Nottingham Legal Advice Centre scoops Law Firm of the Year award
A University law firm which has recovered more than £5.5m for its clients has been named Law Firm of the Year.
Up against five private UK firms in the Lexis Nexis Legal Awards 2022, Nottingham Law School Legal Advice Centre received the top accolade for its commitment to supporting members of the local community with free and affordable legal advice.
The multi award-winning teaching law firm sees Nottingham Law School students work on cases under the supervision of a small team of experienced lawyers.
It offers support on a range of legal areas, including employment, family, business and commercial, insolvency, county court litigation, intellectual property, Special Educational Needs and Disability and welfare benefits.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, during the last three years the Centre has expanded its services, including the launch of a new housing service; provision of online resources relating to furlough, accessed more than 380 times; the introduction of a new service for victims of crime, offering advice in relation to criminal investigations and Victim’s Right to Review Scheme; and public legal education sessions.
Head of the Legal Advice Centre, Laura Pinkney, said: “I’m very proud of our team and the student volunteers and practitioner academics who help us to assist more than 150 clients per year.
“All our new initiatives have been introduced or developed to address an unmet legal need in the community. It is a sad fact that, even where legal aid may be available, there may not be a provider with the capacity to take on the case. We are therefore addressing the issue of legal advice deserts within the local area, helping to plug the gap left by the decimation of legal aid.”
Executive Dean of Nottingham Law School, Jenny Chapman, added: “It is a remarkable achievement for a not-for-profit law firm to receive this accolade among such prestigious company. The team at the Centre deliver outstanding levels of client service and thoroughly deserve the recognition. Their proactive approach to tackling access to justice means they have a demonstrable positive and life-changing impact on their clients.”
As a not-for-profit teaching law firm with charitable status, the Centre was the UK’s first law firm fully integrated into a law school when it obtained an ABS (Alternative Business Structure) licence in 2015.
The Lexis Nexis Legal Awards celebrate the many achievements of the legal industry and the vital role that it plays in society. This award is the latest in a string of team and individual awards, including most recently Best Contribution by a Law School at the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards 2021; Best Contribution by a Small or Medium Firm at the LawWorks Pro Bono Awards 2021; the Contribution to the Community Award 2020 from the Nottinghamshire Law Society; and ABS of the Year in the Modern Law Awards 2020.
A ‘mixed picture’ for East Midlands economy amid rising inflation and uncertainty over Ukraine-Russia crisis
Sky-high inflation, energy price hikes and the war in Ukraine are creating “new unknowns” for businesses and creating a mixed picture for the East Midlands economy, new research reveals.
East Midlands Chamber’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES), which gauges the health of the region’s economy, reported improvements across most indicators in Q1 2022 compared to the final quarter of last year when there was a drop in business confidence due to the Omicron surge.
Despite this, growth remains weak and there are warning signs for what may lie ahead as cashflow dropped into negative territory for the first time in more than a year and investment intentions are restrained.
Chris Hobson, director of policy and external affairs at East Midlands Chamber, said: “The latest QES presents a mixed picture for our region’s economy, as the wave of optimism that encountered the lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions has been diluted somewhat by other factors that are weighing down on businesses’ ability to trade effectively.
“After spending much of 2021 trying to figure out two major ‘unknowns’ – the impact of both the pandemic and the UK leaving the EU – it had felt at the start of this year that we were now equipped to plan for and deal with these.
“Unfortunately, just as we were getting into the swing of 2022, new unknowns have arrived in the form of the terrible events in Ukraine, which has thrown a spanner in the works when it comes to understanding where inflationary pressures and energy prices will top out – not to mention the supply chain disruption this causes across Europe, which is felt in the East Midlands.”
