Stroud District Council Leader's Diary

This meeting in Exeter included a briefing from the head of the LGA about repositioning local government so that Westminster sees and treats English councils as an equal partner rather than as subordinates.

Additionally, there was a presentation from Julie Girling MEP, who many of you may remember was a councillor at Gloucestershire County Council before she took up her current role. This covered an update on European finances. Essentially, some money from the European Regional Development Fund will be passed down to local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) from the government.

Gloucestershire’s LEP should receive about £32million for 2014-2020 to help grow the local economy. It’s a big number, but nationally the award is near the bottom of the table when compared to other areas.

Wednesday, July 17 – Gloucestershire Local Transport Board

The GLTB met to decide which transport schemes across the county should receive central government funding.

There were 14 schemes in the running from across Gloucestershire. Regrettably, on this occasion, the two submissions from this district for a cycle path from Chalford to Saul and tunnel works at Stonehouse to allow the canal to navigate the M5 were unsuccessful. However, all is not lost as we will get the opportunity to work with the aforementioned LEP to make a bid next year.

Thursday, July 18 – Heatwave

After a week of extremely high temperatures, our region officially came under the Level 3 Heatwave category. With prolonged periods of hot weather putting vulnerable and elderly people at risk, the various agencies, predominantly in the health sector, took operational actions and put out appropriate public safety messages.

Of course these messages aren’t just for the vulnerable; they are for everyone, as even the fit and healthy can easily overlook the effects of heat. We were also about to put out safety messages about dogs in cars, but Gloucestershire Police beat us to it!

As I have mentioned before, under our civil protection responsibilities, the council co-ordinates with the blue light services and many other agencies under the banner of the Gloucestershire Local Resilience Forum to keep the public safe. For twitter followers it’s worth following the Gloucestershire LRF on @glos_prepared and of course sharing any important messages with friends and relatives who aren’t so IT savvy.

Thursday, July 25 – Council meeting, Ebley Mill

The final council meeting before the summer recess, and an important one at that. This will be the meeting at which housing and employment sites for the next two decades will be debated before they go out for public consultation in September, and to the government for approval. Also on the agenda is a motion to explore the possibility of becoming a unitary authority.

Currently Gloucestershire has a two tier system with the county council providing some services and district councils providing others. Under a unitary system, one council provides all the services. Expect a lively meeting which can be viewed online at www.stroud.gov.uk/webcast

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here