Around 40,000 eligible Nottinghamshire households will continue to get extra support this summer to help with essential food and energy bills.

The fifth round of the Government’s Household Support Fund (HSF) is worth £5.6 million to cover six months (April to September 2024) and will once again be administered by Nottinghamshire County Council in partnership with borough and district councils.

One-off summer payments, each worth around £100 per household will continue to support families with children entitled to free school meals as well as other households and individuals with rising costs.

The search has begun for Nottinghamshire’s inspirational young people as this year’s Nottinghamshire Outstanding Achievement 4Uth Award nominations are now open.

This is the thirteenth year of the awards, set up to recognise the achievements of young people aged 11-19 (or up to 25 for young people with a disability) from all seven districts of the county. Previous winners have often overcome major challenges in their lives, such as bereavement, trauma and illness, and have raised thousands for charity, cared for friends or relatives, and helped others.

Nottinghamshire County Council is now looking for nominations for the amazing young people across the county. Nominations are welcomed from anyone including friends, family, schools, youth groups or voluntary organisations.

This weekend, Newark Showground will welcome thousands of visitors, plus local and regional businesses to the annual county show. While many will be entertained by the wide range of livestock, horses, countryside competitions, local food producers, and craft stalls, there is something a bit different happening in the George Stephenson Exhibition Hall…

Building on the success of last year, the hall will once again become a Community Zone. This time it’s bigger, better, and packed with interactive entertainment for all ages.

Nottinghamshire County Council has brought together local groups and organisations with a huge range of free activities planned to keep all the family entertained while showcasing all the wonderful services our community has to offer.

Families and households in Nottinghamshire are benefitting from a community-boosting scheme which is providing them with better access to affordable and healthy food.

The Food Redistribution Fund was launched by Nottinghamshire County Council in March 2023 to enable community groups and organisations to establish hubs to make affordable, good quality and nutritious food more accessible.

£210,000 was set aside for the three-year scheme, as part of the Local Community Fund (LCF), and saw £90,000 awarded to 14 groups and organisations across the county, including food hubs and churches, in the first year.

This has led to thousands of residents directly benefiting from the scheme, which forms part of the County Council's ongoing drive to reduce health inequalities in Nottinghamshire.

A new, free resource to help find the most up-to-date local data, stats and trends has been unveiled by Nottinghamshire County Council.

Known as the Nottinghamshire Observatory, it offers insight and analysis of the latest local trends to help with research, funding bids and ultimately help attract more investment to the county.

The functions include:

• A search facility for data on a wide range of themes or topic areas from economic trends to insights in health.

• Accessing county-wide stats or specific district, ward and neighbourhood data.

• Generating high-quality charts, graphs, and maps.

Via and Nottinghamshire County Council score a double at the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation Awards.

Via East Midlands and Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) emerged victorious when its Bikeability Scheme was named the winner in the Road Safety category at the recent Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) East Midlands Awards. The NCC/Via Bikeability Scheme is the only training provider to have won an award and this recognises the key contribution of their efforts towards casualty reduction.

There was cause for further celebrations when Via and the council’s contributions to the work on Colliery Way, also known as the Gedling Access Road (GAR), were recognised with the Engineering Challenge Award. The Colliery Way project was a joint initiative between Via, Balfour Beatty and NCC.

Nottinghamshire County Council’s Brooke Farm in Linby, which runs an employment training programme for adults with learning disabilities, is playing a crucial role by helping to grow plants for a garden in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024.

Alongside their range of plants and flowers grown and sold on-site, Brooke Farm has shared space in their heated greenhouses to grow a variety of plants for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show exhibit. Plants include runner beans, marigolds, fennel, dwarf nasturtium and sweet rocket.

Nottingham-based Pulp Friction asked for Brooke Farm’s help because the plants need a warm environment to survive at this time of year so use of their greenhouse space has ensured enough plants can be grown for the exhibit.