Fuller, Heather

From: DEPIERO, Gloria Sent: 31 July 2015 09:22 To: reviews Subject: Enquiry Attachments: VSboundary reduced.pdf

Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Completed

Local Government Boundary Commission for 14th Floor Millbank Tower Millbank SW1P 4QP Our Ref:

31 July 2015

Re:

I have been contacted by the above constituent.

Please see the attached email.

I would appreciate it if you could investigate the matter and advise me accordingly.

Yours sincerely

Gloria De Piero MP for Ashfield

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1 Email:

28th July2015

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing further in response to the Boundary Review and the proposed changes in relation to the current ward of Beauvale. My comments are in relation to the proposal to combine Brinsley with Eastwood rather than keep the current ward of Beauvale (Brinsley with ). Ergo my comments may then be applied to consideration for the removal and the abandonment of the whole of the Beauvale Ward. I am writing as a resident of Brinsley, however until recently, I have also been a .

I have grave concerns over such a proposed change due to the very different needs between a rural village and town. I am concerned that the Parish of Brinsley would not be adequately represented if combined with the town of Eastwood. It would be very hard to identify many commonalities between the two areas. Our needs are very different and wide ranging, whereas currently the Parish of Brinsley shares similarities and priorities with our nearest neighbour Greasley. I have included within my correspondence evidence to support my statements and comments and where able have provided reference to sources. My own comments are indicated with bold text and bullet points.

• Your recent draft consultation document refers to a major road link between Eastwood and Brinsley, however it needs highlighting that the very road you refer to passes through Greasley, our nearest neighbour, before reaching Eastwood. In the other direction the very same road connects with Underwood in the Selston Parish. Brinsley also has a good road link to the Village of Jacksdale. I would question therefore whether this is a persuasive argument to support your proposal, I am of the firm opinion your statement serves no purpose in validating your recommendations. • Previous consultation documents shows a response from a Cllr who favours Brinsley merging with Eastwood, and states that Brinsley residents shop in Eastwood. For your information we have our own Post Office, newsagents, hairdressers, pharmacy, minimarket and mobile library in Brinsley. We also travel further afield for our shopping, beyond Eastwood, as there is lack of ‘expected’ town centre /high street names sited there. There is an abundance of take away and charity shops though. Additionally I must point out that the catchment secondary school for Brinsley children is Selston High School, the clue is in the name and not situated in Eastwood! Maybe this response is borne out of the fact that the Cllr represents a ward that would gain from your proposals?

“while we acknowledge that Brinsley is a village, our tour of the area confirmed that it has good road links into the north of Eastwood.”

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• The two share the course of what is known as the Brinsley Brook and furthermore share and enjoy greenbelt land and its footpaths. As you will see from the maps.Shown below, maps taken from DH Lawrence collection (Nottingham University)

3 • I would suggest that these long standing shared boundaries would be a strong argument to keep the two parishes together, given your own criteria below.

“- the desirability of arriving at boundaries that are easily identifiable - the desirability of fixing boundaries so as not to break any local ties “

4 • The relationship between the two Parishes has been positively enjoyed for many years in addition to the great historical significance shared by both over many centuries that is well documented. To change this now would change the course of history forever. This is of great concern not only for the years ahead but also for future generations to come.

• As you will read on the following pages not only is the relationship between Brinsley and Greasley made clear you will also note that the reference to Beauvale is frequent, therefore I would also like to make clear that the removal of the ward of Beauvale would eradicate a long established name that has great significance to both Parishes. Indeed DH Lawrence looked towards Brinsley over the Parish of Greasley describing it as ‘the country of my heart’. He was not looking the other way into Eastwood!

The following text is from a desktop search History (nottshistory.org.uk)

Sheep+farming for wool had invaded Brinsley by 1281, for in that year Margery, widow of Gilbert de Brunnesley, the late lord of the manor, gave a bond to Robert Scot, a woolstapler of Nottingham to deliver to him half a sack of clean wool from her farm here by a specified date. The village was growing and in 1303 Roger de Brunnesley had licence to have "a chapel in Brinsley in the parish of Greasley." Until that date the inhabitants had parished at Greasley, whose church was two miles away and difficult of access in bad weather, but henceforward they would probably be allowed to worship in this chapel except upon special occasions when all had to attend the mother church

Early mining.

