skanky

Not been to the house yet, but the gardens are very big and well worth a visit (even on a hot Sunday we were able to find some quiet, pretty areas to sit. As said above the farmyard is only worth a visit if you have kids. I quite like parking in Baslow and walking in from there (there's a footpath either side of The Cavendish), via the wheelchair friendly kissing gate. The general area is very nice as well, so it's possible to have a nice visit and not spend any money.

Don't hold your breath.

I only do that if I'm under water.

Obviously what's been agreed and what happens may not be the same thing, but the issues were the loan and the fact that the lease wasn't on formal contract. If it's now been placed under legally binding contract, and the upkeep is a condition of the lease, then it does allow the council future recourse if the maintenance isn't met. As the article states, it should make it easier for the PMC to arrange some other funding. There is also a good incentive for them to meet the upkeep obligation as they will be the ones using the buildings. Seems to me to be reasonable compromise solution.

I guess we'll see, and see what happens if they don't,...or if they do.

Yes, the only Lib Dem policy of relevance to this thread is that they have stopped SLH from building on Graves Park (thus protecting previous investment, open space etc., and another charity's interests, amongst others), and found a new home for SLH to move to and build a first class hospice. That's a pretty good record, within this context.

The only failing so far, is not to announce an investigation into how the debacle started.

TBH I would be surprised if they did - I imagine that once one council group initiated the precedent of investigating former councils, they would all feel at risk in future as no party's as pure as the driven snow. Of course that precedent may already have been set, in which case I'll change my opinion

We may need some local investigative journalist who wants to make a name for themselves, to find out what really happened.

Also, I just want to add my congratulations to all on (and off) this thread who helped bring this result. And offer some thanks on behalf of my kids.

Correct me if I'm wrong as it's not a very well written article and a bit ambiguous, but my reading of it is that the loan will be written off, but in return, the core funding will be discontinued (at some point). So after about 11 years, the council will be saving money.

Also, the rent for the buildings will be waived, in return for an equal amount of investment into the maintenance of the buildings each year (thus saving the council the costs of maintenance - which may or may not be similar to the rental costs).

We have trouble with the neighbour's cats, using our gardens as a toilets

 

The smell is disgusting and you have to be careful not to go over it with the lawn mower as it all has to be cleaned off

 

I suppose cat owner's think it's OK to let their sweet little pussies out to foul people's gardens

We've always found (so far) an electronic cat has worked. You need to make sure you clear up any remaining mess, and any new stuff that appears, but within a week, it should stop within a couple of weeks.

It doesn't necessarily stop them coming into the garden but at both houses we've lived at it's worked.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/yh/yh_forecast_alltext.html

Don't bother with sites that show weather days ahead for a postcode or town, if it's just a symbol and temp, and not a discussion. They'll be automated displays of the operation run of one model (normally the GFS American global model, but the BBC use the UKMO one). Raw model output (esp. of a global model) needs quite a lot of human input to get a reasonable forecast from it - especially more than 24 hours ahead.

Anyway, there looks to be thunderstorms moving up from the South today/tomorrow, and a chance some may get this far North. There may also be some that will grow around hereabouts if the temps get above 26C.

There was one out West towards Manchester last night about 10ish.

The aeriel shot of my work had a cloud over it (under the plane) for years but has been updated within last 12 months as I identified from a vehicle parked there.

They may finally be getting round to updating then. They were way out of date when we were looking at houses.

There is a cancer treatment centre in a converted house off Wellesley Rd where it meets Northumberland Avenue. But it's the day care centre (apparently). Otherwise the Oncology department is in the hospital generally.

See: http://www.shef.ac.uk/co/patients

Also: http://tinyurl.com/6ou3yz

IIRC it's the building on the junction of Wellesley Rd & Northumberland Rd. That's WP Hospital in the background.

Their aerial shots are quite a bit out of date in some areas. So expect to see half-finished buildings on streetview for some years after they've been completed. Some may even be knocked down first.

I think I prefer the "Birds Eye" views on other sites though.

Also, Chatsworth have a hut in the Adventure Playground that can be hired out for parties. No idea of costs though.

Butterfly Park at Nth Anston has an activity centre and do parties. They have more than butterflies inc. lizards, spiders, birds of prey, etc. etc.

http://www.butterflyhouse.co.uk/

Reminds me of the canal boat chase on NewsBiscuit...

http://newsbiscuit.com/article/canal-boat-chase-ends-in-capture-after-eight-days-306

Or the episode of Father Ted called "Speed".

It's not just against being sued through stupidity. It's also because of accidents, and if you're going to allow the general public in close enough to see stuff clearly, they will also be close enough to be potentially close enough to be affected should an accident occur. Whether a "view at your own risk" clause should be good enough to avoid that, I don't know, but there is also the cost of insuring the staff who operate the equipment, as well as the buildings and equipment itself. Finally there will be cost in maintaining the furnaces etc. to a high enough standard to keep the likelihood of accidents low in the first place, otherwise there would be a genuine case for negligence.

