Kay Cutts

About Kay

Kay Cutts became Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council following the County Elections in June 2009, having previously been Leader of the Opposition since Autumn 2000. She has served as the County Councillor for Radcliffe-on-Trent division since 1989.

Kay was born and brought up in Nottinghamshire and has lived in Normanton-on-the-Wolds since 1963. She is married to Nigel, who is chairman of the local parish council.

Kay's political career started in 1972 when she was elected as a parish councillor for Normanton-on-the-Wolds. She then served as a Rushcliffe Borough Councillor before joining Nottinghamshire County Council.

Upon her appointment as Leader, Councillor Cutts said: "We’re looking forward to refocusing the County Council. Local taxpayers are our customers and we will be working to give them the high quality services they pay for and deserve."

Kay continues to undertake school governor duties and regularly attends parish council meetings in her division. She is available to meet constituents at any convenient time, at a suitable venue. Her contact details are displayed on the left of this page.  

Kay's latest Councillors' Divisional Fund awards...

Each Nottinghamshire County Councillor now has an annual fund of £10,000 to support worthy initiatives in the division they represent. The Councillors' Divisional Fund aims to make use of each councillor's 'grass roots' knowledge to identify projects, events, people and clubs that work hard to benefit and promote their local area, but often lack access to resources. Even a small amount of funding can sometimes make a huge difference. 

If you know of a deserving initiative in the Radcliffe on Trent division that might be eligible to receive a CDF grant, please contact me. You can click the following link to read the eligibility guidance criteria.   

Follow this link to the Councillors' Divisional Fund web page to see some of the latest projects I have been able to support.

Kay's latest news... 

Council tax frozen for the fourth consecutive year

At the Nottinghamshire County Council budget meeting on 28^th February 2013, I joined my Conservative colleagues in voting to freeze county council tax for a fourth consecutive year.

In the 2013/14 financial year, Nottinghamshire County Council will be investing: - 

• an extra £13.3 million in services to children and young people;

• an extra £17.9 million in adult social care;

• an extra £3 million on the county’s highways;

• an extra £500,000 for a Youth Employment Strategy; and

• an extra £700,000 for our ‘Olympic Legacy’ sports development fund.

This followed our ‘Big Budget Conversation’ consultation process, in which 65% of Nottinghamshire respondents supported a council tax freeze, with only 21% against. Further information on the results of the Big Budget Conversation can be found in Appendix A to the budget report.

Nottinghamshire County Council is now spending over £40 million more on services to vulnerable adults than it was four years ago, and over £35 million more on services to vulnerable children.

(Posted 8/3/2013)

Exciting news for National Water Sports Centre

I'm delighted to report a multi-million pound investment plan set to secure the long-term future of the National Water Sports Centre as one of the UK’s premier outdoor leisure attractions. Nottinghamshire County Council has announced Serco as the preferred bidder to manage, operate and maintain the site. The proposal will bring a total of £6.7m investment into the centre, which includes a £1.6m contribution from the County Council. At the same time, it is estimated that the operation, management and investment proposals will save the council over £14m in revenue costs over the life of the 21-year contract. The bid proposals promise enhancements to facilities across the site including:-

• A refurbished main building with improved and enhanced accommodation, catering and conferencing facilities.
• State-of-the-art community fitness facilities within a new larger gym and performance gym.
• Campsite improvements and developments featuring upgrades to the existing changing block and new outdoor wooden ‘camping pods’ set in small community groups.
• Refurbished changing facilities in the main building and at the ski tow, plus a fantastic new catering offer at the slalom course.
• An exciting new “Sky Trail” high ropes course that will challenge the whole family on a large scale climbing adventure.
• An adventure golf course located in the new ‘family’ zone.
• New activities on site such as Outdoor Laser Quest, Segways, cycle hire and many more water based activities.

More details can be found in the media release issued on 30^th January.

(Posted 4/2/2013)

Bassetlaw Day Service centre revamped

I was delighted to meet service users at the official opening of a Worksop day service building that has received a £1.87m transformation to improve the facilities on offer and make it a more attractive environment for service users. Nottinghamshire County Council has extensively refurbished the Bassetlaw Day Service centre on Albion Close, formerly known as Eastgate Day and Community Support Service, as part of a £6m modernisation of day service bases across the county.

The building has been fitted with multi-purpose activity rooms, an audio sensory room, comfortable lounges, salon and dining area. New toilets, showers and changing facilities with adaptations for use by older people and people with disabilities have also been installed.

The service was previously only used by people with physical disabilities but the refurbishment allows the centre to offer a wide range of activities to older people and people with learning disabilities. Activities include arts and crafts, sports, educational and leisure pursuits, horticulture and community based activities.

The improved centre is expected to be used by an estimated 536 people per week throughout the Bassetlaw district. The building will also be available for use by the wider community, with groups being able to hire rooms for meetings and activities when not in use by the day service.