East Midlands Chamber QES Q1 2022 data
More than 350 businesses across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire took part in the Q1 2022 survey between 14 February and 9 March. Key findings from the survey for the East Midlands included:- No movement in UK sales between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, with a net 27% of businesses reporting these increased in both periods, although there was an 8% rise in advanced orders between the quarters
- Overseas sales and orders were up by 7% and 10% respectively
- A net 20% of businesses increased their workforce in Q1 and a net 36% expect to do so in the next three months, representing a 3% and 1% growth respectively on the previous quarter’s findings
- More than six in 10 (63%) of businesses attempted to recruit but, of this cohort, four in five (80%) encountered problems with filling vacancies
- 30% of firms reported cashflow fell, compared to it improving for 27% – marking the first time it has fallen into negative territory for more than a year
- Two-thirds (66%) of businesses expect prices to rise in the next three months, a 4% increase on the previous quarter
- A lack of room at the margins means investment intentions in machinery are down by 2% compared to the end of last year, while there is only a 1% increase in intentions for investing in training between the two quarters
- Despite this, there was a 4% improvement in the proportion of businesses expecting turnover to increase (a net 62% of Q1 2022 respondents believe it will, versus a net 58% in Q4 2021) and a 3% rise for profitability (a net 31% of organisations now believe it will improve)
Waste food oil-powered bin lorries take to the roads
Waste food oil now powers bin collections and street cleaning in North West Leicestershire.
Diesel is no longer the fuel of choice for North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC) vehicles after the authority swapped it for hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), a by-product from the food industry.
The move to the lower-emission fuel is part of NWLDC’s Zero Carbon plan to be carbon neutral by 2030.
The council’s entire fleet of 109 vehicles will now either run on waste food oil or battery electricity by 2024.
The council uses a mix of refuse collection vehicles, housing maintenance vehicles, medium sized panel vans and smaller vehicles alongside more specialist equipment, such as sweepers and mowers.
Residents and people driving the vehicles won’t notice a difference, but the move will reduce the authority’s emissions and achieve an estimated carbon saving of 1,221 tonnes of CO² over the vehicles’ lifetime. HVO reduces CO² emissions by up to 90% compared to diesel.
The council’s waste and recycling depot in Coalville will now be the filling up point for all the authority’s HVO-powered vehicles.
Petrol-powered cars in the fleet will be replaced with battery electric vehicles (BEVs), with charging points installed at key council locations to add to the 20 already installed in public car parks across the district.
Councillor Andrew Woodman, Portfolio Holder for Community Services at NWLDC said: “Removing diesel from our fleet is a great step on our Zero Carbon journey and allows us to quickly reduce our carbon footprint.
“We’re investing in zero or low emission vehicles and fuel for the future to lead the way across the district. It’s great to see our changing fleet take to the roads.”
Three neighbourhood parades fully let after flurry of interest
Three LCP-owned and managed retail convenience parades are now fully let after a successful period of marketing.
No.18 Coffee and Eatery has agreed a five-year lease for unit 6 at Kimberley Shopping Centre, in Kimberley, Nottingham. It will join 12 other retailers at the scheme, including Greggs, Card Factory, Wilko and Heron Foods.
The 760 sq ft unit is undergoing fit out and is expected to open in April.
At St Wilfrid’s Square Shopping Centre, in Calverton, Nottingham, will be divided into a Barber shop on the ground floor and Vape Shop on the first floor. They have agreed a seven-year lease for no.17, a 1,425 sq ft unit. This popular open-air parade has 16 retail units, including Sainsburys, Greggs and Boots. It is expected to open in April.
The final letting is at Forge Corner, Blaby, Leicestershire, where Huntsmen Barbers has signed a five-year lease for unit 4, a 811 sq ft shop. Fit out is under way , with an anticipated opening of April. It will join nine other occupiers at the parade, including McColls, Nationwide, Age UK and Your Move.
Barry Flint, Asset Manager of LCP, said: “Signing three new tenants in quick succession shows that the local convenience sector is thriving, and local, independent operators are keen to grow their businesses within their communities. We’re looking forward to welcoming them to our parades.”
FHP work closely with leading commercial property and investment company LCP, acting as agents for their East Midlands property portfolio and Oliver Marshall, Associate Director at FHP is clearly delighted about the deals.
