MORNING EDITION: 34% drop in shop thefts following police operation in Gedling borough

Good morning 🌅 Happy Monday! Here's your latest email updating you on the latest news and information from across Gedling borough. See you tomorrow!

🛒 34% drop in store thefts in Gedling borough following police crackdown

Police say shop theft has fallen by more than a third at hotspot locations in Gedling borough following recent operations. 

Officers have been working closely with partners and engaging with businesses, and said this had been an instrumental factor behind an overall 34 per cent drop in shop theft at five hotpot locations in 2025. The hotspots named by police are Co-op stores in Westdale Lane East and Westdale Lane West, Gedling; the Tesco store in Carlton Hill; Co-op store in Main Street, Burton Joyce; and TK Maxx at Victoria Retail Park, in Netherfield. 

Officers identified, then targeted the most prolific local offenders responsible for high levels of offending and these individuals were subsequently arrested, charged, and brought before the courts. 

Persistent offenders have also been made subject of bespoke community behaviour orders (CBOs) that – once granted by magistrates – prohibit them from doing certain things such as entering specified shops and visiting certain areas. 

Intelligence has revealed that organised gangs from home and abroad have been travelling by car throughout the borough and typically targeting supermarkets and other out-of-town retailers. 

Last month UK retailer Boots, national police intelligence unit Opal, and crime intelligence software platform Auror developed a high-quality intelligence to build a case against 27-year-old Nicoli Fruntasu – who was part of a gang that targeted Boots stores, including the one at the Victoria Retail Park in Netherfield, between May 29 and December 12 last year.  

Working alongside other suspects, Fruntasu hit Boots stores in Nottinghamshire, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, Harrogate, Cheltenham, King’s Lynn, Boston, and Leeds, stealing thousands of pounds of fragrances.  

Fruntasu went on to plead guilty to 16 counts of shop theft, committed between May 29, 2025 and December 12, 2025, and was jailed for two years when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday, January 13. 

Auror's direct to police reporting function enables store staff to report crimes directly within minutes in real time and making it quicker and easier for businesses to capture and share key evidence and information about incidents, such as CCTV footage, offender and vehicle descriptions, and witness statements.

Gedling borough's beat team and PCSOs have also been using analytical data to identify peak times, repeat locations, and patterns of offending to target their high-visibility patrols in hotspot locations.

Sergeant Mohson Hussain, of the Gedling south neighbourhood policing team, said: “It goes to show that when we adopt an intelligence-led approach to tackling crime, we can genuinely make a difference - as evidenced by these impressive results. 

“We still have some serious work to do to tackle shop theft in our hotspot locations and I want to reassure people that we will continue to maintain high-visibility patrols and deploy all necessary resources to tackle and reduce retail crime and to improve community safety across Gedling south and beyond.”

👷🏽 £225k million ‘urgent’ road repairs announced in Gedling borough - but critics say plans ‘far too late’

“Urgent” road repairs totalling £225,000 in a bid to fix Nottinghamshire’s crumbling roads has been unveiled.

Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council has come under fire in recent weeks due to an abundance of damaged roads and a litany of potholes being left untouched.

There have been hundreds of claims received by the authority related to damage and accidents caused by potholes in the year leading up to February 18.

Due to some deteriorated areas becoming a “potential threat” to road users, the council says there is an “increased risk” of failing in its legal duty to maintain the highway network if there are accidents.

Earlier this month, Conservative councillor Mike Adams showcased the crumbling state of the A612 Colwick Loop Road, next to the Marks and Spencer in Netherfield, in a Facebook video which gained more than 40,000 views.

Gedling’s Labour MP, Michael Payne, also took a swipe at the authority in a Facebook video, highlighting the deteriorated state of Godfrey Street and Arnold Lane and the council’s inadequate response letter to him. This video amassed more than 130,000 views.

The authority’s highways director visited the Loop Road spot on February 19 with Cllr Adams but the councillor “had not heard a thing” from the authority since the visit.

