Tag Archives: Jon Collins

May 9 2012

(Not) The Mayor Of Nottingham

It’s been nearly a week since the referendum on whether Nottingham should have an elected a Mayor – and the majority of voters decided not. Perhaps now is the time to reflect on the decision.

28320 people voted to keep arrangements as they are now – 20943 voted in favour of changing the council being run by a Mayor elected by voters – giving a majority of 7,377 to the ‘no’ vote. The split was approximately 57% for and 43% against. The turnout was 23.9% of all eligible voters.

Nottingham was one of the ten largest cities in England chosen for potential change. As it turned out nine out of the ten cities chosen had a ‘no’ returned. Just Bristol agreed – and they will hold an election in the Autumn. In Doncaster they chose to keep their Mayor who was appointed first in 2001.

So what went wrong?

Regrettably the debate didn’t really start. The present Labour Leadership in Nottingham ran a negative campaign which was really a lost opportunity. There were no details behind their headlines. Some of the tactics (such as the racist leaflet) were below the belt. The £1m cost was never justified – and was just political spin in my view. To that end it worked.

But in my various conversations over the last few weeks with the business community at large the anecdotal evidence was that Nottingham needs a change. The business community don’t get a vote! But they do shape and influence the City. I never met anyone who said it was a waste of money.

I am still of the view that this is a good place, but it’s not great. Nor is it as good as it could be. We are in danger of become more marginalised – especially as the current leadership continues to fight Government.

I have heard too many negative stories in the last few weeks. One London Developer said to me, “you have no idea how difficult it is to invest in your City”. Word gets around and this is not good.

We need to wake up and smell the coffee. A win it may have been, but it wasn’t a whitewash. I hope that the Council take notice that there is an undercurrent – and it’s not in favour of the way things have always been.

Time to drop the Mayor story from here, but not the sentiments. Nottingham needs change to make change.

Mar 16 2010

MIPIM 2010 : Jon Collins and Nigel Turpin ride into town

This afternoon after a staggering 1,000 mile ride the Leader of Nottingham City Council, Jon Collins and Planner Nigel Turpin rode onto the Croissette in Cannes with 81 other riders.

The riders arrive in Cannes


It seemed like a long time ago since we waved them off in Nottingham’s Market Square last Tuesday (see blog post here).

They have endured bitingly cold winds (and yesterday the crosswinds blew one rider into a snow filled ditch) – but have basically cycled all the way to Cannes!

Nigel suggested the speedometer said 1,040 miles! One day he was sustained by 14 bananas!

They were met by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London – who was full of praise. Team Nottingham did manage to persuade him to pose away from his posters of London.

They have raised money for Charity and raised Nottingham profile. It was a fantastic effort – and will be even more impressive if they cycle back? I haven’t mentioned this just yet, maybe after they have had a drink.

The Pink t-shirt came out again for my meeting with Boris


They were met by a huge cheering crowd and London Mayor Boris Johnson – who was full of praise, unsurprisingly. He was suitably impressed with Team Nottingham’s turn out in our pink t-shirts – which almost perfectly matched the riders jerseys!

Hats off to Jon & Nigel – a thousand miles in 8 days is pretty impressive!

Mar 14 2010

Been there – got the t-shirt

Doesn’t a year fly by? Actually five years..

It really is that pink....


I’m off today to my 6th MIPIM conference in Cannes. But unlike some brave folks I will be flying (green people please note that the plane was going anyway).

You might have guessed from previous blog posts that my firm sponsor Invest in Nottingham – along with others from the private sector. We also go because we meet clients out there – old and new.

MIPIM has become an established place for the world property market to go. There are 18,000 participants crammed into the town of Nice, of whom 3,575 are know investors. 1,213 developers are registered this year. 79 Countries are represented – most of whom will have a stand in the ‘bunker’ – which has 20,000 sq m of exhibitions!

The major themes this year are said to be renewed investor confidence, the return of ambitious building projects and strategies for sustainable development in major cities.

My diary is pretty much full – presentations about Nottingham Southside feature heavily – where my Partner Matt Hannah will be speaking. I have the privilege of speaking about the work of the Sheriff’s Commission on Tuesday night – and we have an exclusive preview of the new Robin Hood film! I will also be at the dinner with Krasnodar and Nottingham City Council – where we expect a special announcement. In between all of that there are meetings planned with the leaders of Nottingham City Council and Derby City Council, breakfasts with a number of my private sector contacts and lunches with a similar crowd.

Our day is normally rounded off with a fine kebab – great food after a day of canapes.

It is a fairly frantic week – I usually get through a box of business cards and collect a similar number!

So, time to board the plane to the Cote D’Azur – and sort the t-shirt. If I am honest I am not sure I will bring it back…

Mar 9 2010

They’re off! Cannes here they come…

Jon Collins (leader of Nottingham City Council) and Nigel Turpin (Head of Urban Design) today set off for Cannes – from Nottingham. The sun was shining and a small crowd had gathered. Raleigh were on hand to offer the technical help you need for such a trek.

