Mansfield District Council is replacing 3 of its payment offices with new more convenient ways to pay bills and giving residents much more choice in the process. From 1 April this year, customers who prefer to pay Council bills in cash can do so at any Post Office, any PayPoint location, or at Mansfield Civic Centre payment office, which is being retained. As a result of the change, existing Council payment offices at Warsop will close on 31 March. More Information >>>

The Chief Fire Officers proposal to close the Fire Station, along with 5 other Retained stations throughout the county, has been delayed by The Fire Authority. The Fire Authority will officially announce this at a meeting on Friday 25th February 2011. Village and on line petitions, as well as canvassing of Fire Authority members by Parish Councillors and RFU members put enough doubt in the members of the Fire Authority to come to their decision.

The Fire Authority will now recommend that;-
•9.1 The Fire Authority receives the Fire Cover Review from the Chief Fire Officer and agrees to the establishment of a Member led working group to look in depth at the implications relating to the review.
•9.2 The group is to examine jointly with Officers all options associated with the review prior to making a decision over possible public consultation. The working group will present its conclusions to a future meeting of the Fire Authority
•9.3 The working group consist of six Members (two Labour, two Conservative, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Independent) and two Officers of the Service.
It is also understood that the Representative bodies throughout the Fire Service will have input into this working party, of which Adam Moore and Jez Rhodes will be involved both as District Representatives of the Retained Firefighters Union as well as having a vested interest in Edwinstowe Fire Station.

Adam Moore, Chairman of the Nottinghamshire RFU, and a firefighter at Edwinstowe with over 25 years said, “Although we see this as a positive step, we don’t believe for one second that this is the end of the problem. We will not be sitting back, there is too much at stake here, we will continue to campaign to protect the jobs of Retained Firefighters in Nottinghamshire and maintain effective fire cover throughout the communities of Nottinghamshire.” Read the Report >>>>

Mansfield District Council started publishing details of all it’s spending of over £500 with external suppliers from 31st January. The move is in line with the government requirement for all Councils to publish their spending data to encourage greater transparency and accountability with residents and to promote greater efficiency.

The first document published lists every transaction of over £500 made between 1 April and 31 December 2010. From now on, monthly reports will be uploaded to the website shortly after the end of each month. www.mansfield.gov.uk/spending

Some voters will be casting their vote in unfamiliar surroundings at this year’s local elections after a review of polling station locations by Mansfield District Council. Sherwood Junior School in Warsop is normally closed for elections to be used as polling stations. However, following the review, the Council will now be using community buildings including Warsop Methodist Church and the Wellington Close Community Centre in Warsop in their place.

Ruth Marlow, Managing Director and Returning Officer at Mansfield District Council said: “The new arrangements will mean that some people will be voting at a different location to the one they have in previous elections and I would urge all voters to check their poll card which will carry the address of their polling station and a map.” For further information on the Polling Places Review and voting arrangements call Mansfield District Council’s Elections team on 01623 463 345. The full Polling Place Review report together with maps of the new polling districts and stations is available to view on Mansfield District Council’s website at www.mansfield.gov.uk/pollingplaces

Vote for Warsop in the Race to Infinity. BT are rolling out their fast Broadband according to how many votes each area gets. www.racetoinfinity.bt.com