Ay-up neighbours! 👋

We thought we’d take some time to update you on recent progress made by our community group. You can also check our achievements page at any time for a list of recent wins.

As a reminder, last year you told us that your three main priorities were:

• Better engagement with the Police and Council.
• Sorting out weeds, overgrown trees, leaves and litter in the area.
• Solving traffic-related issues, particularly speeding vehicles.

If you have any other items you’d like us to look at, please submit them for consideration via our Request page. Here you can submit your ideas, or vote for ideas suggested by other residents.

Daley Surveys 🗳️

Before we get into our update proper, we’d be grateful if you could take a few minutes to answer some quick survey questions related to the following:

• Timings and locations for future community meetings.
• Our new website.
• The option of running a garage safari later on in the year.

You can respond to the survey by clicking the link below:

Daley Survey #1

Please note: You’ll need to be logged in to respond. This is to make sure we only collect the views of residents.

Weeding the Rain Gardens 🪏

Hopefully you’ve seen that we’re organising our first community gardening event on Tuesday 10th March at 2:00 pm. Weather permitting, we would like to make a start on weeding the rain gardens ready for them to be replanted later in the year. If you’re interested in volunteering for this, please see our event page.

An Update on Street Trees 🌳

There are currently three branches to this issue…

Tree Maintenance

The Council have agreed to undertake limited minor works (primarily removal of basal growth at the base of trees), but have confirmed they will not fund further trimming where branches overhang into front gardens. However, they will consider approving works funded privately by property owners — provided the works are approved before contractors are instructed.

To help residents obtain best value, we are exploring the option of appointing an approved tree contractor to visit interested properties and provide quotations. If several residents proceed together, this may reduce individual costs.

If you choose to proceed, the contractor would liaise directly with Nottingham City Council for approvals. There is no obligation to accept the quotation and you remain free to liaise with the Council and appoint your own contractor if you prefer.

If you would like us to arrange a quotation, please email info@sherwooddales.org.uk with your name, address and contact number by Sunday 22nd March.

Tree Stump Removal

We remain in discussion with the Council regarding stump removal.

One resident on Bedale Road is looking into carving some of the taller stumps into nature-themed sculptures. The Council is open to trialling this idea; we will share further updates in due course.

Older and shorter stumps are less suitable for carving and should ideally be removed. We will continue to press the Council on this.

Tree Replacement

We are working with the Council and ward Councillors through the Streets for People 4 funding programme to secure new street tree planting where trees have been lost over the years.

You may be surprised to learn that planting a tree within a pavement typically costs around £1,500, due to excavation, engineering and maintenance requirements.

Any proposal for new planting would always be discussed with the resident whose frontage is affected.

For clarity, we are not currently seeking additional tree planting on Bedale Road.

Should you have any further questions regarding trees, please feel free to contact us.

Litter 🚯

We have now set up a network of litter pickers covering our area. For more information, please see our Litter Pickers volunteering page.

A while ago we requested two additional litter bins for the estate – one at the junction of Ribblesdale Road and Edwards Lane and the other at the end of Bedale Road close to the petrol station. The Council has told us they currently have no bins in stock, but will advise us if the situation changes.

Tudor House Medical Practice – Staff Parking 🅿️

Having contacted Tudor House Medical Practice to try to find a solution to staff parking that blocks access to residents’ properties, particularly on Covedale Road, we received the following reply.

We had hoped to arrange for practice staff to park in nearby areas rather than directly outside people’s homes.

Going forward, we will report any incidents where residents are impacted by staff parking outside their properties back to the practice. If this happens to you, please send us a photo via our contact page along with the date, time and location.

Taken for Grant(ed)? 💷

We are committed to keeping the Community Group free and open to everyone. However, there are inevitable running costs, and delivering physical improvements across the estate often requires additional funding.

If you are aware of any grant opportunities that we could apply for — whether to support general running costs or specific improvement projects — we would be very grateful if you could let us know.

We have already applied for National Lottery and Neighbourhood Watch grants, and will let you know if we’re successful.

Together, we can make the most of any funding available to benefit Sherwood Dales and the surrounding area.

Other Bits and Bobs 🛠️

• Thanks to our membership of Neighbourhood Watch, we can get 20% off travel insurance with Staysure. See our Neighbourhood Watch page for more information.
• Some of you have been in touch to ask us about progress on our proposed petition to improve the Ribblesdale Road/Mansfield Road junction. Other issues have taken priority, but we’re hopeful we can make a start before the end of March. If anyone would like to help us lead this, please get in touch.
• We’ve noticed that some of the street signs around the estate are in desperate need of a touch-up. If anyone has a steady hand and some time to spare, please let us know and we can get them refreshed.
• Meadfleet, freeholders of the land around Weaving Gardens, have finally agreed that they are responsible for the ivy which invades the turning space at the end of Covedale Road. They’ve made a start on clearing it, and will continue to maintain it, fingers crossed. We’ve passed on Meadfleet’s details to Covedale residents so that they can chase them again in future should the area be neglected again.
• We were able to get two particularly bad potholes fixed soon after reporting them. They were located on Ridsdale (outside number 22) and at the bottom of Arndale Road.
• We were able to get a particularly troublesome tree root on Bedale Road (outside number 19) removed to stop it from causing more damage. The area has been resurfaced.

As mentioned above, you can check out all of our wins to date on our achievements page.

A Final Word 💬

You may sometimes feel that progress on the issues that matter is slower than you’d like, and you may not agree with every outcome.

Please remember that we are volunteers, giving around ten hours a week each (sometimes considerably more) to improve Sherwood Dales and the surrounding area. Much of that time is spent corresponding with the Council, attending meetings and navigating processes that feel like wading through treacle.

While this newsletter may appear brief, a considerable amount of work takes place behind the scenes.

We won’t always get everything right — and constructive feedback is always welcome — but we are residents and neighbours too, doing our best for the community we all share.

If you have time, skills or energy to offer in helping move projects forward, we would genuinely welcome your involvement. Please take a look at our volunteering page for ideas as to how you can contribute, or alternatively, please consider donating to our group.

Tarrah for now, mi ducks! 🦆

Rob and Steve – Co-Chairs