The tandem headstocks on the site of Brinsley Colliery date from 1872. The coal reserves at Brinsley were exhausted by 1930 (photo: A Nicholson, 2003). In 1392 the vicar of Greasley was granted licence to bestow upon Beauvale Priory a gift of messuages, lands and rents, part of which lay in Brinsley and the rest in neighbouring villages. In 1400 the priory, by an exchange of lands with Thomas Samon, obtained "divers messuages, lands, coals, &c., in Selston, Underwood, Risshall in Selston, and in Brynnesley and Brynnesley Asshe." This is the earliest known reference to coal+getting here, assuming that the reference to coal applied to Brinsley, which is probable. Coal was then becoming more generally used, and there must have been a considerable outcrop. The Geological Survey states that "the outcrop of top hard coal, stretching visibly from, Eastwood, may be seen (1909) forming the floor of the quarry of the Stone Road Brick Works at Brinsley," but it was not until late in the 18th century that collieries were established in this vicinity though there had been workings at Selston in mediaeval time. It may have been because of this industry that the village was able to send as many as 14 men to the military muster in the time of Henry VIII. The Brunnesley interest ended early in the 17th century, when Gilbert Brinsley sold the manor to Gilbert Millington, and the manor+house and demesne to Patrick Cocke and others. During the Civil War, Millington was a prominent Parliamentarian, and when the war was over he sat as one of the regicides who condemned the king to death. At the Restoration he was similarly condemned, but making abject submission, he saved his life, but not liberty, and died after seven years' captivity. Wm. Cocke, on the other hand, fought for Charles, preserved his estate in 1660 by a fine of £195, and in 1659 participated in Sir George Booth's rebellion; and escaped further penalty by the coming of the Restoration.

5 The subsequent history of Brinsley has been uneventful. In 1669 the village blacksmith, Robert Horsley, issued copper tokens to overcome the prevalent shortage of small change, and in 1733 the Duke of Newcastle fifteen farms brought in a total rental of only £145. Most, of the local soil was still waste: it was not until 1775 that the enclosure took place and the land was developed; about that time the coal industry was expanding and New Brinsley came into being the making of the canal expediting this progress. In 1838 a chapel+of+ease was erected, which was enlarged in 1877. In 1861 Brinsley became an ecclesiastical parish and in 1896 it was created a civil parish, carved out of Greasley. A century ago Brinsley was "a neat village" with a population of 1,139 now, thanks to its collieries and brickyards, the number of its inhabitants has nearly doubled. It was at the pit here that D.H. Lawrence's father went to work at the age of seven, and that distinguished author introduced local scenes into his "Sons and Lovers" where the village appears as Selby.

The last 100 years have witnessed important changes. Kimberley has been carved out of the parish: Brinsley was detached in 1861; in 1877 Giltbrook and Gilthill were transferred to it from Nuthall which received Greasley's outlying portion of Hempshill. The Duke of Rutland's Castle Farm Estate passed to the Grammers and Earl Cowper, the Barbers and Rollestons became chief local owners. But the aspect, especially around Beauvale, preserves much of its old woodland charm and D. H. Lawrence++the Nottinghamshire Thomas Hardy++has portrayed it in his various works. The Graymede of his "White Peacock" is Felley Priory: Moorgreen reservoir he calls Nethermere and High Close is the Lamb Close at the wider end of the lake. Beside the water is the former shooting+box of Earl Cowper who died in 1905, its High Park Wood covering hundreds of acres with a Robin Hood's Well and an open glade which in bygone times was famous as a haunt for rustic dancers.

Accounts of the churchwardens of Greasley who paid the early church expenses of Kimberley and of Brinsley) was, for some few years, worked from Greasley. On the 26th of June, 1861, an Order of Her Majesty in Council erected Brinsley into a separate District Chapelry. The church was dedicated to “the Holy Trinity” (though the present incumbent thinks it is “St. James the Great”). The first incumbent of Brinsley was the Revd. Edward Cayley in 1861, who was a perpetual curate until the demise of the, at that time; vicar of Greasley in 1866, after which Brinsley became a vicarage. The next vicar of Brinsley was the Revd. J. D. Gibson, who was instituted in 1868. He was, after his demise succeeded by the Revd. C. E. Roberts in 1874, on whose resignation for a London preferment the present vicar, the Revd. Percival Page was instituted in 1881.

