Thursday, February 28 – Recycling video

Council officers who look after waste and recycling for the district visited two of the main facilities that deal with the recycling which you put out every fortnight.

One of them deals with the recycling we put in our wheelie-bins or bags, such as bottles, cans and plastics; while the other deals with the paper, card and cartons that we put in our recycling boxes. We’re putting together a video to show what happens to your recycling.

It will cover what to recycle and where it goes after you put it out for collection. It will show what happens at the processing sites and how it separated and recycled into new products. It should be a fascinating and educational video which will increase understanding, and hopefully, recycling. It will be ready in a few weeks.

Tuesday, March 5- Planning Advisory Panel

At the time of submitting this diary this meeting had yet to take place. As mentioned last week it was concerned with starting the next stage of our Local Plan consultation to determine where the homes we need for the future will be built, alongside our intensions for where employment growth should be focused.

This meeting provided an opportunity for councillors to discuss where housing should go, including areas for growth. From this and subsequent discussions the council will derive the housing figures and locations to be included in the Local Plan.You can read more in today’s Gazette.

Friday, March 15 – Council Tax bills

Council tax bills will begin dropping through letterboxes across the district and indeed the country. It is the only direct tax bill that households receive, unlike VAT and PAYE, so as you can imagine, it isn’t a popular piece of mail.

Whilst Stroud District Council collects the tax and has its logo at the top of your bills, our portion of the overall amount collected is 12%. The county council receives just over 70%, the police authority 13%, and town and parish councils 4%.

We collect the money on behalf of the other bodies and pass it on to them. Our 12% translates to £3.60 per week for the average household.