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High-tech businesses and new jobs for city as University of Nottingham becomes University Enterprise Zone
THE University of Nottingham is to become one of the first University Enterprise Zones in the UK.
The move is expected to help create dozens of new high-tech businesses and hundreds of new jobs in the city.
As part of the award of University Enterprise Zones (UEZ) status, the university will receive £2.6m of government funding to build a new Technology Entrepreneurship Centre at its Innovation Park, which will provide accommodation and intensive incubation support for non-university business start-ups and early-stage small and medium enterprises.
A £5.2 million centre is planned on Triumph Road next to the new £18 million GSK sustainable chemistry laboratory and new research and development facility for gearbox specialists Romax Technologies.
The centre will focus on supporting businesses working in sectors of key local and national importance, such as big data and digital, advanced manufacturing, aerospace and energy.
Companies based in the new complex will be able to take advantage of the university's centres of excellence and the ready supply of postgraduate students.
University vice-chancellor Professor Sir David Greenaway said: "We already work closely with many small and medium-sized companies, but gaining UEZ status will enable us to accelerate the work we are doing to foster business start-up, innovation and growth.
"The new centre will provide space for start-ups and early stage businesses. Entrepreneurs will be able to access expertise from across the university, which will help them develop innovative new products and services and give them a crucial competitive edge."
Although the UEZ is not a formal enterprise zone like that centred on the Boots site in Nottingham, talks between the university and the city council could lead to a business rates holiday for firms.
The centre will also form the new home of the Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's Enterprise Laboratory, the university's centre of excellence in enterprise education, which is part of the Nottingham University Business School.
Construction is expected to begin early next year ready for occupation in early 2016.
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Landlord fined after Nottingham homes infested with cockroaches
Rogue landlord Zain Khan has been ordered to pay more than £45,000 after he allowed his tenants to live in cockroach infested homes.
District Judge Leo Pyle told 26-year-old Khan "human beings in the 20th century do not have to live in these conditions", as he sentenced him for a catalogue of failings.
Khan's tenants at three rented houses in Mansfield Road, Nottingham, were put at risk of physical injury and damage to their health, said the judge at Nottingham Magistrates' Court.
Environment investigators found an active cockroach infestation, exposed live and broken electric sockets and dirty living conditions.
The shared kitchen and bathrooms were poorly maintained and there were no certificates to ensure the safety of the electrical installation was provided or details of who the manager was or how to contact them.
Khan, of Mayo Road, Sherwood Rise, pleaded guilty to 20 offences of failing to licence and failure to manage houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). Sarah Mills, for Nottingham City Council, told the court on Thursday, July 3, the offences were committed with a commercial benefit and the properties were not licenced.
Judge Pyle said the case showed a complete failure to get a licence and he was "surprised" at the local authority's tolerance over a long period.
"If a tenant had paid his rent in the tardy manner in the way these premises were improved, they would have been out on the street," he said.
He ordered Khan, whose father owns the properties and the business, to pay £45,628.47, of which £120 is a victim surcharge and £6,958.47 is toward prosecution costs.
Khan's solicitor said his client's father spent time out of the country and passed on the management of the properties to his son.
John Kent, mitigating, said: "They didn't have the money to maintain the properties and keep them to a good standard. That was the explanation I received. It was all down to money."
City Council Leader Councillor Jon Collins said after the hearing: "We will not tolerate rogue landlords who offer sub-standard accommodation in Nottingham and refuse to meet their responsibilities to their tenants and the wider community.
"This case featured hazards and lack of proper management of properties which were putting the health, safety and welfare of the tenants at risk and I'm pleased that this prosecution has resulted in a guilty plea."
* To report a rogue landlord visit www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/roguelandlord or telephone 0115 9152020.
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Matty Fryatt hopes to reward Forest for their patience, after a nine year wait to sign him
MATTY Fryatt, for some time, had found himself among some illustrious company.
Names like Darren Pratley, Peter Whittingham, Bakary Sako, Michael Kightly, Ross McCormack and Charlie Austin all had something in common with Fryatt.
