Clifton, Nottingham

Coordinates: 52°55′N 1°11′W / 52.91°N 1.19°W / 52.91; -1.19

Clifton
Clifton Hall
Clifton  Clifton shown within Nottinghamshire
Population	22,312
OS grid reference	SK543348
Unitary authority	Nottingham
Ceremonial county	Nottinghamshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NOTTINGHAM
Postcode district	NG11
Dialling code	0115 (921 / 940 / 945 /984)
Police	Nottinghamshire
Fire	Nottinghamshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Nottingham South
List of places: UK • England • Nottinghamshire

Clifton is a council estate and village in the city of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England founded by Sir Robert Clifton. The estate has a number of shop-clusters and relatively good transport links (by bus) with the city (~20 minutes) and surrounding areas. The village is on the A453 which is the main connection between Nottingham and the M1 south. The section of the A453 from Kegworth to the roundabout next to the Crusader pub is due to be upgraded to dual carriageway around 2011.^[1].

The term also encompasses Clifton Grove and Clifton Village, a picturesque residential area set alongside the River Trent. The village is notable for many old buildings including Clifton Hall, and St. Mary's Church.

In the housing estate there is a Morrisons Supermarket on Green Lane (previously a Co-op), an Iceland Supermarket and a Farmfoods Supermarket (on Southchurch Drive, near Clifton Leisure Centre). Some of the pubs in Clifton are the Grey Mare, Fairham and The Winning Post on Farnborough Road the Man of Trent on Gotham Lane, and The Peacock. The former Sun Valley Amusements (also known as JB's) on Green Lane is now closed. There is a leisure pool with keep fit facilities on Southchurch drive and a sports centre on Farnborough road with cricket pitches, football fields and other sports available.

History

The manor of Clifton was recorded in the Domesday Survey as having a church and a mill. The value of the manor had decreased since the Norman conquest from £16 to £9.^[2]

For 700 years the Clifton family of Clifton owned Clifton Hall. The papers of the Clifton family and their lands are held at Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham

The Clifton Estate is a sprawling conurbation, which was first considered for residential construction in 1952 by Act of Parliament, and at one time the largest council estate in Europe. The majority of the houses are made of "no fines" concrete. IE concrete which only has large aggregate included. This leaves air filled voids which add thermal insulation. Since the 1980s most of the houses have passed from council to private ownership.

Clifton (like some of Nottingham's other estates) has benefited in recent years from redevelopment and regeneration work initiated by the city council. Currently under construction is a walled community for the elderly opposite the junction of Gotham Road and Farnborough Road called Lark Hill Village.

Governance

Local government matters are administered by Nottingham City Council, a unitary authority. Clifton is split into two wards: Clifton South includes Clifton Village, Barton Green, Nobel Road Estate and Clifton Estate south of Glapton Lane and south from Lanthwaite Road and Bainton Grove. It is represented by Cllrs Christopher (Chris) Gibson, Ian Malcolm and Jeannie Packer (all Labour). Clifton North includes the rest of Clifton (including Clifton Grove), plus the Wilford area. It is represented by Cllrs Roger Steel and Timothy Spencer (Conservative) and Lee Jeffrey (Labour).

Parliamentary, Clifton falls within the Nottingham South constituency, with Lilian Greenwood the current Member of Parliament.

Education

Primary schools include Milford, Glapton, Whitegate, Highbank, Dovecote (an amalgamation of Greencroft, Brooksby and Brinkhill) and Blessed Robert Widmerpool. Farnborough School Technology College and Fairham Community College (now closed) are on Farnborough Road. Nethergate School on Swansdowne Drive is for special needs. The Nottingham Trent University has one of its campuses on Clifton Lane (A453). On Farnborough Road is also one of the South Nottingham College campuses.

On what is now wasteland, accessible from Brooksby Lane or Silverdale Walk, remain the foundations of the original Brooksby School, which was burnt down in the early 80's. Brooksby school was then moved to the location now known as Dovecote School taking a building originally a part of Greencroft School. It is well remembered by pupils and staff as the school with curtains for doors.

Sport

Clifton is also a well known area in Nottingham for sporting talent^{[citation needed]} with Jermaine Pennant, Jermaine Jenas, Darren Huckerby, all currently top football players, having played as youngsters for Clifton F.C (Formerly Clifton All Whites) and Viv Anderson MBE, the first black football player to represent England in a full international match (1979), who formerly lived on Rivergreen, and attended Fairham School (now Community College).

Olympic Ice Skater Jayne Torvill grew up in Clifton and attended the Milford School.

On the 20th June 2007, Nottingham Forest F.C. announced plans to build a new 50,000 seater stadium to the south of Clifton,^{[citation needed]} although this would not be completed until 2014 at the earliest. This will be near the fields on Nobel Road. This however has since been cancelled and on the same land it has been proposed that an extension of Clifton estate should be built. If plans are approved this would almost double the size of Clifton.

Transport

Bus service

Nottingham City Transport

• 1: Nottingham - Clifton - Gotham - East Leake - Loughborough.
• 2: Nottingham - Clifton.
• 3: Nottingham - Clifton.
• 4: Nottingham - Clifton - NTU Clifton Campus.
• 48: Nottingham - Meadows - Clifton.
• N48: Nottingham - Meadows - Clifton - Ruddington.
• L53: Clifton - QMC - City Hospital (Valley Road) - Arnold.
• Skylink: Nottingham - Clifton - East Midlands Airport.

Trent Barton

• Ruddington Connection: Nottingham - Ruddington - Clifton.

Nottingham County Council

• L2: Silverdale - Clifton - Ruddington - West Bridgford - Gamston.

Premiere Travel

• 63: Beeston - QMC - Clifton - Ruddington - East Leake - Keyworth.
• 64: Nottingham - QMC - Clifton - Lark Hill.
• 65: Nottingham - QMC - Clifton - Normanton On Soar.
• S1: Clifton - ASDA - West Bridgford - Gamston.

Tram service

There are plans to bring the Nottingham Express Transit to Clifton by 2013^{[citation needed]}, an extension of the current Nottingham to Hucknall route which would allow people in Clifton quick access to the city centre.

The planned route is to follow in part the old GCR and LMS line parallel to Ruddington Lane and follow at the rear of "The Downs" on the Silverdale Estate. Then alongside Silverdale Walk and exit at Farnborough Road, next to Farnborough School Technology College. In the process two houses will need to be acquired to make room for the tramway. The development would be tied in with a new housing estate south of Clifton, a new OAP residential estate, and a Park and Ride to serve the M1 and reduce congestion into the city along the A453. The council compulsory purchased some of the homes next to Farnborough Technology College in 2003 in preparation for the tram service. However they changed their minds, offering those who moved the chance to buy their houses back at an increased price despite vandalism caused due to the houses being vacant. Currently the council still hasn't begun constructing a tram route into Clifton,as they were awaiting announcements from the Government regarding funding arrangements. This has since been announced and there will be a second and third line of the tram network which will cover Clifton.

References

1. ^ "A453 Widening (M1 Junction 24 to A52 Nottingham)". Highways Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4337.aspx. Retrieved 28 November 2008. 
2. ^ Williams (ed.) (2003), pp. 770–771.

• History of Clifton

Bibliography

• Williams, Ann (ed.) (2003). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-141-43994-7. 

External links

• Clifton Village website
• Papers of the Clifton family, held at Manuscripts and Special Collections at The University of Nottingham