Oliver told Business Link: “It has been great working with LCP on these instructions and concluding matters swiftly. LCP have properties across the UK and we are pleased to be their agents across the East Midlands. These lettings show a snapshot of where we are in the market, where there is still very strong retail demand particularly in town and suburb locations especially within neighbourhood retail parades. We continue to see demand from new businesses and growing independent and regional businesses who are looking to secure prominent retail positions.
The schemes mentioned all have excellent parking facilities onsite or close by and are well shopped serving the local communities.
We work hard to identify and target uses and operators who are not present in order to deliver the best result and improve the tenant mix in each scheme.”
£25m Staveley Town Deal funding confirmed
Over £25m worth of projects have been given the official go ahead, after Government approved the package of all eleven projects within the Staveley Town Deal Programme.
It is a significant milestone for the range of projects that will receive funding through the Towns Fund, which are being delivered by a variety of organisations including Chesterfield Borough Council, Derbyshire County Council, Staveley Town Council, Barrow Hill Community Trust, Chesterfield Canal Trust, Staveley Miners Welfare Football Club and Tawnywood Ltd.
Together the projects offer a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve the quality of life for residents, create new employment opportunities with higher level skills, ensure it is a place where everyone can be proud to live and guarantee that the town and its residents have a bright future ahead – supporting Staveley as a place to start, stay and grow.
Ivan Fomin, Chair of the Staveley Town Deal Board and Managing Director of Staveley based MSE Hiller, said: “The projects that are being funded through the Town Deal are designed to complement one another and have been developed in response to the challenges and opportunities in Staveley. The project sponsors have worked hard to get to this point but we are now moving into delivering these projects and ensuring that they can benefit everyone in Staveley.”
Chesterfield Borough Council is the accountable programme lead but will also be delivering three projects using Town Deal funding.
Project#808 create UK business first with the launch of their first Innovation Lab
Pioneering Tech Firm, Project#808 has launched its ground-breaking business – bringing together investment, innovation and the opportunity for sector collaboration and growth.
The firm have stormed onto the UK business and tech scene with ambitions to transform industries and invest in the future of whole industry sectors.
At its core, Project#808 is an investment and transformation business that takes shared industry problems and turns them into universal solutions.
Working with businesses that want to drive innovation within their sector collaboratively, Project#808 formulate innovation labs that solve collective issues and create future opportunities, both for the sector to grow and evolve, and as an investment opportunity in a high-growth tech start-up.
“Rivalling traditional investment methods, Project#808 offers a fresh, creative investment model that provides access to industry improvements as well as additional revenue streams,” says founder of Project#808, Paul Billington, who set out with an intrinsic desire to do things differently and has created a business like no other.
There are three key phases to Project#808’s collaborative process; the discovery phase where they identify the issues holding the sector back, the validation phase where they validate with the sector that the proposed solution will work, and the final launch phase which sees the product developed as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and subsequently sold to the sector. The brilliance of Project#808 is that at this final stage when a new start-up is born, there is already high and guaranteed demand for it, given the sector’s involvement in developing the solution.
Every spinout is majority-owned by early investors within the industry, who not only benefit from the transformative solution for their businesses but also have equity in the tech start-up selling the solution. The solution is continually developed into market leading solutions, which can then be sold to other sectors and into other territories to achieve widespread growth.
Paul Billington, founder and CEO of Project#808, said: “Having worked within the digital sector for over 25 years helping to support rapid tech start-ups, I experienced the landscape becoming somewhat stale and in many ways overpowered by the big players.
“Sector challenges are increasingly arising and standing in the way of businesses evolving. Unless they are one of the large corporate industry leaders, they just don’t have the means or income power to tackle the issues.
“Hence, I wanted to build a platform that will collaboratively support these business communities whilst in tandem build for the future of the industry, enabling them to be part of something that will achieve true high-growth potential.”