Now, the council appears to be putting some plans to action, announcing on Thursday (February 26) it will be spending £1.83 million on “urgent” road works to 35 Nottinghamshire hotspots – including £225,000 for Gedling borough.

Council leader, Mick Barton said the authority plans to start the urgent works in the week beginning March 9.

The council said “recent and prolonged” wet weather over winter has caused “rapid deterioration” to parts of the network.

“There’s £75,000 for flags that Reform spent. If that had gone into potholes it would have repaired 1,000 potholes across the county, in a not so good way – tar out of the bag – but it’s called a safety repair." - Cllr Sam Smith

Cllr Adams said the pressure both he and residents had put on the council to fix the roads in their area was “key” to the sudden announcement.

He said: “I’m really happy they’ve responded to the urgent situation. lots of people’s cars getting damaged, the safety issues, it was really dangerous.

“But it’s still not done yet… I want to see spades in the road and this getting resolved and fixed as soon as humanly possible.”

Cllr Sam Smith (Con), who represents the Trent Valley ward alongside Cllr Adams at Gedling Borough Council, said: “I’m really delighted for the drivers right across Nottinghamshire who are having their wheels popped and their springs broken.”

However, he said the announcement was “far too late” and the Reform authority lacked winter road resilience, adding: “There’s £75,000 for flags that Reform spent. If that had gone into potholes it would have repaired 1,000 potholes across the county, in a not so good way – tar out of the bag – but it’s called a safety repair.

“The garage owners across Nottinghamshire’s profit margin would be down by a lot. That’s the Reform way – boost the economy for the car garages.”

The urgent scheme comes before a three-year programme that will start in 2026/27 that will patch, resurface or surface dress 4.5 million square metres of road – 16 per cent of the total road network.

The nearly £2 million worth of works will be funded by underspends and savings from within the council’s current highway budgets.

Recent highway network surveys show that 15.9 per cent of Nottinghamshire’s roads are in a poor condition and require urgent maintenance, while 21.7 per cent are likely to need repairs “soon”.

Speaking in the County Council’s budget meeting on Thursday, Cllr Bert Bingham (Ref) said for the three-year programme the council “will be reviewing types of materials we use, we’ll be using thicker layers of asphalt and stronger materials, hot rolled asphalt instead of stone asphalt”.

He said: “This will ensure new road surfaces last for a longer time – or a long time. That will automatically reduce the amount of temporary versions of pothole repairs.”

A full list of the locations and costs of the works are listed below...

• A612 Colwick Loop Road, Netherfield – 1,500 square metres – £75,000
• Stoke Lane, Stoke Bardolph – 1,000 square metres – £50,000
• C16 Lowdham Lane, Woodborough – 1,000 square metres – £50,000
• Coppice Road, Arnold – 1,000 square metres – £50,000

Lauren Monaghan,
Local Democracy Reporter

🔴 🟢 🟡 Gedling Lotto results: Winning numbers for Saturday, February 28, 2026

There is a chance to win up to £25,000 every Saturday when you play Gedling Lotto.

You just need to match six numbers to win the £25,000 jackpot.

We now publish the winning numbers after each Saturday night.

THIS WEEK’S WINNING NUMBERS (28/02/26)

5 2 1 7 2 2

Play the lottery, support Gedling Borough – it’s that simple!

From every £1 ticket you buy, 60p will go to local good causes in the Gedling Borough and improve our community.

Sign up to play HERE

📅 Dates for the diary

People are being invited to come and meet Nottinghamshire Police Fraud Protect Team tomorrow (3) and get advice on how to avoid scams.

The team will be at Nottingham Building Society, 62 Front Street in Arnold between 9.30am and 12.00 pm

🌤️ WEATHER UPDATE

Here's what's in store for today and tomorrow...

There will be a cloudy but dry start to the day, with sunny spells developing through the morning. There is a chance of a few spots of rain later. Breezy. Maximum temperature 15 °C.

Tonight it will be loudy overnight and dry, with some occasional breaks in the cloud, temperatures will fall but remain above freezing. Winds becoming light and variable.