But this is green travel at its finest – on bikes. I have blogged about this before, but I make no apologies for plugging this again.

Only 1700 km to go then!


Jon and Nigel left the Market Square with a small contingent of helpers to get them to the County boundary – including Mark Hobson from Mabers, John McCay & Helen Andrews from Rizk McCay and a few others!

They were seen off by Team Nottingham – mostly dressed in pink!

Also accompanying them was Nottingham-born Olympic and World Cycling medallist Bryan Steel – a few looked a bit worried at the prospect of Bryan setting the pace!

The main Cycle to Cannes event runs from London and starts on Thursday – but these hardy souls have decided that even the train fare to London is too much! They are cycling today and tomorrow to London. The fun then starts as they tackle the remaining 1500 km ride – hoping to arrive an the Croissette next Tuesday around 2.30pm.

The route is anticipated to be:

Stage 1: London – Folkestone 119km
Stage 2: Calais – Reims 320.9km
Stage 3: Reims – Dijon 316.5km
Stage 4: Dijon – Chanas 275.4km
Stage 5: Chanas – Aix en Provence 301.0km
Stage 6: Aix en Provence – Cannes 176.4km

They are raising money for Charity – and you can donate here. This is for a fantastic cause – Maggies in Nottingham!

I wish them both well (and the other 83 brave (?) riders). This is no mean feat. And when I am on the plane on Sunday heading for the South of France I shall be thinking about them – and not complaining about the lack of legroom…

UPDATE 10.3.10

Jon Collins reaches London


Jon & Nigel’s progress can be found on Nottingham City Councils MIPIM blog – link is on the right of my site!

Feb 20 2010

MIPIM 2010 – preparations continue

With just over three weeks to go before the Le Marche International des Professionnels de l’ Immobilier (MIPIM) final preparations are underway. Investor numbers are reported to be up.

Plimouth plantation nr. Boston - an idea for the Castle? grounds?


Nottingham City Council will be at the show – promoting the City on the world stage. In fact the leader of the Councillor is going very green this year – he’s cycling there! You can sponsor him and Nigel Turpin here. It’s for a great cause – he is raising money for Maggie’s locally.

It looks like there will also be some publicity around Robin Hood – both in terms of the film (due for release on May 14th in the UK) but also some information about the work of the Sheriff’s Commission. I have been on the advsory board of the Commission for the last seven months or so. Some of the key timefames and ideas can be found here. There are some great further Ideas emerging – which I might be presenting in Cannes. I will share them on the blog.

I saw the Sheriff in the week – it is clear that he remains really enthusiastic about how Nottingham capitalise on the Robin Hood brand. We still have some way to go in bringing about a world class attraction to the City – but I remain convinced that it can be done. The World Cup in 2018 might be a driver – it’s not actually that far away when you consider what we need to do. In a nutshell we need an Investor. Public Finances in the next few years are going to be restricted.

One of the things that will happen is Robin Hood month in May (to coincide with the film). Armour making, Jousting and Archery are planned for the Castle. But we are fortunate in that Universal Studios have been kind enough to loan us props from the film – it is hoped that these will be on show! The Broadway Cinema is having a season of films around Robin Hood. Then there is the excellent Castle Rock brewery which is brewing a special Robin Hood Ale…

At last, Nottingham is beginning to realise the value of Robin Hood as a brand for the city. For too many years we have been reticent about his importance.

I am really enthusiastic about what we can do with Robin Hood. He doesn’t run an airport near Doncaster – he belongs to Nottingham. Or as John Paul Davis said “Robin Hood and Nottingham go together like peaches and cream”. I rest my case.

Feb 9 2010

Cheap travel to MIPIM 2010?

Last year I bought a bike – a nice bike. It’s made mostly of carbon fibre and weighs a lot less than me!

I would need to cycle around it - I think!


For a brief few moments I had thought about cycling to Cannes – there has been an organised trip arranged for the last few years. But, my training went a little to pieces when the bad weather came – and the realisation that the 1000 miles or so, was a bit further than my 45 mile training trips!

I have nothing but admiration for Jon Collins (leader of Nottingham City Council) and Nigel Turpin (Head of Urban Design) who have decided that the plane fare is just too much – and are cycling from the Market Square to Cannes! The story is here on the Nottingham at MIPIM website!

They are raising money on the Nottingham to London leg for Maggie’s – who would like to build a new £3m centre in Nottingham.

There is no doubt that this is a fantastic cause and Jon & Nigel are going to need all the support they can get – they will no doubt raise Nottingham profile!

In the meantime, I have decided that I should fly! I did consider taking the train, but some of my colleagues from NRL did that two years ago and survived on a Cornish Pastie between them over the 18 hour journey. Thats sounds about as dangerous for me as riding a bike over the alps!

I have been asked to join a group of cyclists to accompany Jon & Nigel from the Market Square for the first few miles. I thought I could probably manage to Clifton ….