Nottinghamshire County Council decided to modernise its day services following a countywide review. One conclusion from the review was that the day services were not making efficient use of buildings, which were operating at an average of just 39 percent of their capacity. Following the programme of improvement works across the county, day services will operate from 14 multi-purpose buildings, including Bassetlaw Day Service.

(Posted 29/1/2013)

Visits to local businesses

Nottinghamshire County Council is sounding out businesses on its economic development plans and proposals to stimulate growth and jobs. Recently I led a delegation of committee chairmen and council officers to visit the award winning Southwell-based business, Advanex Europe. 

Advanex specialises in design and manufacture of metal and plastic components, springs and assemblies to sectors as diverse as medical, pharmaceutical, aerospace, electronics and agricultural engineering manufacturers. The meeting and tour was the latest of a series of visits to companies throughout the county to talk to local businesses about the issues facing them, local growth plans and how the Council can provide support.

Senior Councillors have made twelve formal visits to Nottinghamshire firms in the last two years, including Laing O'Rourke (Worksop), Alliance Boots (Beeston), Abacus Lighting (Sutton-in-Ashfield), Synseal (Huthwaite), British Sugar (Newark), Hardstaffs (Gotham) and British Geological Survey (Keyworth).

There's no substitute for getting out there and seeing how our businesses are doing on the ground. Often there are actions the County Council can take which make a huge difference to businesses and their employees - from small things like tweaking a bus route or trading standards advice to major infrastructure projects such as improving the A453 and faster broadband.

Karl Sirrell, Regional Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses and Mark Chivers, Director of Nottinghamshire Enterprise Zone (Alliance Boots) recently became co-opted members of the County Council's Economic Development Committee. And businesses from throughout the county were involved in the production of Nottinghamshire's first Growth Plan, which is out for consultation until 7 December. It can be viewed at: http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/growthplan

(Updated 17/12/2012)  

New telephone number for Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire County Council has launched a new telephone number 0300 500 80 80 which is cheaper than the previous 08449 number. The change to 0300 500 80 80 means that wherever you live in Nottinghamshire, you'll pay a local call rate when you get in touch with the Council. Calls to 0300 numbers are included in all-inclusive minutes and discount schemes offered by telecoms and mobile phone providers, meaning that some calls are even free of charge.

To celebrate, the County Council's Customer Service Centre has revealed some of the strangest requests it has received since it was launched in 2008, including a lady requesting an audience with The Queen and someone asking if it's okay to exercise their kestrel at a local tip!

(Posted 14/11/2012)

Civic celebration of local Olympians heralds major new commitment to Nottinghamshire sport  

On Tuesday 9^th October, Nottinghamshire County Council hosted a Civic Reception at Trent Bridge, the home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, to celebrate the successes of local athletes, coaches and other key contributors to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Dressage rider Sophie Wells and swimmer Ollie Hynd are among the local athletes funded through the county council's Shining Stars Scheme who have won gold medals at the Games. In total, ten athletes who are funded through Shining Stars represented Team GB, receiving an annual grant of £2,012 to help with transport and travel costs.

Some of the highlights for Nottinghamshire at London 2012 included:- 

• Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie (gold) and David Florence and Richard Hounslow (silver) taking canoe slalom medals having all trained at the National Water Sports Centre managed by the county council;
• Two bronze medals at the Aquatics Centre for Mansfield’s Rebecca Adlington whose swimming club Nova Centurion receives an annual grant from the county council;
• Shining Star medal successes including Richard Whitehead (gold), Sam Oldham (Gymnastics, bronze) and Charlotte Henshaw (swimming, silver);
• Nottinghamshire County Council staff Maggie Else and Pete Edwards named as line judges for the Boccia tournament at the Paralympics. 

At the Civic Reception, Culture Committee Chairman Councillor John Cottee announced that the Council would respond to Lord Coe’s London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy plea with compelling investment plans to help produce future sports stars. The event saw the launch of proposals for a £1 million Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Fund to support sports development across Nottinghamshire. There will be two streams of funding – Kick Start grants of £500-£10,000 and Game Changer grants of £10,000 to £50,000 to help local sports organisations promote sport and nurture talent to find the sports stars of the future.

Plans were also announced for funding of £900,000 to Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club to part-fund a new scoreboard and replay screen, a commitment made to guarantee that Trent Bridge hosts two Ashes Tests over the next four years, bringing an estimated £30 million of economic benefit to the county.

The cricket club plans to introduce a three-year, fully funded, "Positive Futures" social inclusion programme in Hawtonville, Newark worth £270,000 over three years. It is modelled on the successful Cotgrave Positive Futures programme, which has tackled youth crime and social exclusion in the last four years.

