Ainsley Area Resident Association Meeting

First Meeting of the newly formed association met on Monday 21st April 2008. Some people seemed quite nervous of each other as some had only really just met. It was nice to really meet some new people from our estate that I would probably not have met before or probably ever. Hopefully more residents will attend future meetings but the turnout wasn't too bad at all. A variety of ages of people which is always important. The local Lib Dem Councillors attended together. I only really met Alex Foster last week. He seemed a really personable man and a pleasure to meet. Gary Long has been our councillor for some time and is a very knowledge person and always has time for local people.

We are mainly trying to get an open space owned by the school opened for public use as it has fell in to disrepair but because of legislation, inter-department funding and liability seem to be rather big mountains to climb. We will have to wait and see.

AGM of the Ainsley Area Tenants and Residents Association

Tonight was the AGM of the local residents association which was attended by several residents, Local Councillor Alex Foster, a member of Nottingham City Council Neighbour team and a member of Nottingham City Homes.

The previous members of the RA have seem to have dissipated except one fellow. Having seen a documentary of the BBC regarding a Grandma form London who travelled to Plymouth to try and transform an estate as she did her own was quite inspiring. It did show that people generally do still want a sense of community but are initially reluctant. This showed in the AGM when it came to voting for new members for the Residents Association as people seem to feel that it is going to go anywhere.

I thought that we can't just sit there and complain about certain things on the estate not being done if you are not willing to hold your hand up and be counted. To this end I thought I would put myself forward as Secretary and thankfully the previous member of the TRA put himself forward as Chairman. At least this will give some continuity to the proceedings.

We have a field on our estate that used to be a playing field but has become derelict and the previous TRA did a lot of initial work with regard to getting it sorted out again but unfortunately this plan was never put in to action. This is a shame as they did a lot of work with regard to the legal position and liability which is a consequence of society today. Hopefully with this work done we should be able to move forward at a good speed and at least see some results.

One problem I felt last time was there seemed little communication with the residents so a sense of community and ownership of any projects would be little forthcoming. Hopefully as a new committee we can improve this.

The next meeting is on Monday 21st April at 6.30pm.

This will give us a chance as a refreshed group to see if we can make a difference.

http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/area3

http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/nchl_home/getting_involved/tenant___residents_associations_.htm