Clifton is a suburb and historic manor in the city of Nottingham, in Nottinghamshire, England. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 22,936.[1]
Clifton has two council wards in the City of Nottingham (Clifton West and Clifton East as of 2018)[2] with a total population taken at the 2011 census (prior wards of Clifton North and Clifton South) of 26,835.[3][4] The location also encompasses Clifton Grove and Clifton Village, a residential area set alongside the River Trent.
The Manor of Clifton was for many centuries the seat of the de Clifton (later Clifton) family, branches of which were in the 17th century created Baron Clifton of Leighton Bromswold (1608) and Clifton baronets (1611). It is now the site of a council estate. The village is also notable for many old buildings including Clifton Hall, which is the former seat of the Clifton family, and St. Mary's Church.
Prior to Clifton being subsumed into the city, the area was previously within a civil parish called Clifton with Glapton until 1952,[6] Glapton being a small scattering of houses and farms prior to when the estate was built, and was in the area approximately where present day Glapton Lane is, there still being some older houses that predate the estate along the lane.[7]
Modern Clifton
The council estate has a number of shop-clusters and relatively good transport links (by tram and bus) with the city (~20 minutes) and surrounding areas. The village is on the A453 road which is the main connection between Nottingham and the M1 motorway south. The section of the A453 from Kegworth to the roundabout next to the Crusader pub has been upgraded to a dual carriageway; this project was completed in 2016.[8] A new retail park known as 'Clifton Triangle' was built on the site of derelict industrial buildings and was completed in 2018.
Directly next to Clifton on a large area of land, approximately 244 hectares (606 acres), to the southwest, a new settlement is currently under construction named Fairham. The other nearest settlements to Fairham are Gotham to the south, Ruddington to the east and Barton-in-Fabis to the west. There will also be land for commercial units with an industrial estate named Fairham Business Park. The outline planning permission to build Fairham was granted by Rushcliffe Borough Council in January 2018, and also includes improved infrastructure and transport links.[9]
Clifton Council Estate
The Clifton Council Estate is a sprawling conurbation, which was first considered for residential construction in 1950 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 (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 benefitted in recent years from some redevelopment and regeneration work such as the Lark Hill walled community for the elderly, but the estate as a whole still attracts a lot of anti-social behaviour, particularly around the shops and tram stops.
Governance
Map of Clifton, Nottingham, UK showing local government wards and neighbourhood areas.
Clifton East includes the rest of Clifton, effectively covering the vast majority of the original 1950s Clifton Council Estate. As of 2023, it is represented on Nottingham City Council by Councillors Kevin Clarke, Kirsty Jones and Maria Watson (all representing the area as Nottingham Independents).[10]
Clifton West includes Wilford, Silverdale, the Clifton Grove Estate, Clifton Village, Barton Green, Nobel Road Estate, Lark Hill Retirement Village and the Brooksby Lane and Sturgeon Avenue areas of the original 1950s Clifton Council Estate. As of 2023, it is represented by Councillors Andrew Rule (Independent) and Hayley Spain (Labour).[10]
Primary schools include The Milford Academy, Glapton, Whitegate, Highbank, Dovecote (an amalgamation of Greencroft, Brooksby and Brinkhill) and Blessed Robert Widmerpool (Catholic). Farnborough Spencer Academy on Farnborough Road is the mainstream secondary school for the area, while Nethergate School on Swansdowne Drive is an all-through special school. On Farnborough Road was also one of the Central College Nottingham campuses which is now redundant and being sold. The old Fairham School site is also redundant.
Nottingham Trent University has one of its major campuses situated on Clifton Lane (A453). This modernised campus offers teaching and learning facilities and also accommodation, a sports village & sports facilities, cafés, and shops all inside a self-contained community. The campus was developed and upgraded with an investment of over £20 million and offers courses with a focus on disciplines such as engineering, healthcare and sport.[11]
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 1980s.[when?]Brooksby school was then moved to the location now known as Dovecote School taking a building originally a part of Greencroft School.
Sport and recreation
Clifton Leisure Centre in Central Park, Southchurch Drive, Nottingham, while being refurbished, May 2009.
Clifton has seven football teams: Clifton All Whites, Clifton Aces, Clifton Blacks, Clifton Wanderers, Clifton FC, FC Olympico And Clifton Mad Squad (CMS).[citation needed]
Clifton Leisure Centre is located on Southchurch Drive in the central area of Clifton. The leisure centre is a modernised leisure facility which offers a wide range of activities for all ages and abilities. The facilities at the leisure centre include a Health Suite, a 25m Swimming Pool, Teaching Pool, Gym, Group Cycling Studio, Fitness Studio, various Multi-use Sports Halls and also a Children's Play Area. Through the recent developments and investments in the Nottingham Tram infrastructure there are now tram stops located adjacent to the facility and also various NCT bus services which have bus stops located on Southchurch Drive.[12] KickboxUK, a division of the Professional Kickboxing Association set up PKA Kickboxing - Clifton in 2001 which serves as the headquarters for KickboxUK and has several Kickboxing classes broken down into various age groups that take place in Clifton Leisure Centre every week on Thursday, there are 4 different classes which run, Reception 4-5 years, Cadets 6-9 years, Juniors 10-13 years, and finally an Adults Class for ages 14+.[13]
A weekly parkrun 5 km (3.1 mi) event is held on Clifton Playing Fields.[14]
Transport
Tram service
Clifton is the terminus of line 2 of the Nottingham Express Transittramway, which opened in August 2015. The line runs from a terminus at a park and ride site just to the west of Clifton, through Clifton, Wilford, and Nottingham City Centre, before continuing to Phoenix Park in the north of the city. Trams run at frequencies that vary between 4 and 8 trams per hour, depending on the day and time of day. The following stops are in, or near to, Clifton:[15]
Holy Trinity Church, Clifton (Anglican).[31] The church name of Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Square, Nottingham, was preserved with the new Holy Trinity Church, opened in 1958 in Clifton
^"Genuki: White's Directory of Nottinghamshire, 1853, Nottinghamshire". genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2017. ...including the ancient hamlet of Glapton, that forms part of the village, and is now lost in the general name of Clifton, its own name being seldom used except in the parish documents, in which the parish is sometimes called " Clifton-cum-Glapton"
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