(Posted 19/10/2012)

RSPCA animal ambulance campaign 

I was pleased to make a donation of £500 from my Councillors' Divisional Fund to the RSPCA Radcliffe Animal Shelter Trust towards their campaign to raise £20,000 for a new animal ambulance.

The current animal ambulance is 12 years old and desperately needs replacing to ensure that animals in need can be transported to the shelter comfortably and that daily runs to the vet can be made with animals in the RSPCA's care.

One example of an animal that benefited from the current ambulance is an emaciated terrier found by a member of the public, ironically wrapped in a "bag for life", in a Ruddington car park. The dog was on the brink of death and, without the animal ambulance, would not have received veterinary attention quickly enough.

The RSPCA Radcliffe Animal Shelter Trust is an independent charity that receives no financial assistance from the RSPCA, The National Lottery or Government. They have to raise all of their funds from local people, companies and other organisations.

I was happy to visit the shelter to present the CDF cheque, meet the dedicated staff and see some of the animals in their care. If anybody would like to make donation towards the new animal ambulance, the shelter will gratefully accept cash, cheque or credit card contributions stating it is for the Animal Ambulance Fund.

(Updated 21/8/2012)

Olympic success

The Olympics have well and truly caught the imagination of the nation and it is fantastic to be able to celebrate the efforts and success of competitors from Nottinghamshire.  

Mansfield's Rebecca Adlington has done fantastically well to follow up her gold medal success of four years ago with two bronze medals this time, in the 400 metre and 800 metre freestyle. Nottinghamshire County Council provides an annual grant to her swimming club, Nova Centurion and we are proud of her achievements.  

I was delighted to join family and friends of Keyworth's Sam Oldham at The Plough Inn in Normanton-on-the-Wolds to watch and celebrate his bronze medal success with the GB men's gymnastics team. As you can see from the picture the union flags were flying and it was so pleasing to see Sam achieve the result he deserved for years of dedication and hard work.  

Nottinghamshire County Council is proud to have played a part in the development of these excellent young competitors and many other local athletes through our Shining Stars fund.

Great Britain canoeists Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie, David Florence and Richard Hounslow, who have all spent most of their careers in Nottingham, won Olympic gold and silver medals in the two-man canoe slalom.

Stott and Baillie won gold in a time of 106.41 seconds and Florence and Hounslow claimed silver in 106.77.

All four of them have trained at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont. Florence, Stott and Baillie were students at the University of Nottingham, while Hounslow graduated from Nottingham Trent University. Congratulations to them and indeed all of Nottinghamshire's 2012 Olympians - you've done the county and the country proud.

(Updated 9/8/2012)

A453 preparation works underway

As reported in the Nottingham Post, preparations are under way for the planned expansion of the A453. In May 2011 Nottinghamshire County Council pledged £20m towards the scheme if it was bought forward and in November 2011 the Government announced that it would indeed be fast-tracked, bringing a potential £540 million boost to the local economy.

(Posted 1/8/2012)

Outstanding Ofsteds in Rushcliffe

Twenty three primary, secondary schools and academies in Rushcliffe have been awarded an Outstanding Ofsted in their last inspection. 

I joined the Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Carol Pepper to welcome more than 150 guests to a reception at County Hall. Headteachers and chairmen of governors from more than 70 schools, special schools, children’s residential homes, children’s centres and the youth justice service from across Nottinghamshire attended the reception which recognised and celebrated the achievements of the county's children's services providers.

Councillor Philip Owen, Chairman of the Children and Young People’s committee, said he was delighted that so many schools and other children’s services had achieved such high standards. He added: "To see so many head teachers and governors receiving awards is testament to the excellent academic standards in Nottinghamshire schools."

The full list of schools and academies in Rushcliffe judged to be outstanding by Ofsted are:

Archbishop Cranmer C of E (Aided) Primary School, Aslockton
Robert Miles Infant School, Bingham
Carnarvon Primary School, Bingham
Cropwell Bishop Primary School
Crossdale Drive Primary School, Keyworth
St Peter’s C of E Primary School, East Bridgford
Flintham Primary School
James Peacock Infant and Nursery School, Ruddington
Kinoulton Primary School
Langar C of E Primary School
Orston Primary School
Radcliffe on Trent Junior School
Robert Miles Junior School, Bingham
St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary, West Bridgford 
Candleby Lane School, Cotgrave
Tollerton Primary School
West Bridgford Infant School
West Bridgford Junior School
Willoughby Primary School
The Becket School, West Bridgford
Toot Hill School, Bingham
The West Bridgford School

(Posted 31/7/2012)

Vicarage Lane improvements

Residents in Vicarage Lane in Radcliffe-on-Trent are feeling safer on their way into the village following the completion of work by Nottinghamshire County Councils’ Local Improvement Scheme (LIS). Residents complained that they had to walk on the road as the lane did not have a footpath. A number of warden aided flats and a cemetery are located on the lane.