The insurance companies will err on the side of caution here as they want to make money. I wonder how feasible a not for profit heritage insurance company would be?

That said, the hamlet do run the wheel on various days (I watched it running last summer), even if they don't fire up the furnaces.

If the cost of oil continues to rise, then unless the jobs move outwards, city centre living could become very attractive again, compared to the costs of commuting. Though I imagine that might wait until prices have stabilised at whatever value first.

Try Wiggly Wigglers http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/

Their wormery stuff isn't cheap but I've had a steady supply of compost & liquid feed from mine so it'll pay for itself over a year or two, and my toddler enjoys helping out with it.

No fleas but did get a load of fruit flies because I added too much stuff early on. The trick is to slowly build-up the amount of stuff you put in as the worms get established, and the population gets to optimum.

I also have a standard compost bin as there's stuff the wormery won't deal with (large amounts of garden waste and twiggy stuff, leaves, etc). It copes with all food except meat, fish & dairy (so rice, vegetable peelings, cooked vegetables, fruit waste, etc. are all good). It's also where we put our shredded private documents and they don't tend to last long in there.

EDIT: worms by themselves are cheaper and can be found under "Composting Extras".

Don't know about Woodseats Fisheries but I'm pretty sure Poseidon next to the Spar do.

Royal mail in their wisdom have decided that postmen and women should start deliveries later. Don't ask me why.

Is it because with the one delivery a day, it means the delivery will more likely include your letter (as opposed to it ending up in the next day's delivery)?

Every major transport system access point around the world uses ticket barriers

Except at least Switzerland (train & trams), Amsterdam (trams), Italy (trains), Brussels (trams) & Germany (buses) that I know of. Some/all Swiss & Dutch tram systems and at least one German bus company use(d) self-validating ticket systems like that mentioned for the tram.

It's an attitude problem in society more than anything else.

Yep.

What's the story behind the burnt out wreck on Camping Lane, anyone know?

AMEC have been known to build hospitals and other infrastructure.

http://tinyurl.com/5qk5ee

Not that that necessarily means anything as lots of construction companies do. I expect SLH haven't even got a contractor yet. Even so, it shows how MPs can ruin the look of impartiality by their exterior employment, even if there's no practical implications.

Would any of these areas need such defenses if all local authorities maintained its current defenses?

Many (but not all) of the problems of last years flooding were caused by the neglect of simple things like road drains and gulleys not being cleaned out thus clogging up, rivers with overgrowth and rubbish flowing downstream and collecting at weirs and tunnels covered with those grid things blocking the flow of water. Ulley reservoir overflowed causing a near catastrophe, but would it have overflowed if the drainage gulleys that run all around the edge had not been overgrown and unmaintained?

 

Just a thought

Although undoubtedly a contributing factor, it's also worth remembering that Sheffield (at least) had it's wettest month ever recorded. Twice we got January's average rainfall (IIRC) in one day, plus a few other high rainfall days. So the floods here may have been lessoned here, but I'd expect they'd have been worse downstream had the water been allowed to drain more quickly. Hull had its drainage system overwhelmed and no maintenance of the existing system would have prevented it.

So reading the story linked, it seems that after a small part of Leeds flooded last year, and with about 3000 properties (summarising) being at risk of flooding, the council is looking to work with the EA to improve flood defences. The government deemed flood defences in Leeds to be prohibitively expensive, to the council have looked to work with the EA to try and get private investment. This is expected by incorporating business properties and luxury flat complexes into the flood defence designs.

This looks to be a reasonable course of action by the local council, and one that could be copied by other councils if it looks feasible. However I would expect that city centres are more likely to attract this sort of investment so it won't work everywhere.

It's unclear whether there currently is *any* funding for the Leeds project at the moment (there's certainly no DEFRA funding) and Leeds council say they are using it to try to persuade the government to provide the remaining funding, over and above that raised from the private sector, though there is no statement of what proportion this would be. The government support the package but say they can't fund the scheme "in its entirety" ahead of flood defence schemes for "other cities". Thus there is a hint that Sheffield, Doncaster and/or Hull *could* be ahead of Leeds in the queue for funding.

The wife used to drive from S8 to Nottingham once a week at rush hour. Took about an hour depending on traffic. Went through Chesterfield and picked up the M1 from there. As said above, will greatly depend on where in Nottingham you work.

Worth noting, there will be a direct train from Nottingham to Leeds stopping at Dronfield & Sheffield starting later this year.

http://www.dsag.org.uk/latest_news.html

There is a tool shop opposite Heeley retail that accepts second hand tools. They may do it. Anyone know the shop name as I can't find them on yell.com?

TBH I am, I assumed it was just your run-of-the-mill slag-off the council thread and never bothered to read it. For what it's worth, my opinion is that graves park is gigantic, and I bet 95% never gets used by anyone.

Different parts get used at different times, and for different reasons. TBH, I have seen someone, at some point, in just about every part of the park. There may be a bit of the 80:20 rule in effect, but even then I'd say the ratio was a little closer (probably more like 60:40).