But not any longer.
The others remain firmly in the category of players Nottingham Forest have long pursued – but failed to capture.
But, nine years after they first targeted Fryatt as a signing, the Reds have finally got their man.
While numerous Forest managers were left frustrated in their pursuit of the former Walsall and Leicester striker, Stuart Pearce finally succeeded, when he persuaded the 28-year-old to reject the offer of a fresh contract at Hull City, to move to the City Ground.
And Fryatt admits he could not be happier to finally find himself a Forest player.
"It was about nine years ago that moving to Forest was first mentioned, I think, when Gary Megson was manager," said Fryatt. "So it has been a long time coming!
"There have been a few Forest managers since (who have had an interest). It started when I was at Walsall, before I moved to Leicester.
"But I am glad it has finally happened and I am here now."
Fryatt played a key role in the Tigers' journey to the FA Cup final last season and secured a place in the starting line-up as Steve Bruce's side gave Arsenal a scare, before eventually slipping to a dramatic defeat at Wembley.
But the frontman struggled to pin down a regular spot in the club's Premier League side, making ten sub appearances but not starting a single game.
"It was not massively a big decision (to leave Hull), not really," said Fryatt.
"I was not playing all the time and I would like to think I could have been given more of an opportunity.
"I had some successful seasons at Hull. But this is a new challenge for me now. Having spoken to the manager here and the owners, it was an easy decision for me.
"Hopefully we can get up to the Premier League."
Fryatt says that regular football was not the lure that brought him to the City Ground – because he knows he must fight for his place here too, despite dropping down into the Championship.
"It wasn't even that, no. I was not guaranteed a place at Hull, but I won't be at Forest either. It does not work like that in football now," he said. "You have to deserve your place. You would hope that I would get more games here, but nothing is guaranteed.
"I hope I will be involved more here, we will have to see. If I give it my all, if I do as well as I hope I can do, then I hope I will be involved in a lot more games."
Fryatt revealed that a chat with Stuart Pearce had been a significant factor.
The new Reds boss said in an interview that he believes the striker's best days are still to come. And Fryatt revealed that Pearce had said the same thing to him, during their discussions.
"I may be 28, but I don't think I have finished yet, no!" he joked. "When we spoke before I came here, he was talking about how he felt his best stuff came later on in his career.
"The manager was a big factor in me coming here. And, when you look at it, it is also a really good squad."
The goal, as ever, for Forest, is promotion.
Fryatt knows as well as anyone how tough it is to secure a top-six finish in the Championship, having been part of promotion challenges with Leicester and Hull.
And he believes finding the most elusive quality of all, consistency, will be the decisive factor in their fate.
"We will have our own targets but what will be seen as a success from the fans and the owner will be promotion," he said. "It is easy to say that. It is easy to say that we want promotion. Ten or 15 teams will all say the same thing.
"With the players we have in there – and the manager might add one or two, that is up to him – we should be around the top end of the table.
"But it is difficult, because the games come so thick and fast, you have to be so consistent and keep yourself on a good run.
"Everyone knows how demanding the Championship is. But with the players in there, we will have a good chance."
After a nine year wait to land Fryatt, Forest will hope the striker has a big role to play.
Revealed: The speed camera that makes £100,000 a year
NEARLY 5,000 drivers have been caught by a city speed trap in the past year – making it the seventh most lucrative in Britain.
New figures have revealed that 4,815 people were flashed by the same mobile camera along the A52 Clifton Boulevard – raking in more than £100,000.
The camera – carried in a police van – enforces both directions of the 40mph dual carriageway between the QMC roundabout and Dunkirk flyover.
Taxi driver Mark Limb from Cloud Cars, in Arboretum Street, Nottingham, said the speed trap was well known to drivers who use the route regularly.
He said: "The camera is normally there as you go over the flyover near the slip road for the QMC.
"Considering how busy the road is I am surprised people get the chance to speed. There are normally traffic jams in that area.
