Village News

Upper Saxondale  Broadleaf  Woodland

The Woodland Walk was planted by residents around 2005.  Now almost 20 years later it is time to do some work to ensure its health and longevity.

The land will shortly be transferred from Upper Saxondale Residents Association Community Interest Company (USRAcic ) to Upper Saxondale Parish Council (USPC) who will aim to keep the woodland maintained for the residents and ensure its future as an amenity.  Furthermore, USPC plan to increase the wildlife diversity by increasing the numbers of birds, insects, small mammals, wildflowers, fungi and to introduce native and naturalised trees that are not already there.  With climate change already happening the woodland will become a more precious resource.  Trees like everything else will fight for resources,  such as water, sunlight and nutrients, thus, rather than everything failing to thrive, we need to select the correct trees to maintain.

The main trees that we have are silver birch, oak, beech, ash, hazel, field maple and Guelder rose.

When planting a wood there are always more trees planted than will survive or should survive and therefore management is needed to optimise the trees that are healthy.

USRAcic and the USPC have taken expert advice from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWLT), Tom Petitt who is Conservation Office at Rushcliffe Borough Council, and four different specialist contractors. NWLT will continue to monitor, guide and advise us

Our plan is:

1. Where possible to increase the safety for residents using the woodland.

2. To ensure the woodland’s long term future as a community amenity.

3. To increase diversity of wildlife.

4. To leave dead wood on woodland floor an excellent habitat for insects small rodents and mammals and to create wood piles as another habitat.

5. To leave some dead, but not diseased trees standing as this is also a preferred habitat for some birds.

6. To introduce new native or naturalised trees to ensure diversity for the benefit of wildlife.

7. To avoid over tidying the woodland respecting its natural state and purpose.

The work required is as follows:

1.  Coppicing of hazel to promote regeneration through selective cutting.

2. Removing some silver birch to optimise tree health.

3. Removing weak trees that threaten oaks and beeches.

4. Thinning out where required.

5. Keeping paths clear and safe.

6. Cutting back brambles encroaching on paths.

7. Removing plastic guards from established trees.

This work will be done outside bird nesting times and it is envisaged that it will be done in stages the next 18 months or so, creating the opportunity to assess as we proceed.

The first stage of work is planned to be 19th-21st February 2024

Other work that we will consider:

1. Succession planting, new native and naturalised trees

2. Planting of woodland bulbs and flowers such as wild garlic, red campion, wood anemone, primroses, foxglove, common sorrel, lungwort, woodruff.

3. Introducing more bird boxes.

4. Working with NWLT to assess the woodland floor, field layer, shrub layer, understory and canopy from time to time to ensure the correct balance for a woodland of this nature.

5. Encouraging residents to engage with the management of our woodland, orchard and other areas of the village.

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The Events Committee would like to invite residents of Upper Saxondale to sing Carols around the Christmas Tree just along from Venezia by the village noticeboard.

Download the song sheet or view it online

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas

Road Closure for Resurfacing - Monday 23rd to Friday 27th October 2023

Great news!

DWH contractors will be resurfacing the back road leading to the village hall and bowling club. To keep everyone safe whilst the work is underway, there won’t be any access for vehicles and ideally pedestrians should avoid walking across the road too. This means access to the village hall, tennis courts, play park, woodland walk, orchard and bowling club will be limited.

Apologies for the inconvenience but hopefully you’ll agree the resurfacing will make the road safer for everyone to use once it’s completed.

Refurbishing the pagodas on the open parkland - August 2023

Great news! David Wilson Homes/Barratt Homes (DWH) have updated the Upper Saxondale Parish Council (USPC) on their plans to carry out maintenance to the pagodas on the parkland now that the tunnels works have been successfully completed. Work will start on Monday 21st August.

DWH have said “The next phase of works to be undertaken will be maintenance to the pagodas, and similar to the tunnels works, there will be plant and operatives working around each pagoda at various times.

Whilst we will be taking the utmost care to protect the wildlife and trees during these necessary works, we will require the residents cooperation in order for works to be carried out in a timely and safe manner.  Therefore, we would be grateful if these areas could be avoided and that children and pets are supervised, with dogs kept on leads. 

We anticipate these works to commence on 21 August and last for a duration of approximately 8 weeks.

The works will take place during normal working hours and we will make every endeavour to keep noise and disruption to a minimum, where possible.”

Regards
Ian Storey
Chair, USRA and USPC

Bingham Scout Group Proposal for Village Church Building - August 2023

USRA has been contacted by the Bingham Scout Group regarding the Scout Group's proposal to acquire (for a nominal amount) the church building at Upper Saxondale from the Rock Church, who acquired it when the original owners, the Catalyst Church, merged with the Rock Church a few years ago. The Scout Group intend to use the building as their permanent base, with scout meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. More information is given in their proposal document.