As local councillor I was pleased to approve an application to the LIS and the work was carried out by Nottinghamshire County Council's Highways department. The scheme saw a new footpath installed as well as new street lighting, road resurfacing, drainage work and bollards installed to protect the grass verges. This is a perfect example of a small amount of money being spent on a project that makes a big difference to local residents.

(Posted 30/7/2012)

New ramp at Radcliffe-on-Trent skate park

I was delighted to officially unveil a new 8ft ramp at Radcliffe-on-Trent skatepark - a £21,500 project funded by Nottinghamshire County Council's Local Improvement Scheme.

The park in Wharf Lane celebrated its 15^th birthday recently with more than 1,500 families and young people joining in the fun. It attracts young people from across Nottinghamshire and is considered one of the best in the Midlands. There are now 13 ramps on the site and the facility is regularly used by children from as far afield as Grantham, Newark and Mansfield.

Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN ) contributed a further £15,000 towards a large Union Jack transfer inscribed with rsp (Radcliffe skatepark) across it. Renowned graffiti artist Steve Dilk also decorated the new ramp with specially commissioned art

I’m delighted that over the last few years the Local Improvement Scheme has funded a number of improvements at the park. Regular BMX rider Jack Wright from Radcliffe-on-Trent said: "One of the best things about living here is the skatepark. My friends and I use it all the time and the new ramp is fantastic – I can’t wait to have BMX challenges on it."

For those interested in finding out more, the skate park has its own impressive website with information about the history of the facility, the various pieces of equipment, latest scheduled events, a photo gallery and instructions on how to get there. Visit:

http://radcliffeskatepark.co.uk/

(Posted 27/7/2012) 

Improvements to Cliff Top  

Thanks to Nottinghamshire County Council's Local Improvement Scheme, one of Radcliffe on Trent’s favourite dog walking routes, Cliff Top, has undergone a number of improvements following requests by residents. I was pleased to support the £15,000 project in response to a number of reported accidents due to the path being uneven and slippery with a number of large potholes.

Cliff Top has always been a favourite route for dog walkers as a picturesque area with breathtaking views, so I’m delighted that the improvements have been completed and people can continue to use it.

As a self-confessed dog lover I decided to check out the improvements with the help of some dogs from the local RSPCA shelter. I was joined on Cliff Top by Barney, a one-year-old St Bernard; Suzy, a two-year-old three-legged Lurcher; Nellie, a four-year-old Border Terrier and Ella, a two-year-old Border Terrier cross. Over the years I’ve loved walking my own dogs as it’s great exercise out in the fresh air.

The RSPCA shelter is currently trying to raise £20,000 for a new animal ambulance and donations can be made by visiting http://www.rspca-radcliffe.org.uk and clicking on the DONATE NOW link or cash/cheque donations can be made in person at the shelter.

(Updated 18/4/2012)

St Mary's Church wall restoration

The church wall at St Mary’s Church in Radcliffe on Trent has been restored thanks to funding from Nottinghamshire County Council's Local Improvement Scheme (LIS).

The £11,000 project saw a professional stonemason using the traditional method of lime mortar pointing and replacing damaged stone with locally sourced Bulwell sandstone.

St Mary’s Church is a Grade II listed building as are 99 of the headstones within the churchyard. The church is a significant landmark in the village and I’m delighted that the Local Improvement has funded these much needed improvements. I’m sure most people who walk, cycle or drive past the church will notice the work.

(Posted 20/4/2012)

Success!  The A453 gets the green light!

I am absolutely delighted by the Chancellor’s announcement that the Government is fast-tracking the widening of the A453. This is the best Christmas gift that businesses and residents in Nottinghamshire could have, bringing a £540m boost to the East Midlands economy.  

In May this year, Nottinghamshire County Council pledged £20m towards the scheme if it was bought forward. Since that pledge was made, the campaign to widen the road has garnered support from the local business community and other local councils, including a pledge of £500,000 towards the scheme from Rushcliffe Borough Council in October.

The A453 has been on the Council’s wishlist since the 1970s. At last it is going to happen and I am thrilled for local businesses and commuters alike. I want to particularly thank East Midlands Airport, Boots, RH Freight, Hardstaffs, the Nottingham Post newspaper and partner authorities for their support in this campaign.

In the five years up to October 2010, there were 185 accidents involving personal injury on just the Nottinghamshire part of the A453. The Nottinghamshire section of the road is the second most congested part of the national road network after a short section of the M25. This congestion has been costing larger businesses as much as £100,000 a year because of increased fuel usage, difficulty reaching customers, abandoned journeys and accident costs.

Finally, we can look forward to smoother and safer journeys on this vital road link through Nottinghamshire from the M1 and I am immensely pleased that the Government has listened to our determined campaign.  

(Posted 29/11/2011)