Project#808 achieves this – creating disruptive, market-defining products together, which together can dramatically reduce the cost and risk of innovation. Any business has the opportunity to collaborate across their sector so it’s accessible to all, and the beauty of it is that businesses not only benefit from the sector solution but they have the ability to be part of something new, and possibly even bigger.
Paul added: “We have already created our first Innovation Lab, and there are more underway in the North-West and nation-wide.”
The first of Project#808’s Labs is ‘The Pharmacy Innovation Lab’, designed to instil innovation and unity to a highly fragmented 800-year old community pharmacy industry in danger of being dominated by a few key players. By levelling the playing field and creating this lab, Project#808 has made it possible for 7,000 SME sized pharmacies to thrive within the sector.
This is a true joint venture between Project#808 and the pharmacy sector – over 50% of the Lab is owned by the industry itself.
Tohidul Islam, founder of The Pharmacist Cooperative and multiple business owner, said: “This has been truly revolutionary to be a part of. Bringing about change, implementing innovative solutions and investing in modern systems seemed an impossible dream, not for lack of drive but given the hefty investment costs associated with this – community pharmacies simply don’t have as deep pockets as the big corporates.
“So, naturally having the accessibility of the platform along with the chance to work and invest with likeminded people who care and know so much about the sector felt like an unmissable opportunity. Effectively, I could create and own a share of the future.
“Project#808 paves the way for change and growth. I’m overwhelmed by the progress we’ve already made in such a short space of time – The Pharmacy Innovation Lab is now in full swing and it’s only been a few months. It’s a truly exciting time for us investors, as well as the industry as a whole.”
From zero to hero in just five months – Testament to the success of Project#808, one of the original investors in ‘The Pharmacy Innovation Lab’, which came to fruition in just five months, has traded their equity at twice its original value.
Project#808 is a UK based company in the process of forming a further four innovation labs – more information to be released soon.
North West Leicestershire District Council secures Investors in People silver
Investors in People (IIP) has this week awarded North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC) with the We invest in people, silver accreditation.
Silver is a fantastic achievement and something only 15% of the organisations IIP assess achieve.
It means that the right principles are in place but more than that, it means people and leaders are making active efforts to make sure that there’s real consistency and everyone in the organisation is feeling the effects!
NWLDC was first accredited with Investors in People status in 2019. Since then it has focussed on improving communication with staff, increasing learning and development opportunities and providing advice and opportunity around positive health and wellbeing.
The council has moved into hybrid working, with the majority of non-front line staff able to work flexibly, whilst maintaining customer standards and achieving its priorities – all against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Paul Devoy, CEO of Investors in People, said: “We’d like to congratulate North West Leicestershire District Council. Silver accreditation on We invest in people is a remarkable effort for any organisation, and places NWLDC in fine company with a host of organisations that understand the value of people.”
Commenting on the award, NWLDC Chief Executive Bev Smith said: “This is something we’ve worked towards since achieving initial IIP status in 2019 and I’m so proud of the whole council for this fantastic achievement.
“It’s great to know that staff feel valued, empowered and supported, as this is the culture that I’ve really wanted to encourage during my time here.”
£270,000 project begins to improve traffic flow around retail park in Chesterfield
A new £270,000 project to improve traffic flow, road safety and access for cyclists, pedestrians and buses has started at the A619/Park Road junction in Chesterfield.
New low-energy, intelligent traffic lights will be installed to automatically monitor and adjust timings to minimise delays at the busy junction which provides access to the popular Ravenside Retail Park.
To help encourage cycling and walking, a new Toucan crossing will be installed at the crossing on Park Road, with wider footways to provide space for pedestrians and cyclists. The Toucan crossing will automatically detect cyclists and alert the traffic lights to change to reduce waiting times.
As part of the scheme, any local buses running late will be automatically prioritised with a green light to make up lost time, increasing the convenience of travelling by bus.
New LED (light emitting diode) streetlights will also be installed on the approaches to the junction to reduce energy costs and improve visibility for all road users.