We believe that David Wilson Homes (DWH) have a right of pre-emption over the building for £1, but it seems that they will consent to the transfer to the Scout Group. There is also a covenant that the building should only be used for religious purposes, however the Scout Group tell us that the beneficiary of the covenant (which we assume is also DWH) is prepared to amend the covenant to allow use by the Scout Group.

The Scout Group will need to apply to Rushcliffe BC for planning consent for the change of use. The Upper Saxondale Parish Council will be asked by Rushcliffe for its views, and the application will therefore be discussed at a future Parish Council meeting. Residents will be invited to the meeting as observers in the normal way, and will also have the opportunity to express their views at the meeting. So far as we are aware no planning application has yet been submitted, and when submitted it could of course differ in some respects from their proposal document.

Regards
Ian Storey
Chair, USRA

Pagodas on the open parkland June 2023

David Wilson Homes/Barratt Homes (DWH) are about to start work on filling in the tunnels that still exist in the open parkland around the pagodas. This letter, which will be hand delivered by DWH to homes that are adjacent to the open parkland, gives more details about what's being planned and the potential impact it will have whilst the work is underway.  In addition, DWH has confirmed that:

"The site set up and minor excavation works will take place week commencing 10 July 2023 and actual concreting works starting the week after on the 17 July 2023. 
We will try to do this with as little disruption as possible, however the work will involve around 80 concrete deliveries spread over 5 days. 
We will be utilising the back road for deliveries."

Later in the summer DWH will carry out maintenance work on the pagodas. We will update you again when we have more news to share.

Saxondale Drive road closure 27th Feb to 3rd March 2023

We've just heard from Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) that their contractors, Via East Midlands, will be carrying out patch resurfacing work on Saxondale Drive to fix the potholes, on the stretch from the A52 to the T-junction at the top. The work runs from Monday 27th February to Friday 3rd March, with closures in place from 8:00am to 3:30pm each day but access for emergency vehicles will be maintained at all times. The diversion is via Henson Lane to the old A46. 

Homes on Saxondale Drive received the attached letter giving more details about the works. You can also see the map online at:
https://www.viaem.co.uk/via-in-nottinghamshire/roadworks-in-nottinghamshire/
Search for NG12 2JL, filtered by the next 3-months.

NCC/Via East Midlands will also liaise with local and school bus services about the road closure.

Gas Pipe Repairs on Henson Lane August 2022

A bit of an update on the gas leak on the corner of Henson Lane / Saxondale Drive.

The crumbling iron gas pipe has been patched so many times that it now needs a different approach to fix the problem. So, Cadent has instructed their specialist contractors to encase the section of leaky pipe, running across Henson Lane, in a silicone box to prevent further leaks. However, longer term the entire legacy iron gas pipes may need replacing. This is a much bigger and costlier project which will involve more digging up of the road and pavements, and potentially some of our gardens too where the pipes run across then, eek!

The encasing work will take place next week with the road reopening soon afterwards. We’ll update you again when we have more news to share.

USRAcic AGM July 2022

The next AGM is being held on Monday 18th July from 7pm to 9pm in the village hall. This will also be an open meeting for all Upper Saxondale residents. Please come along and join in the discussions about what’s happening in your community and how you can get involved too. The more volunteers who come forward to help, the more we can do together to care for and improve our village. Follow these links for the agenda and minutes from the previous General Meeting, held in February 2020. If you wish to ask any questions at the AGM then it would be helpful to email them ahead of the meeting to info@uppersaxondale.com.

Rushcliffe Borough Council Parish Consultation (June 2022)

Parish Council status is progressing with the final stage of the consultation with village residents taking place now. You should have received a leaflet through your letterbox from Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC), which details their recommendations, but do let us know if not. We encourage you to participate in the final stage of this process by responding to RBC with your wishes even if you had previously responded to the earlier stages of the consultation.

Defibrillator Awareness Training (June 2022)

Two sessions are being held on Wednesday 8th June 2022
Session 1 - 3:30-4:30pm in Venezia Restaurant
Session 2 - 7:45-9:00pm in the village hall

There’s no need to book, just turn up to whichever session you can attend! For more details see the defibrillator training page.

🎉 We’re hosting an afternoon tea party to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 🎉

Sadly the Queen won’t be there but we will, so come and join in the family fun on Friday 3rd June from 2:30pm to 4:30pm in the village hall.

You can find more details, and an online form to book your tickets, on the village website Jubilee page.

Volunteers needed to help look after the village hall bookings (February 2022)

Unfortunately we’ve had to temporarily suspend one-off bookings, such as for children’s parties, due to the lack of volunteers to help look after the village hall. If you live in our village and can spare some time to help, then please get in touch with info@uppersaxondale.com

Electoral Ward Boundary Proposal and Parish Petition (February 2022)

We have promising news to share! You can read the details on our village website.

Village Hall Friday Coffee Morning (January 2022)

Our wonderful Coffee and Cake Team are back serving tasty treats and delicious drinks every Friday from 10:30am to 12:30pm. The team are always looking for help with making cakes and serving customers. If you would like to volunteer on Friday mornings then please email us at info@uppersaxondale.com