest has come to define the Market Square. Millions of pounds of public money meant weary old Slab Square became an elegantly simple open space.

If you visit other cities you'll realise that the square we take for granted is actually one of the great civic open spaces of England, a focal point which welcomes people with open arms and says that this is your city.

But does it say it loud enough? When there is a beach there, when there is an event like Armed Forces Day, I have no doubt.

But on a wet winter weekend when there are dreary wooden stalls flogging a range of depressingly predictable "cuisine", I see not just a £7m square but an entire city being sold short.

Maximising the potential of Old Market Square matters not just because it is a space which begs for clever, creative, imaginative exploitation of a great open space. It matters because the way we do leisure holds the key to maintaining and expanding Nottingham's position as a place people want to go.

During the boom, a time when a thin sliver of plastic put the world at your feet, the vast range of Nottingham's shops meant that people would come to the city in their droves and spend.

Now? Our position is no longer assured. People have less money. They are less willing to rely on credits cards. And the lure of internet retailing and click-and-collect means a day out is no longer defined by shopping.

You get the sense with Nottingham that we're a bit of a curate's egg, that the potential is there in parts but not whole. There is the shopping, there is the Playhouse and Theatre Royal, the Galleries of Justice and the Contemporary, the Michelin-starred dining of Sat Bains and the intimate individuality of The Larder on Goose Gate. And all the places in between.

And then there are the twin puzzles. Old Market Square and the Castle. The huge opportunities we never seem able to confront.

The Square shows flashes of potential. Yet it seems uncoordinated, as if its activities are planned without considering who else can be involved.

And some of those activities are unambitious and homespun.

While the Square should not be exclusive, nor should it assume that the alternative is the lowest common denominator. Christmas tat is not special, particularly when it does nothing to help the shops that surround the square and reduces that great open space to the level of a flea market.

Last Wednesday night and last Thursday night, the first two days of The Ashes at Trent Bridge, I felt as if I was in a place with a buzz, a busy night-time economy where bars, cafés, restaurants and hotels would be humming with customers.

This tells you just how many businesses really depend on Nottingham getting the offer it makes to visitors right.

It also tells you that – in the same way that Wimbledon does with Henman Hill/Murray Mount – Nottingham's Market Square should have used a large screen to bring cricket to the people.

That would have been a privilege for us all.

RESIDENTS have welcomed potential plans to develop the site of a former community pub.

The Grey Mare pub in Clifton has been shut for several years and was boarded up recently, but Nottingham City Council says discussions are taking place over its future.

And with the tram works taking over many of Clifton's roads, residents are keen to see the site redeveloped, some calling for new shops or another pub.

Karen Turner, who helps to run Clifton Community Group on Facebook said: "We used to go there a while ago and it was a decent pub and had a nice family room.

"It was a really good pub and the entertainment was good. I don't think they will re-open it as a pub and you hear a lot of rumours.

"We need some decent shops – somewhere to provide competition for Morrisons. For the size of our community it's not good. And we haven't got a decent place to buy clothes." The grandmother-of-two added: "There are other areas where they could do something, like the garage in Farnborough Road."

Wendy Sheldon, who lives in nearby Havenwood Rise, said: "I want it to be knocked down. It looks a mess and it's an absolute eyesore.

"Anything would be better than a clapped-out building – all the pubs are closing, so a nicer pub would be good, and better than looking at something all boarded up."

She added: "I can remember as a little girl going to the little shop in the pub where they served sweets.

"I can remember seeing little old ladies with their jugs of beer.

"I live about five minutes away and it was quite a popular place. It was nice originally. People used to sit on the wall all the way round it and enjoy a drink in nice weather.

Carla Bentley, who lives in Green Lane, said: "We need to develop something for children, an activity zone or a ball park. The nearest ones are in Beeston and West Bridgford.

"We definitely need another supermarket to give some competition. It would work amazingly well in this area.

The mother-of-four added: "Clifton is big – but lacking compared to any other area."

A city council spokesman said a variety of options were being considered and nothing had been ruled out yet. He added: "There are ongoing discussions. We are keen to see the site developed in some way."