"I think it is just money-making because the speed limit changes on top of the flyover from 50mph to 40mph.
"The camera itself has been there for six or seven years and it is well known but I don't think it is needed because it is a dual carriageway and they are usually 60mph anyway."
Insurance company LV= has today released a list showing the top 10 highest earning speed cameras in the UK.
Nottinghamshire Police and Nottingham City Council told LV= they could not say how much cash the Clifton Boulevard camera made.
But the camera below it, in eighth place on the scale and operated by Surrey Police, caught 4,530 drivers and made £126,260. The most lucrative camera, on the M60 operated by Greater Manchester police, made £189,140.
The research showed that overall police across the country handed out almost 400,000 fixed penalty notices for speeding and 73,944 court summons last year, equating to motorists paying £22 million in fines.
This figure excludes those who took a speed awareness course to avoid paying a fine or receiving points.
General secretary Keith Peat, of East Midlands-based Drivers' Union, said: "When you get a high-offender site like this something is wrong with the road – such as the speed limit being incorrect or the layout is wrong.
"The police believe that we are all actually naughty boys and girls but that is not true, you have to look in more detail.
"Not many people go out to purposely break the law but what causes speeding is when the limit is incorrectly set for that road."
Since 2009, one in seven drivers have been caught speeding nationally.
Dave Nichols, spokesman for Brake, the road safety charity, said: "It is shocking to see so many Nottingham drivers taking needless, dangerous risks by speeding on the A52.
"Evidence shows that speed cameras are a highly effective way to reduce speeding traffic, which is crucial in making our roads safer and preventing needless tragedies.
"We urge all drivers to stay within the limits, and if you don't speed, you won't get caught or fined."
The Institute of Advanced Motorists believes that due to so many people being caught on the A52 there may be a problem with the road.
Head of driving standards Peter Rodger said: "Speed cameras well used are a good thing but with so many people being caught like this it tells us there is a problem here.
"Because so many are being caught the camera is not working and something else needs to be done to slow down the traffic.
"Something else should be done whether it is changing the road or something else."
A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: "There are fixed speed cameras along that stretch of road and because drivers know to expect them, they are effective in keeping speed down.
"This mobile camera is stationed outside of that zone and there are drivers who have gone past the fixed cameras, speed up again in anticipation that they will get away with it, which is why this particular camera has caught so many.
"Speed limits are the legal limit, not a guideline. By breaking the limit, you break the law. We don't want people slowing down to pass the cameras before racing off."
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Pearce says Forest will rebuff QPR approach for highly rated defender Lascelles
NOTTINGHAM Forest will rebuff any attempt to poach any of their best young talent – and will reject the bid from QPR for Jamaal Lascelles.
That was the message today from Stuart Pearce, who says he has the backing of owner Fawaz Al Hasawi, when it comes to holding on to the Reds' prize assets.
The new manager says he plans to build a stronger side, rather than dismantle the squad.
And he believes the best place for Lascelles in particular to develop as a player is at the City Ground.
"QPR have let it out that they have put money on the table for him," said Pearce. "But I have come to build this club, not to dismantle it.
"The only way we will accept an offer for our best young players is if it is a sensational offer that ends up enabling me to strengthen the team.
"I have to know that, at the end of any negotiation, I am stronger than I was at the outset.
"But we would not take money for our best young players.
"The chairman has enough financial clout to trust my judgement on that."
QPR are thought to have offered as much as £4m for the 20-year-old defender.
But Pearce says the London club have not even given Forest a decision to make.
When asked if Harry Redknapp's newly promoted club are close to the kind of money Forest would demand for the player, Pearce responded: "No, no, they are not.
"Your best young players are a real commodity in this day and age.
"I think I can improve the young man, with the staff here.
"I think we can make him a better footballer, by staying at this club."
Newcastle and Spurs are also thought to be monitoring Lascelles' position at Forest, while Everton and Arsenal have shown an interest in the past.
But it is clear that Pearce is determined to hold on to one of Forest's brightest young talents.