Government respect

Nottingham’s successful Respect campaign has been praised as ‘pioneering’ by Government. Cabinet Minister Hazel Blears, a University of Nottingham graduate, said the rest of the country could learn from Nottingham’s efforts to tackle grime and low level crime through the Respect for Nottingham campaign. In Nottingham to launch the next phase of the Respect initiative, Ms Blears was particularly impressed by the success of the recent Weeks of Action, taking place in neighbourhoods across the city, helping to cut localised low level crime and tidy up grot- spots.

Nottingham Shop Boom

Nottingham city centre is booming with more than 25 million shoppers visiting in 2006. That’s according to a new report out this week. What’s more, over £1.28bn was spent in city centre shops, making Nottingham one of the most desirable places for top retailers to set up. The city’s thriving shopping scene is good news for shoppers and retailers alike and has outstripped the performance of other cities like Birmingham and Manchester.

£25m boost for city

Nottingham has been awarded nearly £25m to help boost the local economy over the next three years. East Midlands Development Agency has awarded the money to the Greater Nottingham Partnership to help boost business start- ups and to regenerate certain sites in the city. Seven partnerships across the country have been awarded their share of an overall £151m but Nottingham has picked up more cash, per head, than other areas.

A Wireless City

Nottingham has been named by BT as one of five Wireless City projects, alongside Sheffield, Portsmouth, Bristol and Glasgow. They will join 12 cities, already benefiting from wire- free, high-speed broadband coverage, used for easy access to information and services in city centre locations. This is on top of Nottingham’s bid for £7m cash from the Digital City Challenge which is being judged next week.

Smoking stubbed out

Nottingham is leading the way in its mission to stub out smoking in public places. There will be about 30 officers in Nottingham patrolling the city, with the possibility of getting street wardens on board to help make sure the ban is effectively enforced. The smoking ban gets underway on 1st July this year.

And far from finally…

Shoppers have had their first glimpse at the new £1.5m redevelopment of Bridlesmith Walk, linking Bridlesmith Gate and the exciting new POD development in the Lace Market. The Walk will be completed by next month… Unique sensory experience Sonic Forest, will be installed for two weeks in the Old Market Square. The interactive sound and light exhibition will kick off the February half term on Monday and will be one of the first installments in an impressive line up of events and activities to celebrate the opening of Nottingham’s Old Market Square... Congratulations to former Nottingham Trent University MA Fashion and Textiles student Priya Patil. She’s just been awarded the Creative Future Award in India, seeing off over 1000 other young designers and entrepeneurs.