Nottinghamshire’s residents are being asked for their views on the county council’s new electric vehicle charging framework.

With five key objectives, the framework sets out how Nottinghamshire County Council aims to work with residents, businesses and communities to establish a public charge point network.

A key aim of the framework is to ensure that electric vehicle charge points are made available across the county, including in urban centres, rural areas, on the highway and in public spaces.

Residents across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Derby and Nottingham will get the chance to vote for the first-ever East Midlands Mayor next May, after councils gave the go-ahead to devolution for the region.

On Thursday 7 December, Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Derby City Council and Nottingham City Council each approved plans to create the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), which will come into existence next Spring.

EMCCA is set to bring in around £4 billion of funding for the region, alongside devolved powers for transport, skills and adult education, housing, the environment and economic development.

A free, easy to use app which gives Nottinghamshire residents access to a wide range of County Council services has been given a brand-new look.

The MyNotts app was launched by Nottinghamshire County Council in January 2020 and allows users to make the most of its services wherever they are by using their smartphone.

Since its launch, the app has had almost 550,000 views with the most frequently visited services being highways, waste and recycling and schools – while residents are also able to use it to report potholes and faulty streetlights as well as apply for school places.

Now the new-look app has been given a revamp to ultimately improve accessibility and customer experience, which includes the way people can report highways issues and control how they receive push notifications.

Work on Nottinghamshire County Council’s new low carbon, all-electric office, north of Hucknall along A611 Annesley Road, has now begun as part of a major investment in the area.

The new office is designed to help bring long-term savings for the taxpayer and environment as part of a wider project to move more front-line council services into cost-effective, energy saving buildings.

It also marks a key milestone for the site which is planned to be regenerated into a new community which will include 805 much-needed new homes. The site is on council-owned land which has been earmarked for development for more than a decade.

A new YouGov poll for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) shows 68% of people in the East Midlands support the Prime Minister’s plans to create a smokefree generation by raising the age of sale so that it will never be legal to sell tobacco to anyone born after the start of 2009.

The poll was taken before the end of the UK-wide Government consultation to stop the start of new smokers, which also covers tougher regulation to curb youth vaping.

A requirement for retailers to request proof of age from all those buying tobacco, to make the policy easier to implement, is also supported by ASH, and backed by 67% of the public in the East Midlands.

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents and carers are being urged to get more involved with planning and improving services for the future.

Organisations responsible for the SEND system, including Nottinghamshire County Council and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, want to work with people who have experienced services such as speech and language therapy, neurodevelopmental services, equipment services or who are waiting for an Education, Health and Care Plan.

This is part of a drive to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people in need of SEND support.