6 • Even today the coffin walk referred to takes place annually with villagers from Brinsley reenacting the walk from the village to Greasley St Mary’s Church.

Article below taken from Nottingham Evening Post

Coffins will be carried through the streets of tiny villages as part of the annual St James's Great Weekend. The weekend will open with a coffin walk, which re-enacts the escapade mourners had to undertake to carry the caskets from one village to the next. The tradition dates back hundreds of years to a time when St James's Church, in Brinsley, was a chapel of rest, which meant burials were not permitted in the churchyard. A full-size coffin will be carried by local funeral directors from the Brinsley church to St Mary's Church in Greasley. The event takes place from 9.30am on July 25. The festival will continue with a boules tournament at 12pm and a bouncy castles, a bar, a community café and children's games from 1.30pm.

• As you will see Brinsley and Greasley have been referenced together in the press for many years.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Brinsley like this:

BRINSLEY, or Brunsley, a hamlet and a chapelry in Greasley parish, Notts. The hamlet lies on the river Erewash, the Nottingham canal, and the Midland railway, near High-Park, 7 miles SE by S of Alfreton; and has a post office, of the name of Brinsley, under Alfreton. Pop., 1,139; chiefly stocking makers and colliers. The chapelry till very recently was annexed to the vicarage of Greasley, but is now a separate benefice.

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The remains of Greasley Castle are to be found in later outbuildings at Greasley Castle Farm. OF the larger Notts parishes that of Greasley ranked second only to Worksop, its boundaries extending over some 20 miles. The hamlets of Kimberley, Brinsley, Watnall, Newthorpe, Moorgreen with Beauvale and an outlying portion of Hempshill were included within its limits, and a castle and two monasteries —Felley and Beauvale — have added interest to its annals. But time has wrought a great change in the Erewash valley. Coal and other industries have transformed it within recent decades; erstwhile rustic little villages have developed into townships invested with autonomous powers and the Greasley of to+day has been shorn of much of its former territory and civil and religious authority. The light sometimes thrown by archaeological discoveries or by the study of place+names is lacking here for no remains of distant antiquity have been revealed and experts confess themselves unable to explain the parish name though, like Grassthorpe, its first part may relate to abounding greensward. It may not be: without significance that Greasley is neighboured by places such as Annesley, Brinsley and Kimberley whose terminals indicate woodland clearings, but all that can safely be assumed is that in early days these were settlements made by Saxons and Danes in the vast forest tracts that stretched northwards from the Trent and westwards to the Peak. By A Stapleton

St Mary's church, Greasley (photo: A Nicholson, 2004). The original parish of Greasley, down to modern times, was, I believe, so far as this county is concerned, second only to the parish of Worksop in point of superficial magnitude. It comprised the six hamlets and constablewicks of Brinsley, Kimberley, Moorgreen, Newthorpe, Watnall Cantelupe, and Watnall Chaworth. Its limits also embraced Babbington Moor, Beauvale, Beggarlee, and the detached territory of Hempshill, as well as the sites of the present Hill Top and Lynn Croft. Hence, it is scarcely necessary to say, the old parochial registers are of greater size and importance than usual, and a similar remark is in some degree applicable to the churchyard memorials, whereon the several members of the ancient parish are fortunately reflected in a great many instances. The original state of affairs obtained down to 1838, when Brinsley Church was built, followed by that of Kimberley in 1847, each having its attached burial+ground. Hence, the continuation of some of the genealogical data chronicled in the parochial records and inscriptions of Greasley must be sought in those of the daughter parishes. Coal and other industries have transformed it within recent decades; erstwhile rustic little villages have developed into townships invested with autonomous powers and the Greasley of to+day has been shorn of much of its former territory and civil and religious authority. The light sometimes thrown by archaeological discoveries or by the study of place+names is lacking here for no remains of distant antiquity have been revealed and experts confess themselves unable to explain the parish name though, like Grassthorpe, its first part may relate to abounding greensward. It may not be: without significance that Greasley is neighboured by places such as Annesley, Brinsley and Kimberley whose terminals indicate woodland clearings, but all that can safely be assumed is that in early days these were settlements made by Saxons and Danes in the vast forest tracts that stretched northwards from the Trent and westwards to the Peak.

