The following list identifies known Lenton ‘hotspots’, which have been by identified by numbers and letter codes:

1. Park Road – Lenton Road gate Locked at night.

2. Harlaxton Drive – Pelham Crescent gate locked

3. Church Square – Allington footpath needs makeover.

4. Dangerous tree by bus stop protected by tree preservation order.

5. Devonshire Prom – Henry Road wheelie bin free zone and mini-recycling site. Problem persists.

6. Near derelict white corner house still in a poor state of repair.

7. Office in front room of house allowed on appeal by Government could mean more houses as offices.

8. Bag O’ Nail’s commercial waste bins continue to block road and pavement.

9. Closed New Lenton Post Office remains empty.

10. Church Square Precinct remains an ongoing issue.

11. Hoyland and Coleby avenues residents’ parking schemes now being developed after intervention by ward councillors.

12. 12.Dunkirk parking problems caused by traffic for Lenton Industrial Estate.
    

13. 13.Demolition of Bulwell stone walls.
    

Dangerous Traffic Lights

Three major road junctions with traffic lights do not include phased controls to enable pedestrians to cross these very busy road safely. ‘Action sometime’ has been promised. In the meantime, lives are put at risk. The junctions are:

Derby Road–Lenton Boulevard.

Derby Road–Gregory Street.

Abbey Street–Gregory Street.

Slow Pedestrian Crossings

Action to re-phase some of the pedestrian crossings in the Lenton area has also been promised, but nothing has happened to date. Those identified are as follows (there may be others):

Derby Road Health Centre.

Derby Road nr Triumph Road.

Castle Boulevard, Grove Road.

Beeston Road, Lace Street.

Dangerous Road Junctions

There are at least two uncontolled junctions along the Derby Road, which need better traffic management.

The Faraday Road junction needs some kind of barrier to prevent cars turning right off Derby Road and Faraday Road

The Triumph Road junction needs linking in with the  Gregory Street junction, which does have lights.

New and Old Lenton Conservation areas.

These two conservation areas were created in 1975 and 1978. In June 2008, we were promised ‘Management Appraisal’ reports ‘within a few months’. In February 2009, we were promised ‘By the end of 2009’. These appraisals are long overdue and action is urgently needed if Lenton’s historic townscape is to be rescued and protected. In January 2010, we were promised the appraisals would be published in April 2010. As of 2 May, we are still waiting.

Other possible  conservation areas.

Conservation areas not only help to protect the historic townscape, they also improve property values and prevent unsympathic developments.

Two areas which should be considered for Conservation Area status are Harlaxton Drive and parts of Dunkirk.

Hotspots watch

This list of ‘hotspots’ is a personal list first compiled by me in January 2009, although it does include locations and issues suggested by other residents. A good few are issues which seem to have been with us for ever. The most glaring example is that of wheelie bins left out on the pavements.

Other issues which continually come up are cyclists on pavements and noise.

The response will come that the problem has been addressed in some neighbourhoods (eg. Lenton Drives) and that as well as ‘Streetscene’, CPOs and other kinds of wardens, we are about to get ‘Public Realm’ officers.

With so many layers of management and different kinds of workers, you would think that all Lenton’s problems would disappear in a trice.

There is much to commend Lenton as a place to live and work, but at present the negatives outweigh the positives and families and the better-off are voting with their feet. They are leaving.

The homes they leave are, for the most part, taken over by private landlords to create yet more student housing. The City Council is trying hard to address the problem in terms of getting the powers it needs  control shared housing. However, this in not a solution in itself — it is part of the solution. Other things need to be done now.

Personally, I would like to see an open one-day ‘State of Lenton’ event held led by local residents and groups in partnership with the City Council to kickstart the creation of a Neighbourhood Transformation plan for the Lenton area.

I first published this page on parkviews in January 2009 and took a printed version to a Lenton community meeting in the same month. Various items have since been the subject of other community meeting and private meetings between me, councillors and council officers during 2009, but the sad truth is that little has changed.