Councillor Andrea Davison, North Lincs

North Lincolnshire Council is seeking views about the possible introduction of a new school in the Ashby ward.  As homes are being built on the land behind the Morrisons supermarket at Lakeside Retail Park a primary school is designated for the area too.  The designated secondary school for pupils aged 11 and above living in these new houses will be Brumby Engineering College. However, the existing primary schools for pupils aged four to 11 in the nearby area are not big enough to accommodate the expected number of pupils that will eventually live in the new houses.

A new school will accomodate around 200 pupils and a consultation exercise is now underway. As ward member I would urge local residents to have their say on the proposed school. You can do so by:

• Email to; schoolsservices@northlincs.gov.uk
• Or by letter to The Service Director, Children, Strategy and Partnerships, PO Box 35, Hewson House, Station Road, Brigg, DN20 8XJ.

A public meeting will also take place on Wednesday 10 September at Brumby Engineering College on Cemetery Road in Scunthorpe.  The meeting will start at 6.30pm and council officers will give a presentation about the school. The consultation period will finish on 30 September 2008.

The new Lakeside development is coming on rapidly. The new build houses seem to have appeared overnight! Mick, John and I are lobbying constantly to get the new through road from Timberland to Lakeside opened up. There is a problem with one of the developers, but we are assured that this will happen sooner rather than later.

We've just had our monthly Neighbourhood Action Team (NAT) meeting where local people from resident's associations, local business, Local Police Team, Youth Service, North Lincolnshire Homes and others get together to discuss local issues and problems. Now, don't shoot the messenger, but apparently all is fairly quiet at the moment and antisocial behaviour is a lessening problem. There are a few issues in the Hillary Road area but I understand extra patrols will cover this which should help.

As I mentioned in another blog, congrats to Conrad and the police team for setting up the youth group, ACTIV on a Monday night at the Ashby Community Centre.

Local residents have been working really hard, along with local PC Phil O'Neill to set up a new youth scheme aimed at the under 12's at Ashby Community Centre on Mondays from 4-6pm.

Phil, along with other residents and the local community police team have held their first ACTIV (Ashby Community Team Involvement Venue) session and approximately 32 youngsters attended. Non-contact boxing and football are among the sports offered.

Constable Phil O'Neill, and PCSO's Karen Brader and Steve Barraclough have also given up their own time to help and support this venue.

I think this is a wonderful scheme and is an excellent example of what can be achieved by local residents who want to support their communities.

Ashby also has 'StreetSport' on Fridays on Everest Road which is another very popular scheme, and is very well attended. However the older youths tend to come along to this and so something for the younger age group was sorely needed.

Many residents perceive that youths have 'nothing to do' in our area. Now we have ACTIV on Mondays, the youth club at Ashby Wesley Church on Wednesdays and StreetSport on Fridays.

ACTIV has been set up with no funding whatsoever and are charging only £1 per session to cover costs of the  Community Centre. I cannot praise everyone enough for this. Well done!!!

It was the Ashby NAT (neighbourhood action team) meeting last night; resident's associations, neighbourhood watch groups, police, north lincolnshire homes and safer neighbourhoods were all represented. We're trying to encourage more of the business sector to attend as they do suffer antisocial behaviour problems, especially on Ashby High Street.

The main issue for the NAT to take forward at present is antisocial behaviour, especially in the Southfield/Eastfield Road area, so watch out all you yobs!

 Some dates for your diary: next Friday 28th September, although not strictly in Ashby, one of the residents associations in Lincoln Gardens is running an under 18 event, similar to the old Hypnotize drug and alcohol free disco, at the Lincoln Gardens Community Centre. Tickets are £2.50 and anyone aged 12 to 17 from the locality is welcome (as long as they are drug and alcohol free!). Should be a good night and I understand the DJ's are police officers!

Also, May 24th, 2008 we're hoping to hold a fayre on Everest Road field. Obviously a lot of work to be done yet and this is being run by Pam York, Neighbourhood Watch coordinator for the Derwent Road area. Watch this space for more details as and when.