To help reduce delays as far as possible during the works, engineers are trialling the use of a new high-tech temporary traffic light system, which is being used for the first time in the county. The system mirrors the way the junction’s permanent lights normally work to keep disruption to a minimum.
Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal said:“We are using the very latest technology to bring state-of-the-art traffic solutions to this busy junction in Chesterfield.
“The new traffic lights and pedestrian crossings we install will interact with each other to maximise traffic flow for all road users, improving road safety and reducing delays and greenhouse gas emissions.
“We recognise the improvements will lead to some short-term delays while the works are being carried out which is why we are trialling the new high-tech temporary traffic lights to try to keep these delays to a minimum.
“I’d like to thank local road users for their patience during these improvements which are one part of our £50m package to make Derbyshire a safer, more connected county for everyone.”
Site preparation works will start on Monday 28 March, with the construction works beginning on Wednesday 30 March. The roadworks will be in place from 8am to 4pm. Local road users are encouraged to allow extra time for their journeys.
Marks and Spencer confirms expansion into larger Chesterfield store
Retail giant Marks and Spencer has committed further to its future in Chesterfield, by announcing plans to expand into a larger premises in the town.
The company has officially announced it will be moving to the former Debenhams store on the Ravenside Retail Park, which is a purpose built unit. It means M&S will be expanding its range of food, clothing and homeware to shoppers in Chesterfield.
Craig Baldock, Regional Manager for M&S said: “We’re excited to announce our plans to open a brand new, larger M&S store at Ravenside Retail Park, which will offer local customers in Chesterfield a much bigger range of M&S products across our Foodhall and Clothing & Home departments. The new store will be finished and open to customers later this year.
“We believe this is the right decision to ensure we can deliver the very best M&S offer for customers in Chesterfield and the wider local area. We will keep the community updated as the works progress.
“Shopping habits are changing, so we’re rotating our store estate and this investment in Chesterfield is part of our work to ensure we have the right stores to offer our customers a brilliant shopping experience.”
Councillor Kate Sarvent, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for town centres and visitor economy, said: “Marks and Spencer moving to Ravenside Retail Park represents a significant investment in our borough, creating more jobs and demonstrating confidence in the growth of the local economy. A new, expanded M&S store will mean they can offer a wider range of products and have a modern store that is fit for the future.
“Whilst the move is disappointing for our high street, we are making significant investments in this area to ensure we can create a modern, vibrant visitor destination which builds confidence in the town – including our ambitious town centre regeneration plans which are moving forward after we secured nearly £20m from the Government’s levelling up fund.
“The council does not own the building currently occupied by Marks and Spencer but we will work with them and the landlord to explore alternative uses for this key town centre building.”
The move is the latest in a line of new openings and expansions into the town, such as Rebel Menswear, Boba Shack and Pizza Pi.
Historic Skegness Town Hall goes on the market
Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has been instructed to sell Skegness Town Hall, a Grade II listed office building, and The Lodge, a separate residential dwelling, by East Lindsey District Council.
The Town Hall was designed by William Henry Ansell and originally built in 1926 as a convalescent home, before being repurposed as the Town Hall in 1964. It benefits from close proximity to the town’s seafront and main tourist areas and would suit a variety of alternative uses.
Andrew France, Associate Director – Agency & Development, at LSH commented:“Located in one of the UK’s most popular tourist resorts, these are prominent buildings with significant redevelopment opportunity for a variety of alternative uses, and the chance to bring something really exciting to Skegness. I’m delighted to be working with East Lindsey District Council to find a buyer that will secure the future of this historic building.”
Councillor Richard Fry, Portfolio Holder for Finance at East Lindsey District Council, said:
“With the development of a new home for the Council at the Horncastle Hub, Skegness Town Hall is now being offered to the market for sale. The Town Hall is now all but empty and is now surplus to the Council’s operational requirements. Best and final offers are being invited with interested parties needing to submit their proposals and offers to Andrew France no later than noon on 29 April 2022. The Council hopes to see the building put into really productive use with the listing itself protecting its magnificence.”