8 “The time has come to disperse power more widely in Britain today.”

The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Coalition Agreement, May 2010

For too long, central government has hoarded and concentrated power. Trying to improve people’s lives by imposing decisions, setting targets and demanding inspections from Whitehall simply doesn’t work. It creates bureaucracy. It leaves no room for adaptation to reflect local circumstances or innovation to deliver services more effectively and at lower cost. And it leaves people feeling ‘done to’ and imposed upon - the very opposite of the sense of participation and involvement on which a healthy democracy thrives.

Community identity: reflects the identity and interests of local communities

• Brinsley is the most northern village in the and already suffers from a lack of interest and support from our Borough Council, additionally whilst the Borough of Broxtowe is represented by its own MP for the area we have the additional burden of having representation made by an Ashfield MP. As you must appreciate yet another mismatch in partnership will be extremely detrimental in ensuring the best possible chance of representation and most importantly prioritizing and understanding our own local needs, that of a village not a town. I feel that your proposal would not confirm with the ideology of the Localism Act nor is it compatible with your own statement for criteria, as shown above. Indeed this manipulation of numbers to achieve a goal with scant regard to those affected is an action that would I view as ‘imposing decisions’. To partner Brinsley with Eastwood and to remove the name Beauvale entirely would surely wipe out long established historical local identity. I am of the understanding that a town constituted a single community, so therefore I would find it impossible to understand any benefits afforded to Eastwood with your proposed arrangement. Please see below, taken from Boundary Commission 1970’s when this proposal was put forward and rejected.

A(b) Broxtowe District Brinsley t Parish Council and Eastwood Town p Council both expressed the wish r e not to be included with each other s e in the proposed Eastwood and n Brinsley t

B electoral division and favoured the r i existing arrangements.

9 • Brinsley have a combined Surestart Service (Greasley with Brinsley Childrens Centre)

Brinsley with Greasley Sure Start Children’s Centre Our Centres are: Awsworth Sure Start Children’s Centre • Beeston Central Sure Start Children’s Centre • Beeston North with Lenton Abbey Sure Start Children’s Centre • Brinsley with Greasley Sure Start Children’s Centre • Chilwell Sure Start Children’s Centre • Eastwood Sure Start Children’s Centre • Stapleford Sure Start Children’s Centre •

• Both Parishes with combined priority setting meetings share our Safer Neighbourhood Police Team.

Northern Cluster Safer Neighbourhood Committee meeting The Northern Cluster Neighbourhood Policing Team which covers Brinsley, Awsworth, Cossall, Newthorpe & Giltbrook will be holding a meeting to discuss and set priorities for the next three months. This meeting is open to the general public and key members of the community. The meeting will take place at Eastwood Police Station Nottingham Road Eastwood on Thursday 23rd January 2014 from 7pm to 8.30pm. This is a great opportunity to find out what is going on with policing in your community and have your say. The feedback received at these meetings and the results of completed Neighbourhood Priority Surveys are used to help local beat teams set their priorities, so please take a couple of minutes to complete a survey if you haven't already done so recently. The Neighbourhood Priority Survey can be accessed via the following web address www.neighbourhoodprioritysurvey.co.uk Thank you PCSO 8883 Peter Keeley Northern Cluster Local Beat Team Engagement Type: Safer Neighbourhood Committee meeting

• The sports hall in Eastwood (Broxtowe Borough Council) has now been earmarked for closure, the nearest sports hall facility for Brinsley residents is located at the Greasley Leisure Centre, Dovecote Road. • • The Rolleston and Mansell Trust still to this day reward children in the primary schools of the Beauvale Division who have 100% attendance at school. This was set up in the 19th century and children are still taught about its origins.

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